The Fuel of Sleep, Dreams, and Visions in Macbeth

In the play “Macbeth,” sleep, dreams, and visions are popular elements. Sleep represents peace. When you sleep, you dream. If you do not have that peace with yourself, or your soul fills itself with guilt, you are not going to sleep well. You may even have nightmares. Events also drive dreams and sleep. If you feel guilty, odds are you feel guilt because of something you did or something that happened. In Macbeth, the prophesies are what fuel the plot and lead to ultimate, eternal sleep, peaceful sleep, and disturbed sleep.

Sleep has many meanings. In act two, scene one, Macbeth says that half the world is sleeping, as he gets ready to murder Duncan. In this sense, sleep refers to night, and night refers to darkness and evil. The darkness covers the evil deed because it occurs when most people are sleeping. When someone is sleeping, they become tuned out from what is going on around them. It will be unlikely that they will witness the murder or hear the cries of a victim. This is evidenced by Lady Macbeth’s fear of her guests awaking and finding out the truth in act two scene two. She says, “I am afraid they have awakened, and tis not done: th’ attempt and not the deed confounds us.” Once Duncan is murdered, it is implied that he is in an eternal, peaceful sleep. Because he is dead, he will never wake up; he will never stir and thus will be still and peaceful. Because he died unjustly, and he was a good king, he will sleep peacefully. In act three scene two, Macbeth says, “better to be with the dead, whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, than on the torture of the mind to lie in restless ecstasy.” The way that Macbeth manages to get past the guards is by his wife drugging them. When he goes to commit the murder, they are fast asleep. However, when they wake in the morning, Macbeth kills them too.

After the murder is committed, Macbeth talks to his wife. He tells her that he heard someone say, “Macbeth murders sleep.” In this case, sleep symbolizes rest, feeling good, and having something you deserve, something you have earned by being noble. When Macbeth hears someone say that he will not be able to sleep, it furthers his fears. He knows that his guilt will keep him from having true happiness. Lady Macbeth pushes her husband’s worries away. She refers to an eternal sleep of the dead. She says, “The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures.” This is ironic because she soon finds that she herself cannot sleep because of guilt. In act five scene one, she is seen sleepwalking and talking about things that she meant to hide. She is ill, which keeps her from sleeping peacefully. She also commands to keep a light next to her at all time. This shows her fear of darkness; but she cannot escape it. The evil of the darkness is stuck on her by this time, and it manipulates her mind until she makes her own way to eternal sleep, although not so peaceful. Sleep is represented in natural ways as well. These natural ways are relevant to the eternal peace or rest that comes from sleeping. In act three, scene four, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that he lacks the season of all natures, sleep. Among other uses of it, sleep symbolizes ignorance. When you are asleep, you know only lies, but when you wake up, you realize the truth. It takes Macbeth so long to see this, that when he does realize it, it is too late to turn back. As foreshadowed in act three scene six, Malcom is the restorer of peaceful sleep. The Lord says, “That by the help of these – with Him above to ratify the work – we may again give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights.”

Dreams are not as evident in “Macbeth” as sleep. There are no actual dreams that occur in the play, but there are references to nightmares and visions. In act two scene one, Macbeth sees a dagger floating before him. It is clean at first, and then covered with blood. Because it is pointing towards Duncan’s room, Macbeth takes it as a sign directing him towards murdering the king. Later, in act three scene four, he hallucinates, and sees the ghost of Banquo. He knows that he hired the murderers to kill Banquo, and thus fears the ghost. He tries to deny his guilt, but it plays on his mind even further until Macbeth appears to be mad. Later, in act five scene seven, Macduff says that if he does not kill Macbeth, his family will haunt him forever. Such fantasy and magical things are very evident in the play. Witches (1.1), prophesies (1.3), and apparitions (4.1) are all present. Separate from that dreams are only present one time in the play. In act three scene two, Macbeth says, “But let the frame of things disjoint, both the world suffer, ere we will eat our meal in fear and sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake me nightly.” He has nightmares and does not sleep well because of his guilt.

Guilt and evil are what draw the line between peaceful and disturbed. Macbeth does not exactly regret what he has done, but knows that what he has done is wrong. Because he, and Lady Macbeth, are unable to be at peace, they cannot sleep or go without hallucinating. The visions of the witches are what led to this, causing the events that follow to happen. Sleep, dreams, and visions symbolize the difference between good and bad. They are used in the plot to create an image of actions resulting in consequences. Because these elements give depth to the plot, and even teach a lesson, they make good, popular pieces to add to the puzzle of “Macbeth.”