Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5 Language Analysis

The selected passage is an extract of Act 5 Scene 5 from The Tragedy of Macbeth written by the world’s famous dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616). It is supposed to have been first performed at the Globe Theatre, London in 1611, though it is likely to have been performed earlier than this. Central to The Tragedy of Macbeth is the physical and moral destruction cause when; “An ambitious man usurps power and undermines social and political order. 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)

This extract is the last soliloquy of the play. Macbeth has returned from his meeting with the witches and his confidence of

An important technique used by Shakespeare in this extract is repetition mainly in the quote “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” to create powerful effects on the mind-set of the hero (Literacy device, 2017). This element of repetition deepen the pessimistic character of Macbeth towards his future. Shakespeare makes use of metaphor to depict the meaningless of Macbeth’s life, with “tomorrow” interpreted as nothing but only a repetition of the present day. The pause between each “tomorrow”, shows how Macbeth is tired of his existence and how after each word he is losing his purpose in life. According to David Thomas (20150, the repetition of the word “out” from “Out, out, brief candle” indicate “the slipping out of life and metaphor of the candle to show how life is

For example, “tomorrow” is personified as a living entity which “creeps in this petty pace day after day” showing Macbeth’s boredom about life; while “yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusky death” “is personified and compared to the foolish way where people follow to their graves” to express Macbeth undesire to live (ken Roy, 2nd Edition). The personification continues as “life” is given human traits of a “walking shadow” and “poor player” to deepen this short span of life as depicted on a stage which will soon be over as Macbeth life will soon end. This can be seen as a foreshadowing of the outcome of the final