![]() ![]() Candles cast shadows, which gives rise to the next image, life as a walking shadow.Ī walking shadow is another term for an actor on the stage, so the shadow thrown by the candle creates the image of the actor on the stage. In death that light is extinguished, like a candle, which is the next image, and a candle’s light is brief, like life, compared with the long period of the night to come. The light has come naturally from the images of time, particularly the word ‘day’. Then there is a mention of light, but it’s only daylight to guide us to the darkness of death. He starts with a statement of the futility of life and of time itself with images of time – tomorrow, yesterday, day, recorded time – using a rhythm that stretches time out, making it creep. In this soliloquy Macbeth is a man for whom life has ceased to have meaning. ![]() There is no intellectual logic in the development of the passage but the poetical, imaginative logic makes the piece very tight, and one of the most remarkable achievements one could find in English poetry. He mentions time, then candles, acting and the theatre, shadows, and a tale told by an idiot. ![]() That’s what it seems like, with his mind jumping from one idea to the next without any logic. We would expect a response with language that expresses a wild and desperate state of mind. His victim’s ghost is haunting him, his guilt is torturing him, his enemies are closing in on him, his wife has gone mad and now he’s just heard that she’s committed suicide. If we do that we are reminded that any idea of the Bard’s not being the greatest user of the English language ever would be absurd.Īt this moment Macbeth’s suffering is intense and becoming unbearable. But we can look at it only for the way Shakespeare uses imagery. The passage is full of meaning and there is so much one can say about it. Why is ‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow’ such a famous soliloquy? Watch ‘Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow’ Soliloquy Performed (0:48) It was a story told by an idiot, full of noise and passion, but meaningless. Blow the short candle out: life was no more than a walking shadow – a poor actor – who goes through all the emotions in one hour on the stage and then bows out. And every day we have lived has been the last day of some other fool’s life, each day a dot of candle-light showing him the way to his death-bed. How the days stretched out – each one the same as the one before, and they would continue to do so, tediously, until the end of history. ‘Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow’ Soliloquy Translation: Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player There would have been a time for such a word.Ĭreeps in this petty pace from day to dayĪnd all our yesterdays have lighted fools ‘Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow’, Spoken by Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 5 Read Shakespeare’s ‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow’ soliloquy from Macbeth below with modern English translation and analysis, plus a video performance. Each Shakespeare’s play name links to a range of resources about each play: Character summaries, plot outlines, example essays and famous quotes, soliloquies and monologues: All’s Well That Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry VIII Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry V Julius Caesar King John King Lear Loves Labour’s Lost Macbeth Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor A Midsummer Night’s Dream Much Ado About Nothing Othello Pericles Richard II Richard III Romeo & Juliet The Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus & Cressida Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Winter’s Tale This list of Shakespeare plays brings together all 38 plays in alphabetical order. Plays It is believed that Shakespeare wrote 38 plays in total between 15. ![]()
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