-----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 ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html