Certain New Elucidations of Shakespeare 25 



these masters, who intend further mischief for Scotland, in spite 

 of the issue of the battle, in which the good angels seem to have 

 prevailed. Or perhaps we are to infer that the evil angels, having 

 used Macdonwald, connive finally at his defeat and death. They 

 purpose now to draw Macbeth over to their side. They cannot 

 or at least do not bewitch this hero of the hour, nor even Lady 

 Macbeth, but will manage to effect their will by way of both. 

 Even the apparition of the air-drawn dagger, which will lead 

 Macbeth to Duncan's chamber, will only lead the way he is to go 

 by his own resolve. 



However we may conclude concerning Shakespeare's use and 

 knowledge of mediaeval dualism, there is indubitably a consistent 

 and governing conception concerning the Witches' function in his 

 thought. Their masters are the cause of the new tribulations 

 that are in store for Scotland. Their animus and power are 

 apparent in each of the first four acts. They foreknow the out- 

 come of the battle, and commission their agents, before the first 

 scene opens, to meet with and greet Macbeth. They pronounce 

 to him, on the road to Forres, a prediction that he shall himself 

 fulfill. In the Second Act, they wait upon his stroke, and hold 

 carnival (II. iii. 59^66) over the consummation of the murder. 

 In the Third Act they provide a climax for the plot. In the 

 Fourth, they lure on their victim by false promises to his doom, 

 which is to involve, not another rebellion like Macdonwald's, but 

 civil war, with intermeddling from an outside power, the most 

 dangerous and determined enemy of the country. 



The Witch-masters furnish, in the Third Act, not only a climax 

 for the plot, but the chief sensation of the whole history. ^'^ Here 

 is the place in the play where the author's art is most pronounced 

 and daring. Ignoring ten prosperous years of Macbeth's rule, 

 he seizes upon Holinshed's mention of a banquet, ordered for 

 compassing Banquo's murder, as the means of precipitating the 



i'^ The present writer accepts the stage tradition confirmed by Dr. For- 

 man's testimony, that the ghost of Banquo must be shown before the 

 physical eye, not only of Macbeth, but of the audience. He is also of the 

 opinion that the guests, who have not yet had time to digest the circum- 

 stances of Banquo's failure to return, infer that it is an apparition of the 

 murdered Duncan that unmans their host. 



127 



