Shakespeare's Existentialism, from Macbeth. James Joyce's Warning

____________________________________

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
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.

Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5, 19 - 28


___________________________________


"Our lust is brief.  We are means to those small creatures within us, and nature has other ends than we."

James Joyce, from Ulysses (Published 1920, immediately after the deadly flu pandemic of 1918)
___________________________________