Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5 Solioquy Jamie Pat

Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5 Solioquy Jamie, Pat, Tyler, Liz, and Zoe

Context • Macbeth just found out that his wife has died • Lady Macbeth has been driven crazy by guilt • Macbeth's confidence shaken but still holding on to the witches' prophecies about the Woods of Birnam and a man not born of a woman. • Lady Macbeth's death makes him contemplate mortality and value of life

Soliloquy She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

"She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. " -It was not Lady Macbeth's time to die. -Should have or could have lived a longer and fuller life or - at a time when Macbeth can mourn her properly -"Word" refers to death, the "time" for it was not right

To-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! -Repitition of tomorrow for emphasis -Time moves on, however slowly, forever -Everybody is going to die eventually, each day brings us one step closer to "dusty death" -"Brief candle" - metaphor for short life, contrasting with endless time -"Petty" = Slow -Gothic Imagery

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. -Embraced a nihilistic view that life is meaningless and everybody is going to die -DISTRAUT that his wife is dead -"Shadow" signifies the insubstantiality of life, "tale" connotes insignifigance.

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Reminiscent of line in As You Like It: "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts" -Metaphor: Life as a nervous actor that completes a play is life!

Importance to play as whole • Macbeth is riding the karma train now • Audience begins to feel sympathetic towards Macbeth • First of many events leading to his downfall • Foreshadows Macbeth's downward spiral • Reveals Macbeth's attitude towards death