Macbeth Rhetorical Devices

Shakespeare, in Act 5, Scene 5 of his play The Tragedy of Macbeth, portrays time as unfeeling. Shakespeare’s purpose is to make the audience ponder the nature of time and denounce ambition as a vain notion of humanity through repetition and personification. In the speech, Macbeth adopts a grim and weary tone in order to convey the meaninglessness of day to day life and the cyclical nature of time to the Elizabethan audience. In Macbeth’s speech in Act 5, Scene 5, Shakespeare uses repetition to create a grim tone which reflects the speech’s message surrounding the cyclical nature of life and time. This is seen when he repeats “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,” which illustrates the unfeeling passage of time that continues whether individuals

This personification of unemotional time is best seen when Macbeth laments, “Life...struts and frets..and then is heard no more,” (5.5.24-26). This quote is essentially describing how time can occasionally make an appearance when it is most opportune, and then lose interest and cease to support those who require it. This abandonment, when it is required, is a prominent example of how time is insensitive. As the audience at this time primarily consisted of devout Christians, many would have ascribed to a concept of heaven, which was, by most, viewed as a type of utopia after death. This would have prompted the audience to perceive Macbeth’s weary tone. This is due to his apparent negative outlook on life and death in response to his wife’s demise. He was not stricken by grief as the audience would expect, nor did he seek the comfort that she would be in heaven, as many in the era would have done, but instead he accused time of being callous to those around it. This would have prompted the audience to consider the nature of mortality as well as whether or not ambition is necessary or a vain novelty.His emotional fatigue is also seen in how he suggests the pointlessness of every moment as time, inevitably, will erase any effects that one made on the world. In summary, Shakespeare also uses a personification of time in order to signify a jaded tone during his speech,