Comprehension questions

1) What is Macbeth’s unusual reaction to the sound of women lamenting?

Macbeth seems indifferent and not able to feel fear; indeed, he has committed so many crimes that nothing can move him and he is now insensible of all horrors.

 

2) What is Macbeth’s reaction to the news that the queen is dead?

Macbeth does not express any emotion and he remains unresponsive; he seems to accept the news of his wife’s death in a resigned mood

 

3) How do you think the queen has died?

She has probably committed suicide since she felt guilty.

 

Interpretation questions

1) Focus on images. Using different colours, underline the words and phrases that refer to sound, movement, time, light and the theatre.

Referring to sound: syllable (l. 16), heard (l. 21), sound (l.22)

Referring to movement: creeps (l. 15), way (l. 18), walking (l. 19), struts and frets (l. 20)

Referring to time: tomorrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow (l. 14), day to day (l. 15), time (l. 16), yesterdays (l. 17), hour (l. 20)

Referring to light: lighted (l. 17), candle (l. 18)

Referring to the theatre: player (l. 19), stage (l. 20)

 

2) Which of the above images made an impression on you?

The images of time impressed me the most since they effectively convey the idea that man is only a temporary creature, whose life is just an hour long if it is compared to the passing of centuries.

 

3) What does the metaphor of the stage emphasize?

It emphasizes that human existence on Earth is a deceit since we are all characters of a great tragedy, and our life just consists in playing a role assigned by another person.

 

4) What does Macbeth mean by repeating the word “tomorrow” in line 14?

He wants to explain that life is a senseless sequence of moments not worth living, and we can do nothing but wait for death.

 

5) How can you explain Macbeth’s reaction to his wife’s death?

E. Death is meaningless in this absurd life. 

 

 

TRADUZIONE

 

Grida di donne da dietro le quinte

 

MACBETH: Cos'è questo rumore?

 

SEYTON: Sono grida di donne, mio buon signore.

(Esce)                               

 

MACBETH: Ho quasi dimenticato il sapore della paura.

C’è stato un tempo in cui i miei sensi si sarebbero raggelati a udire un grido nella notte

E mi si sarebbero rizzati irti i capelli come se fossero vivi

ad ascoltare una storia terrificante.

Ho visto troppi orrori:

e la ferocia, compagna

dei miei pensieri omicidi,

non riesce più a farmi trasalire.

 

Perché quelle grida?

 

SEYTON - La regina, mio signore, è morta.

 

MACBETH – Sarebbe dovuta morire, prima o poi;

il momento doveva pur venire

di udir questa parola...

Domani, e domani, e domani,

il tempo s’insinua, giorno dopo giorno,

a piccoli passi, fino all'estrema sillaba

del tempo registrato; e tutti i nostri ieri

hanno rischiarato la via verso la polverosa morte

ai folli. Spegniti, spegniti, breve candela!

La vita è solo un’ombra che cammina,

un povero attore

che si agita e si pavoneggia su un palcoscenico

per un’ora,

e poi non è più udito:

è una fiaba narrata da un idiota,

piena di suoni e furia,

che non significa nulla.

 

CONNOTATIVE ANALYSIS

 

In act V, Macbeth is approaching the end of both his reign and his life. Lady Macbeth has already gone mad, while Macbeth becomes more and more insensible, incapable of feeling any emotion. This happens as a consequence of his precedent violent behaviour; he has proved so strong emotions that he cannot be impressed by anything, and his life has become just a wait for death.

Indeed, in line 3, Macbeth says he has totally forgotten what fear is, and his senses are so accustomed with horrors and murders that they cannot be frightened in any way.

In order to underline the terrible actions which has brought Macbeth to this state, Shakespeare uses strong words belonging to the semantic field of horror: “dismal treatise”, “horrors”, “direness”, “slaughterous thoughts”, “start”. Also the image of the hair stirring and of the night shriek contribute to build up a dark atmosphere, which leads to the climax reached during the famous monologue “Tomorrow and tomorrow”.

When Macbeth learns that the queen is dead, his reaction is totally different from a normal man’s one, since he does not feel sorrowful at all. He behaves in an apathetic mood which totally matches his thoughts about life. His tragic story has disillusioned him and deprived him of any hope: indeed, he says “all our yesterdays (= past events) have lighted fools the way to dusty death”. Man is just a brief and meaningless presence on Earth, so Lady Macbeth’s death is just one of the thousands deaths that happen every day. The frequent expressions of time (hereafter, tomorrow and tomorrow, day to day) contribute to stress the fugacity of life, which is a brief parenthesis between birth and death. To the same purpose there are repetitions (“tomorrow” in line 14, “day” in line 15) and alliterations (“t” in line 14, “d” in lines 15 and 18), which also slow down the pace.

The metaphors Macbeth uses to describe life are all based on the contrast between light and darkness, or between reality and fiction. For example, life is first compared to a “brief candle” (l. 18), and then to a “walking shadow” (l. 19), where the adjectives “brief” and “walking” do indicate the fugacity of life. Then life is compared to a piece of drama performed by a player and to a tale. Dramatic works and tales are both representations of reality, but they are fictional works, so Macbeth wants to make the reader understand life itself is not so different from a theatrical play, and what happens on the stage may also happen in the spectator’s life.

It is also interesting to notice that all men are connoted in a very negative way: they are considered “fools” (l. 17), “poor players” (l. 19) and “idiots” (l. 22).

In the monologue, Macbeth succeeds in describing in a few lines the tragic destiny of men, who won’t be even able to leave behind them any trace of their passing (“and then is heard no more”) and will always fail in trying to give a sense to a naturally senseless life (“signifying nothing”).