Metaphors In Macbeth

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In Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses metaphor to portray Macbeth’s attitude that life is worthless. As Macbeth’s soliloquy continues and his thoughts on life are expressed he says, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage? And then is heard no more”(V,V,ln. 27-29). Macbeth’s use of metaphor compares life to a walking shadow and a poor player, both of which could be considered illusions and are only present temporarily. Macbeth’s comparison is shown to illustrate the worthlessness of life because a walking shadow and a poor player are temporarily present because they aren’t real. This shows how Macbeth believes life is worthless because he thinks, like a walking shadow and a poor player, that life is temporary and not real. …show more content…
29-31). Macbeth uses another metaphor to compare life to a story told by an idiot, saying that this story that is life signifies nothing. Macbeth’s comparison shows his view on how worthless he believes life to be as he is saying that it is just a story. He continues to say that only idiots believe in life and that this life that these idiots believe in has so much noise and anger that it signifies nothing. This statement continues to show how Macbeth believes life is worthless because from his viewpoint, only an idiot would believe the story that is life is real and since he’s not an idiot he does not believe life is real. Throughout Macbeth’s soliloquy Shakespeare uses many literary devices to illustrate Macbeth’s viewpoint on life and life’s

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