" Of course we do not mean that Macbeth is represented as
having this passage in his mind, but that Shakspere had the feeling of
it when he wrote thus. What Macbeth means is, "Earth, do not hear me in
the dark, which is suitable to the present horror, lest the very stones
prate about it in the daylight, which is not suitable to such things;
thus taking 'the present horror _from_ the time which now suits with
it.'"
Again, in the only piece of humour in the play--if that should be called
humour which, taken in its relation to the consciousness of the
principal characters, is as terrible as anything in the piece--the
porter ends off his fantastic soliloquy, in which he personates the
porter of hell-gate, with the words, "But this place is too cold for
hell: I'll devil-porter it no further. I had thought to have let in some
of all professions, that go the primrose way to the everlasting
bonfire." Now what else had the writer in his mind but the verse from
the Sermon on the Mount, "For wide is the gate, and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat"?
It may be objected that such passages as these, being of the most
commonly quoted, imply no profound acquaintance with Scripture, such as
we have said Shakspere possessed.
Pages:
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112