Shakespeare's use of light and darkness as representations of life and death can be witnessed throughout the entire play of Macbeth. Through the soliloquys of the character's we get an inside look at what they are feeling. Remember that a soliloquy reveals thoughts, intentions, and motives of a character, and they are spoken aloud by the character only when he/she is alone. In Act V, Scene V, Macbeth seems to be immune to the fact that his past actions were slowly creeping back to haunt him. He has worried about it so much throughout the play that all misfortune and frightening events no longer phase him: "Direness...Cannot once start me."(Act V, Scene 5) Upon hearing of the death of his wife, it seems as if he is almost indifferent to it. But then in his soliloquy to follow, we discover Macbeth's true feelings of bitterness and despair. He views not only death as darkness, but life as well. Neither of them have any significance or meaning.
             Macbeth uses powerful words to convey his deep thoughts about life to the reader. He starts out by saying, "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace" signifying that he believes that the days of life are slow and repetitious. Statements like "day to day" and "petty pace" emphasize the slow progression of life. He puts out the feeling that having a "tomorrow" is a negative thing. It creeps on us slowly but surely. He is using a lot of dark imagery to convey his feelings of the hopeless "trial" of living day to day. He then states, "And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death," which means that we are propelled on from our "yesterdays" (the days we have lived) until death finally meets us. The light represents living, so it is the light that leads the way to our death. It is inevitable. It is interesting that the light that Macbeth speaks of is not even desired. Most of us want to live long lives. It seems as if he wants his to end as ...