Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-07-15
sHAKESpEAREs MACBETH
PART II.

In Act IT,, Scene l, Macbeth has O
soliloquy opening with the lines:
~Is shis dagger which see before mo.
The handle towards my hands" etc.
This 10 one OF tho parts Of this play
that has elicited q great deal OF critical
discussion, as able q critic as Sheridan
Knowles declaring "Ihave long enter
tanned the opinion that tbisdagger is not
IS Macbeth assumed IL to be-
"A dagger Of the mind,
Proceeding frcm the heatopprcssed brain -
but on the contrary an apparition coming
and vanishing as the witches themselves
do. and that consequently il ought to be
actually presented. as indeed itused to be.
In my MUD the whole thing is too cir
cumstantial and bears too much upon the
action TO justify the common interpreta-
ton which comedies with that OF Macbeth.
1t 10 phantom raised by the witches to
draw Macbeth on to bis conclusion. 1t
is the supernatural cosdiutor OF Lady
Macbeth, dumbly but irresistibly per-
spading him to the deed. He falters
yet Yes, upon the very threshold
OF guilt he is faltering, but the evil
agency OF which he is the victim is at
hand with the dagger, shows him the in
strument that he is TO use, presents it to
him with its handle towards him, in
viting him 10 clutch it, as he attempts to
do, marshaIs for him with il the way he
was to 60, nor withdraws it then, but
while be is yet in doubt whether 1t IS
substance or shadow that he looks upon,
ends the debate by exhibiting it to him
stained with gouts Of blood,
"which was not 20 before"
Macbeth's Interpretation OF the vision
n not 10 be taken ss the truth. II is not
sThe bloody business which informs
Thus 70 his eyes"
II is indeed astonishing that so able
and erudito a critic as Sheridan Knowles
should express such opinions as these
upon this passage OF the play, and yet
these views have substantially been held
by other critics. Ii will be seen that
Knowles has had TO disregard tho text OF
the play in order to maintain his views
This ddQgor is purely The creation Of
The c1citcd and "hc0t-OppreSscd" brain
Of Macbeth, and the text so plainly
shows this that / am at loss TO see how
any one could have a doubt upon the
subject. Macbeth says:
"COme, let me clutch thee
j have thee not, and yet sec thee still,
Art thea not. fatal vision. sensible
To feeling a. & sIght7 Or art thou but
a dagger Of the mind. a false creation,
Proceeding from the hoatOppressed brain
see thee yet in form as palpaOe
As this which now draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that was going;
a at.., aftfnf,, ant 80 10
hipe eyes made the fools o the other senses,
or else worth al the rest: sec thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts Of blood,
Which was not 80 before There's no such thing:
II is the bloody busfnesS Which informs
Thus 20 mint eyes"
The text of this quotation indisputably
establishes that this dagger was purely a
creation OF Macbeth's mind, and this
view is confirmed by the utterance Of
Lady Macbeth in Act Ill, scene 4, which
is the celebrated banquet scene, in which
the ghost OF Banquo appears and is seen
by Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth says to
him in her effort to establish in bis mind
the idea that it is only deception Of his
excited faculties
go. proper stuff
This Il tho very painting Of your feoY:
This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said.
Led you 20 Duncan
Ind as she tcas not present aChen
Macbeth Sam this "Qir-drQWR ddqger,"
he must hare subsequently described ii
To his witc, and her description Of az IN
tie banquet SceHc is her deliberate con-
,iction as 10 IT, And these utterances
of Macbeth in regard TO the "air-drawn
dagger" are made Just as he passes into
the apartment of Duncan to murder him,
and his mind was therefore in that highly
excited and perturbed condition that
made the dagger the creation of his ex-
Leitea imagination.
Another phase of this play that has
elected critical analysis and debate Is the
appearance OF the ghost of Banquo in
the banquet scene i'll Act Ill, Scene 4.
and as to whether it is Banqno's ghost
actually appearing to Macbeth, or also
the creation of his distempered facul-
ties, the text indisputabiy establishes
that it is the creation of Macbeths NOR
bid mental condition. No one sees this
1host eecepting himseU. II is not seen
open by his wite, she first tctI'ng him
that d is the "0ir-drdWR ddggcr" an
the passage that has bean previously
quoted, and then saying:
80. these flaws and starts,
ympostors TO true fear would well become
A wOman's story az winters FIRE,
AUTHORIZED by her grandan. Shame itsolf
Why do YOU make such faces? When all g done
You look but on STOOL"
Lady Macbeth goes further, and apollo
eizes to his guests for him, saying:
think OF thisrgood peers,
But as a thing Of custom; Y Is no other,
Only IL spoils the pleasure OF the time"
lam convinced that when this play was
written that Shakespeare did not intend
that this ghost should appear upon the
stage at all, but that he intended that
Macbeth by the text and his acting should
convey to the audience the presence of
the ghost. The ghost in "Macbeth is
not like the ghost in "Hamlet, one OF
the dranaatis persona of the play, and
is seen by Bernado, Marcellus, Horatlo,
and Hamlet: although it is one Of the
strange inconsistencies of Shakespeare
in Hamlet" that the ghost is seen by
all the characters named, but Is not seen
by his mother in Hamlet's scene with
her. The ghost in 4" Hamlet speaks
and furnishes the facts by its speech
upon which the action OF the
play moves. The necessities of dra-
maiic representation may have induced
Shakespeare to consent to the introduce
tion OF ghost in the banquet scene by
way Of making it more rcot, and thus
reaching such of his auditors as were of
mediocre capacity. but think that the
play could be more powerfully rendered
without its introduction. as the sublime
and powerful text of Shakespeare, pro-
perly read or spoken, would always
clearly convey the CHEST as the starting
creation OF Macbeth's diseased mind.
But il also shows what Shakespeare with
irresistible power depicts in this play
the remorse Of Macbeth-and this re-
morse pursues him as the Eumenides
pursued Orestes; and in all this is found
the highest illustration Of Shakespeare's
genius.
Any criticism on this play would be
imperfect without some analysis Of and
tribute to the poetic beauty and exquisite
gentleness OF the character of Duncan.
In contemplating his assassination Mac