Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5 Analysis

The following is from act five, scene five, during Macbeth’s monologue, with Seyton speaking once:

“I have almost forgot the taste of fears. // The time has been my senses would have cooled // To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair // Would at the dismal treatise rouse and stir // As life were in ‘t. I have supped full with horrors. // Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, // Cannot once start me. // Wherefore was the cry?”

[SEYTON:] “The Queen, my lord, is dead.”

“She should have died hereafter. // There would have been a time for such a word. // Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow // creeps into this petty pace from day to day // To the last syllable of recorded time, // And all our yesterdays have lighted fools // The way to dusty death. 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 // Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, // Signifying nothing.”
In this quoted scene, Macbeth hears a piercing scream, in which he states that harsh and evil noises can no longer scare him. Macbeth, who once would’ve been troubled by this unsettling sound, now finds this shriek extraneous. This reaction to a blood-curdling scream marks the end of Macbeth’s character progression throughout the play. His change from a man once scared to place knives next to a someone he hesitantly murdered into one who is not phased by screams of death is represented by this haunting dialogue. Macbeth states in this portion of his monologue that he has been “supped full with horrors” and is “familiar to his slaughterous thoughts”, stating that these screams have not bothered him due to the despicable things he has done and seen already. These phrases are used earlier in the play after the death of Banquo, used again perhaps to mirror the progression of Macbeth’s character from a humble, noble man to a ruthless, monstrous killer. This reuse of these phrases also reminds the audience of the terrible deeds done by Macbeth, calling to mind memories and visions of Macbeth’s vicious murders.
This speech made by Macbeth not only marks his loss of his beloved wife, but his loss of purpose in its entirety.

Though normally one would be shaken by the death of their wife, especially one like Macbeth, who is shown throughout the play to love his wife even during the various conflicts, he seems not bothered by this hallowing news. Macbeth reminds the audience of the futility of life itself, asserting that life is “as brief as a candle” and just a “walking shadow”. This use of imagery in these lines calls forth the images of the ephemeral items named, drawing forth in our mind imaginings of the briefness that is life. Macbeth also cites the metaphor of people as actors in a play, worrying about their time on stage, only to be heard no more. This represents the fear people have of life, only to die unknown and unremembered. Macbeth argues that this fact of life is one that has happened and will happen until the “last syllable of recorded time”. By using this exact and rather severe phrase, Macbeth reminds us that this is a fate all humans must and will face, as death excludes none from its

grasp.
Macbeth’s terrible actions throughout the play lead to reasoning that life itself is futile and meaningless, serving no greater purpose other than death. Our lives as a whole are unremarkable, being compared to a “shadow”. One could infer that Macbeth’s lack of empathy and concern for Lady Macbeth’s untimely fate is due to the realization of the hopelessness and futility of life, supported by the concluding sentences of his monologue, confirming his belief that life is meaningless.
One of the greater purposes of this scene is to awaken our underlying sympathy for Macbeth, which was perhaps disregarded by the audience after his brutal killings. This scene creates the empathy necessary to truly form Macbeth’s forthcoming death into the tragedy that the title itself suggests it is. This pity and sorrow we feel for Macbeth is reinforced by his following soliloquy about the hollowness of life, creating even more compassion and understanding for the “hero” of the play. His loss of interest and faith in the world and life itself sparks a greater essential sympathy that the audience feels for Macbeth. It could also be argued that the lack of explanation of Lady Macbeth’s death is employed by the playwright in order to not draw away from the purpose of this scene, which is to build the empathy essential prior to the death of Macbeth. The primary focus of the scene is the concentration of an affinity and sympathetic behavior for Macbeth, just preceding his untimely and tragic death.