20 L. A. Sherman 



Our sympathies are with Macbeth even in his faihire. but we 

 kindle at this righteous challenge, ' Wherefore f'^^ "Nobody can 

 care more than a farthing for Macduff on his own account"? 

 Macduff is the man of the play, and from this hour is master of 

 the outcome. At his challenge, Macbeth goes to pieces, tries to 

 justify the ' fury ' that he has repented of, and makes a fright- 

 ful mess of it : 



Who can be wise, temperate, and furious, 

 Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man. 

 The expedition of my violent love 

 Outrun the pauser. Reason. . . . Who could refrain 

 That had a heart to love, and in that heart 

 Courage to make's love known? 



Now wonder Lady Macbeth swoons, either feigningly or genu- 

 inely. She might well swoon from this sudden vision of where, 

 in the eyes of Scotland, she and her husband have brought them- 

 selves. (But people who swoon, we remember, do not anticipate 

 the fit and call for help.) Macduff, the new master of the 

 household, does not stir to aid, but bids whoever will— and it 

 is not Macbeth who wills — ' look to the lady.' Surely there can 

 be no mistaking Shakespeare's meaning or purpose here. This 

 man who is in present revolt is the only thane of Scotland who 

 will refuse to lend himself to the mockery of Macbeth's corona- 

 tion. He alone will disdain to appear at the feast designed to test 

 the devotion of the lords. He is the only one of all who will 

 make it his business to inaugurate rebellion, and seek help from 

 outside the kingdom. And he is the appointed figure to execute 

 the vengeance of the Almighty and of Scotland at the close. 



Shakespeare's plays are distinguished from other dramas gen- 

 erally in that they are provided thus with a Finalizing Factor. 



12 One cannot but fancy that QuiUer-Couch himself, under the same 

 conditions, would have said that word, and become the protagonist of the 

 play. It required more manhood certainly to defy the power thus of 

 Macbeth, alone, than to oppose and then succumb (I. vii) to the evil genius 

 of King Duncan. Who of us would have cared to be the hero of the play, 

 at this moment, if we could have confronted that hero with such sublime, 

 uncalculating loyalty to Scotland? Who of us could have joined himself, 

 after that Wherefore, with the craven followers of Macbeth? 



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