Macbeth – from Act 5 Scene 1, lines 28 to 57
In this extract, Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking.
LADY MACBETH
Yet here’s a spot.
DOCTOR
Hark! She speaks. I will set down what comes from her,
to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly. 30
LADY MACBETH
Out, damned spot! Out, I say! – One, two. Why, then
’tis time to do it. – Hell is murky. – Fie, my lord, fie! – a
soldier, and afeard? – What need we fear who knows it,
when none can call our power to account? – Yet who
would have thought the old man to have had so much 35
blood in him?
DOCTOR
Do you mark that?
LADY MACBETH
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 all with this 40
starting.
DOCTOR
Go to, go to: you have known what you should not.
GENTLEWOMAN
She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of
that. Heaven knows what she has known.
LADY MACBETH
Here’s the smell of the blood still! All the perfumes of 45
Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O! Oh, oh –
DOCTOR
What a sigh is there! The heart is sorely charged.
GENTLEWOMAN
I would not have such a heart in my bosom for
the dignity of the whole body.
DOCTOR
Well, well, well –

GENTLEWOMAN
Pray God it be, sir.
DOCTOR
This disease is beyond my practice. Yet I have known
those which have walked in their sleep, who have died
holily in their beds.
LADY MACBETH
Wash your hands, put on your night-gown. Look 55
not so pale. – I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried: he
cannot come out on’s grave.

Explore how Shakespeare presents the character of Lady Macbeth in this extract.
Refer closely to the extract in your answer.

In Act 5 Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a guilt-ridden and tormented character as she sleepwalks and reveals her inner thoughts. The Doctor and Gentlewoman observe and comment on her behavior, providing insights into Lady Macbeth’s deteriorating mental state.

Lady Macbeth’s guilt and remorse over her role in the murders committed by her husband Macbeth are evident in her sleepwalking. She obsessively tries to remove the imaginary bloodstain from her hand, exclaiming, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” (Act 5, Scene 1, lines 28-29). The repetition of the word “out” and her sense of urgency in trying to cleanse her hand highlight her desperation to rid herself of the guilt that plagues her.