A visual hallucination is an image of something that is not actually there but seems extremely real. A dream is a viewing of images, thoughts, and feelings that play in one’s mind during sleep. The two are almost versions of each other: a hallucination is a dream while you’re awake; a dream is a hallucination while you’re asleep. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have hallucinations and dreams, respectively, that reveal their emotions about the actions they have taken.
“Is this a dagger whichI see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee stil. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable as this which now I draw” (2.1. 44-53). By using apostrophe, Shakespeare reveals Macbeth’s worry about killing Duncan. Macbeth feels guilty about murdering Duncan before he even does the deed. He imagines a dagger and proceeds to imagine the dagger covered in blood, “I see thee still, and, on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood, which was not so before. There’s no such thing. It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes” (2.1. 57-61).
In this quote, Macbeth says that the act of killing (the “bloody business”) is what is making the hallucination of the dagger appear before his eyes. At this point in the play Macbeth realizes that even the thought of killing Duncan engulfs him in guilt, but he commits the crime anyway, leading to many more moments of guilt-caused hallucinations. Shakespeare shows Macbeth’s guilt in the form of hallucinations when he could have just had Macbeth talk about how guilty he felt. Shakespeare did this to show that Macbeth even though was pushing away his guilt and trying to bottle it up, the guilt would come out in one way or another. Guilt is like the monster that hides in the closet during the day and comes out in the night- it will come out at some point, even if you pretend it’s not there. Much later in the play, Lady Macbeth has dreams that show her guilt. One of Lady Macbeth’s gentlewomen calls a doctor, thinking that Lady Macbeth is ill because she sleepwalks. The doctor and the gentlewoman observe Lady Macbeth in the middle of the night as she says, “What, will these hands ne’er be clean? No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that. You mar all with this starting.. Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. 0,0, 0! …
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Wash your hands. Put on your nightgown. Look not so pale… To bed, to bed. There’s knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come. Give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed” (5.2. 53-72). Lady Macbeth relives the night of the murder of Duncan and it’s assumed that this happens often. When Lady Macbeth is awake and alert, she acts as though the murders have not affected her at all but in the dead of the night, when she is asleep, her unconscious mind takes over and lets out all of the guilt that she feels through her dreams. Lady Macbeth is seen as a controlling and powerful woman earlier in the play but in this scene her dreams show her weak side. It becomes obvious that Lady Macbeth does feel guilty about encouraging her husband to kill so that he could become king. Once again, the guilt comes out one way or another. Macbeth’s second scene of hallucinations comes when he is at a banquet. Macbeth leaves the table when someone appears to tell Macbeth of Banquo’s death. After this, Macbeth goes back to the table but finds that the table appears full and that the ghost of Banquo is sitting in his seat. Macbeth speaks to the ghost, saying, “Avaunt, and quite my sight! Let the earth hide thee.
Thy bones are marrowless; thy blood is cold; thou hast no speculation in those eyes which thou dost glare with” (3.4. 113-116). Obviously, there is no real ghost at the dinner table and Macbeth appears insane to all of his guests. Banquo haunts Macbeth, reminding Macbeth that he could have not followed the witches’ instructions, like Banquo. Macbeth feels guilty for two reasons here: the first being that Banquo received the same news from the witches but took no action, Banquo took the higher road; the second being that Banquo died for doing no wrong yet Macbeth is alive and he is the murderer. Macbeth feels guilty that his friend has died in his place. Macbeth’s guilt would not have shown up in the same way if it were not for Banquo appearing in the form of a ghost. For the second time in the play, guilt has caught up with the Macbeth through hallucinations.
William Shakespeare wrote a play of violence, death, and, most importantly, guilt. Shakespeare’s development of the idea of guilt throughout the play demonstrates how guilt plays such a large part in human life. Every time we do something that we feel is morally wrong, we feel guilty eventually. In Macbeth’s case, he did feel guilty immediately after killing Duncan but he pushed the emotion away and it eventually caught up with him through hallucinations of inanimate objects and ghosts. For Lady Macbeth, guilt came much after the action. Lady Macbeth felt guilt acts later and her guilt tumbled out during her dreams. In the end, the two were equally guilty, proving that guilt catches up with you in the end.
