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Why did Macbeth think that time went so slowly?

In Act V, Scene 5, just after being informed that the Queen is dead, Macbeth speaks a famous soliloquy containing these lines:


Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrowCreeps in this petty pace from day to day


The word "creeps" and the words "petty pace" suggest that Macbeth thinks time is passing very slowly. But why does he perceive time in this way? The answer seems to be contained in the same soliloquy. A few lines...

In Act V, Scene 5, just after being informed that the Queen is dead, Macbeth speaks a famous soliloquy containing these lines:



Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day



The word "creeps" and the words "petty pace" suggest that Macbeth thinks time is passing very slowly. But why does he perceive time in this way? The answer seems to be contained in the same soliloquy. A few lines later Macbeth says:



Out, out, brief candle



Macbeth feels that life is meaningless. This explains why he feels that time is moving slowly. Day follows day in a seemingly endless succession--and yet the one day that is marked for his own death never seems to arrive. He looks into the future and sees nothing but tomorrows. He looks into the past and sees that these tomorrows have turned into yesterdays. He has nothing good to look forward to in the future, and nothing good to remember in the past. He envies his wife. She is at peace.


Why doesn't he just commit suicide if he feels so apathetic? No doubt he is afraid of what might happen to him in the afterlife. In an earlier soliloquy he indicates that he has sold his soul to the devil by murdering King Duncan, the man who trusted and loved him.



For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind,
Put rancors in the vessel of my peace
Only for them, and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man.   III.1





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