1. Macbeth 1 –
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow
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.
— Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17–28)
2. At the exam, be a detective / psychologist. Ask
yourself: What is this person saying? What do
these words mean?
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
3. Separate the speech into sentences and then
highlight key words
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.
4. What do key words suggest? Use emotions
wheel
To-morrow Creeps
all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life's a walking shadow, a poor player
It is a tale Told by an idiot.
5.
6. Another good way to start is to look at the last
words in each line. They are always under
emphasis
— 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.
— Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17–28)
7. What is Macbeth concerned about? What is
his mood at the end of the play?
to-morrow,
day,
time;
fools
candle!
player
stage
a tale
fury
nothing.
8. Any other ideas before we listen to the speech?
Main mood / moods that you can detect?
9. She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
10. She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
11. She should have died hereafter;
• it can mean either, she’d have died anyway, in due course, so what’s
the big deal, or else, if she’d died at another time, not right now,
then I could take it in, I could, somehow, react. I think I prefer the
second, which I’ve seen in performance, a crumple into a sob, quickly
suppressed. There would have been a time for such a word: word
here can mean the thing that’s just been said, rather than a single
word, but it works, too, to think of that word as dead, the enormity
of it, the magnitude of the loss, in that little word. I’d have had time
to grieve, at any other time. I don’t, now; no time to mourn my
lover, my partner, my wife, for all that we’ve destroyed each other by
doing what we’ve done.
12. Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_world%27s_a_stage
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-
SA-NC
13. Let’s watch
• Ian McKellen as Macbeth (1976), directed by Trevor Nunn
1976
• Patrick Stewart as Macbeth (2010)
2010
• Christopher Eccleston as Macbeth, The Royal Shakespeare Company,
2018
14. «Макбет», перевод Бориса Пастернака
Сейтон
Королева умерла.
Макбет
Не догадалась умереть попозже,
Когда б я был свободней, чем сейчас!
Мы дни за днями шепчем: "Завтра, завтра"
Так тихими шагами жизнь ползет
К последней недописанной странице.
Оказывается, что все "вчера"
Нам сзади освещали путь к могиле.
Конец, конец, огарок догорел!
Жизнь - только тень, она - актер на сцене.
Сыграл свой час, побегал, пошумел -
И был таков. Жизнь - сказка в пересказе
Глупца. Она полна трескучих слов
И ничего не значит.
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.
15. GCSE Character question: How is Macbeth presented in this extract?
GCSE Theme question: How is the theme of power presented in this extract?
Finish the following sentences in your book:
• In this extract, Macbeth is presented as_______________. We can
see this in the line “____________” (insert the best quote). In this
quote, the words “_______” and “_______” suggest that
Macbeth____________________. In Shakespeare’s time this was
important because_________.
• Only NOW we can look at Wikipedia! Tomorrow monologue
16. GCSE Character question: How is Macbeth presented in this extract?
GCSE Theme question: How is the theme of power presented in this extract?
Read sample paragraphs. Copy them out and expand it adding your own thoughts:
• In this extract, Macbeth is presented as _sad, empty, powerless_. We can see this in his
line about life and how it is a “_tale told by an idiot”, “_signifying nothing_”. In this
quote, the words “idiot” and “nothing” suggest that Macbeth _is disappointed with life
and its meaning_. In Shakespeare’s time this was important because _the audience was
very religious and believed that life was God’s gift. Shakespeare thus emphasized
Macbeth’s utmost despair_.
• Also, Macbeth is presented as hurt and simultaneously hiding his feelings. We can see
this in words “creeps” and “frets”. Shakespeare uses these verbs to underline Macbeth’s
emotional as well as, possibly, physical suffering. We can suggest that he is hiding his
feelings, as he says two lines about his wife’s death, and then quickly switches to this
monologue about the futility of life. With the words “Out, out, brief candle” he is almost
inviting death to forget about his emotional pain.
• Only NOW we can look at Wikipedia! Tomorrow monologue
17. Homework: copy out a finished paragraph from a
previous slide and listen to the video, making
notes:
• analysis of the Tomorrow monologue
