In Macbeth, what is the mood for Act 5 scene 1?

When we think of mood we refer to the overall emotion
created by a work of literature. This emotion can normally be described succintly using
an adjective or two. Let us consider what happens in this scene first before deciding
what the mood is. This scene opens with the whispered conversation of the doctor and the
gentlewoman who are discussing Lady Macbeth's condition and how she is sleepwalking and
whilst sleepwalking saying things that the gentlewoman is not willing to repeat. Lady
Macbeth enters and appears to be washing her hands in her sleep and confesses her
involvement in the murder. As she exits, the doctor and gentlewoman discuss the state of
Lady Macbeth but also of Scotland before the scene
ends:

Foul
whisp'rings are abroad. Unnatural deeds

Do breed unnatural
troubles: infected minds

To their deaf pillows will
discharge their secrets.

More needs she the divine than the
physician...

The mood
therefore seems to be one of menace and despair, as we see Lady Macbeth, who was
formerly so resolute, break down under the weight of the evil that she has abandoned her
self to, and we feel sympathy for her character. Likewise the way that her acts have not
just impacted herself but also all of Scotland gives rise to a real feeling of menace,
as we await the invasion of Malcolm's forces to liberate
Scotland.