# Macbeth: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow > What is happening, what every line means, how to perform it, and how to use it in an audition, with the full text. - URL: https://www.offbook.com/monologues/tomorrow-and-tomorrow - Last updated: 2026-10-08 From [Macbeth](https://www.offbook.com/plays/macbeth) by William Shakespeare, Act 5, Scene 5. ## What is happening Near the end of the play, Macbeth is shut inside his castle at Dunsinane. Malcolm's army is closing in, and Macbeth has just boasted that his walls will laugh at a siege. A cry of women rings out inside the castle. Macbeth remarks that he has almost forgotten what fear tastes like. His officer Seyton goes to look and returns with four words: the Queen is dead. Lady Macbeth, his partner in every crime, had been broken by guilt and sleepwalking. Seyton is there, but Macbeth is really talking to himself. He reaches for grief and finds only emptiness. The moment he finishes, a messenger arrives with news that will finish him. - Lines: 12 - Words: 90 - At 150 words a minute: 36 seconds - Form: Verse ## The speech, beat by beat The full text in 5 beats. Under each beat: what it means in plain English, and a note for playing it. ### Lines 1–2: The news lands 1. She should have died hereafter; 2. There would have been a time for such a word. **In plain English:** She should have died later. There would have been a proper time for news like this. **Acting note:** It can also mean 'she would have died sooner or later anyway.' Choose. Line 1 is short, so there is room for silence. ### Lines 3–5: The endless days 3. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 4. Creeps in this petty pace from day to day 5. To the last syllable of recorded time, **In plain English:** Tomorrow after tomorrow after tomorrow crawls along at this small, trivial pace, day by day, until the very last syllable of history. **Acting note:** Each 'tomorrow' is another day he has to live through. Don't play them identically. Let the repetition feel like dragging footsteps. ### Lines 6–7: Every yesterday led to the grave 6. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 7. The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! **In plain English:** And every day that has already passed has only lit the way for fools toward death and dust. Go out, short candle. **Acting note:** 'Out, out, brief candle!' is the hinge. It can be an order, a plea, or something said to her, to himself, or to every life. ### Lines 8–9: Life as a bad actor 8. Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player 9. That struts and frets his hour upon the stage **In plain English:** Life is just a moving shadow, a second-rate actor who swaggers and frets through his hour on stage. **Acting note:** You are a player on a stage saying this. Don't wink at it, but don't hide from it either. It is the cruelest image in the speech. ### Lines 10–12: A story that means nothing 10. And then is heard no more: it is a tale 11. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 12. Signifying nothing. **In plain English:** And then he is never heard from again. Life is a story told by an idiot: lots of noise and passion, and it means nothing at all. **Acting note:** The last line is only two words. What follows is silence, and then the messenger bursts in. Let 'nothing' be the end of the thought, not a big finish. ## Hard words | Word | Line | Meaning | | --- | --- | --- | | *hereafter* | 1 | later, at some future time | | *such a word* | 2 | such news (the word that she is dead) | | *petty pace* | 4 | small, trivial, plodding pace | | *recorded time* | 5 | all of history; time as it is written down | | *lighted fools* | 6 | lit the way for foolish people (as with a candle) | | *dusty death* | 7 | death and the grave, where bodies turn to dust | | *walking shadow* | 8 | something with no substance; a moving shade | | *player* | 8 | actor | | *struts and frets* | 9 | shows off and worries; overacts | | *Signifying* | 12 | meaning, standing for | ## How to perform it - Start from the specific loss. This is a reaction to his wife's death, not a lecture on the meaning of life. If the first two lines are real, the big ideas will grow out of them. - See the images: the dragging days, a candle blown out, a ham actor, a babbling storyteller. StageMilk's breakdown points to Ian McKellen picturing a village idiot on a dusty path whose candle is blown out. A concrete picture shapes voice and body better than 'being sad.' - Notice the loose rhythm. Several lines end on an extra, weak