A sleepless night

A Sleepless Night
Macbeth in Shakespeare’s
Macbeth becomes more ambitious and mentally disturbed as he murders all those who stand in the way of him being king. After murdering Duncan,
Macbeth’s sleep is interrupted because this act rest in his conscience. Ultimately, he is on a path of killing more people in order to become king. Sleep is reserved for those who have clear consciences and Macbeth does not. Macbeth’s lack of sleep shows the disturbance of his moral being which gets reflected in the Great Chain of Being and displays to him the consequences of his murders, the guilt that comes with it, and the result of Lady Macbeth 's death and his own death.
Macbeth doesn’t think about the consequence in his actions which leads him to killing
King Duncan rashly. Though Macbeth did kill King Duncan, and his wife Lady Macbeth did convince him; it all happened so fast he never thought about what he would do after. “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep!­ the innocent sleep, sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care” (Shakespeare.2.2.47­49). “The innocent sleep” catches a glimpse of normal rest but Macbeth killed someone and suffers for his actions, which is he will “sleep no more.”
“Ere we will eat our meal in far, and sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us nightly” (3.2.20­23). The consequence of his killing results in horrible dreams that leave him tossing and turning in bed and not being able to sleep, which leads Macbeth into his downfall. “Terrible dream” describe Macbeth 's disturbed state of mind reflected by the lack of sleep because he killed Duncan. “Duncan is in his grave. After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.”
(3.2.25­26). Being dead is better than being alive and not being able to sleep. What Macbeth did was unacceptable because he killed a good and noble king. Because King Duncan was loved, his murder upends the order of nature. Macbeth killed something good, and that is not

how natural order works. The natural order is where the kings belong at the top and natural humans are below them in The Great Chain of Being
“A dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from the heat­oppressed brain?”
(2.1.50­51). Macbeth 's ambition versus his self doubt was found when he thinks about the consequence. “False creation” means that he isn 't sure if he should kill King Duncan but the
“dagger of the mind” tells him he should. Because he saw the dagger in the air and his hand grabbing it doesn 't mean he should pull out his dagger and kill a innocent noble king. The supernatural takes over nature. Macbeth believed the witches’ prophecies about him being king but he got impatient and thought in order for the prophecies to come true, he must kill.
He took matters into his own hand which leads to the consequences for killing all the people and drives not being able to sleep, which makes him go insane.
The guilt Macbeth has for killing is shared with Lady Macbeth, for she has also planned and supported Duncan 's murder by placing daggers with the servants after Macbeth foolishly forgot to. “Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon’t, read it, afterwards seal it and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast asleep” (5.1.4­9).
Lady Macbeth’s serving women tells a doctor. Lady Macbeth has started sleepwalking which is unusual and a disturbance of natural sleep. Lady Macbeth was excited to kill Duncan because she believed it was the best for her husband and herself as the future Queen of
Scotland. She wants to be powerful but after being an accomplice to murder she is fragile and afraid of the dark. She got her disturbance of sleep because even though she didn 't commit the crime, she was the motivator. “Here’s the smell of the blood still” (5.1.53) Lady Macbeth says when she sleepwalks and tries to wash the blood out of her hands. The “smell” is driving her insane because no matter how much she washes her hands she can still smell and feel

the blood and therefore feels guilty. The doctors who look at her know something is on her mind and that she feels like she has sinned because of her somnambulance. “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more.”
(2.2.57) Along with Lady Macbeth, Macbeth cannot sleep and should not sleep because he murdered the king and is morally to blame.
The reason Macbeth does not sleep is the Great Chain of Being is diminished by being out of order. When Macbeth killed Duncan who was a “good king”, it was unnatural. “A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once the benefit of sleep and do the effects of watching.”
(5.1.10­12). Sleep is a benefit and gift of a natural order. “You lack the season of all natures, sleep.” (3.4.173) Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are lost in nature because they believed the prophecy and acted upon it. The rightful order gets reestablished by their body behavior. No matter what they did, Malcolm is the heir to the throne. Since Malcolm got the throne natural order is restored and the balance of the Great Chain Of Being is stabilized. “
As calling home our exiled friends abroad that fled the snares of watchful tyranny,producing forth the cruel ministers of this dead butcher and his fiend like queen” (5.8.68­71). Work Cited
Mowat, Barbara A. The Tragedy of Macbeth. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 209

Cited: Mowat, Barbara A. The Tragedy of Macbeth. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 209