"That struts and frets his hour upon the stage."
- Seyton. The queen, my lord, is dead.
There would have been a time for such a word. 2375
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! 2380
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. 2385
[Enter a Messenger]
-copied from here.
I wanted the source of just one line but I count perhaps five famous quotations in this speech by Macbeth so I have copied it in full.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Alas, unlike Anderson, I was never a fan of Shakespeare, to my loss, I agree! But MACBETH was one of Shakespeare's few plays that I managed to read.
If Shakespeare is eminently quotable, so is Anderson! The very beginning of "Holmgang" begins with lines that can easily become proverbial: "The most dangerous man is not the outlawed murderer, who only slays men, but the rebellious philosopher; for he destroys worlds." I can easily list some philosophies or ideologies to which that saying applies!
And the third paragraph of "Holmgang" mentions a "flying mountain," which evokes to me Anderson's Flying Mountains stories. And on page 19 of the second volume of THE COMPLETE PSYCHOTECHNIC LEAGUE, we see mention of another company called FIREBALL in "Holmgang. And the story has a woman character named VALERIA.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Of course, Shakespeare is meant to be seen and heard, not read. We go to the cinema. We don't read film scripts.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
With my bad hearing, I HAVE to read. And one problem I have with Shakespeare is the increasingly antiquated English he wrote in. My guess is that his plays will have to be translated into whatever English has become in another century.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
They will. But, meanwhile, most of us can follow the dialogue if it is delivered properly - provided we can hear it, of course.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Most times, maybe. But I do wonder how many today will understand the more obsolete or archaic words to be found in Shakespeare's works, no matter how properly delivered, said, enunciated, etc., they might be.
Ad astra! Sean
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