Grace Abe

Mr. Watkins
English 9 Honors Abe 1
Period 3
3/22/17 Portfolio Artifact #6: Macbeth Essay

In Macbeths tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow speech, he reenforces the theme of

Macbeth, which is that life basically has no purpose at all. In the first line, Macbeth says

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day. (5.5). He is

saying that every single day and all the rest of the days of our lives hereafter are exactly the

same. Macbeth also talks about how every single day we use the word yesterday, there is

someone somewhere in the world that doesnt get to say that because yesterday was their last

day. He thinks that no matter what we do, there truly is no purpose to life.

In this speech, Macbeth is also comparing life to a play, which also further pushes the

theme that life is meaningless. In his eyes, we are all just actors in the play of life and we will

all eventually have to bow out at some point. I think that this really gives readers a look at how

Macbeth and maybe even Shakespeare viewed life. They see it as a thing that many watch, and

then simply move on when they leave. Can a play really matter that much in a persons life?

More often than not, the answer is no. I believe that this metaphor is v very well thought through

and maybe even slightly accurate. While I disagree with the overall theme of the play, Macbeth/

Shakespeare may have some truth behind their words. In a play, when it is over, everyone

usually claps, and then exits and goes back to their lives that they were living before they

watched the play. I believe that what Shakespeare was implying was that we are not only the

actors, but just maybe we are also the play. The standing ovation is almost like a funeral.

Everyone celebrates the persons accomplishments, and then some mourn; but without fail, life

keeps chugging on, and the audience goes back to their lives. While depressing, I believe that

this is somewhat true. Yes, people will miss a deceased person and many will probably think

about you every single day, or at least almost every day. However, the show goes on.

 Abe 2

Overall, Macbeths theme is that life has no purpose, but also, I think that another theme

can be that the show will always go on. The tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow speech shows

this through the use of the actor/play metaphor. William Shakespeare made the name of the

speech the same word three times because, I believe, he wanted to mimic the repetitiveness

and meaninglessness of life, which is juts a pot full of emotions that eventually turn out to signify

absolutely nothing in the end.