This incident shows Macbeth starting to display signs of mental instability. Secondly, Macbeth hears voices talking to him while he is killing Duncan. Macbeth explains to Lady Macbeth “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘sleep no more Macbeth does murder sleep’, the innocent sleep,” (2.2.38-39). Macbeth is shaken by the event that just passed and tells Lady Macbeth that he believes he was cursed not to sleep again. This makes Macbeth feel regret right away for killing Duncan.
As from you graves rise up, and walk like sprites, To countenance this horror! Ring the bell” (III ii 50-55). Macduff is speaking after he has seen the murder sight of King Duncan. The readers can almost hear the fear in Macduff’s voice as he is calling for the others. As shown the word” Awake, Awake” Is used, which ironically foreshadows that Macbeth will sleep no more, just like the voice had told him just after he had killed King Duncan.
In this scene, Macbeth’s over analysis of the situation in combination with his mind boggling guilt caused him to see this dagger that was not really there. The quote from the play informs the reader what kind of mental state Macbeth must have been in. All the stress to become king and to get rid of Duncan to do so really got to his head. The vision of the bloody dagger before him was the first mental awakening to Macbeth’s dark road ahead, and instead of turning the other way Macbeth followed as he saw it as a sign to what he should do. In addition to seeing things, Macbeth also
But they prayed and went back to sleep.” Macbeth answered. “I also thought that I heard someone say, ‘Wake up! Macbeth is killing those who are sleeping.” “What are you talking about?” Lady Macbeth asked in confusion. “Someone was yelling out over and over again, ‘Wake up, because Macbeth is killing those who sleep, so Macbeth won’t sleep any more.” “Who said that?” Lady Macbeth asked. “You probably just tired.
Macbeth State of Mind after Killing Duncan Immediately upon returning after he has committed the crime, it is obvious that he is highly disturbed by the crime that he has committed. He tells Lady Macbeth that he cannot pronounce the word “amen.” This implies that he is now unholy. In addition, this begins the insomnia that drives him to madness. He says that he heard someone say “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor/ shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more” (II.2.55-57).
The other interpretation is that something supernatural and scary is at work, that the dagger is a sign from the witches Macbeth spoke to. This part of his soliloquy uses a rhetorical question, as if he is questioning his own sanity, especially when he realises that it is his own blade, ‘such an instrument I was to use’, covered in ‘gouts of blood’. This shows the reader that Macbeth is already seeing the horror of Duncan’s murder and it creates tension for the reader. It then moves onto the dagger and how it ‘marshall’st’ Macbeth towards Duncan’s chamber, suggesting that the witches are beckoning him to kill the king. This in turn makes the reader feel apprehensive and afraid of the supernatural beings corrupting Macbeth, as it gives a feeling that they are always watching, and also highlights the mystical powers they seem to have.
“I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” (3.4.136-138) In this quote, Macbeth is telling himself that because he has stepped into evil so deeply, it will be hard to go back to morallity because he will never be able to rid of this guilt brought onto him. He begins to feel so remorseful, that he starts hallucinating and realizing that he has done such treacherous deeds. Even though he can still see how his actions are terrible, as the play develops, he begins to inch deeper and deeper into his own destruction of innocence. Macbeth had always felt threatened by Macduff because Macduff knew what a traitor he really was. Therefore, he had wanted to plot to end Macduff’s life as to not pose a threat on his reign any longer.
Macbeth of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth will never feel safe on the throne because of his mental instability and excessive pride. Macbeth has suffered major mental degradation that will continue to plague his mind and hinder his mental capacity. Paranoia, indecisiveness and mistrust are three of the main contributing factors of this. Macbeth is always suspicious of other people’s motives, notably right after he kills Duncan, however they were present prior to that as seen here when he inquires, “Will it not be received/When we have marked with blood those sleepy two/Of his own` chamber and used their very daggers,/That they have done ’t?” (I.vii.74-78). He did not believe that this plan would work.
Shakespeare states, “A dagger of the mind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (2.1.45-46) When Macbeth is about to kill Duncan, Macbeth sees a dagger floating in the air. Covered with blood and pointed toward the king’s chamber, the dagger represents the bloody course on which Macbeth is about to embark. As the play moves forward, we learn that Macbeth sets out murders to kill Banquo. When this is done we see the guilt build up in Macbeth, and almost see him admit to everything. The narrator states, “Thou canst not say I did it.
. . who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (V.i.30-34) she laments as she wanders through the castle while sleepwalking. Blood symbolizes the guilt that sits like a permanent stain on the consciences of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, one that haunts them to their graves. Darkness and light is used frequently in the play and symbolizes evil and good.