We studied multiple soliloquies of Macbeth in order to trace the devolution of his character from loyal prince, to serial murderer, to nihilist. Joshua analyzed Macbeth's famous ,"tomorrow , tomorrow, and tomorrow" soliloquy identifying the multiple metaphors comparing life to a candle, a shadow, and a strutting actor on a stage which we then compared to an earlier less poetic soliloquy wherein Macbeth also comments that life is trivial. In discussing the death of Lady Macbeth, I noted how the cause of her death -suicide- is not revealed until the very last line of the play and further suggested the incongruity of Macbeth's nihilism unless he knew the cause of his wife's death.
We discussed how Shakespeare's plays often contain different versions and transcriptions and why a better editorial version of the play would reveal Lady Macbeth's suicide prior to the iconic "tomorrow and tomorrow" speech. Last, I noted numerous literary works that have used portions of this soliloquy as a title such as The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner.