This is a really novel way to look at the character of
Macbeth and his rise to power. Although Macbeth definitely does achieve the greatness
and the position of power that he wanted, the play gives testimony to the way in which
he pays a terrible price for this ambition and rise to power. If his haunted soliloquies
in Act I aren't a clear enough indication of the way that ambition is destroying him,
his response in Act II scene 2 after killing Duncan clearly points towards the way that
his crime and evil is literally eating him up. One way in which this is shown is the
insomnia that plagues Macbeth. Note what he says to his wife after killing
Duncan:
Methought, I heard a voice cry, "Sleep no
more!
Macbeth does murder Sleep,"--the innocent
Sleep;
Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleave of
care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's
bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great Nature's second
course,
Chief nourisher in life's
feast;--
Not being able to
enjoy sleep and its restorative benefits is a key way in which Macbeth is shown to pay a
terrible price for his rise to power. You might also like to analyse the way in which,
as Macbeth continues on his course, he becoms increasingly isolated, even from his
partner in crime, Lady Macbeth. Also, consider the way in which he is tortured by the
nebulous and equivocal prophecies that the witches give him.
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