[lit-ideas] Fw: Re: Fw: Re: Lighting Fools: Reflections on an Image in Macbeth's "Tomorrow" Soliloquy
- From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 08:11:17 -0800 (PST)
the light is ... brief, shadow-ridden and quickly gone,
And it doesn't last long either. Let's see, deceptive, misleading, inadequate?
Lighted fools sometimes are mislead by common sense. For example, the earth
is flat, the sun goes around the earth.
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Feb 3, 2005 10:48 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Fw: Re: Lighting Fools: Reflections on an Image in
Macbeth's "Tomorrow" Soliloquy
Maybe it's that the hypostasis of the original Macbeth is burial or
going to sleep, while the hypostasis of the rewrite is waking up happy?
It's easy to feel depressed when very tired, and to confuse the two states.
A.A. Sorry, I don't follow you here at all. I don't see Shakespeare's
lines as tending toward the hypostatis (that sent me to the dictionary
and I still don't know what it means) of burial or going to sleep.
____
I used hypostasis to mean "underlying reality." "Candle lighting the
way" is an image of going to sleep, as is "out brief candle," i.e.,
blowing a candle out at the bedside or extinguishing a life flame. Dusty
death is burial, etc.
A.A. In a time without electricity, candles did more than lead the way to bed,
unless one goes to bed at 6:00 in the evening when days are shortest. Candles
were a primary source of light. The light of lighted fools is like that of
candles, brief, shadow-ridden and quickly gone, giving us a flicker of light in
the inevitable journey to dusty death. Likewise, a candle flame is stable only
in a small, closed environment. Take it outside to the unknown darkness and it
will sputter and flicker, as life struts and frets. A candle creates a walking
shadow; life is a walking shadow. Essentially, Shakespeare says there's an
elephant in the room, let's look at it. Far from being depressing, to me
there's a cathartic reality to this language that is liberating. By
acknowledging the negative energy, we release it and move on to a more genuine
happiness. Is it any wonder he is so loved?
"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."
Eric
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