- Driver, Tom F. "The Uses of Time: Oedipus Tyrannus and Macbeth."
- The Sense of History in Greek and Shakespearean Drama. New York: Columbia UP, 1960. 143-167.
Thesis: Driver writes,
In Macbeth there are three kinds of time: (1) time measured by clock, calendar, and the movement of sun, moon, and stars, which for sake of convenience we may call "chronological time"; (2) an order of time which overarches the action of the entire play and which may be called "providential time"; and (3) a time scheme, or an understanding of time, belonging to Macbeth, which may be called "Macbeth's time." (143-44)The most interesting part of the chapter is Driver's discussion of the conflict between "providential time" and "Macbeth's time." He says that "The moral order of Macbeth is expressed by Shakespeare in terms of a time against which Macbeth rebels" (149). In the order of providential time Macbeth will become king, only to yield to Banquo's line, who will be kings to "the crack of doom." Macbeth would like to cancel the second part of the providential time scheme. Driver writes that Macbeth
would "let the frame of things disjoint" (III.ii.16); he would "jump the life to come" (I.vii.6); he murders sleep, that daily symbol of man's finitude in time; he destroys the meaning of tomorrow and tomorrow, the ironic consequence of his attempt to control the future. (153)Of course Macbeth cannot control the future, and providential time marches on.
Bottom Line: Often dry, but generally worthwhile.