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 …
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…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