Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0
Paper 1
Revise: Act 5The actor who briefly performs and disappears creates metatheatrical imagery: in a theatre, an audience hears a character compare human life to a short-lived performance.
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GCSE English Literature · key term
Language which draws attention to theatre or performance itself, such as Macbeth’s comparison of life to an actor’s brief appearance on a stage.
Used by Edexcel and Eduqas
Paper 1
Revise: Act 5The actor who briefly performs and disappears creates metatheatrical imagery: in a theatre, an audience hears a character compare human life to a short-lived performance.
Component 1
Imagery that draws attention to acting, audiences or the theatre itself. Macbeth's comparison of life to a player on a stage makes the play reflect on its own dramatic form.
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A “brief candle” can be extinguished; a “walking shadow” has no lasting substance. His “poor player” struts and worries on a stage before disappearing. This metatheatrical imagery asks a theatre audience to imagine human life as a performance: apparently important actions become temporary displays.