Macbeth’s speech featuring “tomorrow” follows the news of Lady Macbeth’s death. All Macbeth can say at first is, “She should have died hereafter.” He has become numb to death due to the murders he has perpetrated, and he is unmoved by his wife’s demise because she would die eventually. He continues:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time…
This monologue describes...
Macbeth’s speech featuring “tomorrow” follows the news of Lady Macbeth’s death. All Macbeth can say at first is, “She should have died hereafter.” He has become numb to death due to the murders he has perpetrated, and he is unmoved by his wife’s demise because she would die eventually. He continues:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time…
This monologue describes the meaninglessness of life. The repetition of the word “tomorrow” symbolizes the tedious repetitiveness of existence. The days do not simply pass; “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” slowly, inexorably soldier on, no matter how horrific or wonderful the days seem to be.
Macbeth compares these “tomorrows” with “all our yesterdays,” but the result is the same. Tomorrow will lead and yesterday already has led everyone “to dusty death.” This life he describes is both endless and all too short. He calls life a “brief candle” and a “walking shadow,” as meaningless and fleeting as a play.
These “tomorrows” are nothing to look forward to, for he concludes that life “is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.” Macbeth’s personal life has become devoid of mercy and significance, so he can only see all of life through this nihilistic lens.
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