Macbeth Critical Evaluation

Macbeth Critical Evaluation

Macbeth not only is the shortest of William Shakespeare’s great tragedies but also is

anomalous in some structural respects. Like Othello, the Moor of Venice (pr. 1604,

pb. 1622) and only a very few other Shakespearean plays, Macbeth is without the

complications of a subplot. Consequently, the action moves forward in a swift and

inexorable rush. More significantly, the climax — the murder of Duncan — takes

place very early in the play. As a result, attention is focused on the various

consequences of the crime rather than on the ambiguities or moral dilemmas that

had preceded and occasioned it.

In this, the play differs from Othello, where the hero commits murder only after long

plotting, and from Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (pr. c. 1600-1601, pb. 1603), where the

hero spends most of the play in moral indecision. Macbeth is more like King Lear (pr.

c. 1605-1606, pb. 1608), where destructive action flows from the central premise of

the division of the kingdom. However, Macbeth differs from that play, too, in that it

does not raise the monumental, cosmic questions of good and evil in nature. Instead,

it explores the moral and psychological effects of evil in the life of one man. For all

the power and prominence of Lady Macbeth, the drama remains essentially the story

of the lord who commits regicide and thereby enmeshes himself in a complex web of

consequences.

When Macbeth first enters, he is far from the villain whose experiences the play

subsequently describes. He has just returned from a glorious military success in

defense of the Crown. He is rewarded by the grateful Duncan, with preferment as

thane of Cawdor. This honor, which initially qualifies him for the role of hero,

ironically intensifies the horror of the murder Macbeth soon commits.

Macbeth’s fall is rapid, and his crime is more clearly a sin than is usually the case in

tragedy. It is not mitigated by mixed motives or insufficient knowledge. Moreover, the

sin is regicide, an action viewed during the Renaissance as exceptionally foul, since

it struck at God’s representative on Earth. The sin is so boldly offensive that many

have tried to find extenuation in the impetus given Macbeth by the witches. However,

the witches do not control behavior in the play. They are symbolic of evil and

prescient of crimes that are to come, but they neither encourage nor facilitate

Macbeth’s actions. They are merely a poignant external symbol of the ambition that

is already within Macbeth. Indeed, when he discusses the witches’ prophecy with

Lady Macbeth, it is clear that the possibility has been discussed before.

The responsibility cannot be shifted to Lady Macbeth, despite her goading. In a way,

she is merely acting out the role of the good wife, encouraging her husband to do

what she believes to be in his best interests. She is a catalyst and supporter, but she

does not make the grim decision, and Macbeth never tries to lay the blame on her.

When Macbeth proceeds on his bloody course, there is little extenuation in his brief

failure of nerve. He is an ambitious man overpowered by his high aspirations, yet

Shakespeare is able to elicit feelings of sympathy for him from the audience. Despite

the evil of his actions, he does not arouse the distaste audiences reserve for such

villains as Iago and Cornwall. This may be because Macbeth is not evil incarnate but

a human being who has sinned. Moreover, audiences are as much affected by what

Macbeth says about his actions as by the deeds themselves. Both substance and

setting emphasize the great evil, but Macbeth does not go about his foul business

easily. He knows what he is doing, and his agonizing reflections show a person

increasingly losing control over his own moral destiny.

Although Lady Macbeth demonstrated greater courage and resolution at the time of

the murder of Duncan, it is she who falls victim to the physical manifestations of

remorse and literally dies of guilt. Macbeth, who starts more tentatively, becomes

stronger, or perhaps more inured, as he faces the consequences of his initial crime.

The play examines the effects of evil on Macbeth’s character and on his subsequent

moral behavior. The later murders flow naturally out of the first. Evil breeds evil

because Macbeth, to protect himself and consolidate his position, is forced to murder

again. Successively, he kills Banquo, attempts to murder Fleance, and brutally

exterminates Macduff’s family. As his crimes increase, Macbeth’s freedom seems to

decrease, but his moral responsibility does not. His actions become more coldblooded

as his options disappear.

