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.
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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
Shakespeare, in his play ‘Macbeth,’ establishes alliteration and foreshadowing in Act 5, Scene 5 to convey how the author exhibits life through Macbeth’s soliloquy. Through repetition of and relation to time, Shakespeare defines how life is nothing more than a promising illusion. The hopeless tone Shakespeare represents is reflected through the alliteration of words similarly relating to time or the passing of time, referencing the theme of unchecked ambition leading to the corruption and fall of even the best individuals in order to send an important life message to his Elizabethan audience.
In the play ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare, light and dark imagery is used throughout the story in order to show the difference and symbolism between good and evil. Light represents innocence, truth and purity while darkness is used to represent cruelty, guilt and corruption. Towards the end of the play, Shakespeare correlates the ideas of both lightness and darkness to portray life and death. Ultimately, they represent good and evil. Shakespeare uses these two themes to drive the plot and story forward in order to create conflict, twists and symbolism.
"Macbeth" is a tragic play that was written by William Shakespeare in the early 1600’s. It revolved around the character Macbeth and his urge to become king of Scotland. Macbeth had to do anything possible to become the king including murder, lying, and deception. However, Macbeth committed these evil deeds due to some influential people in his life. Between Macbeth’s wife persuading him to do anything to become king and the witches prophesying over him causes Macbeth to try and bury the past and control the future.
On a “foul” thunderous day in Scotland, Macbeth a tragic hero is forced to seek out witches in hope to know what his future entails. This visit is set of a dark and filthy cave referred to as the heath. The failed assassinating of Fleance and Macduff rude disregard for Macbeths banquet foreshadows Macbeth actions at this point in the play. Macbeth feels insecure with regards to prolonging his kingship if Fleance, Banquo’s heir still lives. His fear is a result of a prophecy by the witches upon Banquo’s life, before he was brutally assassinated by murders hired by Macbeth. The witches are an emblem of his state of mind and a test of his human agency. The aim of this essay is to explore how William Shakespeare attempts to use dramatic tension to plot the tragedy and ultimately question
Macbeth’s soliloquy, spoken in Act V Scene V offers immerse thematic significance. This soliloquy reflects the sorrow of Macbeth after hearing from Seyton that Lady Macbeth, his wife and queen, is dead. The imagery painted within these lines reflect the journey that Macbeth takes throughout the play, from the courageous soldier to the fallen King. The themes of hopelessness and of fate are captured in his resignation that ‘Life’s but a walking shadow’. Shakespeare vividly presents Macbeth’s mood in these moment and eloquently foreshadows his inevitable downfall.
The greatest problem that faces leaders, in the timeless issue that power always corrupts. This struggle plagues many men over history and turned great men into power hungry, greedy men. These issues are displayed in the novel, Lord of the Flies, and the play, Macbeth. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding is a novel that follows a group of young boys as they try and survive on a deserted island with little hope of ever being seen again. Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is a play that shows how a man without any desire to kill for his personal gain became a bloodthirsty killer looking for any reason to kill anyone in his way. The two pieces of literature are set over nine centuries apart, but they share similar conflicts that power caused
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a brilliant work by the playwright William Shakespeare. As the title of the play suggests, there are several negative events that take place in the play. The one that will be focused on in this paper is the death of Lady Macbeth, the titular character’s husband. Specifically, lines 17 to 28 will be focused on from Act 5 Scene 5. One thing interesting to note about this passage is that Macbeth is the only one that reflects upon his wife’s death. Seyton merely reports this news. I think Shakespeare had this happen to show readers that loved ones are the only ones who have the right to speak of someone’s life and/or death. Regardless, it is interesting to note that Macbeth is not breaking down emotionally because of this. He was more preoccupied with the impeding war, but he also expected Lady Macbeth to die soon. What he loses from his wife’s death is his resolve and purpose in the world. Macbeth develops a pessimistic attitude towards life which is only further grown when his wife dies. I will argue that Shakespeare uses the literary devices of metaphors and repetition in order to show that the titular character in The Tragedy of Macbeth has a negative attitude towards life because he sees no meaning in life.
