TERMINALE LV1 · UPPER SECONDARY · B2 to C1 · C1/C2 extension track in every session

Text study

The extract

She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 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.
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5. Macbeth has just heard that the Queen is dead.
Glossary: hereafter: later · petty pace: small slow steps · lighted: shown the way with a light · struts and frets: walks proudly and worries · fury: anger · signifying: meaning

Questions

  1. Situate the extract: who speaks, when, and after what news?
  2. Count the syllables of the first and third lines. What do you notice?
  3. Find three images of time and explain how they develop.
  4. Find the metaphors of light and theatre. What do they reveal?
  5. What is ironic about an actor saying that life is "a poor player"?
  6. How has Macbeth changed since Act I?
Sentence starters
Answer key (suggested answers)
  1. Macbeth, in Act V, Scene 5, just after hearing that Lady Macbeth is dead, while Malcolm's army approaches.
  2. "She should have died hereafter" is a short line, a pause or a shock; "To-morrow..." is a regular pentameter whose rhythm imitates time creeping.
  3. Tomorrow repeated, "the last syllable of recorded time", "all our yesterdays": time is endless and empty, leading only to death.
  4. "Brief candle", "walking shadow", "poor player", "tale told by an idiot": life is short, unreal, a bad performance with no meaning.
  5. The audience watches an actor on a stage: Shakespeare reminds us that the play itself is an illusion; metatheatre.
  6. He was ambitious and full of fear; now he feels nothing, even for his wife's death: nihilism and emotional emptiness.

Commentary

Write a commentary (300 words): "How does Shakespeare express despair in this soliloquy?" Use the method: introduction (situation, question), two parts (time; life as theatre), conclusion.

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