That Shake Us Nightly Analysis

In Act III of Macbeth by Shakespeare, Macbeth has done so many horrible things to the detriment of his health, but he still tries to justify what he has done. When Macbeth is talking to Lady Macbeth about his troubled thoughts, as he feels guilty for killing so many people, he says “And [we’re unable] sleep / In the affliction of these terrible dreams / That shake us nightly. Better be with the dead, / Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, / Than on the torture of the mind to lie / In restless ecstasy” (III.ii.20-25) to her to emphasize his guilt. He first begins by explaining how he cannot sleep, saying “And [we’re unable] to sleep / In the affliction of these terrible dreams / that shake us nightly” (II.ii.20-13) which shows that he is …show more content…
She feels guilt as well as Macbeth, but only shows it when nobody is around to see her, such as when she is trying to sleep. Macbeth then depicts the unnatural events that occurred due to his coronation and assassination of the king as terrible dreams. This shows that he is not accepting that these events are real, and is still in denial that he has done terrible things to achieve his goals. Dreams are things that people cannot control, as they happen in a state of unconsciousness, but Macbeth did not have to kill the King. He does not want to admit to himself that it is his fault that the sun is not rising, and the royal horses are eating one another. Macbeth wants to believe that he is living in a nightmare, the effects of physically killing someone important and ordering the death of someone he cared about weighing down upon him.To justify his belief that it was not fully wrong to have murdered the King and ordered the death of Banquo, he says “Better be with the dead, / Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace”