The opposition of light and dark as symbols for life and death is the foundation upon which much of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is built. In Act V Scene V of Macbeth, strong words covey his troubled thoughts to the reader. The tone for Macbeth's speech is set after he hears of the death of his wife, Lady Macbeth. Having lost his queen, and seeing his hopes turn to ashes, the bitter Macbeth now comments on life in caustic words.
"Tomorrow creeps in this petty pace", this signifies Macbeth’s belief in a negative connotation to tomorrow. Tomorrow keeps coming slowly and slyly as if to attack. What exactly does “this petty pace” refer to? It is the progression of life, as Macbeth now sees it. This negative connotation continues to grow because tomorrow is unrelenting. "[T]ommorow creeps...To the last syllable of recorded time." With these dreary remarks Macbeth presents his hopeless outlook. He feels the only way to end the pain of life is through death. He says "and
Macbeth is at the point in his life where he is trapped by his fate. The consequences of his actions have caught up with him. It is a state at which he sees no significance in having lived. "Life's but a walking shadow” to him. Macbeth is saying here that one's life is dark and dreary, and that the light of life only serves to cast a dark shadow. "[A] poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more." A person lives his life like a bad actor. He only gets one chance on the stage, and he does a terrible job. "Struts and frets his hour" says that everyone overdramatisizes events. Life according to Macbeth is like all of these things and eventually it ends.... "Signifying nothing." This outlook demonstrates to us the transition that Macbeth has made from his light, promising outlook at the beginning of the play to the dark, brooding, hopeless views he now expresses in the soliloquy of Act V Scene V.
Example Essays Home
