What did Lady Macbeth do with her hands while sleepwalking?

Answer 1

According to the Shakespearean play, Lady Macbeth [b. c. 1015] suffered from extreme heartache and mental anguish by the end of the play. Indeed, Act 5 opened with her sleepwalking before two witnesses: her Doctor and her Gentlewoman attendant. As she sleepwalked, Macbeth's Lady talked to herself and kept rubbing at her hands. She talked her way through the motions of appearing to try to get rid of blood.

Answer 2

While sleepwalking in Act 5 Scene 1, Lady Macbeth rubs her hands together [Line 25]. The action is important as an after-the-fact attempt to wash her hands clean of the blood [Lines 48-50] from her husband's murderous acts, and of her own involvement. Also, Lady Macbeth talks out loud about the murders of King Duncan I [Lines 36-38], Macduff's family [Line 40], and Banquo [Lines 60-61]. She even goes so far as to share how she had washed her hands from the blood of the king and his guards and put on her nightgown to make it look as though she just had been awakened from sleep by persistent knocking at the door [Lines 59, 63-65].