When should she have died?

Act V Scene V
Wherefore was that cry?
Sey. The Queen, my lord, is dead.
Macb. She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word. 20
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 24
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 28
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

This passage connects the many allusions to time that occur throughout Macbeth. Professor Little emphasized in class the importance of Macbeth's speech in Act I Scene VII in which he speaks to the pace of things happening quickly. In fact, the concept of time has been skewed throughout the play. The drama begins with the witches altering the order of time by giving a prophecy which in essence disrupts the linear order of time. Now at this point at the end of the play, the reader/audience is exposed to the complications of time coming together.
The scene takes place just as Macbeth is preparing to go into battle, one which he knows he is destined to lose. He knows this because of the prophecy which foretells that he will lose his power when the woods encroach upon his castle, an event that should take hundreds of years. This is one aspect of time returning to balance.
Specifically within this passage there is an emphasis of time and the rejoining of past, present, and future. Macbeth says the word for her time would have been "tomorrow" indicating the future, as "day to day" refers to the present, "and all the yesterdays" signifying the past. As this balance restores Macbeth realizes that time has come to balance and that things are not happening nearly as quickly, and all too late seems to realize the importance of time in relation to mortality. He says that "life" as the "shadow" is "a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more." This hour is the realized mortality that Macbeth is coming to peace with. He knows his time has come to an end.
Macbeth's statement that Lady Macbeth should have died hereafter, while lovingly poetic is nothing but an admission that his wish to undo time, to speed it up to achieve his aims, was a poor choice, his ambition has caused his downfall. Now after trying to hard to get the perfect life, his shortcut has caused its very downfall.

Tyson Ramirez
Section 1E
TA Ian Hoch