Shakespeare does not allow Macbeth any moral excuses. The dramatist is aware of

the notion that any action performed makes it more likely that the person will perform

other such actions. The operation of this phenomenon is apparent as Macbeth finds

it increasingly easier to rise to the gruesome occasion. However, the dominant

inclination never becomes a total determinant of behavior, so Macbeth does not have

the excuse of loss of free will. It does, however, become ever more difficult to break

the chain of events that are rushing him toward moral and physical destruction.

As Macbeth degenerates, he becomes more deluded about his invulnerability and

more emboldened. What he gains in will and confidence is counterbalanced and

eventually toppled by the iniquitous weight of the events he set in motion and felt he

had to perpetuate. When he dies, he seems almost to be released from the

imprisonment of his own evil.

Essay by: “Critical Evaluation” by Edward E. Foster

Macbeth Summary

Macbeth Summary

Act 1

The play takes place in Scotland. Duncan, the king of Scotland, is at war with the king of Norway. As the play opens, he learns of Macbeth's bravery in a victorious battle against Macdonald—a Scot who sided with the Norwegians. At the same time, news arrives concerning the arrest of the treacherous Thane of Cawdor. Duncan decides to give the title of Thane of Cawdor to Macbeth.

As Macbeth and Banquo return home from battle, they meet three witches. The witches predict that Macbeth will be thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland, and that Banquo will be the father of kings. After the witches disappear, Macbeth and Banquo meet two noblemen Ross and Angus, who announce Macbeth's new title as thane of Cawdor. Upon hearing this, Macbeth begins to contemplate the murder of Duncan in order to realize the witches' second prophecy.

Macbeth and Banquo meet with Duncan, who announces that he is going to pay Macbeth a visit at his castle. Macbeth rides ahead to prepare his household. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth informing her of the witches' prophesy and its subsequent realization. A servant appears to inform her of Duncan's approach. Energized by the news, Lady Macbeth invokes supernatural powers to strip her of feminine softness and thus prepare her for the murder of Duncan. When Macbeth arrives, Lady Macbeth tells him that she will plot Duncan's murder.

When Duncan arrives at the castle, Lady Macbeth greets him alone. When Macbeth fails to appear, Lady Macbeth finds him is in his room, contemplating the weighty and evil decision to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth taunts him by telling him that he will only be a man if he kills Duncan. She then tells him her plan for the murder, which Macbeth accepts: they will kill him while his drunken bodyguards sleep, then plant incriminating evidence on the bodyguards.

Act 2

Macbeth sees a vision of a bloody dagger floating before him, leading him to Duncan's room. When he hears Lady Macbeth ring the bell to signal the completion of her preparations, Macbeth sets out to complete his part in the murderous plan.

Lady Macbeth waits for Macbeth to finish the act of regicide. Macbeth enters, still carrying the bloody daggers. Lady Macbeth again chastises him for his weak-mindedness and plants the daggers on the bodyguards herself. While she does so, Macbeth imagines that he hears a haunting voice saying that he shall sleep no more. Lady Macbeth returns and assures Macbeth that "a little water clears us of this deed" (II ii 65).

As the thanes Macduff and Lennox arrive, the porter pretends that he is guarding the gate to hell. Immediately thereafter, Macduff discovers Duncan’s dead body. Macbeth kills the two bodyguards, claiming that he was overcome with a fit of grief and rage when he saw them with the bloody daggers. Duncan's sons Malcolm and Donalbain, fearing their lives to be in danger, flee to England and Ireland. Their flight brings them under suspicion of conspiring against Duncan. Macbeth is thus crowned king of Scotland.

Act 3

In an attempt to thwart the witches' prophesy that Banquo will father kings, Macbeth hires two murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. Lady Macbeth is left uninformed of these plans. A third murderer joins the other two on the heath and the three men kill Banquo. Fleance, however, manages to escape.

Banquo’s ghost appears to Macbeth as he sits down to a celebratory banquet, sending him into a frenzy of terror. Lady Macbeth attempts to cover up for his odd behavior but the banquet comes to a premature end as the thanes begin to question Macbeth's sanity. Macbeth decides that he must revisit the witches to look into the future once more.

