Macbeth's Speech Analysis

In Act 5, Scene 5 of Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth delivered an interesting speech, one of the most famous speeches of all Shakespeare's books. In this speech, Macbeth is talking about how life is very pointless and that everyone is forgotten. It it clear that Macbeth is talking about himself and saying that he is “a poor player, / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage” (5.5.24-25). He delivers this speech after receiving news that his wife, Lady Macbeth, has died. After Lady Macbeth dies, Macbeth starts to realize how much of a mess his life is and how pointless it is and how will be forgotten, based on his speech, he insists that his life has no purpose and meaning. Macbeth starts the speech by saying “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” (5.5.19) and says this because he wants to emphasise the meaningless life that he has, as he later goes on and says “Creeps in this petty pace from …show more content…
This part of the speech is the most important because this is where the main point of the speech is, here, Macbeth gets straight to the point and says that life is pointless, and refers to himself as a “poor player” and that he messed up his one chance on “stage” which is actually his throne to be king. And at the very end, he says that the “poor player” is “heard no more” and that he will be forgotten. This really relates to Macbeth’s lifetime, because he did mess up his chance at being king, he did struggle a lot with what he did, and he now believes that he will be forgotten. At the very end of the speech, Macbeth says, “It is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing” (5.5.26-28). By this, Macbeth is saying that life is a story told by an “idiot” and signifies nothing. This sums up the idea of Macbeth’s insignificant, meaningless, pointless, and soon to be forgotten