Macbeth+Project+-+Ayla+K+-+collage



Throughout Macbeth, there are many twists and turns but three things are constant during the play. When you take a step back and look at the play as a whole, you see three motifs that continue throughout Macbeth: sleep, milk and blood. The first obvious mention of sleep was in Act 2 when Macbeth hallucinates about seeing a bloody dagger in the air. His rational for this hallucination, is that the curtains around his bed keep out drafts, but wicked dreams can penetrate not only the drafts, but his sleep as well. Later, we see Macbeth stab and kill Duncan while he is asleep. Sleep is supposed to be a time where person can be completely carefree, safe and innocent. Instead, Macbeth has used Duncan’s vulnerability while sleeping to his advantage and killed him in the middle of the night. So, “Macbeth does murder sleep, the innocent sleep”. The Motif of milk is also used to make a vulnerable person weak. Lady Macbeth insults her husband (while he is conflicted about what he should do after the witches prophecies) by saying '”too full o' th' milk of human kindness” . She is calling him out on being soft hearted and kind; like women who would be ‘full of milk’. She says this even though she is a woman. And finally, the motif of blood is possibly the most prominent in the play. The play is called //The Tragedy of Macbeth//, so just from reading the title; readers know that there will be lots of murders and therefore, lots of blood. Macbeth kills Duncan and two guards. A hired hit-man commits a murder and Lady Macbeth kills herself. Spanning throughout the play, blood is what ties all the characters together. In conclusion, I put together a collage of images that best represents my understanding of the play and those images are of sleep, milk and blood – the three motifs that connect the play from beginning to end. a

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