Meanwhile, Macbeth's thanes begin to turn against him. Macduff meets Malcolm in England to prepare an army to march on Scotland.

Act 4

The witches show Macbeth three apparitions. The first warns him against Macduff, the second tells him to fear no man born of woman, and the third prophesizes that he will fall only when Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane castle. Macbeth takes this as a prophecy that he is infallible. When he asks the witches if their prophesy about Banquo will come true, they show him a procession of eight kings, all of whom look like Banquo.

Meanwhile in England, Malcolm tests Macduff's loyalty by pretending to confess to multiple sins and malicious ambitions. When Macduff proves his loyalty to Scotland, the two strategize for their offensive against Macbeth. Back in Scotland, Macbeth has Macduff’s wife and children murdered.

Act 5

Lady Macbeth suffers from bouts of sleepwalking. To a doctor who observes her symptoms, she unwittingly reveals her guilt as she pronounces that she cannot wash her hands clean of bloodstains. Macbeth is too preoccupied with battle preparations to pay much heed to her dreams and expresses anger when the doctor says he cannot cure her. Just as the English army led by Malcolm, Macduff, Siward approaches, Lady Macbeth’s cry of death is heard in the castle. When Macbeth hears of her death, he comments that she should have died at a future date and muses on the meaninglessness of life.

Taking the witches’ second prophecies in good faith, Macbeth still believes that he is impregnable to the approaching army. But Malcolm has instructed each man in the English army to cut a tree branch from Birnam Wood and hold it up to disguise the army’s total numbers. As a result, Macbeth's servant reports that he has seen a seemingly impossible sight: Birnam Wood seems to be moving toward the castle. Macbeth is shaken but still engages the oncoming army.

In battle, Macbeth kills Young Siward, the English general's brave son. Macduff then challenges Macbeth. As they fight, Macduff reveals that he was not "of woman born" but was "untimely ripped" from his mother's womb (V x 13-16). Macbeth is stunned but refuses to yield to Macduff. Macduff kills him and decapitates him. At the end of the play, Malcolm is proclaimed the new king of Scotland.

Macbeth Motifs

Motifs

Hallucinations

Visions and hallucinations recur throughout the play and serve as reminders of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s joint culpability for the growing body count. When he 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. Later, he sees Banquo’s ghost sitting in a chair at a feast, pricking his conscience by mutely reminding him that he murdered his former friend. The seemingly hardheaded Lady Macbeth also eventually gives way to visions, as she sleepwalks and believes that her hands are stained with blood that cannot be washed away by any amount of water. In each case, it is ambiguous whether the vision is real or purely hallucinatory; but, in both cases, the Macbeths read them uniformly as supernatural signs of their guilt.

Violence

Macbeth is a famously violent play. Interestingly, most of the killings take place offstage, but throughout the play the characters provide the audience with gory descriptions of the carnage, from the opening scene where the captain describes Macbeth and Banquo wading in blood on the battlefield, to the endless references to the bloodstained hands of Macbeth and his wife. The action is bookended by a pair of bloody battles: in the first, Macbeth defeats the invaders; in the second, he is slain and beheaded by Macduff. In between is a series of murders: Duncan, Duncan’s chamberlains, Banquo, Lady Macduff, and Macduff’s son all come to bloody ends. By the end of the action, blood seems to be everywhere.

Prophecy

Prophecy sets Macbeth’s plot in motion—namely, the witches’ prophecy that Macbeth will become first thane of Cawdor and then king. The weird sisters make a number of other prophecies: they tell us that Banquo’s heirs will be kings, that Macbeth should beware Macduff, that Macbeth is safe till Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane, and that no man born of woman can harm Macbeth. Save for the prophecy about Banquo’s heirs, all of these predictions are fulfilled within the course of the play. Still, it is left deliberately ambiguous whether some of them are self-fulfilling—for example, whether Macbeth wills himself to be king or is fated to be king. Additionally, as the Birnam Wood and “born of woman” prophecies make clear, the prophecies must be interpreted as riddles, since they do not always mean what they seem to mean.

