Lady Macbeth's death : Act 5

Question 1

macbeth and lady macbeth’s death

Answer 1

• his wife’s death is a pitiful moment of realisation for macbeth
• he realises the hollowness of the witches’ prophecies and the futility of the mental turmoil he has been through

Question 2

macbeth in his anagnorosis

Answer 2

‘life’s but a walking shadow…it has a tale…. signifying nothing’

Question 3

‘life’s but a walking shadow….it has a tale….signifying nothing’

Answer 3

• noun ‘tale’ extends the idea that the witches’ prophecies was like an ominous nursery rhyme as they speak in trochaic tetrameter and rhyming couplets which almost parody their dialogue

Question 4

‘stage’

Answer 4

• macbeth realises that the witches have been engaging in devious, child-like meddling just to cause turmoil for macbeth
• he is just slowly coming to realise this
• he realises he has been placed upon a ‘stage’ for the witches’ entertainment

Question 5

macbeth’s lexis

Answer 5

• creates a semantic field of transcience
• nouns ‘candle’ and ‘shadow’ are impermanent and fragile in the sense that they can be easily extinguished