--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What, then, can Shakespearean tragedy, on…" description: "\"“What, then, can Shakespearean tragedy, on this brief view, tell us about human time in an eternal world? It offers imagery of crisis, of futures equiv..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37f/frank-kermode-16485_human-life_what-then-can-shakespearean-tragedy-on-t_1097094.jpg" --- # What, then, can Shakespearean tragedy, on this brief view… ![“What, then, can Shakespearean tragedy, on this brief view, tell us about human time in an eternal world? It offers imagery of crisis, of futures equivocally offered, by prediction and by action, as actualities; as a confrontation of human time with other orders, and the disastrous attempt to…” quote by Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37f/frank-kermode-16485_human-life_what-then-can-shakespearean-tragedy-on-t_1097094.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37f/frank-kermode-16485_human-life_what-then-can-shakespearean-tragedy-on-t_1097094.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37f/frank-kermode-16485_human-life_what-then-can-shakespearean-tragedy-on-t_1097094.jpg) > ““What, then, can Shakespearean tragedy, on this brief view, tell us about human time in an eternal world? It offers imagery of crisis, of futures equivocally offered, by prediction and by action, as actualities; as a confrontation of human time with other orders, and the disastrous attempt to impose limited designs upon the time of the world. What emerges from Hamlet is--after much futile, illusory action--the need of patience and readiness. The 'bloody period' of Othello is the end of a life ruined by unseasonable curiosity. The millennial ending of Macbeth, the broken apocalypse of Lear, are false endings, human periods in an eternal world. They are researches into death in an age too late for apocalypse, too critical for prophecy; an age more aware that its fictions are themselves models of the human design on the world. But it was still an age which felt the human need for ends consonant with the past, the kind of end Othello tries to achieve by his final speech; complete, concordant. As usual, Shakespeare allows him his tock; but he will not pretend that the clock does not go forward. The human perpetuity which Spenser set against our imagery of the end is represented here also by the kingly announcements of Malcolm, the election of Fortinbras, the bleak resolution of Edgar. In apocalypse there are two orders of time, and the earthly runs to a stop; the cry of woe to the inhabitants of the earth means the end of their time; henceforth 'time shall be no more.' In tragedy the cry of woe does not end succession; the great crises and ends of human life do not stop time. And if we want them to serve our needs as we stand in the middest we must give them patterns, understood relations as Macbeth calls them, that defy time. The concords of past, present, and future towards which the soul extends itself are out of time, and belong to the duration which was invented for angels when it seemed difficult to deny that the world in which men suffer their ends is dissonant in being eternal. To close that great gap we use fictions of complementarity. They may now be novels or philosophical poems, as they once were tragedies, and before that, angels. What the gap looked like in more modern times, and how more modern men have closed it, is the preoccupation of the second half of this series.”” [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Shakespeare’s tragedies illustrate human time within an endless cosmos, showing that crises and endings are temporary and part of a larger, timeless pattern. **In simple terms:** Human events are fleeting in an eternal universe. Key Takeaway Accept impermanence; find meaning beyond endings. Themes time humanity eternity tragedy philosophy Mood contemplative analytical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - Studying literature for timeless insights - Reflecting on personal crises as part of larger flow - Using art to confront mortality - Finding patience in fleeting moments Key Concepts temporal vs eternal narrative structure existential meaning literary analysis Questions to Reflect On - What does “eternal world” mean to you? - How do you find patience amid crisis? A Different Perspective Interpretations may over‑abstract, ignoring concrete historical contexts. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ending Macbeth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ending-macbeth-2866808/) [Human life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-life/) [Literary criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary-criticism/) [Modern times](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-times/) [Othello End](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/othello-end-2866807/) [Past present](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-present/) [Past present and future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-present-and-future/) [Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shakespeare/) [Shakespearean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shakespearean/) [Shakespearean tragedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shakespearean-tragedy-168550/) [Stop time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stop-time/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Too late](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/too-late/) ## Related quotes > [The best way to prepare for a night out with a Shakespearean tragedy is to do a bit of reading up in the afternoon,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-smith/the-best-way-to-prepare-for-a-night-out-with-a-shakespearean-tragedy/) [Arthur Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-smith/) > [A Shakespearean tragedy as so far considered may be called a story of exceptional calamity leading to the death of a man in high…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-coyle-bradley/a-shakespearean-tragedy-as-so-far-considered-may-be-called-a-story-of/) [Andrew Coyle Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-coyle-bradley/) > [In Shakespearean tragedy the main source of the convulsion which produces suffering and death is never good: good contributes to this convulsion only from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-coyle-bradley/in-shakespearean-tragedy-the-main-source-of-the-convulsion-which/) [Andrew Coyle Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-coyle-bradley/) > [In approaching our subject it will be best, without attempting to shorten the path by referring to famous theories of the drama, to start…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-coyle-bradley/in-approaching-our-subject-it-will-be-best-without-attempting-to/) [Andrew Coyle Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-coyle-bradley/) > [If we are to include the outer and the inner struggle in a conception more definite than that of conflict in general, we must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-c-bradley/if-we-are-to-include-the-outer-and-the-inner-struggle-in-a-conception/) [A. 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It offers imagery of crisis, of futures equivocally offered, by prediction and by action, as actualities; as a confrontation of human time with other orders, and the disastrous attempt to impose limited designs upon the time of the world. What emerges from Hamlet is--after much futile, illusory action--the need of patience and readiness. The 'bloody period' of Othello is the end of a life ruined by unseasonable curiosity. The millennial ending of Macbeth, the broken apocalypse of Lear, are false endings, human periods in an eternal world. They are researches into death in an age too late for apocalypse, too critical for prophecy; an age more aware that its fictions are themselves models of the human design on the world. But it was still an age which felt the human need for ends consonant with the past, the kind of end Othello tries to achieve by his final speech; complete, concordant. As usual, Shakespeare allows him his tock; but he will not pretend that the clock does not go forward. The human perpetuity which Spenser set against our imagery of the end is represented here also by the kingly announcements of Malcolm, the election of Fortinbras, the bleak resolution of Edgar. In apocalypse there are two orders of time, and the earthly runs to a stop; the cry of woe to the inhabitants of the earth means the end of their time; henceforth 'time shall be no more.' In tragedy the cry of woe does not end succession; the great crises and ends of human life do not stop time. And if we want them to serve our needs as we stand in the middest we must give them patterns, understood relations as Macbeth calls them, that defy time. The concords of past, present, and future towards which the soul extends itself are out of time, and belong to the duration which was invented for angels when it seemed difficult to deny that the world in which men suffer their ends is dissonant in being eternal. To close that great gap we use fictions of complementarity. They may now be novels or philosophical poems, as they once were tragedies, and before that, angels. 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