Reversal of Nature

One of the most common motifs in Macbeth is reversal of nature. This is prominent in role reversal between characters, unnatural weather, masculinity and femininity reversal, and unusual events.

We are first presented in Macbeth with the three witches, who show characteristics of their male counterparts such as a beard. From I.iii.45-47:

"You should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so."

The witches also predict various reversals of the natural order in their chants. They tell Macbeth that, although he will be king, he will not beget kings, unlike Banquo. In I.i.10-11:

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
Hover through the fog and filthy air."

The second example of "reversal of nature" is with Lady Macbeth and her masculine characteristics when compared to the norm at the time and her husband's femininity. After she reads her husband's letter, she asks for the gods to "unsex" her and therefore, remove all feminine feeling from her mind. She takes charge over Macbeth, which was unusual for the time. Macbeth meanwhile falters under her manipulation.

The weather also shows evidence of the reversal of the natural order. As Macbeth enters in I.iii.48. he exclaims:

"So foul and fair a day I have not seen."

The not only connects him to the witches' previous chant, but it also foreshadows future events. Later, Lennox describes the night of Duncan's murder in II.iii.58-59:

"Some say the earth
Was feverish and did shake."

This provides imagery for the murder of Duncan.

In II.iv.12-13 a quote by the Old Man.

" A falcon, tow'ring in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hacked at and killed. "

This is an example of the motif reversal of nature because a falcon is killed by a owl who feeds on mice.

Blood

Blood is often used to symbolize guilt, or the lack of it. For example, in II.3.59-62, Macbeth has just murdered King Duncan and feels horribly guilty for his deed. Duncan had thought rather fondly of Macbeth, and had trusted him after his previous Thane of Cawdor had betrayed him. Macbeth, with blood covering his arms and hands, exclaims

"With all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red."

This means that he feels extremely guilty, and does not believe that he will ever be able to overcome it. Not even Neptune, the god of the sea, could wash all of the blood away. In fact, it would turn the ocean red with blood.

In II.3.110, Macbeth describes Duncan as having had "golden blood," which contrasts with his own. Duncan had no guilt and had done nothing to anger Macbeth, or to make him worthy of being murdered. In spite of this fact, Macbeth still murdered King Duncan and contaminated his blood in the process.

Another example of the blood motif occurs in Act V. Macduff has come and challenged Macbeth to a sword fight to which Macbeth refused. This happened because Macbeth didn't want to shed anymore blood (kill people) than he already has and because more bloodshed is more guilt. Macbeth is already suffering from his guilt and more guilt would just cause more problems for him.

"Of all men else I have avoided thee.
But get thee back! My soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already." (V.viii.4-6)

Manipulation

Another motif in Macbeth is manipulation. Many people throughout the play attempt to manipulate others in order to fit their own needs and desires.

A prime example of this is with Lady Macbeth. She uses her influence with her husband to convince to murder King Duncan. Previously, Macbeth had written her a letter telling her of the events that had occurred, including his new title. He had just become the Thane of Cawdor and, based on the witches' prophecy, was in line to become a king. This made him mention his thoughts of killing King Duncan, which brought out the desire for power in his wife. When he arrived at his own castle, he decides to go along with her new plan to poison and stab the King. However, he starts expressing doubt later in the night after considering the King's trust in him. At this point, Lady Macbeth continues using manipulation to try to convince him to go along with it.

One of the ways that she tries to manipulate Macbeth can be found in her line at I.vii.48-59. She is trying to reconvince her husband to go along with her plan. This was due to her lust for power that would be fulfilled if she became queen of Scotland. She exclaims:

"What beast was't then
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
An to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more than a man...
...I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this."

This means that Lady Macbeth would only see him as a man if he does it. Otherwise, she would see him as a coward. She then goes on to say that if she had promised to "dash the brains out" of a her own newborn, she would have kept the promise.

