This famous line from Macbeth tells us how the title character has come to see the world. Despite having everything he wants in life, despite being king of Scotland and having the absolute power to do as he pleases, he's still profoundly unhappy with his lot.
Macbeth has come to see life as inherently devoid of meaning. This is what he means when he says that it “signifies nothing.” Contrary to what most of his contemporaries would've believed, Macbeth doesn't see any overriding purpose in life, cosmic or otherwise. In that sense, it resembles a “tale told by an idiot.”
Just imagine, for one moment, that someone you know to be a complete idiot comes up to you one day and starts telling you some ridiculous story or other. For Macbeth, that's what life is like. There's no meaning to it, no purpose, no structure—just a lot of empty blather.
It's no coincidence that Macbeth should be feeling this way at this specific moment in the play. His scheming wife has just killed herself, adding to a growing sense that life's really not worth anything. In his wife's death, Macbeth sees a confirmation of his growing conviction that no amount of political power can impart meaning to a life that is inherently meaningless.
Further Reading
Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, did many terrible things to ascend to the throne of Scotland. Together, they plotted and carried out the murder of the beloved King Duncan so they could clear their path to the crown. Later, Macbeth planned the murder of his former best friend, Banquo, and Banquo’s young son, Fleance, so that Macbeth could feel more secure in his position as king. He even plotted to kill the innocent wife and children of his enemy Macduff simply because he was angry with Macduff himself. For years, the goals of becoming and remaining king have seemed to give Macbeth’s life meaning and purpose, and he clearly believed that being king would fulfill his life’s ambition in some way.
However, now that he has the power and status that he wanted, he is not happy. Power and status have not fulfilled or satisfied him (or his wife, as she took her own life) in the way he imagined it would. And so life begins to seem like a ridiculous story, a joke: he seems to ask, If what we thought would make us happy does not, then what on earth is it all for? Life is “full of sound and fury”—so much activity and passion and strife that feels so urgent and necessary—but it ultimately “signif[ies] nothing.” Everything we fought so hard for is ultimately meaningless, and this means that life is meaningless as well, as though it were simply a “tale told by an idiot.”
In context, the line reads like this:
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...
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is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
At this point in the plot, Macbeth is losing his sanity and has just lost his wife. Everything seems to be quickly spinning out of control and toward his doom. Life looks ominous and meaningless after all his seemingly futile efforts to come out on top via the schemes he has played.
Life, then, is a tale. A story. Each person is the protagonist of their own life story, choosing the direction the plot will take. Macbeth notes that this protagonist writing the tale is an "idiot." This refers to the way people tend to move through life, strutting upon the stage they are given, not realizing that their time is like the brief flame of a candle. It is all so fleeting, and individuals spend their brief "hour" of life full of sound and fury. For what? Against whom? In the end, none of the fury that consumes so much of life amounts to anything.
Macbeth realizes that he has wasted so much of his brief life (and, by extension, all of us do as well) and that it has all proven meaningless in the end.
Macbeth utters these lines after being told of his wife's death. To truly understand them, you must look at them in context. The full thought of which this lines is a part is:
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.(30)
Earlier in this soliloquy, Macbeth has also said:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this trivial pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time. And all our yesterdays have lighted The way to dusty death for fools. Out, out, brief candle!
In other words, life is meaningless. It is lasts for a brief time and is full of "sound and fury", but in the end, nothing lasts. Life, a "walking shadow", something inconsequential, really doesn't amount to anything. Macbeth is realizing that all his machinations to become king and to keep the throne have come to nothing. He "made a lot of noise" and created quite a story, fought quite a battle, but in the end, nothing is to come of it.
What does this quote from Macbeth mean? "Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing."
In act 5, scene 5, Macbeth is informed that his wife is dead before he fights his final battle against Malcolm and Macduff. Macbeth responds by saying that his wife would have died someday and that the unfortunate news was bound to come. Macbeth then contemplates time by mentioning that days creep by until the end of recorded history and each day that passes brings fools that much closer to death. Macbeth then famously 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. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing." (Shakespeare, 5.5.24-28)
Macbeth's perspective on life is melancholy and dark as he compares life to a "walking shadow," meaning that life is empty and has no substance. He then compares man to a "poor player," who struts on a stage and worries for an hour before he is never heard from again. Macbeth's analogy portrays human existence as futile, trivial, and transient. He goes on to compare a man's life to a "tale told by an idiot" that is chaotic and meaningless. Essentially, Macbeth is expressing his dark view on life, which he believes is futile, meaningless, and temporary. He has come to terms with his demise and has nothing to look forward to before he participates in the final battle.
What does this quote from Macbeth mean? "Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing."
This quotation is pieced together from a larger quotation in Act V of William Shakespeare's Macbeth:
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.
Macbeth himself says this after learning that Lady Macbeth has died (apparently she has killed herself out of guilt over urging Macbeth to kill the previous king, Duncan).
It appears to me that Macbeth is commenting on the futility of life. His reference to life being a shadow seems to suggest that he views life as empty and lacking in substance. Human beings are like actors in a play. They appear on the stage for a very brief time, but then vanish once the play is over. What's more, life is basically a joke (it is "Told by an idiot")--and not the funny "ha-ha" kind of joke--that has no meaning or value whatsoever.
Thus, in this quotation, we find Macbeth suggesting that life is essentially meaningless.
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, what is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"?
This line is taken from act 5, scene 5, towards the end of Macbeth. At this point, we have already seen Macbeth's murderous rise to power and are already watching the confluence of events that will bring about his fall.
The full monologue is spoken after Macbeth learns of the death of his wife, Lady Macbeth. To present a portion of the text:
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.(Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5)
As can be see from the text, life's essential nature is the subject of his musings. I'd suggest that, in large part, he is reflecting in the context of wife's demise. He himself is on the tale end of this entire bloodthirsty road that has brought the both of them up to this point. Now, as that road is unraveling, Macbeth is finding that life itself is feeling hollow.
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, what is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"?
The question arises from these powerful lines as to who the "idiot" telling the "tale" is. For Macbeth, now fallen to his moral depths, "it" signifies "nothing" and is life mentioned a few lines earlier: "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player/That struts and frets his hour upon the stage...."
... it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing. (V.v)
The "it" that is a "tale" and also a "walking shadow"is "Life."
I suggest that the "tale" told by "an idiot," a tale consists of those dark forces that tempted him to murder to begin with. 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.
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, what is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"?
"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." The "it" is life itself.
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).