The Writer, Camden writes that Shakespeare writes about the 'healing nature of sleep in that terrible, yet beautiful'… speech by Macbeth. Camden writes about the Elizabethan view on Sleep, the psychology of sleep usually defines sleep as a kind of separation of the soul from the body,' or a rest of the five outward senses, together with the sixth or common sense.' Camden has an interesting and modern view. I feel that Shakespeare did write directly to the fondness of the un-natural and psychological in Elizabethan and Stuart England.
Shakespeare puts images of death into this speech by Macbeth,
-the death of each day's life, sore labour's bath- is a strong link to death and sleep. When Macbeth hears the line,
Glamis hath murdered sleep, and there Cawdor
Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more!"
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 2.2
It increases his fear and distress. He fears that he will no longer be able to sleep due to the burden in his mind caused by the killing of the King. Lady Macbeth also talks about death in this scene, primarily to calm her husband down. It is as if the men praying can see Macbeth's bloodied hands themselves.
“The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures.” Shakespeare writes that the dead and those sleeping are hard to tell apart, they are both similar in their looks. But not only this point, it could also be said that the dead being similar to pictures is a way of showing the dead's' lives. Like a picture of their life yet silent and still.
Perhaps Lady Macbeth says this to calm her husband down, but there is some hint of irony in her words, as by the end of the play the murder of Duncan leads her to her own suicide.
Before the end of the scene, Macbeth cries out
" Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!"
This is another indication that death and sleep are very similar. Though Macbeth would rather Duncan still be sleeping than be dead, as Macbeth's worried and hurried speech seems to indicate. Shakespeare uses the same idea of awaking from sleep and not being able to wake up from death in the next scene.
In Macbeth Act II Scene III when Macduff sees the King's body he cries out:
Awake, awake!
Ring the alarum-bell. Murder and treason!
Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake!...
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 2.3
Macduff is saying, wake up sleep is just an illusion of death, come here and see the King to look upon the reality of death. A never-ending sleep. It could be said that as from your graves rise up and walk like sprites be, aswell as imagery about those rising from their sleep, to give out the imagery of a ghost. Ghosts are inked to dreams and hallucinations in both plays, but also sleep. Macbeth mentions how Banquo is not lying in a grave and appears alive instead of dead.
In Julius Caesar the idea is of Calpurnia crying out in her sleep.
"Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night:
Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out,
'Help, ho! they murder Caesar!' "
-William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 2.2
Here is a link between sleep and death, yet not in the previous sense. This quote concerns how dreams can give an indication of death, so it is not the same as sleep being a deception of death.
There is a moment in Julius Caesar, which can be used to back up the idea that Shakespeare links murder and death together, while if Shakespeare wants to portray the idea of a conscience (the character has yet to dehumanise themselves, for example, Macbeth's mind and sanity deteriorates through the play) he gives them worry over what they have done. In this scene, Act Four, Scene Three of Julius Caesar, murder is linked with sleep.
Infact, Shakespeare writes that directly, that the tune played by Lucius has been stopped by this 'murd'rous slumber'. However, the point of this is that Lucius can sleep, he has a mind with no worries, he is an innocent child. Whereas Brutus has committed Regicide ,in a sense, similar to Macbeth, he has killed and must face the inevitable, a battle with Mark Anthony (similar to Macbeth and Macduff.)
Shakespeare often links images of ghosts and the Supernatural into dreams from characters who are in great distress, danger or and about to commit a terrible act.
This appears in both Macbeth and Julius Caesar, in one, dreams are used as a warning and in the other dreams are used as a torment, with imagery that drives the individual mad.
In Macbeth, Act Three Scene Four, Macbeth, while not dreaming but hallucinating sees the Ghost of Banquo who he had ordered to be killed. Shakespeare uses visions of the dead to strike fear into the characters that witness them. Often a sign of forlorn hope for that character in the proceeding part of the play.
" Prithee, see there! behold! look! lo!
how say you?
Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.
If charnel-houses and our graves must send…
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 3.4
Macbeth in this scene is in a worried state of mind when he sees Banquo's ghost. He questions as to why it has appeared and even if it is really there.
