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Essay Comparing Macbeth And As You Like It

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Shakespeare’s Macbeth and As You Like It have very similar themes with the characters as it shows how the roles of life and death are significant to human existence. In Act V, Scene 5 of Macbeth, Macbeth’s poem-like monologue shines light on how life is short and each day is closer to death. In Act II, Scene 7 of As You Like It, Jaques compares the whole life cycle to a play with different short acts that ends with an old decrepit man that has no fight left in him. The tone and imagery of these two monologues displayed the concept of humanity and life and death.
The tone for both excerpts is extremely mournful and somber. When talking about death, both speakers (Macbeth and Jaques) relate to it depressingly. In Macbeth, he refers to life as ,”but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.” Macbeth portrays life as a one-hit wonder, famous one day and never seen ever again. As You Like It portrays life in a more secular way. In life, you go from being a fresh baby to a fading old man; and at the end, there’s nothing “sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.” What you’re met with is oblivion. The sorrowful tone portrays the difficult balance of life vs. death and how people deal with it. …show more content…

Macbeth brings his point to life by one simple line: “Out, out, brief candle!”. Life is like a candle, lit one moment and out the other without a single thought about it anymore. Jaques’ point is imagined throughout the monologue. Jaques compares the life cycle to a play with seven acts: baby, child, lover, soldier, judge, elder, and eventually death. Using specific descriptions for each “act” utilizes the reader’s comprehension on how every part of life plays into the final, inevitable part: death. The imagery also pushes the secular reasoning of death that nothing happens when you

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