RALPH: Welcome back, everyone. It's the beginning of Act five, the final act of the tragedy of Macbeth. We learned at the end of Act four that Malcolm and Macduff will join English forces to try to overthrow Macbeth as King of Scotland. From that grand stage of countries at war, we return in Act five to the intimate personal life of Macbeth and his queen, Lady Macbeth. We learn from a doctor and an attendant to Lady Macbeth that the queen hasn't been doing so well. According to the attendant, Lady Macbeth has been sleepwalking in the middle of the night, ever since Macbeth went back into the battlefield to defend his power. According to the attendant's report, Lady Macbeth will get out of her bed, to take paper from her closet, write on it, read it, and then seal it up again and go back to bed, all the while fast asleep. As the doctor puts it, Lady Macbeth must be deeply disturbed to be sleepwalking in that way. But this is all according to the attendant's report, so we're just going to have to take the attendant's word for it until the doctor can see Lady Macbeth for himself. Once we have more to report we'll be sure to update you. Oh dear. And here she is now. Your highness? Lady Macbeth? Oh my. It's just like the doctor and the attendant describe it. Her eyes are open, but their sense is shut. Oh, right, I guess this is part of a routine, too. 

LADY MACBETH: Uh. Yet here's a spot. 

RALPH: Apparently she can do this, pretending to wash your hands like this, for 15 minutes straight. 

LADY MACBETH: Out damned spot. Out, I say. One? Two? Why then 'tis time to do it. Oh, hell is murky. Fie, my lord. Fie. A soldier, and afeared? What need we fear? Who knows it when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him. 

RALPH: Did you hear that? It has to be King Duncan that she's talking about. 

LADY MACBETH: The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now? Ha? Oh. 

RALPH: You mean Macduff's wife. The one your husband had killed. 

LADY MACBETH: What, will these hands ne'er be clean? 

RALPH: I'm not seeing anything on them. 

LADY MACBETH: Oh. Oh. Oh. No more of that, my lord, no more of that. 

RALPH: My lord. That must mean Macbeth. But what does the no more refer to? Know more what? 

LADY MACBETH: You mar all with this starting. 

RALPH: So mar all. She means he's screwing things up with his starting, because he's so nervous about everything. People might be able to tell that something is wrong. 

LADY MACBETH: Oh. Here's the smell of blood, still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh. Oh. Oh! 

RALPH: Oh dear. She really seems to be suffering. As the doctor puts it, her heart is sorely charged. And the attendant says she wouldn't have a heart like this even if it meant she could be queen. I wonder if Lady Macbeth would take it all back if she could? 

LADY MACBETH: Oh, wash your hands. Put on your nightgown. Look not so pale. 

RALPH: Me? No, she's—she's still asleep. 

LADY MACBETH: I tell you, yet again. Banquo's buried. He cannot come out on's grave. 

RALPH: Cannot come out on's grave. She's saying there is no such thing as ghosts. But that's not really true, is it? It seems like Lady Macbeth is being haunted by what they've done as much as Macbeth is. The people in their pasts, the people they've wronged, they just won't leave them alone. That sounds like ghosts to me. 

LADY MACBETH: To bed. Too bed. There's a knocking at the gate. Come, come, come. Give me your hand. What's done cannot be undone. What's done cannot be undone. What's done cannot be undone. To bed. Oh, to bed. To bed. 

RALPH: I know the Macbeth's have done some pretty awful things, but I can't help feeling sorry for her. And that's just from what we've heard her say. As we've heard, the attendant says Lady Macbeth writes during her sleepwalking, too. What could she be writing? Letters to her husband? Confessions? Letters to the dead? And what's her relationship with Macbeth like now? The attendant says Macbeth's been out fighting battles. Do they even talk anymore? You'll remember when Lady Macbeth got the letter from her husband, with the witch's prediction, that he would one day be king. She referred to him as my dearest partner of greatness. Are they still partners? And if not, can they become partners again? I guess we'll find out soon enough.