Shakespeare, in his dramatic play ‘Macbeth’ uses repetition as well as symbolism through a speech in Act 5 Scene 5 to emphasize the idea of how unchecked ambition can lead to the corruption and fall of even the best individuals. Shakespeare’s purpose is to exploit how human beings can easily become greedy and overtake others for their own personal gain. He constructs a despondent tone in order to shed light on this exploitation of human beings in his Elizabethan audience, who at this time believe in a direct relation between human deeds and God, and that nature would punish any wicked deeds.
Shakespeare uses everyday words to make sure that everyone understands Macbeth's heart. He strips all of the fancy out and simplifies the words to really show Macbeth's heart. He uses the theme of destiny and fate to show that death is not avoidable, but it is how he explains it through his wording that makes it sad and hard to read. In the first line Shakespeare uses the phrase "died hereafter". This phrase shows the simplicity of Macbeth's heart while showing that death is not a choice it is going to happen eventually.
After viewing the movie Macbeth, I believe that the movie is very similar to the play with only a few discrepancies for dramatics. In the beginning of the movie, which portrays Act I, the scene opens on the battlefield in which Macbeth and Banquo are introduced by the dying Captain; Macbeth and Banquo are praised as valiant soldiers for Scotland. Just as in the play, Macbeth and Banquo come upon the three witches, but the setting is dark and eery and takes place in what seems to be a warehouse. The three witches stand across the room and address Macbeth as the Thane of Glamis, the Thane of Cawdor, and the future king. They address Banquo with paradoxical statements that are seen in the play as well.
The two films of Macbeth by Stewart and Kurzel both had the same outlook to portray William shakespeare's tragic play. Although each had taken different means to showcase this information. The differences can be noticed through costumes/props, special effects and script usage. Through this criterion, the Kurzel version stands out more because of it’s traditional theme approach to content. During act 1 scene 3 Macbeth and Banquo are announced their prophecies by the three witches, Kurzel takes a more traditional approach versus Stewart. The first thing that was quite evident, was the props and costumes. In the Kurzel version the attire of the soldiers and the witches scary appeal was matched with that stereotypical viewpoint of what barbaric
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a brilliant work by the playwright William Shakespeare. As the title of the play suggests, there are several negative events that take place in the play. The one that will be focused on in this paper is the death of Lady Macbeth, the titular character’s husband. Specifically, lines 17 to 28 will be focused on from Act 5 Scene 5. One thing interesting to note about this passage is that Macbeth is the only one that reflects upon his wife’s death.
It isn’t until he reaches rock bottom that his true existential colors show. When his wife dies, he comes to terms with the futility of all his pain and suffering. All his risk-taking and mental turmoil turns to dust in the wind when his wife dies in vain and his own impending death is on the horizon. He realizes how short life truly is: “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage/ And then is heard no more: it is a tale/… Signifying nothing” (Shakespeare V. v. p. 77). Finally, Macbeth accepts his actions:
He says that days of every human on this earth are short, like a brief candle and is like an ignorant walk towards a fruitless final demise, that of lighted fools all the way to dusty death. He says that an idiot that is, for instance, the playwright who tells a tale with so much sound and fury shows it, but the life is contrived, senseless and will eventually fade into oblivion. Macbeth makes life look like something of unimportance, likening it to an actor in the play, who fills a minor role in a silly play. Macbeth says all these when all seem to be turning against him, his wife succumbs to death and his armies have turned against him, he falls to such pessimism of likening life to above claims mainly due to the rapid change of circumstances in his life. His words seem to be justifying his actions, if things in life in life are useless, then also his dreadful crimes are made to look less awful, just like everything in his life
The value and impact of human life is a topic explored many times in Shakespearian works, and is put to words especially memorably in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, during which Macbeth delivers a soliloquy on the meaninglessness of human life. He compares life to a “brief candle” (V.v.24), and decides that the time of death is irrelevant since we must all eventually pass. This soliloquy is essential to the understanding of Macbeth’s inner thoughts on spiritual and moral matters, as is its communication. The tone and presentation allows the audience to feel Macbeth’s sense of hopelessness, anger and self-justification. Through his final soliloquy certain stylistic choices are made by Shakespeare to draw attention to both the futility