Thursday, April 7, 2016
Conversation #4 Group A
Macbeth's reaction to Lady Macbeth's suicide in Act 5 scene 5, the famous "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech (p.179-180) is filled with some of the bleakest reflections on life in any work of literature. What, exactly, is Macbeth saying here? Why is he saying it? How does it suggest the way that this powerful protagonist has fallen?
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At the very beginning of his speech he seems to not be bothered by the death of his wife because he says that she would have died anyway, but his mood quickly changes when he discusses how his life as lost its purpose without his wife.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I think the main reason Macbeth does not care at first is due to his insanity. I believe that at first Lady Macbeth's doesn’t seem to bother him since death is a common thing he faces daily, but later realizes that the person who died is his wife. I also think that once Macbeth states that he cannot live without his wife, he is upset because he will now have no children to rule in the future. Macbeth has fallen at this point because he knows that his future from this point on can only get worse. When Macbeth says, “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” he is referring to himself as the upset idiot who ruined his future.
DeleteMacbeth is portraying how he feels that life is pointless and that each day that goes by is one day closer to his death. Macbeth is not upset about his wife’s death because he thinks it doesn’t matter since she would eventually die one day. This shows that Macbeth has fallen because he no longer cares about life which means he no longer cares about anything and once you have gotten to that point, you are no longer truly living. This speech shows what happens to a person’s mind when they refuse to let themselves feel guilt and sadness. Macbeth won’t let himself feel guilt but now he also can’t feel happiness either which makes him feel like life is pointless.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth describes life as a illusion, he believes that people try to give it meaning whereas, in reality, it is just a never ending sequence of life and day. Macbeth says that every day is an inevitable step towards death. This shows how Macbeth has lost his way, whereas he used to be an honorable, ambitious man, he seems to have become amoral coward with no goal other than maintaining his throne
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