Floodlights and Goalposts

An online commonplace book

A brief candle

                                                                                            
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

Another poetic passage that stood alone. A moment before, Seyton tells Macbeth that Lady Macbeth is dead. His response isn’t sorrow, but rather a stoic shrug.

Who knows life and death like Shakespeare?

William Shakespeare, Macbeth, ed. Sandra Clark and Pamela Mason, The Arden Shakespeare Third Series (London: Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2015), 5.5.21.


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