Basically... it means Shakespeare was depressed when he wrote it, but also he was in the mood for writing poetry because it is one of his finest!!! Macbeth's wife's just killed herself and he's out of his depth in a bloody, murderous, political campaign mainly organised by her, without her he is lost. He knows his life has just crashed in a major way and he is alone without his partner.
Your quote is preceded by the wonderful...
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
In other words... "life is very short; always was, always will be"
Then we come to your selected text...
Life's a walking shadow; insubstantial, without importance or deep solid meaning; 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'. Life's not 'real' enough.
And people are just bad, stupid actors; shouting and running about and generally making a lot of noise and fuss but not much sense, and then they die anyway.
At the end he says, The story of life is just short and absurd, full of action and events, but, in the final analysis, completely meaningless.
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