A "ravell'd sleave" is a tangled skein of thread or yarn. Macbeth uses it as a metaphor for the kind of frustration we experience when we have so many problems that we can't see the end to any of them. In such a case, we often say that we want to "sleep on it" in order to get everything straight. Macbeth also compares sleep to a soothing bath after a day of hard work, and …showed first 75 words of 376 total…

…showed last 75 words of 376 total…sleep. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth certainly appear in their nightclothes, because they want everyone to think they've been sleeping. In addition, the rest of those who are sleeping in Macbeth's castle -- Banquo, Malcolm, Donalbain, and Ross -- must appear in their nightclothes, too. This is clearly implied when Banquo proposes that they hold a meeting, "when we have our naked frailties hid, / That suffer in exposure" (2.3.126-127). Macbeth has indeed murdered sleep Bibliography none