It is a modern view that Shakespeare used the 'unconscious mind' in his work. This is were characters see certain things in their mind's eye. Often they are called hallucinations and Shakespeare does use them often in both of these plays, Macbeth having the majority of them. He uses the Unconscious mind to also explain why a character may be acting strangely, like Macbeth seeing a bloody dagger pointing towards Duncan's room.
In Macbeth, Banquo's ghost shows itself to the character, and only Macbeth, who ordered the murder of Banquo. The same is in Julius Caesar, it only shows itself to Brutus, one of the conspirators, and it does not disturb Lucius who is sleeping.
"Thy evil spirit, Brutus.
Why comest thou?
To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi…
Ill spirit, I would hold more talk with thee."
-William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 4.3
Some people see this scene as necessary scene to show the downfall of Brutus, but that it is also not constructed very well. A scene which could have been made as dramatic as its premise but Shakespeare gave the characters a brief exchange just to set the ending of the play and it would appear nothing more. I feel that Shakespeare decided to use Caesar's ghost to show where the play would progress next was to link all the scenes after it together. Showing Caesar's ghost would show how the country had gotten into despair after his death coming together into a civil war.
But not only does Banquo's ghost appear to Macbeth in the form of a hallucination, the dagger covered in blood that points towards Duncan's room also appears to Macbeth in a hallucination. Dire imagery is a theme that runs all the way through Macbeth beginning at the Witches with their prophecy which in turn leads to more supernatural visions in the form of a baby and a line of Banquo's descendants.
Calpurnia's dreams are mentioned in Julius Caesar, they are in a way foreshadowing events and act as warning for Caesar's death later on in the day.
"Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace tonight. Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out,
'Help ho, they murder Caesar!'…"
-William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 2.2
Dreams or visions of the future or of prophesies are common place in Shakespeare and here is no exception. Calpurnia is troubled by this dream and events inside of it such as
"Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds in ranks and squadrons and right form of war, Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol…"
-William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 2.2
The images seen by Calpurnia describe a battle with intense drama and awe inspiring grandeur. Some would say that it reflects Caesar's power and what the consequences of his downfall could be.
Julius Caesar was a play for the masses. It was made to show the tragedy of Brutus and Caesar and the rise of Mark Anthony in Roman history, a subject of interest to many people at the time. Dreams and visions are used to foretell events that are going to happen, possibly out of creating a plot of intrigue, or just possibly to act as a way so the public seeing the play understand what is going on and what is about to happen. It is clear that Shakespeare constantly linked sleep with death in his plays, Macbeth and Julius Caesar. Sleep is used in Macbeth primarily to show the character's emotions or used as a basis for which dreams and visions would be used to express the character's emotions. While Julius Caesar uses visions and dreams as a way of signalling death, Macbeth instead uses sleep as the main way death is often portrayed. Visions can be used as a warning, a character that ignores said warning is likely, from an audience perspective, to face consequences.
Alluding to death while sleeping is itself quite an effective way of showing the audience the feelings of the characters. Since death and sleep are at a glance very similar, it serves Shakespeare's plays very well.
Bibliography
A.W. von Schelgel; W. Hazlitt; Sarah Siddons; The Romantics on Shakespeare, Ed. Jonathan Bate. (1992)
Prefaces to Shakespeare Vol. 2, Harley Granville-Barker. (1930)
Will In The World, Stephen Greenblatt. (2004)
The Age of Shakespeare, Frank Kermode. (2004)
Shakespeare’s Language, Frank Kermode. (2000)
Shakespeare The Thinker, A.D. Nuttall. (2007)
The Wheel Of Fire, G. Wilson Knight. (1949)
In Search Of Shakespeare, Michael Wood. (2003)
The Players' Shakespeare-Julius Caesar, Ed. J.H. Walter (1962)
The Arden Shakespeare-Macbeth, Kenneth Muir (1980)
Websites-
www.wikipedia.org/unconsiousmind
www.jesus-is-lord.com/kjmacbet.htm
internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/history/james.html
www.enotes.com › Shakespeare Home › Shakespeare Quotes
-Shakespeare on Sleep and Dreams, Camden p111
-Acknowledged editing on Wikipedia article on Unconscious Mind
