In William Shakepeare's Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5 begins at castle in Diensinane.
Macbeth begins to tel his people in the castle to start hanging banners on the
castle's walls because their castle is too strong to be overthrown. Macbeth is
confident that his enemies will retreat. In the near distance Macbeth and
others in the castle hear the cry of a woman. Seyton speaks up and announces
that the Queen, Lady Macbeth has been killed. Surprised, Macbeth goes into a
small speech about the events that are taking place and he mentions that his
life is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury". A
messenger interrupts Macbeth's speech and informs him that the English and
Scottish enemies have advanced from Birnamwood to Diensinane. Macbeth becomes
extremely angry and terrified of his fate. He knows that the witches prophecy
told his that he could not die until his enemies reached Diensinanne. Knowing
his fate in the prophecy, Macbeth declares that at least he will die fighting
for what he believes in.
In this certain passage there is a shift in the confidence level of Macbeth. In
the beginning of the scene, Macbeth was confident that his enemies would turn
away and he was almost jolly with no worries like he has been almost the whole
play. When he discovered that his wife had been murdered, Macbeth started to
fear for his life and started to believe that he was in danger and they could
be gutting for him next. Macbeth suddenly realized that the prophecy is coming
true and that his enemies are approaching the castle, Macbeth feels terrified
for his life and especially angry that his life may be coming to an end. This
scene foreshadows Macbeth's death because of all the dangers he is now in.
Macbeth even said he knew he would fight dying.
There are many different components of style in Act 5, Scene 5 of Macbeth. In
Macbeth's speech he repeats the word 'tomorrow' three times to highlight the
fact that the Queen "should have died hereafter." Macbeth thinks she
should have died at least tomorrow after the war so people could mourn her
death properly rather than it happening at the same time as the battle. Also in
this small speech, Macbeth explains, "Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor
player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no
more." Here Macbeth compares his life to an illusion, like a person who is
on stage walking around but never really means anything and goes away without
seeing them again. Therefore, he believes his life is pointless and has no
meaning.
This scene connects with the entire play because it foreshadows the end of the play, Macbeth's death. Macbeth has killed many innocent people just so he could stay king. After Lady Macbeth's death it was obvious that he was next because they both had evil minds. This scene also solidified that the prophecy from the beginning of this play was true. The only thing left in this play was for the actual killing of Macbeth.
