Macbeth has recently met with the Weird Sisters who told him that he would become the Thane of Cawdor as well as King of Scotland. Because he learns from Ross that he has, indeed, been given the title of Cawdor immediately following the Weird Sisters' apparent prediction, Macbeth quickly begins to believe that the second prophecy will come true as well. He begins to desire the position of king, a role he never seems to have considered for himself before. When Duncan names his son, Malcolm, the Prince of Cumberland and his heir to the throne, Macbeth is disappointed to say the least. To himself, he says that he will either have to halt his progress to the throne now or jump over this step to becoming king. He speaks to the stars, asking them to go dark so that no one will be able to see his "black and deep desires"; in other words, he now fully admits to himself that he wants the throne and everything that comes with it. This also begins to foreshadow the terrible deeds of which Macbeth will be capable later on.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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