It is one of the most famous lines in the history of the English language, yet almost everyone gets the meaning of she should have died hereafter completely wrong. You’ve likely heard it in a high school classroom or seen it delivered by a sweat-drenched actor under stage lights. Macbeth hears that his wife is dead. He speaks. The words feel cold, don’t they? People usually think he’s saying, "She was going to die anyway," or "She picked a bad time to pass away."
That’s not quite it.
Shakespeare wasn't just writing about a man who stopped caring. He was writing about the total collapse of time and meaning. When Macbeth mutters that she should have died hereafter, he isn’t being a jerk. He’s experiencing a psychological break that most of us, thankfully, will never have to understand firsthand.
What the words actually mean
Language changes. In the early 17th century, the word "should" didn't always mean a moral obligation or a "shame it happened now" sentiment. In this specific context, many scholars, including those at the Folger Shakespeare Library, argue that Macbeth is saying she would have died at some point later.
Basically, he’s saying there would have been a more appropriate time for this news.
Right now, he's under siege. His castle is being surrounded. His world is ending. He doesn't have the "room" to grieve. If she had died tomorrow, or next week, or ten years from now, he might have been able to muster a tear. But here? In the middle of a collapsing coup? He’s empty.
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The "Tomorrow" connection
You can't talk about she should have died hereafter without looking at what follows immediately after: the "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" speech.
It is a nihilistic masterpiece.
Macbeth realizes that if the person he did all this for—the murders, the lying, the soul-selling—is gone, then the time he has left is just a series of meaningless ticks on a clock. It's a "tale told by an idiot." Honestly, it’s one of the darkest moments in Western literature because it suggests that even the greatest ambitions lead to a "dusty death."
Different ways actors play it
If you watch Patrick Stewart play Macbeth, he delivers the line with a sort of weary, clinical detachment. It’s like he’s a doctor pronouncing a time of death on his own soul. On the other hand, Ian McKellen’s version often feels more like a man who has been punched in the gut and is trying to find his breath.
There is no "right" way, but the "hereafter" part is the key.
- The Temporal Interpretation: She would have died eventually, so why does it matter if it’s today?
- The Regretful Interpretation: If only she had died later, I could have honored her properly.
- The Numb Interpretation: Time has lost all sequence for Macbeth, so "hereafter" and "now" are the same thing.
Why the timing of Lady Macbeth’s death matters
Think about their relationship. It started as a partnership. A lethal, ambitious, highly effective partnership. They were the original power couple, but by the time we get to she should have died hereafter, they haven't shared a scene in ages.
They are physically in the same castle but miles apart mentally.
Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and trying to wash invisible blood off her hands. Macbeth is busy ordering executions and consulting witches. When the cry of women is heard in the castle and Seyton brings the news, the distance between the two characters is finalized. Death is just the paperwork.
The philosophical trap of the "Hereafter"
A lot of people confuse "hereafter" with the afterlife. In modern English, we hear "the hereafter" and think of heaven or hell. But Shakespeare used it here to mean "at a later time."
This is crucial.
If Macbeth were talking about the afterlife, the speech would be religious. It’s not. It is stubbornly, aggressively secular. He talks about shadows, players, and candles. There is no God in this speech. There is no hope for a reunion in some celestial Scotland. There is only the "syllable of recorded time."
Common misconceptions in pop culture
You’ll see this line quoted in movies and TV shows all the time. Usually, it’s used to show a character is "cold-blooded."
That’s a bit of a surface-level take.
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Macbeth isn't cold-blooded at this point; he’s burnt out. There is a huge difference. A cold-blooded person feels power. A burnt-out person feels nothing. When he says she should have died hereafter, he is admitting that his capacity for human emotion has been cauterized by his own actions.
Was Macbeth actually annoyed?
Some critics, though they are in the minority, suggest Macbeth is actually annoyed by the inconvenience. "She should have died later (because I’m busy right now)."
It's a valid reading if you want to play Macbeth as a total sociopath. But Shakespeare usually gives his villains more depth than that. If Macbeth is just "annoyed," the "Tomorrow" speech loses its weight. The speech works because he is looking into the abyss, not because he's checking his watch.
Real-world applications of the sentiment
We see this in high-stress environments. First responders, soldiers, or people in the middle of a crisis often report a strange lack of emotion when they hear bad news. The brain can only process so much trauma at once.
Macbeth is in the middle of a "sensory overload" of tragedy.
He’s already seen ghosts. He’s already seen his conscience disintegrate. By the time the news of his wife’s death hits, his "grief circuits" have blown a fuse.
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Actionable steps for understanding the text
If you are a student, an actor, or just someone who wants to sound smart at a dinner party, don't just memorize the words.
- Read the punctuation. In many editions, there is a full stop or a semi-colon after "hereafter." That pause is where the "Tomorrow" speech begins. That pause is the most important part of the play.
- Look at the word "Word." Macbeth says, "There would have been a time for such a word." The "word" is death. He can't even say the word "death" in relation to his wife initially.
- Contextualize the "Out, out, brief candle." Lady Macbeth was his light. With her gone, the "candle" is useless.
- Contrast it with Macduff. Earlier in the play, Macduff hears his family has been killed and says he must "feel it as a man." Macbeth does the opposite. He doesn't feel it at all. That’s the tragedy.
To truly grasp why she should have died hereafter remains such a haunting line, you have to stop looking for a "bad guy" reaction and start looking for a "broken guy" reaction. Macbeth isn't dismissing his wife. He is acknowledging that in the world he created through murder, nothing—not even the death of his partner—has any meaning anymore.
When you read or watch the play next, pay attention to the silence right after the line is spoken. That is where the real meaning lives. It is the sound of a man realizing he has won a crown but lost the entire universe.
Next Steps for Deeper Insight:
- Compare Translations: Check the Arden vs. Oxford editions of Macbeth. The footnotes on "should" will give you a deeper look at the linguistic shift from 1606 to now.
- Watch the 1976 RSC Production: Specifically, look for Ian McKellen’s performance. It is widely considered the definitive way to handle the pacing of this specific scene.
- Analyze the Meter: The line is iambic pentameter, but the "Tomorrow" section starts to break the rhythm. Notice how Macbeth's internal world falling apart is reflected in the broken "music" of the poetry.