Lady Macbeths sleep walking scene forms a very crucial part of the falling action of the play Macbeth.

This scene underscores the theme of the play that extreme ambition leads to downfall. Lady Macbeth is tormented by guilt and sleeplessness. She is frightened, haunted and broken. In this scene the audience is presented with a very different aspect of Lady Macbeth. She is a ghost of her former self. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth keeps her emotions bottled up. While Macbeth is continually pouring out his miseries to his wife and unloading his heart from the guilt; Lady Macbeth is perseveringly enduring in silence. She goes through the motions of the scenes when Duncan is murdered, when Macbeth sees Banquoes ghost and when Macduffs wife and kids are slain. The doctors words- the heart is sorely charged describe the extreme anxiety and pain lady Macbeth is in. Lady Macbeths sleep walking scene tells to the audience Shakespeares formation of characters. His characters are sketched in shades of gray. They are well rounded- none of them are either completely white or completely dark. If Lady Macbeth comes across to the audience as a very black character, then this scene provides us with her redeeming qualities. We see her anguish and thus establish her as human. As found in Shakespeares drama, the personalities of the characters are revealed through dialogues. Even in this scene, Lady Macbeths personality is revealed through her own dialogues as well dialogues between the gentlewoman and doctor. Lady Macbeths anguished state of mind is reflected in the diction and syntax adopted by Shakespeare in this scene. Unlike Shakespeares usual style, in this scene lady Macbeth strays from iambic parameter. She does not speak in verse in any of her dialogues from this scene. Also her sentences are not very long. In all her dialogues, each sentence refers to an incident in the past which had occurred after Duncans death- The thane of fife had a wife: where is she now?what, will these hands neer be clean?no more o that, my lord, no more o that. As in this dialogue, initially Lady Macbeth reminisces about the murder of Macduffs wife. Immediately she frets about the blood stain and just after that she is talking to Macbeth. Her dialogues clearly are a reflection of her disturbed mental and emotional state. Also, the tone of Lady Macbeths dialogues is morbid. It once again expresses the deep anxiety that is driving her into insanity.

Blood is a recurrent symbol used by Shakespeare to denote Lady Macbeths sense of guilt. She is continually trying to wash away the blood stain from her hand. Out damned spot! Out, I say!one:two:why, then, tis time to dot. these words highlight the sense of desperation with which lady Macbeth is trying to wash of the blood stain. Shakespeare uses a very beautiful hyperbole to describe the strong impression of the blood stain. Lady Macbeth rues heres the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh! In her sleep lady Macbeth is extremely anxious that she is unable to rid herself of the blood stain that is a mark of her guilt. It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands: I have known her continue in this quarter of an hour. Gentlewoman describes this daily activity of Lady Macbeth to the doctor. Lady Macbeth seems obsessed about riding herself of that blood stain. Nearly her every dialogue has reference to that blood stain. Sleep and darkness are other symbols employed by Shakespeare. Sleep represents peace and innocence. Those who can sleep are innocent and thus are at peace with their conscience. As Lady Macbeth is guilty she is in turmoil and thus can not sleep. She is haunted by her guilt and she keeps on reminiscing her past. In the passage, darkness represents a ghost which haunts the guilty. This is why Lady Macbeth is scared of the dark. She has light by her continually; tis her command. These words of gentlewoman tell that lady Macbeth can no longer abide by the dark. She needs the support of candlelight to protect her self from the demons of the dark. We can ascertain that lady Macbeth is wary of the dark because she says, hell is murky, implying that she is already acquainted with that hell and darkness and she wants to extricate herself from it. The sleep walking scene of Lady Macbeth contains a lot of irony. Lady Macbeths dialogues that are reminisces of the past reflect her former self; however, in this scene, paradoxically because of her dialogues we see an altogether different aspect of Lady Macbeth. You mar all with this starting- this was the advice given by lady Macbeth to Macbeth when he was hallucinating in the party. Ironically in this scene she gives her self totally away by speaking about everything in her sleep. The readers can know through this scene that lady Macbeth had been a calm, practical and astute lady. She tells Macbeth- Banquo's buried; he cannot come out on's grave. We see that she is unaffected as well as astute. She even says- What's done cannot be undone. But

paradoxically her very outpouring shows how hollow these incisive statements are. Earlier in the play, she possessed a remarkable strength of will. It is she who steadies her husbands nerves after the murder. When Macbeth in his anguished senses says that there is so much blood on his hands that it cant be clean, Lady Macbeth logically points out that the blood can be washed away with a little water. Ironically in this entire scene she is trying to wash away the blood which does not seem to go. What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? she asks, claiming that as long as they are in power their guilt cannot harm them as nobody would dare to challenge their authority. But her guilt stricken state and her accelerating anxiety reveal the irony of the words. Even though nobody has yet accused them of murder, Lady Macbeth is already suffering because of the burden of her guilt. She has created her own hell which is pulling her further in darkness. I would not have such a heart in my bosom for the dignity of the whole body. These words of gentlewoman reveal the calamitous repercussion of Macbeths and Lady Macbeths deed. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth now rule as aristocrats, but now they are sagged with a burden which doesnt let go. The words of gentlewoman allude towards a very significant question- we run crazy after wealth, fame, luxury in our life but ultimately are these things so important that we should forgo our conscience? Our avarice for certain things sometimes make us so blind that we forget about things that matter. Earlier, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth did not have the luxury of highest royal life but they had respectability, peace and happiness. Now they are haunted by demons of their guilt. Lady Macbeth does not even have the luxury of a small thing like peaceful sleep. She is slowly sliding into insanity. Even though simple, her former life was definitely much better than her present.