“ 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. “Life’s but a walking shadow.” 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. Life is associated with light but Macbeth is in a state where he sees no significance in having lived. This may very well be why he has such a dreary outlook on life. The consequences of his actions have caught up with him. Macbeth is at the point in his life where he is now trapped by his fate. Although he talks here about life being light (the candle flame), light is not desirable to him. “Out, out brief candle!” Lady Macbeth’s candle has burnt out and soon his will also. He has nowhere in time or space to escape.ĭeath is the only place left to go. The past is pushing him ahead and the future is creeping in on him. When these lines are read together it enables the reader to see the despair and agony Macbeth is now suffering. If the light is life, then the light just leads us to death. What can be taken from this is that from our earliest recollection, we are constantly being guided forward from yesterday to our death. “And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death.” He feels the only way to end the pain of life is through death. “ommorow creeps…To the last syllable of recorded time.” With these dreary remarks, Macbeth presents his hopeless outlook. This negative and dark imagery continues to grow because tomorrow is unrelenting. What exactly does this petty pace refer to? It is the progression of life, as Macbeth now sees it. It keeps coming slowly and slyly as if to attack. “Tomorrow creeps in this petty pace.” The basic feel of this brings a negative connotation to tomorrow. Having lost his queen, and seeing his hopes turn to ashes, the bitter Macbeth now comments on life in caustic words. The tone for Macbeth’s speech is immediately set after hearing of the death of Lady Macbeth. In Act V Scene V of Macbeth, strong words covey all of these thoughts to the reader. The opposition of light and dark as symbols for life and death is the foundation upon which much of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is built.
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