In some way or other, she must cure herself of these visions-an answer that displeases Macbeth. The doctor replies that she is “not so sick” but troubled with visions (39). After calling for his servant Seyton to help him put on his armor, Macbeth demands the doctor’s prognosis about Lady Macbeth. Since both of the events seem impossible, Macbeth feels invincible.Ī servant enters with the news that the enemy has rallied a thousand men but Macbeth sends him away, scolding him for cowardice. He feels consoled, however, by the witches' prophesy that he has nothing to fear until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane, or until he counters a man not born of woman. Act 5, Scene 3Īt Dunsinane, Macbeth tires of hearing reports of nobles who have defected to join the English forces.

They claim that they will 'purge' the country of Macbeth's sickening influence (28). The thanes Menteith, Caithness, Angus, and Lennox march with a company of soldiers toward Birnam Wood, where they will join Malcolm and the English army. He takes his leave, asserting that he and the gentlewoman had better not reveal what they have seen or heard. As the sleepwalking Lady Macbeth imagines she hears knocking at the gate and returns to her chamber, the doctor concludes that Lady Macbeth needs a priest's help and not a physician's. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand' (37-43). She cannot get the stain or smell of blood off her hand: 'What, will these hands ne'er be clean. Lady Macbeth seems to be reliving the events on the night of Duncan’s death. As she continues to 'wash' her hands, her words betray her guilt to the two onlookers. The doctor and the gentlewoman watch as Lady Macbeth rubs her hands as if washing them and says ' Yet here's a spot. The gentlewoman reports that Lady Macbeth asks to have a light by her all night.

The two are interrupted by a sleepwalking Lady Macbeth, who enters carrying a candle. The gentlewoman dares not repeat what Lady Macbeth says while thus sleepwalking. The gentlewoman describes how she has seen Lady Macbeth rise, dress, leave her room, write something on a piece of paper, read it, seal it, and return to bed-all without waking up. The doctor reports that he has watched her for two nights now and has yet to see anything strange. At the Scottish royal home of Dunsinane, a gentlewoman has summoned a doctor to observe Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking.

Macbeth annotations act 5