Macbeth Group

Question:

david631
david631
Student
High School - 12th Grade

What is " a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"?

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Posted by david631 on Monday November 12, 2007 at 7:17 PM and tagged with macbeth, quotations.

Answers:


  1. malibrarian Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    "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."

    Macbeth has just heard the news of his wife's death (suicide), and is voicing the pointlessness of existence (his and his wife's, at this point).

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/macbeth/act-v-summary-analysis

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    Posted by malibrarian on Monday November 12, 2007 at 7:39 PM


  2. sagetrieb Teacher
    Doctorate

    The question arises in these powerful lines as to who is this "Idiot" telling the "tale" that is life that, for Macbeth, now this he has fallen to his moral depths, "signifies nothing." Given the fact that life is also a "walking shadow," I would suggest that the Idiot telling the tale consists of those dark forces that tempted him to murder to begin with. Following this, the witches told a tale --or suggested to him the possibilities of power and revealed to him his own ambition--that in the long run lacked meaning. Earlier the play associates "equivocal" with the witches; in these lines they no longer equivocate, they simply lack meaning--they are a lie.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/macbeth

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    Posted by sagetrieb on Tuesday November 13, 2007 at 3:56 AM