William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene V.

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow"

The text is about Macbeth reactions and thoughts after Lady Macbeth's death. In the first part Macbeth makes some considerations about how his mind has changed by when he became king, especially about his reaction to fear.  In the second one Seyton announces Lady Macbeth's death and Macbeth makes some deep considerations about life.

The text starts with a crying of a woman. Seyton exits and leaves Macbeth alone on the stage. This way he gives Macbeth space to express his feelings. "Taste" (l. 3) underlines the intensity of fear as it is not perceived by a sense but it is the result of a mental process on the senses. So it is a great and irrational fear. Underlining the intensity of the fear he underlines the difference between then and now. In line 8 the sound -t of the words "slaughterous thoughts" reminds the reader of an axe hitting a table during an execution, and makes his thoughts cutting. The words "taste" (l. 3), "senses" (l. 4) and "life" (l. 7) are references to life and in this context Macbeth uses them to say that his life is shading.

In line 11 "my lord" creates a gap in Seyton's speech maybe due to his fear; it creates suspense and gives seriousness to Lady Macbeth's death. Macbeth's answer (l.12) is cold, without grief for his wife's death. The repetition in line 14 gives a sensation of  the time flowing; he postpones the day of the death to an indefinitely time, maybe hoping it will never come (the concept is also reinforced by the use of a colon plus "and", creating a pause). In line 15 Macbeth starts a deep consideration about life: death does not stop, no one is immortal, even if human being cannot perceive it since it is too slow; man thinks it will never come ("creeps" reminds the reader of a snake hidden in the grass, moving slowly to bite its victim). "Petty pace" and "day to day" underline the slowness of death. The alliteration of the first one reinforces the meaning while the second one focuses the reader's attention on a short time. Human mind is deceived by this construct since it seems it takes longer to spend day after day rather than year after year. "Last syllable" (l. 17) refers to the book of life and so this metaphor makes the reader understand that life is not infinite as well as books are not. In line 17 there is a change from "day to day" to "all our yesterdays", it gives the idea that human kind is not conscious of the time he spends until it is spent. Death is "dusty" (l. 18) such as a book that has been laying for years on a shelf and now is covered by dust. The concept is clear: death never disappears. It is also reinforced by the alliteration (l. 18). Life is compared to a brief candle that comes to an end inexorably, while in line 19 it is compared to something too slow to be seen. Macbeths considers life of no importance and creates a metaphor with the world of theatre. Life is a "poor player", it has a secondary role on the stage. Life is spent trying to give importance to it (l. 20) but its importance lasts as long as it "is heard" (l. 21). "No more" (l. 21) is followed by a semicolon that creates a break in the reading and adds seriousness to the phrase. The word "tale" (l. 21) refers to a short story without much importance (it is usually told to children) even because it is "told by an idiot" (l.22). The metaphor to the theatre is reinforced by the large amount of references to sound ("syllable" l.16, "heard" l.21, "sound" l.22) and sight ("lighted" l.17, "dusty" l.18, "shadow" l.19). The second part of line 22 consist in a brief ascendant climax (reinforced by the alliteration "full", "fury") but in line 23 the concept is totally opposite, creating an antithesis ("full"/"nothing"). In this structure the nature of life is mirrored. The last line has a key position and is reinforced by the repetition of -ing. Besides "nothing" is related to "no more" (l.21) conveying a deep sense of loss.