The Doctor Scene

Upon first inspection, the doctor scene (Act 5, Scene 1) is only really meaningful because of Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking episodes, and her famous “Out, damned spot” rant. The doctor has never showed up in the story before, and the person who called the doctor is only described as a “gentlewoman”, so there is not really much opportunity for character development by having these two characters in the play. However, looking closer, the doctor has some pretty meaningful lines. After observing Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking episode, he remarks that “This disease is beyond my practice. Yet I have known those which have walked in their sleep who have died holily in their beds” (5.1.52-54). The doctor is saying that he can do nothing for the situation, but he still believes that there is a chance things will turn out fine for Lady Macbeth. This diagnosis parallels the story as a whole, as the characters are at a point where certain events are set in motion that will determine the outcome of the story, and an outside observer like the doctor cannot change that at this point. This scene’s place in the play as a whole is also representative of this, as since we are in the first scene of the last act, we are literally at the beginning of the end. The endgame has begun for Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, and the doctor is the one mentioning this.

Moving a little bit away from the text, the doctor’s inability to help Lady Macbeth shows how far we have come since Shakespeare’s time in the field of medicine. The doctor clearly doesn’t understand sleepwalking, and there would most likely be a whole slew of other mental issues going on in Lady Macbeth’s head that would not be recognized in Shakespeare’s time. It might be interesting to look back at this play with the lens of modern medicine and try to “diagnose” the mental states of some of the characters.