A second, and major, example of manipulation in Macbeth is with the three witches. They give the prophecy to Macbeth, knowing that he and his wife will plan to murder King Duncan in order to fulfill it. The witches prophesize this to Macbeth and his companion, Banquo, at I.iii.48-50:

"Macbeth: Speak if you can, what are you?
First Witch: All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
Second Witch: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
Third Witch: All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!"

Here they say that he is both Thane of Glamis and of Cawdor, even though he only knows of his title of "Thane of Glamis," and that he will also become the king later. This prophecy is fulfilled later, when Ross notifies him of his new title as Thane of Cawdor.

The witches yet manipulate Macbeths yet again near the end when they show him various confusing apparitions. Hecate commands tham to confuse Macbeth and give him a sense of security thta will lead to his downfall. The first apparition, an armed head, warns Macbeth of Macduff. Macbeth then decides to have Macduff's family murdered. Macduff ends up killing Macbeth as revenge, showing how the witches manipulated Macbeth into his downfall.

The second apparition, a bloody child, tells Macbeth that none born of a woman can harm him. When Macbeth finally meets Macduff, Macbeth tells him this prophecy, but Macduff tells him that he was prematurely born through surgery. Once again, the witches succeeded in manipulating Macbeth by providing him with a false sense of security.

The third apparition, a crowned child with a tree in his hand, tells him that no one will harm him until the forest of Great Birnam Wood comes against him on Dunsinane Hill. The opposing forces take branches from the forest's tress and use them to hide themselves from Macbeth's forces.

Clothing

Act One

Scene 2, line 24 – unseamed him from the nave to the chops

Scene 3, line 112 – Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?

Scene 3, line 155 – New honors hang upon him like our strange garments

Scene 7, line 35 – Golden opinions from all sorts of people that would be worn now in

their newest gloss

Scene 7, line 38-39 – Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself?

Act Two

Scene 2, line 45 – sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care

Scene 4, line 48 – lest our old robes sit easier than our new

Act Three

Scene 1, lines 18-19 – indissoluble tie forever knit (Banquo saying that he and Macbeth

are knit together – irony is that Macbeth is about to kill him)

Act Five

Scene 1, line 4 – “throw her nightgown upon her”

Scene 2, line 17 – cannot buckle his distempered cause within the belt of rule

Scene 2, line 25 – like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief

Scene 4, lines 6-7 – let every soldier hew him down a bough

Macbeth’s relationship with Banquo and with Lady Macbeth

Referring to things that are not our own

New positions

Macbeth’s abilities or inabilities

Macbeth fitness to rule

Macbeth’s inability to justify himself/his actions

Macbeth’s character Macbeth (strength to weakness and weakness to strength)

Equivocation

Act One

Scene One, lines 12 ff. – Fair is foul and foul is fair

Scene Three, line 38 – So foul and fair a day I have not seen

Scene Three, lines 66-69 – lesser than, yet greater, etc.

Scene Three, line 138 ff. – cannot be good, cannot be ill

Scene Three, line 153 – why do you start and seem to fear things that do sound so fair?

Act Two

Scene four, line 10 – by the clock tis day, yet dark night

Act Three

Scene 2, line 60 – Things bad begun make worse themselves by ill

Act Four

Scene 2, line 30 – Fathered he is and yet he’s fatherless

Act Five

Scene 1, lines 19 and 20 – her eyes are open but their sense is shut

Scene 5, lines 48-49 – to doubt the equivocation of the fiend that lies like truth

Showing that things are not what they seem to be – Macbeth, Lady Macbeth (Macbeth’s

character)

Macbeth’s fitness to rule

Show degeneration or desperation

Blood

Act One

Scene 1, line 14 – What bloody man is that

Scene 5, lines 42-43 – Make thick my blood and stop up the access and passage to

remorse

Scene 7, lines 8-10 – we but teach bloody instructions which being taught return to

plague the inventor

Scene 7, line 83 – will it not be received when we have marked with blood those sleepy

Act Two

Scene 1, line 54 – on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood

Scene 2, line58-9 – go carry them and smear the sleepy grooms with blood

Scene 2, line 66 – if he do bleed, I’ll guild the faces of the grooms withal because it must

seem their guilt

Scene 2, line 72 – Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?

