Captain
As whence the sun 'gins his reflection Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break, So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come Discomfort swells.
Like the “sun[‘s]” rays lulling us into a false sense of “comfort”, the moment of triumph over Macdonwald is made all but hollow by the Norwegian invasion. This passage picks up the play’s thematic concern with the disjuncture between appearances and reality, this time expressed through a conversation between joy and misery. Each line’s tone contrasts the last, with the fearful always seeming to have the last word – “reflection” gives way to “shipwracking”, “break” briefly brings the “spring”, before the punchy two-word blow of the final line – “discomfort swells” - sends the appearance of “comfort” reeling backwards towards a harsh reality. The symbol of the sun is one only mentioned a handful of times within the play, but its significance is defined by its contrast with upcoming death or despair: how morbid, that for either joy or misery to be significant, the other must exist as a counterweight.
- Ken