Time is one of the most basic elements of life: Humans live in the present, dwell in the past, and fear the future. Life is just a constant and consistent march towards the end, an end that is forever unknown. Time, though, for all it dictates, is nothing more than a human construct. The idea that everything exists in a neat line and that all events happen from start to finish is nothing more than a common figment of imagination. One may argue that this linear idea is the foundational problem with humanity. As one wise time traveller once said “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually ...it 's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff” (Doctor Who S3E10). While this isn’t the most eloquent or scientific quote, it makes the audience think about how they view time and their life. While today society accepts time as a linear concept, this was not always the norm. William Shakespeare lived in an era of change and revolution. While previously it had been viewed as a mythical creation of the gods’, as often described in ancient Greek works, time was finally being viewed in the modern way of timelines (MacDonald). This new idea of time is explored in Shakespeare’s tragic play Macbeth. As Macbeth struggles with his conscious and decision to commit murder a mood of sorrow and catastrophe is created for the reader by the characters’ inability to understand time and the human contract with nature.The tragedy of Macbeth lies