syllable ('to-morrow' in line 3, 'player' in line 8), which can feel like a man losing his footing. Use it rather than smoothing it out. - Breathe after line 2, where the speech turns from her to everything. Lines 3 to 7 can be one breath, ending at 'dusty death.' Breathe before 'Out, out' and before 'Life's but a walking shadow.' Run lines 10 and 11 together so 'Signifying nothing' ends the sentence. - Common mistakes: weeping throughout; intoning it as a famous poem; pausing heavily on every image. Numbness is often more moving than tears. ## Using it in an audition Panels know this speech very well, and at 12 lines it runs well under a minute. On its own it is usually too short for a standard classical slot, though it works where a very short piece is asked for. It suits men from about their 30s up, but a younger actor with real stillness can make it work. For more time, look at the rest of the same scene, where Macbeth vows to fight on and hears the women's cry. Pair it with something warm, fast or funny. Macbeth, Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5. William Shakespeare. Public domain text. ## How long it runs | Pace | Words a minute | Run time | | --- | --- | --- | | Deliberate | 130 | 42 seconds | | Conversational | 150 | 36 seconds | | Brisk | 170 | 30 seconds | These are speech times before pauses. To time your own run, paste the text into the [monologue timer](https://www.offbook.com/tools/monologue-timer). ## Practice it: first-letter version Each word is cut to its first letter. Say the whole line from the letters, then check the text. Make cues from any script with the [first-letter memorizer](https://www.offbook.com/tools/first-letter-memorizer). ```text S s h d h; T w h b a t f s a w. T-m, a t-m, a t-m, C i t p p f d t d T t l s o r t, A a o y h l f T w t d d. O, o, b c! L b a w s, a p p T s a f h h u t s A t i h n m: i i a t T b a i, f o s a f, S n. ``` ## More from Macbeth - [How many lines does Macbeth have?](https://www.offbook.com/plays/macbeth/macbeth) - [Lady Macbeth: The raven himself is hoarse](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/the-raven-himself-is-hoarse) - [Macbeth: Is this a dagger which I see before me](https://www.offbook.com/monologues/is-this-a-dagger) - [Every role in Macbeth, by size](https://www.offbook.com/plays/macbeth) ## Sources - [Macbeth Monologue (Act 5, Scene 5) | StageMilk](https://www.stagemilk.com/macbeth-monologue-act-5-scene-5/) - [A Summary and Analysis of Macbeth's 'Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow' Speech (Interesting Literature)](https://interestingliterature.com/2020/05/macbeth-tomorrow-speech-analysis-summary/) - [Macbeth Glossary: She should have died hereafter (Shakespeare Online)](https://shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/soliloquies/hereafter.html) ## Questions actors ask ### How long is Macbeth’s Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow speech? 12 lines and 90 words. At 150 words a minute it runs about 36 seconds; a slower, more deliberate delivery at 130 takes about 42 seconds. Pauses add time, so time a full run out loud. ### Is it a good audition monologue? Panels know this speech very well, and at 12 lines it runs well under a minute. On its own it is usually too short for a standard classical slot, though it works where a very short piece is asked for. It suits men from about their 30s up, but a younger actor with real stillness can make it work. For more time, look at the rest of the same scene, where Macbeth vows to fight on and hears the women's cry. Pair it with something warm, fast or funny. ### What is the fastest way to memorize it? Learn it in sense units, not line by line: say each thought out loud until you can do it without looking, then add the next. The first-letter version below keeps the shape of every line in view while you test yourself. ## How we count Counts are computed from the full text of the [Standard Ebooks edition](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/william-shakespeare/macbeth) (public domain; retrieved 2026-10-08). Words are every spoken word, with stage directions removed. Lines are verse lines as printed, plus prose at 10 words a line, because prose has no fixed line breaks; editions differ, so other sources give slightly different line counts. Time is words at 140 words a minute, before pauses and stage business. A role is counted in a scene when it speaks there. To count a script that is not in the library, paste it into the [script line counter](https://www.offbook.com/tools/script-line-counter).