Scene 2, lines 76-77 My hands are of your color but I shame to wear a heart so white

Scene 3, line 94 – fountain of your blood is stopped

Scene 3, line 110 – His silver skin lace with his golden blood

Scene 3, line130 – And question this most bloody piece of work to know it further

Scene 3, line 145-6 – the near in blood the nearer bloody

Act Three

Scene One, line 33 – We hear our bloody cousins are bestowed in England and in Ireland,

not confessing their cruel parricide

Scene one, line 127 – bloody distance (Macbeth saying Banquo is his enemy)

Scene 4, line 14 – There’s blood upon thy face/’Tis Banquo’s then

Scene 4, line 110 – Thy blood is cold, thy bones are marrowless

Scene 4, line 144 – blood will have blood

Scene 4, line 159 – I am in blood, stepped in so far . . . that returning were as tedious as

go o’er

Act Four

Scene 1, line 37 – baboon’s blood

Scene 1, line 69 – pour in sow’s blood that hath eaten her nine farrow

Scene 1, line 134 – blood boltered Banquo

Scene 3, line 36 – bleed poor country

Scene 3, line 66 – I grant him bloody, luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, sudden

Act Five

Scene One – Lady Macbeth’s washing her hands – line 38 -- here’s the smell of the blood

still

Scene 8, line 7 – my soul is too much charged with blood of thine already

Scene 8, line 9 – thou bloodier villain than terms can give the out

Scene 8, line 13 – as make me bleed. I bear a charmed life that must not yield . . .

Guilt

Character – Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Degeneration or movement into depravity (Macbeth) or into torment (Lady Macbeth)

Development of the characters – Macbeth and Lady Macbeth (strength to weakness and

weakness to strength)

Nature

Act One

Scene Three, line 80 – The earth has bubbles and these are of them

Scene Four, lines 31-32 – I have begun to plant thee and will labor to see thee full of

growing

Scene Four, lines 37-38 – There if I grow the harvest is your own

Act Two

Scene Three, line 40 ff. – We were lay our chimneys were blown down, etc.

Scene Four, line 10 – By the clock tis day, yet dark night … Duncan’s horses

Act Three

Scene Three, line 23 – It will be rain tonight

Act Four

Scene One, lines 53 ff. – untie the winds

Scene One, lines 105 ff. – who can impress the forest, bid the tree

Scene Two, line 36 ff. – Lady Macduff and son discuss birds

Act Five

Scene One, line 7 – a great perturbation in nature to receive at one

Scene One, line 54 and 55 – unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles

Scene Two, line 36 – to drown the weed and dew the sovereign flower

Scene Three, line 25 and 26 – my way of life has fallen into the sere

Birnam Wood moves

Shows the progression of the play

Reflects the action on stage

Reflects death

Macbeth’s character

Sleep and Sleeplessness

Act One

Scene Three, line 19 – sleep shall neither night nor day, hang upon his penthouse lid

Scene Seven, lines 39-40 – Was the hope drunk . . . wakes it now …

Scene Seven, line 65 – when Duncan is asleep . . .

Act Two

Scene One, lines 7-8 – Banquo – a heavy summons lies like lead . . . will not sleep

Scene Two, line 52 – Sleep no more

Scene Two, line 64 – the sleeping and the dead are but as pictures

Scene Three, line 66 – Shake off this downy sleep, death’s counterfeit, and look on death

itself

Act Three

Scene Two, line 19-25 – sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us

nightly

Scene Two, line 25 – Duncan’s in his grave. After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well

Scene Two, line 51 – come sealing night, and scarf up the eye of pitiful day

Scene Four, line 164 – lack the season of all natures, sleep

Scene Six, line 35 – give sleep to our nights

Act Four

None

Act Five

Scene One – Lady Macbeth sleepwalking

Scene Three, line 43 – troubled with thick-coming fancies that keep her from her rest

Guilt

Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s characters

Consequence or punishment

Plot element – play progresses, less sleep