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Sep. 23rd, 2005 07:39 amWhen you see this on your friends, post Shakespeare in your journal.
I thought about doing something obscure, but really the following passage is IMO the greatest in Shakespeare, and so what if it's not an unpopular opinion? It has the metafictional and metatheatrical elements of "All the World's a Stage," but in such a way that the philosophical implications of world-as-text bubble so much closer to the surface. And it's wedded to such powerful passion, fatalism, and grief, as Macbeth mourns for his wife at a time when he can't let his grief get ahold of him.
Macbeth, Act V, Scene V, lines 22-33
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.
I thought about doing something obscure, but really the following passage is IMO the greatest in Shakespeare, and so what if it's not an unpopular opinion? It has the metafictional and metatheatrical elements of "All the World's a Stage," but in such a way that the philosophical implications of world-as-text bubble so much closer to the surface. And it's wedded to such powerful passion, fatalism, and grief, as Macbeth mourns for his wife at a time when he can't let his grief get ahold of him.
Macbeth, Act V, Scene V, lines 22-33
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.
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