“Macbeth Shall Sleep No More”
from
Macbeth
(1605- 1606)
GUIDED ANALYSIS
1. Focus on Macbeth (lines 1 – 44)
a. What “deed” has Macbeth just committed?
He has killed King Duncan.
b. Macbeth is shaken by the murder he has just committed. What linguistic
device is used to express his state of mind?
• Very short and almost incoherent speeches and visions.
•
c.
•
•
•
Give evidence of his state of mind.
“But wherefore ... / .../ Stuck in my throat” (ll. 18-20);
“I heard a voice cry ... / Macbeth does murder sleep” (ll. 22-23);
“Still it cried ‘ Sleep no more’ to all the house” (l. 28).
2. Focus on Lady Macbeth (lines 1 – 44)
Macbeth’s fear is contrasted by Lady Macbeth’s firmness.
a. What does she suggest that he do?
•
She tells her husband to react firmly : she invites him to go and wash his hands
then take the blood-stained daggers back to the king’s room; she even says he
must smear the grooms with blood so that they will be the ones accused of the
murder.
GUIDED ANALYSIS
b. What shows her fierce determination?
Her firmness in saying in saying that she will act in his place.
3. Focus on the hands.
Macbeth is obsessed by his hands: list all the expressions or images
related to them.
“ As they had seen me with these hangman’s hands” (l.14);
“Go, get some water; / And wash this filthy witness from your hand” (ll.33-34),
this my hand ;
“What hands are here!” (l.46);
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this
my hand will rather / ... incarnadine” (ll. 47-49);
“My hands are of your colour” (l.51);
4. Focus on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth (lines 44-61).
a.
•
Again fear and horror overcome Macbeth; what image is used to describe his
feelings?
He thinks that even the clear water of the ocean will not be able to clean his
hands and that the blood he has on them will rather make the water red.
GUIDED ANALYSIS
b. Lady Macbeth words stress the difference between she and her husband ;
express in your own words what she says ?
•
Her harshness is stressed by her words when she points out that her hands
are just as blood-stained as his but she would be ashamed of having a white
(coward’s) heart.
c. How do the couple react to the knocking on the door?
•
Lady Macbeth’s main concern is to get back to their room and hide what they
have done by pretending they were asleep (ll. 58-59).
Macbeth’s words once again give voice to his remorse. (ll. 60-61)
GUIDED SUMMARY
5. Fill in the blanks with the words below to summarize the passage.
blood-stained
put on
act
mind
stabbing
knocking
speeches
fiercely
Macbeth, who has just come back to his rooms after ……………. King Duncan, is
overcome by fear and horror. Incoherent ……………. and visions underline his state
of ……………. Lady Macbeth, who on the other hand is ……………. determined,
tries to make him react but then decides to ……………. in his place and goes to the
king’s room to take back the ……………. daggers. When they hear the …………….
on the door she tells her husband to ……………. his nightgown and pretend he was
sleeping.
GUIDED SUMMARY
5. Fill in the blanks with the words below to summarize the passage.
blood-stained
put on
act
mind
stabbing
knocking
speeches
fiercely
Macbeth, who has just come back to his rooms after stabbing King Duncan, is
overcome by fear and horror. Incoherent speeches and visions underline his
state of mind. Lady Macbeth, who on the other hand is fiercely determined, tries
to make him react but then decides to act in his place and goes to the king’s
room to take back the blood-stained daggers. When they hear the knocking on
the door she tells her husband to put on his nightgown and pretend he was
sleeping.