...MACBETH lf it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well lt were done quickly: if th'assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch. With his surcease, success; that but this blow 5 Might be the be-all and the end-all ... here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We'd jump...

...awkwardness and semantic confusion. In one important instance, which concerns Macbeth's famous lines, 'upon this bank and shoal of time, / We'd jump the life to come' (1.7.6-7), literal rendering even produces an inappropriately comic effect.39 The awkwardness or semantic...

...like fed horses.' 4 ra.7.12. that there is perhaps an ambiguity in the well-known image from Mqcfyeth; If the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease, success.1 with the implications of the outcome being smothered like an active animal in a clinging...

...desire for certainty: If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly. If th' assassination Could trammel up the consequence and...but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all . . . (1.7.1-5) If only we could be sure that it would be finished, if only we could control every...

...quickly; if th'assassination Could trammel up* the consequence, and catch With his surcease, success;7 that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all...here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time We'd jump8 the life to come. But in these cases We still have judgement here, that we but teach Bloody instructions,...

...draws on one of Macbeth's soliloquies before the murder of Duncan: 109 If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly: if the assassination...and shoal of time, — We'd jump the life to come. (1.7.1-7) Pierre's "instantaneousness" (183, 186) was the result of his believing " 'twere well / It...

...following soliloquy, he says: If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly. If th' assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and...bank and shoal of time. We'd jump the life to come. (I, vii, 1-7) He goes on to explain why the murderous act will not "trammel up the consequence," and...

...passage, a soliloquy, Macbeth is struggling with second thoughts about his forthcoming murder of Duncan. Could trammel up the consequence, | and catch, | With...bank and shoal of time, | We'd jump the life to come. (Macbeth, 1.7.1—7) Here Shakespeare deploys pauses to emphasize the halting perplexity of the fainthearted...

...hostess [ EXEUNT. MUSIC and A FEAST being served ENTER MACBETH.] MACBETH If it were done when 'tis done then 'twere well It were done quickly if the assassination...this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all. Here 24 We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases We still have judgement here that we but teach Bloody...

...future dimensions: Lady Macbeth feels "now / The future in the instant," and her husband wishes that "here, / But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, / We'd jump the life to come." The play moves forward at a breathtaking pace, slowing to an agonizing crawl only in Macbeth s" Tomorrow...