The selected passage is an extract of Act FIVE Scene 5 from The Tragedy of Macbeth written by the world’s famous dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616). It is thought to have been first performed at the Globe Theatre, London in 1611, though it is likely to have been done earlier than this. As set out in the title, the play is a tragedy, central to which is the physical and moral destruction cause when “An ambitious man usurps power … [and] in the process, moral and spiritual are also seriously attacked, but in the end order is restored under a wise, strong and legitimate king” (Total Study Edition, 2016).
Act FIVE is the final act and the climax of the play. According to David Thomas and Andrew Cobham (2015), “This act is of great importance
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The death of Lady Macbeth acts as a “clear recognition of the fragility, and ephemeral nature, of human existence” (Markham, 2016). After the death of apparently the strongest character in the couple, Macbeth is left alone to deal with the actual situation. Killing himself appears the most obvious possible course of actions, but as if Macbeth has finally man up, he decides to fight and face his final judgement. Coupled with this is the element of the passage of time. “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”, “and all our yesterdays have lighted fools”, show how both the past and the future have no significant meaning to the main protagonist. All his glory, power and fame as are meaningless since they all “signify nothing”. Furthermore, it appears that through these lines, Shakespeare is emphasising the theme of existentialism. Though the term came after the Elizabethan period, it can be post applied to this soliloquy. Macbeth has gone through the struggle of murdering and killing, to finally come at the last stage and seeing no value in human life. The feeling like nothing matters “life’s but a walking shadow” portrays how Macbeth has come to a point of his existence where he sees life with its temporary nature thus