Lady Macbeth appears on stage (in a state of somnambulism) holding a candle in her hand. The audience then learns that “she has a light by her continually” which may or may not represent her phobia of the dark (or Nyctophobia). Light symbolises knowledge, which is the removal of the phobia of the unknown. It is clear to the audience that Lady Macbeth’s conscience has changed. This is also a reason why her words seem incomprehensible – however, the audience are still able to distinguish and comprehend the majority of her speech.
The scene begins with a doctor questioning a gentlewoman about Lady Macbeth’s illness. According to the gentlewoman, since Macbeth has gone to the battlefield, Lady Macbeth has not slept peacefully and frequently walks in her sleep. Lady Macbeth is caught in a vicious cycle of guilt. The trauma of participating in, with her husband, an act of murdering an innocent king has unhinged her psyche.
The audience notes that her speech has become delicate and broken, most likely due to the enormous pressure. The once sophisticated and courteous hostess has become a woman whose speech is incomprehensible. Although there is no structure or logical connections between her memories and sentences, the audience notes that her fragmented language echoes her own and “Macbeth does murder sleep” (Act 2, Scene 2)’s words about the past murders of Duncan, Banquo and Lady Macduff. “The Thane of Fife had a wife...” This proves that her sanity is under great duress. When Lady Macbeth cries “...all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand...” the audience immediately creates a link with Macbeth’s “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/clean from my hand?” (Act 2, Scene 2). Afterwards, Lady Macbeth says, “Banquo’s buried: he cannot come out on’s grave” (referring to the encounter with Banquo’s ghost at the dinner). It is ironical to see that even from his grave, Banquo influences their fate.
Lady Macbeth is obsessed with the spot of blood in her hands. This is a metaphor of guilt. She rubs her hands in a washing action, in an attempt to cleanse her hands, that recalls her line “A little water clears us of this deed” (Act 2, Scene 2), the audience relates this back to earlier in the play when she said “Go get some water and wash this filthy witness from our hand” (Act 2, Scene 2) to Macbeth after Duncan’s murder. She says “Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” – referring to Duncan. She then says “You mar all, with the starting” – referring to Macbeth’s abnormal behaviour when seeing Banquo’s ghost.
Lady Macbeth (in this dreamlike state) hears a knocking at the gate, strongly reminding the audience of the Porter scene (Act II, Scene 3), where the Porter imagines himself sleeping at the gate of hell. The knocking refers to her suffering from the fear of hell. As she understands that her past actions cannot be undone, she humbly surrenders to her fate: “What’s done cannot be undone” which reverses her earlier argument to her husband “What’s done is done” (Act 3, Scene 2). After her speech, the audience sees Lady Macbeth returning to her sleep, which can be seen metaphorically as facing death.
In this passage, Shakespeare shows a broken woman. She is no longer the determined woman who begs the gods to “de-sex” and “take my milk for gall”, but the one who is struggling with her guilt. Lady Macbeth emerges as a human being of flesh and blood as opposed to her “fiend-like queen” (Act 5, Scene 9) described b y Malcolm at the conclusion of the play.