Body 2

• This toll on one’s conscience can also be seen through the use of language by Lady Macbeth and in regard to her, as both gender roles and religious beliefs have caused her to be wholly consumed by her guilt.
• Religious language is used by both the doctor and gentlewoman contrasting with Lady Macbeth’s sins.
• This brings focus to the unnaturalness of her actions up to this moment in Act 5 Scene 1.
• The doctor says, “More needs she the divine than the physician.” which portrays Lady Macbeth’s need for god rather than physical assistance.
• This religious language highlights the unnatural nature of her actions of sleepwalking, as an inability to sleep peacefully is seen as a product of one’s guilty conscience.
• This is also referred to through the Doctor’s allusion to “Unnatural deeds” and “Infected minds” which are perceived qualities of witches in this period, who also go against the status quo.
• As Lady Macbeth sleepwalks, the use of syntax in her pattern of speech takes a drastic change as she previously spoke her phrases in verse but now does so in prose: “To bed, to bed. There’s knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed.” (Act 5 Scene 1)
• The syntax of her dialogue primarily features repetition in this scene and truncated sentences, which portrays the unraveling nature of her subconscious behaviours as she turns mad when she sees imaginary blood on her hands.
• Her change to prose is often spoken by one who is mentally falling apart, showing how the guilt she feels has crushed her originally strong and assertive character.
• This change in manner also reflects gender roles in society at the time of Macbeth, as women were often repressed and silenced.
• Lady Macbeth does this to her sins, so much so, that it has worked its way into the subconscious, affecting the seemingly innocent action of sleeping peacefully.
• This reflects how the repression of such sins due to religious beliefs, gender roles, and stereotypes has completely affected her conscience and in turn, influenced her subconscious.