Valor and Corruption in Macbeth Literary Analysis Essay Sample

The story of Macbeth is one of valor and it’s corruption. Macbeth was a man of bravery and nobility until twisted by the Witches prophecy. He sought out the crown through greed, and, with his wife, killed Duncan. While they gained the title of king and queen, the Macbeths’ mental stability shattered, along with the peace in their kingdom. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, sleep is connected to guilt, illustrating the corrupting influence of immoral actions on the mind, and the minds around them. 

Macbeth was once a man of valor and glory, fearless in battle, and a good man at heart. The good man in him fled, however, once the Witches’ prophecy came to him. He, along with his wife, hatched and executed a plan to kill the king. After the deed was done, Macbeth had heard voices, voices crying “sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep” and “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more.” (2/2/47-50 & 54-57) His mental state had its beginning crack, starting his spiral downwards toward his downfall. His fears and anxieties consumed him, bringing him to more and more blood on his hands. He murdered his best friend out of fear of the prophecy coming to light, and his ghost came back to taunt him into a fit. The fit leading to the dismissal of the lords at the banquet, and the remarks of Macbeth saying “Strange things I have in head that will to hand, which must be acted ere they may be scanned” (), with his wife saying to rest and sleep on it, but Macbeth agreeing– “Come, we’ll to sleep. My strange and self-abuse is the initiate fear that wants hard use. We are yet but young in deed” (). He found himself losing sleep due to his fears, unable to rest and focusing on the blood on his hands. The lack of sleep leading to his crazed actions later in the book, causing his downfall. 

While not committing the crime herself, Lady Macbeth took the weight of the crime as well, if not more. She was like a rock, both being unmovable on Duncan’s murder, and grounding Macbeth to reality after the fact. Although, behind the scenes she was just as unstable as her husband. The murder didn’t affect her at first, but then we learn of her sleep walking incidents. On multiple occasions she wanders the halls, scrubbing her hands and crying “The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? – What? Will these hands ne’er be clean? – No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that: you mar with all this starting” (), and the fearful “Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not so pale. –I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave… To bed, to bed! There’s knocking at the gate: come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone. –To bed, to bed, to bed” (). The peak inside her broken mind shows the breaking and corruption that can be done to a person, along with it’s severity with Lady Macbeth’s tragic death by her own hand.

The subjects of Duncan’s kingdom, even with the occasional battles, were at peace. They had a king who was righteous, one who everyone loved and respected, until Macbeth. He killed the peace and his “fiend-like” wife had planted the bloody daggers on the guards, and had “smear the sleepy grooms with blood” () to place the blame on the innocent. The former glory of Duncan’s reign was long in the distance, with Macbeth’s tyranny overhead. The lords were suspicious of Macbeth, and planned an over throw, to “again give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights, free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives” (). When Macbeth was replaced with Duncan’s son, Malcolm, the people could sleep once more. They hadn’t a reason to fear their murder as they once had under Macbeth blood-covered hands of Macbeth.

Sleep is a vital necessity to humans, allowing them to function where a sleepless one couldn’t. The haunting guilt of the lives taken left Macbeth's restless, leading to further insanity and delusional acts. The acts causing the people of his kingdom to have sleepless nights in fear of losing their, or their families’ lives. In the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the symbol of sleep shows ones peace, and with the corrupt actions of the Macbeths, lead to the cracking of not only their minds, but their subjects as well.