What is Shakespeare trying to communicate about life in this passage spoken by the character Macbeth?

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Shakespeare is using Macbeth to communicate about life by saying that life is nothing. He is saying this because his wife, Lady Macbeth died before the war started. Macbeth said ‘She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word’. What he is trying to say is that Lady Macbeth should have died after the war ended instead of her got passed away before the war started. Also, he is trying to say that after the war ended, there would have been time to mourn at her. The next thing that Macbeth said is ‘To-morrow, to-morrow and to-morrow, creeps in this petty face from day to day. What he is trying to say is tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and he is also saying that the day will go slower until the day ends. Macbeth said ‘To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools, The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!’ He is saying that all of those who died such as Duncan, Banquo and Lady Macbeth are fools and he told his servant to get out by saying ‘Out, out, brief candle!’ He is saying that his servant is a fool. Another thing that Macbeth said is ‘Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more.’ He is saying that life is nothing and he said that there is no reason why everybody and himself should have a life. Also he is saying that it’s like a poor person who died one hour later and can be never heard again. Lastly, the soliloquy that he said is ‘It is a tale, Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. He is trying to say that it is a story, which was told by an idiot (stupid person), which is full of noises and it means nothing to life. The whole point of Macbeth is to say that life is meaningless. ‘ There are a lot of figuratives, languages (simile, metaphor…), structures and dramatic devices. Shakespear is also using the meter. Firstly, I will be talking about meter (iambic trimeter, iambic pentameter, iambic hexameter…). In line 12, he was using iambic pentameter. In line 2, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10, he was using iambic pentameter. In line 11, he was using iambic hexameter. The second thing I will be talking about is metaphor. The first metaphor is in line 5 and the quote is ‘the last syllable.’

2 Comments

  1. WWW: Sammy you have made some good points. You have remembered to use quotes from the Soliloquy as evidence. You have structered the essay well as I can see that you are going on to talk about language and imagery.

    EBI: you reread your work to check for spelling, punctuation and grammar. Some of your sentences need to be rearranged.

    Please finish the work as i can’t wait to read the rest of it.

  2. Hi Sammy,

    I need to make some amendments to my previous comments as I have noticed several spelling and grammatical mistakes on my part.

    1. spelling number one: structured
    2. I should have used capital I when referring to myself.

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