Is sleep only for the innocent?(Macbeth)

Is sleep only for the innocent? Will those who have guilt ever find the peace that is in

slumber? These are questions one may ask while reading the play “Macbeth”. My

theory is that a character can not experience a peaceful rest while asleep as soon as they

act in some way that would cause them to feel guilt. Through some examples, I intend to

prove that sleep is used as the symbol of innocence in this script. The various victims and

murderers throughout the scenes all have different experiences with sleep, each

connected with the innocence or guilt of the characters.


One character murdered by Macbeth is King Duncan. Though Duncan did nothing to

deserve the wrath of Macbeth, he is killed in the home of his host on the first night of his

stay. This helpless old man’s life is cut so short; he does not really have a chance to do

much of anything in the plot. Therefore we can label him as an “innocent” character.

Duncan was murdered while he was in his most innocent state of all, sleep. This creates a

rather pathetic image of an elderly king, sound asleep, completely unprotected and

unaware of the impending danger. And this is the target of Macbeth, a man in the prime

of his life armed with a dagger and a bloodlust that can only be sated with the death of

the king. After the deed was done, Macbeth thought that he had heard a voice say: “Sleep

no more!/Macbeth does murder sleep!”(II.ii.47-48). Can this voice be talking about not

only sleep, but the image of innocence as well? If so, then Macbeth does not only murder

sleep, but all of the innocents that stand in his way.


Before Duncan is murdered, Macbeth has a brief lapse in confidence, and wonders

weather or not he is doing the right thing. Lady Macbeth is outraged that he would betray

her like this and immediately launches into a verbal assault designed to sway her husband

back to her way of thinking. She asks: “Was the hope drunk/wherein you dressed

yourself? Hath it slept since?” (I.vii.38-39). This is a clever metaphor comparing

Macbeth’s courage from last night to a drunk, where in the morning all that is left is a

shadow of a man and a sickly hangover. In a way Lady Macbeth has a good point, but not

for the reason she thinks. She believes that Macbeth is backing out because of fear, while

really, he is just thinking more clearly after a good nights sleep. The other day, he had

been under much pressure from Lady Macbeth, but away from her influence, he realizes

in the morning what a risk they were taking. Were his evil thoughts of murder cleansed

from his head because of his time asleep, only to be brought back as the day wore on?

This may have been his last fearless night before his innocence left him forever. His brief

moment of humanity could have been brought on by nothing more than a good long nap.



In some cases, those who we consider to have an innocent agenda also have trouble

sleeping, as is the case with Banquo the night of the murder. He dreamt the previous

evening of the three witches and their prophecies, and feared falling asleep again for fear

of his reoccurring nightmare. When he says: “Restrain me in the cursed thoughts that

nature/gives way to in repose!”(II.i.9-10), it shows the audience that Banquo may not be

entirely innocent as we have been led to believe so far. He too, has been having guilty

thoughts, possibly about his son’s generation taking the thrown after Macbeth’s supposed

reign is over. And now he can not rest because of these thoughts that turn into nightmares

of the weird sisters while he sleeps, where he can not hide his true feelings.


Lord and Lady Macbeth were both pretending to be asleep when Macduff came

knocking on their gate, so that “least occasion call us and show us to be watchers” (II.

ii.89-90). This alibi would give them the impression of innocence, as sleeping hosts

do not murder their kings. Also, the guards outside of Duncan’s room were drugged so

that they were asleep when his body was found. Their being asleep is a perfect symbol of

their utter innocence in the affair, though it did them little good. At least they did not

know that they had just been framed for killing the King whom they were guarding.


My last two points deal with when the guilty characters try to sleep. Lord Macbeth

knows that he and his wife are both having nightmares about Duncan, and is reminding

her that the war isn’t one yet. He’s worried that they will be consumed by guilt and fears

that there are still some loose ends to be tied, “Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep

in the affliction of those terrible dreams that shake us nightly”(III.ii.19-22). Macbeth is

obviously a character who we can be called ‘guilty’, and it is even more so plain when

he too, is having bad dreams.

And then there is Lady Macbeth, whose guilt is quickly tearing away at her sanity,

starting with her most vulnerable state of mind, unconsciousness. While she is asleep, all

of her fears and guilt come rushing back to her full force, and she finely lets her true

feelings show while she sleep walks. When Lord Macbeth hires a physician to heal her,

he states: “She is troubled with thick coming fancies that keep her from her

rest.”(V.iii.44-45). She is unable to sleep in peace because of all of her guilt of the things

that she and Macbeth have done. All of which she has kept bottled up behind false

confidence.

All in all, There are only three human characters in the play who are; as far as we

know, not having trouble sleeping because of some horribly consuming guilt. King

Duncan and his two guards, who are now all dead. The three witches, though not human,

also seem oblivious to nightmares, (though in my opinion they would enjoy nightmares if

they like all things horrid, as proved in each of their appearances on stage). Everyone else

seems to have done or thought something that compromises his or her innocence,

affecting their sleeping habits, until they all die, which is as close to peace as they are

going to get.