Shakespeare's setting of the play in remote antiquity, in the prehistory of Britain, as it were, distinguishes it from the other great tragedies, which all take place within the historical period. Yet modern place names and the external accoutrements of relatively recent times are used. The result is an impression of a timeless fairy tale, divorced from reality but paradoxically more “real” than a historical play might seem, precisely because, rather than being anchored in a specific period, the drama speaks for all times and places. The fable-like quality of the play implies that man's journey through time is a cyclic process: the actions seen here are fated to repeat themselves over and over, regardless of how far humanity has progressed and how much advancement is presumed to have taken place. An especially striking line is the Fool's statement that “this prophecy shall Merlin make, for I live before his time.” The Fool thus has knowledge of a time to come, as if he and the other characters exist in some fluid dimension where past, present, and future are all the same.