lo L. A. Sherman 



It is not her future that she sees in her mind's eye, but her hus- 

 band's. The affection of this wife has long had the will, and 

 shall perhaps now find the way to achieve the sole sway and 

 masterdom that he has so long believed his due. He is too fond 

 of his wife's idealizing confidence to resist her now. At least, 

 he will play for time. 



And of what sort is this Lady Macbeth, this importunate, com- 

 pelling genius of the play? Perhaps it is not strange that 

 actresses and critics have conceived her as at heart a monster, a 

 Borgia, unsexed, inhuman. But would a woman, inhuman and 

 unsexed indeed, have prayed to the ministers of murder to make 

 her denatured, bloodthirsty? Such a creature would have felt 

 the course conceived a normal procedure, and gloried in the 

 chance. But Lady Macbeth finds herself incapable, and cries 

 out to the powers of evil to take her milk for gall, to turn her 

 motherly instincts deadly, lest her purpose fail. Thanks to 

 Shakespeare's mind and art, her prayer will remain unanswered. 

 Shakespeare has made her crave, for her husband's sake, that 

 the supremely evil deed be brought to pass. But he has also left 

 her powerless to effect it. By creating her of such a nature that 

 she will thus wish, and quail, he has made us votaries of her 

 cause, and of his purpose. 



The author has now involved the plot a second time, and in a 

 larger, or ' major ', way. Malcolm as crown prince, by the word 

 of Duncan, blocks Macbeth's career. We would not have it so, 

 and are willing ' dramatically ', that either, or both of these ob- 

 structions shall be eliminated. The first involvement or obstruc- 

 tion, as we remember, lies in Macbeth's resolve to remain inactive. 

 He has said, — 



If chance may have me king, why, chance may crown me 

 Without my stir, — 



and he has not yet changed his mind. We would have him 

 change it. And he will change it, resolving thus this ' minor,' or 

 first obstruction.^ He will consent to be the means himself of 



6 Differently from other dramatists, Shakespeare uses but two obstruc- 

 "tions, to involve the plot. The minor one as here is subjective, consisting 

 merely of a state of mind, either in the title character or some other prin- 



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