Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews December 14, 2023 December 7, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
Blood is everywhere in
As in other Shakespearean tragedies, Macbeth’s grotesque murder spree is accompanied by a number of unnatural occurrences in the natural realm. From the thunder and lightning that accompany the witches’ appearances to the terrible storms that rage on the night of Duncan’s murder, these violations of the natural order reflect corruption in the moral and political orders.
Sleep symbolizes the ignorance that many characters find themselves facing throughout the play, and the ways in which this leaves them vulnerable. Murdered while he sleeps, Duncan is quite literally unaware of the danger he is in. Likewise, Lady Macbeth frames Duncan’s own servants, themselves also sleeping. Both actions suggest sleep poses a threat to the characters by rendering them exposed and defenseless. However, it's clear sleep is also necessary; Macbeth thinks he hears a voice saying that he has murdered sleep, highlighting the idea that, having taken advantage of this time of rest and vulnerability and, essentially, Duncan's trust, he has shattered his own mental order and resigned himself to a place of never being able to fully rest again. Disturbed by his own schemes, Macbeth is forced to continue living a life that will always be plagued by his own fractured morals. This is also echoed by Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking habit as she wanders between the world of order and disorder. It is in these fugue states that she is quickest to emphasize her culpability, as she attempts to free herself from the images of her blood-stained hands, ranting about her and Macbeth’s guilt. Straddling the lines between the conscious and the unconscious, Lady Macbeth occupies a world of mangled sleep that reveals itself as only madness. Ironcally, having taking advantage of (and corrupted) the realm of sleep, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth find their own sleep forever tainted.
Sleep also promotes the notion of a spiritual world far beyond the everyday experience of the characters. The three witches offer a hazy middle ground, seemingly only functioning in the halfway space between dreams and waking. Theirs is a realm of prophecy and riddle, where everything they utter could be taken as either direct statements of what will come to pass, transmitted from their netherworld of augury, or merely as ways to toy with the vulnerability of mortals. While this is never given a clear-cut distinction, they continue to support both the appeal and the terror of a space beyond that of everyday waking life.
Take the Themes, Motifs, and Symbols Quick Quiz
Please wait while we process your payment