Macbeth Sleepwalking Scene

The sleepwalking scene in ‘Macbeth’ is hugely significant and important to the play as a whole. It is a contrast to the other main scenes involving Lady Macbeth and marks the end of Macbeth’s reign as a tyrant and a king. In the sleepwalking scene we haven’t seen Lady Macbeth for some time and she is no longer the character we once knew. We get an insight into her state of mind, her thoughts and her feelings and how she has changed so dramatically. In Act 5 scene 1 we also can see how some repetitive themes in the play are still there, Darkness, Blood and Sleep.

In the sleepwalking scene Lady Macbeth is shown to lose her mind and her grip on reality. She sleepwalks because of the stress, guilt and disturbed rest, there is almost an overload of thoughts in her mind and he cannot distance herself from the murders Macbeth committed and she was involved in. It is very difficult not to feel sympathy for Lady Macbeth even though she is responsible for what is happening to her. Despite what she did, we can tell that she only urged Macbeth to murder because of her love for him. Although she encouraged the killing of the king she was not involved with the murders of Banquo or Lady Macduff.

Lady Macbeth ends up going crazy because her mind has gradually been disintegrating throughout the play. In the beginning she was strong and ruthless, although she could not murder Duncan because he resembled her father sleeping. Even though we saw a glimmer of humanity when she said this she was still the one who encouraged Macbeth when he began to weaken, “Art thou afeard, to be the same in thine own act and valour, as thou art in desire?” (Act 1, Scene 7).

She also helped to calm down Macbeth and reassure him when he had committed the deed, “ a little water cleanses us of this deed” but in Act 5 scene 1 this reassuring comment returns to haunt her, “all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”. As the play goes on she changes from this strong and ruthless woman into a woman who cannot cope with the evil she is involved with. Lady Macbeth becomes consumed with guilt and everything she has done is forever in her head. Killing Duncan created a “perturbation in nature” and things have not been the same since.

In her sleep she speaks of everything that has gone on, thus showing her involvement, Lady Macbeth is to blame for where she is now, and deserves the disturbed sleep, because she helped murder sleep when Duncan was murdered. She was never naturally “a fiend-like queen”, she needed alcohol to make her brave enough to take part in the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth was the one who came up with the plans but she urged Macbeth to do it because she could never follow it through herself. She created a tyrant in her ambitious husband, and would have done even if the witches had not been involved. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are dreadful sights near the end of the play and it seems to be shown that in a battle of good vs. evil, good always wins.

The doctor said that only she could cure herself but in Act 5 scene 9 we find out that she has committed suicide. It appears the only way she could stop seeing blood on her hands was to end her life.

Like good vs. evil, light and dark are symbols for life and death in ‘Macbeth” .In the sleepwalking scene Lady Macbeth cannot bear to be in the dark and constantly has a candle by her side so it is ironic that when Macbeth finds out that she is dead he says “out, out, brief candle”. It seems as though Lady Macbeth was protecting herself from the Dark Spirits she once asked to help her. She wanted them to remove her feminine instincts but in the sleepwalking scene she is more vulnerable than she ever was.

The image of Blood is often mentioned in ‘Macbeth’ and it represents treason, murder and death. In Act 2 scene 1 Macbeth sees a floating dagger leading him to Duncan’s room and sees “on the blade and dudgeon gouts