Macbeth's Soliloquy

September 29th, 2025
by John Thweatt

Mrs. Milner taught British Lit my Senior Year of High School. She made us memorize Macbeth’s famous soliloquy,

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

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.”

It is interesting that over 40 years later I can still quote it! But I don’t buy Macbeth’s world view!

He spoke it at a time of great despair, but in the midst of his wife’s death, he saw life as futile…it is just a day after a day that creeps on in its petty pace.

He saw life as short…it was just a brief candle, a walking shadow, here today and gone tomorrow.

It would seem he saw it as meaningless, life was just a tale told by an idiot.

The Bible gives us another view. Life has purpose and while our time here is short, like a vapor…it is short only in terms of eternity. We are eternal beings that visit this earth for a short time, but our existence will never end even after we die.

It not a tale told by an idiot; it’s a part of Master Planner who is working His purposes and advancing His kingdom.

It is true, we can live our lives strutting and fretting our hour on the stage…like the mockingbird fighting his own image in the windshield on our driveway, but we can live it for His glory, and everything then has meaning and purpose.

If we live for this world and only for this world all that we can do will signify nothing, but if we live out the plan He has for us, we will take a step from this world into eternity and hear “Well done!”