macbeth act 5 Flashcards
“Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him
Embedded and contextualised example: In her final scene, Lady Macbeth unconsciously reflects, while sleepwalking, on everything that she and her husband have done, concluding her first speech by asking “who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him”?
This is a huge and deliberate contrast with Lady Macbeth’s earlier claim that “a little water” would clear her of the murder
The line reminds us of her role in the murder of Duncan (“the old man”) and in particular her painting of the grooms faces with his blood
The motif of blood is again used here - she had no idea that Duncan’s murder would result in so much guilt and remorse
The interrogative clause “who would have thought…” conveys her disbelief and the naivety of her former self - killing has consequences, even for the seemingly cold and emotionless - remorse is inescapable
Relevant characters and themes: Lady Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand
Embedded and contextualised example: During her final sleep-walking scene, Lady Macbeth tries to wash her hands, before smelling them and claiming that “all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”.
Another structural echo of the line from Act 2 Scene 2 about washing off the blood
The imagery here differs slightly from the imagery in Macbeth’s version - it is the smell of blood that she cannot get rid of, not the sight (or colour) of it - smell can often linger long after a visual stain has disappeared, as anyone who has ever been sick and tried to clean it up will know - smell can also be particularly evocative when it comes to memory; a smell can transport us back to a time in our past, almost by magic, and without our even understanding why
The imagery is more feminine than in Macbeth’s version of that line, reflecting Lady Macbeth’s reversion to her traditional feminine role by this point in the play: both perfume and the “little hand” reflect this.
Relevant characters and themes: Lady Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“What’s done cannot be undone”
Embedded and contextualised example: At the end of Act 5 Scene 1, Lady Macbeth returns to bed, but before she does so she concludes her rambling final scene by claiming that “what’s done cannot be undone.”
It is perhaps the most important structural echo in a scene full of structural echoes: in Act 3 Scene 2 she said, “What’s done is done” - though very similar in terms of the words used, the difference in meaning between these two lines is dramatic: before she wanted to put the past behind her; now she wishes to change the past but knows she cannot
Relevant characters and themes: Lady Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“his title / Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe / Upon a dwarfish thief”
Embedded and contextualised example: As the invading army gather to siege Macbeth’s castle in the final act of the play, Angus claims that Macbeth’s title “hang[s] loose about him, like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief”.
It’s a meaningful simile which captures a key idea about power and authority from the play, using the motif of clothing, which is used throughout to represent responsibilities/titles
The role of kingship is equated to the robe of a giant - kings are big men, great men, men of significance - they are not ordinary people but something almost supernatural, like giants
Macbeth, in contrast, is a “dwarfish thief” - he stole the throne, and he is not just not a giant (not a great man), he is a dwarf - he is less than an ordinary man - this is a dramatic contrast to the way he was introduced at the start of the play, as a hero - this is how public opinion works - when we fall we fall hard
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“my way of life / Is fall’n into the sear, the yellow leaf; / And that which should accompany old age, / As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have
Embedded and contextualised example: Early in Act 5, when left alone on stage, Macbeth reflects on what he has done and the consequences it has had, claiming that his “way of life / is fall’n into the sear, the yellow leaf / And that which should accompany old age, / As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / [he] must not look to have”.
This is the first attempt Shakespeare makes to humanise Macbeth again in Act 5, to remind the audience that he wasn’t always a monster
The metaphor of Macbeth’s life as a “yellow leaf” that has fallen (not is falling) conveys the sense that he thinks things are ending, winter is here - the fall has already happened - there’s no stopping it now.
The verb “fall” arguably conveys a lack of full responsibility - as if it just happened to him, rather than being something he caused through his actions.
The asyndetic list of of abstract nouns (“honour, love, obedience, troops of friends”) conveys both the sense that the list could go on (these are just some of the things Macbeth doesn’t have) but also the sense of abundance - there are just so many things that he is missing out on - his life has been a failure.
These lines are delivered when Macbeth is alone on stage - he is saying them to himself, suggesting that this is not for show - he really feels this way.
This is the first of several moments of recognition that Macbeth has in Act 5. Moments of recognition, where the tragic hero is shown to realise, at last, the consequences of his actions, are an important convention of Classical tragedy: before his demise, the tragic hero should understand, to some degree, what he has done, and Shakespeare is employing that convention here.
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day ”
Embedded and contextualised example: Having learnt of Lady Macbeth’s suicide, Macbeth is plunged even deeper into despair, not just for himself but for life in general: “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day”.
It’s the start of one of the greatest speeches ever written
Shakespeare slows the rhythm of the speech here to reflect the idea that life is long and tedious - he uses an eleven syllable line with three dacytls (‘tomorrow’ – a stressed syllable plus two unstressed syllables) and two caesurae, in contrast to the iambic pentameter of the previous line - the line is slow and repetitive, just like life
We also get the repetition of ‘and’ and the double repetition of ‘tomorrow’, further conveying the repetitiveness of life
The double repetition of ‘tomorrow’ even begins to drain the word of its meaning – it starts to become noise rather than language, like when you repeat any word too many times, reflecting the meaninglessness that Macbeth sees in life in general
The rhythm remains slow in the next part when the days of our lives are said to metaphorically “creep”, further implying slowness, and the long vowel sound (‘ee’) adds to the weary, despairing tone of the speech
We also get more repetition, this time of ‘day’, to further convey the repetitiveness of life: it’s just one damned thing after another
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition
“it is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing
Embedded and contextualised example: Macbeth concludes his soliloquy about the meaninglessness of human life by comparing it to “a tale / told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / signifying nothing”.
The “idiot” in the metaphor (recalling the “fool” from earlier in the speech) suggests the story of life is not a good one - it is not wise or deep or sophisticated - it is dull or, worse, non-sensical, ridiculous, absurd - it may seem dramatic (be “full of sound and fury”, like an action movie, like the actor “strut[ting] and fret[ting]” upon the stage) – but it doesn’t mean anything - there is no point to it
Shakespeare ends this speech with the pronoun “nothing”, which captures how Macbeth feels about life - nothing matters - it means nothing
The final line is just six syllables long - the remaining beats of the iambic pentameter are absent, missing - at the end of the line, at the end of the speech, at the end of life, there is nothing, emptiness, oblivion
This speech is not a passionate outpouring of grief like we saw after Duncan’s death, nor is it the dumbfounded disbelief we saw when Macduff heard about his own wife’s death - it is something arguably worse: a weary, hopeless articulation of existential despair, of the utter meaninglessness of all human life
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition
