Close Reading Assignment 9

Act 5, scene 1 of Macbeth depicts a doctor and a maid observing Lady Macbeth sleepwalking and talking.  Lady Macbeth is an iconic character who is known for her bad to the bone and ruthless attitude, and whose ambition fueled her to do irrational things. Until this point where she has finally felt true guilt, and this is seen when the doctor sees her about her sleepwalking. The maid tells the doctor about her recent strange behavior of getting up and washing her hands in the night while still asleep. The sleep walking represents the guilt taking over her being and making her go insane. She can’t function properly anymore, although she didn't physically kill Duncan she partook in it and its metaphorically and literally killing her from guilt. This sleep walking helps the audience get a better understanding of Lady Macbeth character because it shows us that as tough as she has acted she is deep down a very weak character that can not handle the power she sought to have. In the line, “It is an accustomed action with her to seem thus washing her hands” (Macbeth 5.1.30), the maid reveals Lady Macbeth’s continuous mid-slumber ritual.  Hand washing was referenced in Act 2 immediately following the murder of Duncan, however, that action was described to illustrate Lady Macbeth’s desire to destroy any evidence of the murder which would lead to Macbeth or herself being suspected.  In this scene the hand washing is a sub-conscious action meant to show how Lady Macbeth’s heart is burdened and she is desperately trying to cleanse her soul. We can see through this scene that Lady Macbeth’s character has changed quite a bit since the early scenes where she was adamant about Macbeth doing anything he had to in order to be King.  Here, she appears to regret the deaths, especially the wife and children, and wonders if her hands will ever be clean, meaning her heart free of guilt. When a person washes their hands they do it to rid their hands from germs and other unwanted debris and that’s exactly what Shakespeare is implying here. Lady Macbeth is trying to rid herself from the guilt that she has and trying to get over what she did but she cannot.