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Transcript

The speech reveals Macbeth's feelings of how his life, once full of promise, has deteriorated into one of regret and uselessness.

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in 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.

"Tale" reminds us of the "syllable" metaphor. The "T's" in tale, told, and idiot sound like someone spitting disgustedly. "Sound and fury" reflect Macbeth's feelings of how purposeless life is. The placement of "nothing" represents the value Macbeth knows his life will have.

Motif of time

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow; day to day; time; yesterdays; hour.

a poor player that struts and frets

his hour upon the stage

and then is heard no more

"Poor player" (alliteration) is a bad actor, and the consonance of "struts and frets" lets us see how jumpy and unsure he is. "Stage" is another metaphor for life, and his "hour" reaffirms how brief life is. "Heard no more" repeats the idea of meaninglessness. The imagery of this buffoon on stage lets us see how pathetic he is.

Life's but a walking shadow

Shift from the path of life metaphor to metaphors showing how empty life is. Here, the "walking shadow" shows how life has little substance; it is just a shadow.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Alliteration, repetition, polysyndeton draws attention to the drudgery of life

Macbeth's Famous"Tomorrow" Speech

Out, out, brief candle!

Symbol. Macbeth's life is burning down. It will soon be snuffed out, and the word "brief" indicates how short life is. The possible use of apostrophe and the repetition of "out" and the exclamation mark show his agitation.

creeps

Personification and word choice. Not runs or prances or strolls but "creeps." The connotation is of something moving sneakily, stealthily, slowly.

have lighted fools the way to dusty death.

Word choice of "fools" reveals Macbeth's attitude toward himself, and the alliteration of "dusty death" indicates that Macbeth knows his death will not be a glorious one.

in this petty pace from day to day

alliteration, time motif, word choice -- both show the slow but constant and unstoppable march toward the end of life. The word "petty" has the denotation of small or trivial.

and all our yesterdays

Contrast to "tomorrow"

to the last syllable of recorded time,

Syllable is an implied metaphor of life being like a word, sentence, or paragraph. Life is written like a story.

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