Dickie Copeland

2/28/05

Macbeth

“She should have died hereafter…”

Act 5, Scene 5 of “Macbeth” contains one of the most popular and most quoted monologues of this gory and gritty tragedy. “She should have died hereafter..” is the intellectual peak of the play as this is where Macbeth comes to his disheartening revelation on the meaninglessness of life. Here, he discovers that no matter what he accomplishes, who he kills, how long his name is around, his feats will eventually be eroded by the constant tide of time. Time is in fact, the only constant he can count on in this ridiculous and random existence[SM1] .

The words are part of what make this speech so powerful and ironically, lasting[SM2] . This is a rich vibrant piece of literature full of symbolism, alliteration, assonance, personification and metaphors. Shakespeare employs the sound of words to help express the melancholy of his main character, Macbeth. Even the simple repetition of “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” serves to emphasize this dull ticking of time weighing down upon Macbeth. He sees his life, his newly minted crown[SM3] , and all he cares for slipping away. He is utterly futile in that he cannot bring his wife back from the grave, nor can he turn back the clock. Time for him “creeps”,[SM4] and it is this sinister personification that paints time as a thief and a scoundrel[SM5] .

Three metaphors at the end of this monologue vividly express the absolute dejection and hopelessness of Macbeth. Life is illustrated as a candle, an actor of shadow, and a “tale”. My favorite is “Life’s but a walking shadow”. The word shadow encompasses this empty feeling so eloquently and simply. It illustrates how, for Macbeth, life takes up space, moves and changes but never at its own will. A shadow is slave to the body casting it. Macbeth feels like a victim at the mercy of the various forces- like a candle is subject to the wind, a player to the script and a character in a tale with a demented and careless author[SM6] .

Macbeth feels like a manipulated marionette, and while he was manipulated and equivocated to by the witches, he is ultimately the one to blame, as they were still his own choices that he made[SM7] . I think Macbeth realizes this, but he also realizes that it doesn’t matter what his choices were; life would have thrown him a curveball one way or the other. In fact, life comes to be painted as the ultimate equivocator here[SM8] . It promised him greatness than took away all that made him great in the first place- his wife, his dignity, his integrity, his friends and his soul. He has truly become an empty shadow, whose life is “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.

But luckily for us, Macbeth is indeed an enslaved player subject to the author’s pen, and he must be puppeted towards the next scene. Macbeth snaps out of this reverie with the messenger’s entrance. He shakes off contemplation quickly as he puts on his armor, thinking only again of the war. For if he is indeed slave to this tragic existential fate, the at least he’ll “die with harness on our back[SM9] .”

Cal Poly’s “Macbeth”

This was one of my favorite productions to be in, and I believe it was because of our director, Josh Machamer. He is like Macbeth in that he made bold choices and stood behind them. He chose to put the main stage on a rake, a simple tool from the past that allows height to come into play. Lady Macbeth became pregnant and he also chose to edit the play and rearrange it so that it made a statement even greater than those usually employed by director’[SM10] s of Macbeth. These are the three most noticeable choices among many small and interesting choices he made, but I think these are the three that made our play unique and memorable.

Having the stage on a rake opened a world of new possibility for us. We could climb up, slink down and show servitude or we could level ourselves with other characters. The rake helped communicate status in a play concerned mainly with status and place in the world[SM11] . Lady Macbeth’s status changed as well, in that she became a woman with life growing inside of her[SM12] . This was a gritty choice that gave whole new meaning to her wish to be filled to the top with evil and unsexed. One then asks, “Does she deserve her miscarriage? Did she know what she was getting into?” These are questions that can be applied to Macbeth too, as he sells his soul to the witches for information and inspiration. Josh’s main idea about Macbeth, was that if he were to do it over again, under the same circumstances, knowing all that would unfold because of it, than he would. He would because it is an inherent desire and choice of Macbeth that is a part of him and is thus inescapable. Josh thinks we all would make the same choices we do, in spite of regrets, for that same reason. That is the reason for the repetition of the choice to kill the king at the end. He takes the crown, looking upon the very community he hurts, doomed to repeat his mistakes and sins.

It is an eerie scene and a great dramatic moment. It says more than just, “don’t kill the king.” It makes a statement on life and inherent human nature, and I applaud it[SM13] .

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[SM1]Gorgeous prose!

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[SM2]Lovely irony

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[SM3]good touch

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[SM4]punctuate

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[SM5]nice capture of that personfication

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[SM6]splendid conclusion of this sentence, alluding to the last phrase of the speech

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[SM7]This makes me wonder if at this point he doesn’t also recognize how his wife manipulated him into a position she eventually abandoned through madness and now death.

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[SM8]what an arresting idea!

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[SM9]Your writing here captures the reversal from despair to action—next to the last of many—that makes Macbeth such an admirable monster. I don’t fully understand, “luckily for us.” Kristin—this is a remarkable essay. It’s dense and intense and poetic. Thanks! A+

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[SM10]no apostrophe for plurals

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[SM11]good!

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[SM12]One of your elegant transitions.

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[SM13]An eloquent and illuminating explanation of this production’s concepts. It provokes comparison with your discussion of the speech, and seems both consistent and inconsistent. That kind of eternal recurrence of sin is the principle of Dante’s Inferno—the eternally condemned choose to repeat their errors and suffer punishment. They live the futile existence you describe in your discussion of the speech. But there are two elements of your discussion which seem different from the production’s. You indicate that Macbeth experiences a revelation here, anticipating the more obvious revelation of the witches’ equivocation at the end, that makes him understand his mistake, and you emphasize that rekindling of energy and personal freedom that makes him willing to fight to the end.