It has the rugged severity of an old chronicle with all that
the imagination of the poet can engraft upon traditional belief. The
castle of Macbeth, round which 'the air smells wooingly', and where
'the temple-haunting martlet builds', has a real subsistence in the
mind; the Weird Sisters meet us in person on 'the blasted heath';
the 'air-drawn dagger' moves slowly before our eyes; the 'gracious
Duncan', the 'blood-boltered Banquo' stand before us; all that
passed through the mind of Macbeth passes, without the loss of a
tittle, through ours. All that could actually take place, and all
that is only pos-sible to be conceived, what was said and what was
done, the workings of passion, the spells of magic, are brought
before us with the same absolute truth and vividness.-Shakespeare
excelled in the openings of his plays: that of Macbeth is the most
striking of any. The wildness of the scenery, the sudden shifting of
the situations and characters, the bustle, the expectations excited,
are equally extraordinary. From the first entrance of the Witches
and the description of them when they meet Macbeth:
--What are these
So wither'd and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants of th' earth
And yet are on't?
the mind is prepared for all that follows.
This tragedy is alike distinguished for the lofty imagination it
displays, and for the tumultuous vehemence of the action; and the
one is made the moving principle of the other.
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