Certain New Elucidations of Shakespeare ii 



fulfilling the witches' prophecy. But how can Shakespeare make 

 him thus consent without destroying all worthiness in his hero ? 



Shakespeare will extort the consent which the play needs, and 

 will achieve it without destroying the worth in Macbeth that we 

 have recognized. Rather will he in a sense increase it. We have 

 just heard Lady Macbeth pray fruitlessly for help to execute a 

 deed against which her feminine and maternal being utterly 

 revolts. No strength comes to her even for the nonce. No 

 demoniac influences neutralize her womanhood. She is over- 

 whelmingly conscious of the abnormalness of the end desired. 

 So much is clear for her. Shall now Macbeth suffer the diabol- 

 ism which he has not invoked and which his wife is spared? Is 

 he to lose all sense of right and justice? Can he jeer at honor, 

 and gloat over the chance of mischief ? 



Our author thinks so. The only way, he says, by which 

 Shakespeare can make a hero (p. 23) out of a criminal [sic] 

 is to have him exchange " Moral Order, Righteousness, the will 

 of God (call it what you will) for something directly opposed to 

 it . . . assigning the soul tO' Satan's terrible resolve, ' Evil, be 

 thou my good.' " 



This is in many ways surprising. Particularly is it such be- 

 cause it contravenes the principles that Quiller-Couch has laid 

 down, in the opening chapter (pp. 15, 16), from Aristotle. 

 These he presents there in the following form : 



(i) A Tragedy must not be the spectacle of a perfectly good man 

 brought from prosperity to adversity. For this merely shocks us. 



(2) Nor, of course must it be that of a bad man passing from adversity 

 to prosperity: for that is not tragedy at all, but the perversion of tragedy, 

 and revolts the moral sense. 



(3) Nor, again, should it exhibit the downfall of an utter villain: since 

 pity is aroused by undeserved misfortunes, terror by misfortunes befalling 

 a man like ourselves. 



(4) There remains, then, as the only proper subject for Tragedy, the 

 spectacle of a man not absolutely or eminently good or wise who is 

 brought to disaster not by sheer depravity but by some error or frailty. 



(5) Lastly, this man must be highly renowned and prosperous — an 

 CEdipus, a Thyestes, or some other illustrious person. 



cipal personage. The major of the two obstacles is again as here some 

 objective or material hindrance, often a rival to the title figure. 



113 



