Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-10-12

the assassin has been in close touch |
with the throne makers of the world |
from Alexander down. Brutus ran his |
dagger through the bosom of his FREUD
and, while the blood OF Caesar yet was
warm, proclaimed in boastfui accents
Stoop Romans, stoop,
And let us battle our hands in C@sar's blood, |
Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords;
Then walk We forth, even to the market
place,
And waving our red weapons Ter our heads
Let's all cry, Peace Freedom and Liberty.
And the eloquent encomium of
Anthony over the body of dead Brutus
ut Philippi yet thrills the world:
This was the noblest Roman OF them all.
All the tonspirators, save only he
Did that they did in envy of great Cesar;
He only, in "A general honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them,
Ills life was gentle, and the elements
SO mix d in him that nature might stand up
And say to all the world, This was man."
fsuhmit was it impossible in tho then
condition of Scotland for Lady Mac
beth to counsel tho death OF Duncan,
In general honest thought
And common good to all,
even as Brutus stabbed Cesar, and il
she did only what Brutus did why
onOuid bilb WITH utT ny u Ulltr-
ent standard? 1t is because political
assassination cannot be justified, how
ever desirable it might be as q stroke
of State policy, that Lady Macbeth
cannot be wholly acquitted of guilt
Her connection with this crime was in
the way of political policy, and sho did
| not then consider herself a mere MUIR
deress, and her subsequent career shows
| that she did not sink into one. She
looked upon the affair ms ono gaining
new dignity for her husband to which
| the voice Of Scotland called him. But
| she did not foresee the chain of crime
which this first act entailed, and there-
fore, the horror of Macbeth's deed in
killing the sleeping guards of Duncan.
! caused her woman heart to stop and
faint. The death of Banquo was planned
and accomplished before she had
knowledge of it, and Lady Macdulf and
| her little ones were cut oil while she
was ignorant of the deed. But knowl-
edge of these vile crimes SO shocked
her soul that she becomes the most
pathetic patient the world has ever
seen. Had she beea mere murderess,
she would have waded through guilt
breast to breast with Macbeth. That
she did not do so, proves that in the
killing of Duncan she was performing
what she believed to be an act of politi.
cal wisdom for Scotland, but which.
| since it violated the law of God, must
be condemned as the Act OF Brutus
must also be condemned. Nor lot us
blame Lady Macbeth for what she did
not do. Ii is with great ditildence that
one differs with Mrs. Siddons in her
estimate Of this characters but one can
hardly follow this illustrious interpre-
ter of the English drama in her follow
ing vigorous estimate of Lady Mac
beth:
In this astonishing creature one
secs woman in whose bosom the pas.
sion of ambition has almost obliterated
all the characteristics of human nature;
in whose composition are associated all
tho subjugating powers of intellect, and
all the charms and graces of personal
beauty. " Such combination
only respectable in energy and strength
of mind, and captivating in feminine
loneliness, could have composed charm
of such potency as to fascinate the mind
OF q hero so dauntless, character so
amiable, SO honorable as Macbeth = to
seduce him to brave all the danger OF
the present and all the terrors of o
future world; and We are constrained,
even whilst we abhor his crimes, to
pity the infatuated victim of such u
thralldom. y
But opposed to this sweeping con-
domination is the Judgment of Mrs.
Jameson, who though not SO great as
Mrs. Siddons in the dramatic line, far
excels her in the aestheticism of liter
airy criticism. She says:
1--WE must bear in mind that the first
idea of numbering Duncan is not slug
gested by Lady Macbeth to her hus-
band; it springs within his mind and
is revealed to US before his first inter
view with his wife, before she is intro
duced or even alluded to. y y
We are prepared to see the train of evil,
first lighted by hellish agency, extend
itself to her through the medium of
her husband, but we are spared the
more revolving idea that it originated
, with her. The guilt is thus more
+ equally divided than we could sup
pose, when We hear people plying the
+ noble nature of Macbeth, bewildered
:. and goaded on to crime, solely or chiefly
by the instigation of his wife. "
, Coleridge, in discussing the meeting
!. OF Macbeth with the weird sisters on
+ the field near Forres, holds that the
i language of Macbeth shows treason
ing on a problem already discussed in
; his mind 1t may be taken as the
: settled opinion Of the critics that the
/ thought of murder in the play is harbor
ed first by Macbeth. But | think il
. can be further and safely said that the
/ play opens with both Macbeth and
{ Lady Macbeth SO far progressed in the
conspiracy against Duncan as to have
a discussed between themselves the plar
i of llunrania death This onipinn
a base on the fact that after hearing thu
:. weird sisters, though they do not men
! tion or intimate murder, Macbeth a
e once discloses that his mind possesses
!. a definite plan for removing Duncan.
Is This supernatural soliciting
h Cannot be ill, cannot be good; if ill.,
: Why hath 1t given me earnest of success.
n Commencing in a truth? l am thane o.
y Cawdor.
y II good why do yield tothat suggestion
n Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
y And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
j. Against the use of naturep Present fears
d Are less than horrible maginings;
Ii My Thought. whose murther yet is but fan
s tastcal
Shakes SO my single state OF man that func
q ton
% Is smothered in surmise, and nothing is
10 But what is not.
20 Hero | submit is clear conception
"a that murder is the fittest means to re
:, move Duncan. This is expressed Will
y Macbeth is on the field hear Forces, 9
y miles from Inverness, where Lady Mac
~ beth awaited his return from his las
y campaign Of arms. thov not having see
- each other since his departure for th
&c wars. But this speech does more tina
y, =, show that in the play the first sugges
nft ,l.x,s l., n