Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-03-21
MACBETH DEFINED
AS MORAL COWARD
Lady Macbeth the LogicaI--Her
Husband lllogicaI--Women
More Logical Than Men.
DR.. WILKINSON'S LECTURE
Depicts Shakespeare's Murky Tragedy
and Sinister Play With Striking
Realism.

parisen the character OF Macbeth and
Lady Macbeth: giving an estimate al
the relative responsibility of each Tor
the murder of Duncan; drawing a yiv-
id picture of Macbeth's courage and
cowardice ana of Lady Macbeths re-
volt against her womanhUod. tolline
OF the conflict OF moral forces of the
play Dr. Louis t. Wilkinson delivered
another of his delightful lectures in
Mcdowell Hall. ST. Johns College.
last evening.
The audience. besides being largely
composed of students of St.Johrs Col
lege. numbered many professors and
instructors at the NavalAcadt my other
literary people and lovers of Shakes
peare. The lecturer is no stranger
here, and has won many friends and
admirers. He is an Englishman. ami
speaks with marked English manner
ism He is magnetic and his love of his
subject lends inspiration to his aud
icnce. His descriptive powers are
most realistic
He to'd of the sinister play of Mac
beth as one on Shakespeare dark.
"murliy' tragedies, about which mucL
superstition hovers He said it We're
better not to quote Macbeth TO any ac-
tor or stage person as they are more
snupefstitiOus about the quotations
than they are about spilling salt or
walking under ladder No other au-
thor than shakespeare has written
quite 50 foreboding a story as Macbeth
unless it be Poe
DR. Wilkinson viyidly depicted the
scene of the witches about the cauhl-
ron and quoted their prophetic lines
that Macbeth wouldbe King. thus fix
ing his destiny and mapping out for
MIN his murderous end. The lecturer
described the suffering of Duncan as
nothing compared to that of Macbeth
He graphically described Macbeth's
nature. not as that of murderer. but
one who revolted against sucn diabol-
ical schemes as planned by Lady Mac
beth for ambitions sake He con-
traso1 the illogical Macbeth. with his
logical wife and the lecturer dared to
say that men are more illogical fhan
women, aiLd he said this before the
student Dody of ST. johns. too.
Or. Wilkinson told OF Macbeths
vacillating mood. shown by his long
and frequent soliloquies. and OF Lady
Macbeths resoluteness. and if a thing
is to be done 'twere well if it be done
quickly" He illustrated that present
fears are worse than horrible imaein-
ings. AT the mere mention Of chin
eras and temptations. Macbeth was
more sensitive than a woman. Your
physical type of manhood the lee
turer sail. may be a moral coward.
Such was Macbeta Whom he met his
wife he was much isturbed Macbeth
was different from Hamlet, in that
Hamlet feared the life beyond, while
Macbeth could not grasp the idea Of
lite in another world
Dr. Wilkinson said Lady Macbeth
was not a fearless amazon. Not the
type of strong minded rasolute wo-
man. Had she been, she would not
have had that tender love which Mac
beth layished upon her. This love
made him yiehi 20 her wishes. to ac-
complish that which stood between
MIN and ambition
The lecturer described the scene
between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
when lie decides to 10 the deed as
one OF the most skillful ever written
by Shakespeare. He noted the cir
cumlccution practiced by beth. They
never mentioned murder" but spoke
OF It as business" feat !" or some
other name. Speaking of Macbeth as
a murderer. Dr. Wilkinson said he was
no ordinary slayer Would an ordi-
nary murderer see daggers in the air9"
Pessimism has never been given a
voice like Macbeth gave it. There
is something in his agony Of suffering
that appeals TO US. He represents a
hopeless defiance OF the moral code.
The spectacle he gives at the end of
the play is magnificent
DR.. Wilkinson said Lady Macbeth
does ont play a subordinate part. She
does not show that she suffers. but in
the end we know what she went
through is even worse than what her
husband suffered Hers was sun
pressed agony. which is the worst
kind and she. in tho end, became mad.
'4iN "@o Aot nioALS iof q MNfueFcSS,
any more than Macbeth vas made for
a murderer The last scene shows
how the iron entered into the soul OF
the real Lady Macbeth Macbeth died
ot natural causes. In Lady Macbeth
there was conflict between nature
and ambition and nature seems to have
the worst Of it, but in the end II con
0uere She tried m crt-fr tareoif =,
her own natural attributes as a wo-
man. Here tragedy, said the lecturer
N closing. is the greatest and tbs
/ cruelest Of Shahespeare's tragedies.