midnight
Thou sure and firm-set earth Hear not my steps , which way they walk , for fear The very stones prate of my whereabout , And take the present horror from the time , Which now suits with it . While I threat , he lives , Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives ; I go and it is done ; the bell invites me . Hear it not , Duncan ; for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell ! '' _ After the murder of Duncan , Lady Macbeth is constantly haunted with the ghost of her victim , and in midnight hours , sick at soul , walks in her sleep , talking of her bloody deed : _ `` Out damned spot ! out I say ! Here 's the smell of the blood still ; All the perfumes of Arabia Will not sweeten this little hand ! '' _ And then retiring to her purple couch , amidst the cries of her waiting woman , she dies with insane groans echoing through her castle halls .