The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-03-14
THE PSYCHOLOGY
OF SHAKESPEARE
concluded from Page 81

Murder must come as a surprise, and
even when the marrow came after the
bloody deed was done, Shakespeare
makes the perpetrators of the crime
feign most surprise. Their very at
tempt to conceal the deed is what re-
veals IL.
Looking at the poets WORK from n
psychological standpoint we know this.
We soon forget surprises; they do not
furrow deep channels in the brain, they
are but fleeing and transient impress
sions.
NATURE SEEMS ENTRANCED.
with Duncan dead, observe the sus-
pense, the time taken by nature to re-
cover her poise. Life has been arrest
ed, nature seems tranced. The natural
and supernatural worlds hold armis-
tice. Temptation has played its part,
done it's infamous work. Retribution
is the new strand in the play. To
gracefully usher in these new condi-
tions, he let's the old ones sleep. Dun
cans death ends Duncan in the play.
Having now entered the realm where
retribution is to find it's stage of action,
we must find a cause for the fearful
peHdllleS 10 ne lnlllCteu. L lie uetu has
been done secretly with consummate
craft and is known only to its authors
and God. Is there no trace of crime.
nc scintilla of evidence upon which to
ground suspicion? Yes, thinks Mac
beth, the sleeping grooms are all
smeared with blood, and there too. are
the smeared daggers. This to Mac
beth is sufficient evidence of their
guilt; and with drawn sword in great
rage he doubles his crime. But his
readiness to kill the servants without
hearing evidence casts suspicion on
himself. Lady Macbeth, too, is un-
fortunate in her discrimination. When
Macduff said to Malcolm: Your royal
fathers murdered, Malcolm replied in
stantly: by whom?" But when Lady
Macbeth is apprised of the murder she
eXclaims: WOE, alas! murder, and in
our house?" "Out of the fulness OF
the heart the mouth speaketh." Ban
quo, true to himself and his surround
ingS replied: "Too cruel anywhere"
Her exclamation reveals premedita-
tion, and the violation of the sacred
laws of hospitality. We must remem-
ber that Shakespeare's players act
from within. No outward circum-
stances need expose the crime. The
guilty mind reveals in act and word
it's own content. The crime is so hid
eous. so fearful and monstrous that an
innocent mind would have said who,
when, where. But who did the deed is
too personal. When, It too near the
hour of the crime. The act Is so fresh
II has not yet crossed the border line
of the present. "In our house" is a
suggestion prompted by the strongest
argument of Macbeth, who said in his
dialogue with Lady Macbeth in con-
temptation of the murder: IT should
be the first to shut the door against
the murder not bear the knife myself"
THE GREATEST CAUSE FIRST.
The strongest reason against any
wrong deed is the one that first finds
expression in the guilty mind. 1t is so
in infancy. The guilty child always
puts the greatest cause first The kill
ing was what haunted their fancy more
than the deed itself, and when they
cross this strand and retribution is
ushered in, the first thought suggested
is the thought of place. Every word
of Shakespeare is freighted with mean
ing. The play of Othello almost turns
on the import of the word indeed" so
significantly uttered by Iago, and in
Hamlet all depends on the pretentious
seems" and here in Macbeth "any-
where" renders a verdict of guilty.
That Shakespeare entertained the
most advanced thought in psychology
can not be questioned. He did not con-
fine the operation of mind solely to
the chambers of the brain. Mind to
Shakespeare was not a spirit put up in
certain nook and corner of our an
atomy. 1t permeates the whole organ
ism OF living man and this thought is
the only thought that an educator can
entertain if he believes in a symme-
trical man.