In Macbeth, analyze Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking in terms of characterization.

Sleep is a prevailing motif in Macbeth.  Shakespeare uses
it throughout the play to show the guilty consciences of  Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.  At
the beginning of the play, after the murder of Duncan, it is Macbeth who is filled with
remorse and guilt.  He is immediately sorry that he committed the act and
cries,

Macbeth
has murdered sleep.

Macbeth shall sleep no
more.

Yet, Lady Macbeth feels
no guilt, no remorse.  She assures her husband that "a little water clears us of this
deed."  She is, unlike Macbeth, thrilled with  the anticipation of how their lives will
change as a result of killing Duncan.

Throughout the play,
Macbeth is troubled with being unable to sleep.  Lady Macbeth refers to his bad dreams,
and his sleepless nights:

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You lack the season of all natures,
sleep.

So, it is fitting that
when Shakespeare shows Lady Macbeth's collapse in Act 5 that she displays her delayed
feelings of regret and guilt through sleepwalking--which signifies a very troubled
sleep.  As Lady Macbeth sleepwalks, she references many of the misdeeds committed by her
husband and especially the murder of Duncan that she had planned.  Her sleep in a way
was "murdered" too, and the only way for her to regain the peace she once had is to
die.

In the play, Shakespeare explores the psychological
consequences of committing immoral acts for personal gain.  He shows the devastating
effects of a guilty conscience through the inability to sleep
peacefully.