Macbeth’s State of Mind After Committing the Murder of Duncan

After stabbing the sleeping Duncan to death, Macbeth return wild and panic-stricken and tells his wife that he has done the deed. He tells her that as he descended the stairs one of Duncan’s two sons who were sleeping in the adjoining room, laughed in his sleep and other cried ‘murder’ in his sleep. In this way the two sons woke each other up. But the next moment they offered their prayers to God, and prepared themselves to sleep again. He again said that one of them cried ‘God bless us!’ and the other said ‘Amen’. Hearing their cry of fear, Macbeth tried to say ‘Amen’ but he could not utter the word

because the word stuck in his throat. This had terrible unnerved him. When Lady Macbeth tried to quiet him, he said that he also heard a voice warning the sleeper to sleep no more for Macbeth had murdered the sleeping king. The mysterious voice further predicted that Macbeth should sleep no more for he had murdered sleep. In such a confusion state of mind, he had brought the daggers back. Her wife bade him go and replace the daggers which he refuses to do. Thus, after committing the murder, Macbeth is almost in a state of trance with the horror of what he has done.

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