Macbeth's Soliloquies (Part 2)
She should have died hereafter (5.5.17-28)
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
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!
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.
NOTES
She...hereafter ] This line has caused much debate. Four possible meanings are (1)
she should have died after the battle when there would be time to mourn properly; (2)
she should have waited for me, seeing that my death is so near; (3) she would have
died at sometime, either now or later; (4) she should have died after the battle for
now, with her gone, I know I shall not win. For more see the commentary below.
word ] death.
petty pace ] at this meaningless pace.
syllable ] final trace.
recorded time ] as opposed to eternity. It is a possible reference to the book of
Revelation when Christ will sit in final judgment of mankind: "And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was
opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to their works" (Rev. 20.12).
dusty death ] Note Psalm 22.15: "Thou hast brought me into the dust of death."
candle ] Note Job 18.5-6: "The light of the wicked shall be quenched...and his candle
shall be out with him."
walking shadow ] See Wisdom of Solomon 2.4: "Our life shall pass away as the trace
of a cloud, and come to nought as the mist that is driven away with the beams of the
sun. For our time is as a shadow that passeth away and after our end there is no
returning."
poor player ] pitiful actor. "The emblem writers of Shakespeare's day often pictured
life as a stage and men and women as actors. Shakespeare drew freely from these
writers as he found use for their thought and teaching. But in this passage one might
easily find traces of the sadness that must have been in his own thought as his mind
dwelt for a moment on the breaks in the ranks of his own little company and the actors
who had strutted their little hour upon the stage of the Globe theatre and now were
heard no more" (Coles 270).
frets ] worries.
stage ] i.e. life. Shakespeare likely knew Montaigne's thoughts on the matter: "Is it
not a noble farce, wherein kings, republics, and emperors have for so many ages
played their parts, and to which the whole vast universe serves for a theatre?" (Of the
most Excellent Men). Also see As You Like It, (2.7.144).
a tale/Told ] Note the reference to Psalm 90.9, addressing the transience of life: "we
spend our years as a tale that is told."
COMMENTARY
In this final soliloquy we uncover the ultimate tragedy of Macbeth. "It is the tragedy of
the twilight and the setting-in of thick darkness upon a human soul" (Dowden 66).
Macbeth's heinous acts throughout the play have resulted in his last, horrible
conclusion about life: it is utterly meaningless. Our days on this earth serve no
purpose other than to thrust us toward "dusty death". Life is a seemingly endless and
depressing succession of bleak days creeping along at a "petty pace". Our time on this
earth is so unsubstantial that it can only be compared to a shadow; so unreal that it
can only be compared to a stage on which frets a pitiful actor. When the play is over
his character disappears into nothingness, and has left nothing significant behind.
Macbeth's feelings toward Lady Macbeth in this soliloquy are not as clear as the
overlying theme. As seen above in the notes, there are four, and possibly several
more, opinions regarding Macbeth's initial reaction when he hears that his wife is dead.
Those who take the first line to mean "she would have died at sometime, either now or
later" usually argue that it illustrates Macbeth's callous lack of concern for Lady
Macbeth. However, it seems more likely that the line is a combination of meanings (1)
and (4) cited in the notes above:
[Macbeth] has said (in Scene III of this act) that the battle will cheer
him ever after or disseat him now. Up to this time he had expected to
win the battle; he was ready to laugh the siege to scorn when
interrupted by the cry of women. And may not his visionary thought
have pictured the victory as restoring him to the man he once was? He
pauses on the word "hereafter" (there are two missing feet in the
meter), and realizes that the time will never come now. Sadly he reflects
that if it could have been, if he could have gone back, then there would
have been time to consider that word, death, and to mourn properly. But
now, now that there is to be no victory, and no going back, now that she
is gone the tomorrows creep on with their insignificant slow pace to the
last syllable of recorded time. (Coles 269-79)
Amanda Mabillard
REFERENCES
Brooke, Nicholas. The Tragedy of Macbeth. By William Shakespeare. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1990.
Coles, Blanche. Shakespeare Studies: Macbeth. New York: AMS Press, 1969.
Kittredge, George Lyman. Macbeth. By William Shakespeare. Toronto: Blaisdell
Publishing, 1966.
Langford, W.F. Macbeth. By William Shakespeare. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
1966.
Muir, Kenneth. Macbeth. By William Shakespeare. London: Methuen and Co., 1951.
Wilson, John Dover, ed. Macbeth. By William Shakespeare. Cambridge: UP, 1968.