Sunrises of Tomorrow

Sunrises of Tomorrow 

Every day the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, regardless of the day’s events or the importance on an individual, familial, community, country, continental, or worldly scale. There is a large separation between the magnitude and importance of the sun and the relative insignificance of an individual life. Every day people are born and people are killed, people come into and fall out of power. Lives can change completely in one day, but the sun cannot. The sun has risen and set for millions of years and will continue to do so for millions of years, regardless of who dies and who is born, who comes into power and who falls out of it, and regardless of the many ever-changing lives of people on the earth. Even William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a captivating play with numerous deaths and shifts of power, doesn’t contain events that could change the way the sun rises and sets. Leonid Afremov’s painting “Sunrise in the Harbor” illustrates just one of the myriad sunrises on Earth that continue to exist unconcerned with each day’s events or significance.

Lives are measured in tomorrows, tomorrows are measure in sunrises just like the sunrise in the harbor of Afremov’s painting. As Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plot to kill the king, Lady Macbeth declares, “O, never shall sun that morrow see” (I, v). Lady Macbeth has heard of the witches prophecy and immediately concluded that King Duncan cannot live another day. Lady Macbeth is sure he will not live to see tomorrow’s sun. This is one of the earliest references to the idea of tomorrow and use of the sun as a measure of life. King Duncan’s life is coming to an end. The sun will continue to rise, but poor King Duncan won’t get to see it. His life and his throne will be taken by Macbeth, and in time Macbeth’s life and throne will be taken by another man attempting to live to see sunrises from his throne. They’re all searching for power, but this power they search for is nothing in comparison to the power of the sun; the timespan of their reign pales in comparison to the lifespan of the sun.

“Sunrise in the Harbor” depicts one of many sunrises that would not be changed by the death of Lady Macbeth in Act V Scene V. As Macbeth learns of his beloved, but horrible, wife’s death he begins to ponder on the idea of tomorrow and describes life, “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (V, v). Macbeth questions the significance of life; perhaps he looks out the window, sees the sun and draws the same conclusion: the conclusion that one life is trivial in comparison with the ball of fire that our existence relies upon. Lady Macbeth spent a good deal of her life plotting and conspiring in order to become queen, but in the end her life was not long and barely meaningful. Life is one small, but exciting story that spans a mere speck of time in the grand scheme of things, and while the sun may also be a speck in the universe, it is a much greater speck than one life, fictional or real. 

Both literature and art can be interpreted and connect in innumerable ways. Some people spend years studying Shakespeare and others spend their lives interpreting art; different people make different conclusions and connections. That is the beauty of art and literature. A play about three witches and a power-hungry couple and a painting of a sunrise in harbor, two things that are seemingly unconnected, can be intertwined immensely. The notions of tomorrows and the routine rising and setting of the sun both count the days of a life, fictional or real.