Everything is yesterday.

“Everything is yesterday.” is Queen Marguerite’s stark formulation of time in a scene where Berenger the First confronts mortality and the prospect of oblivion. The phrase turns the passage of time into a condition already accomplished: even the present seems to arrive as something lost, giving his wish to be remembered a bleak counterpoint.

Formulation and Speakers

Queen Marguerite states the expression after Berenger the First wonders how long anyone will remember him. His answer to the prospect of eventual universal extinction is defiant resignation: whether the earth wears out or universes explode tomorrow or in countless centuries, what must end is, in his words, already finished. Against this expansive speculation, Queen Marguerite’s short sentence makes the past feel immediate and all-encompassing.

The Temporal Sequence

The phrase is part of a brief exchange that develops its thought through three distinct voices. Juliette extends Queen Marguerite’s claim: even “today” will be “yesterday.” The Doctor gives the sequence a general rule, saying, “All things pass into the past.” Together, the lines move from a sweeping declaration, through the fate of the present day, to an apparently universal account of change.

Counterstatement and Dramatic Force

Queen Marie resists this movement by insisting that there is no past and no future, only a present that continues to the end. Her appeal to Berenger the First to be present offers a consoling alternative, but his reply—“Alas! I'm only present in the past.”—shows that it cannot undo his sense of loss. The expression’s force lies in this contrast: time can be imagined as continuous presence, yet for the dying king, memory has already begun to replace life.