The rise of Macbeth a separate Nemesis action.

CHAP. VI. example of nemesis, but if its two halves be taken separately they will be found to constitute each a nemesis complete in itself. To begin with the first half, that which is occupied with the rise of Macbeth. If the plan of the play extended no further than to make the hero's fall the retribution upon his rise, it might be expected that the turningpoint of the action would be reached upon Macbeth's elevation to the throne. As a fact, however, Macbeth's rise does not stop here; he still goes on to win one more success in his attempt upon the life of Banquo. What the purpose of this prolonged flow of fortune is will be seen when it is considered that this final success of the hero is in reality the source of his ruin. In Macbeth's progress to the attainment of the crown, while of course it was impossible that crimes so violent as his should not incur suspicion, yet circumstances had strangely combined to soothe these suspicions to sleep. But-so Shakespeare manipulates the story-when Macbeth, seated on the throne, goes on to the attempt against Banquo, this additional crime not only brings its own punishment, but has the further effect of unmasking the crimes that have gone before. This important point in the plot is brought out to us in a scene, specially introduced for the purpose, in which Lennox and another lord represent the opinion of the

iii. vi. 1.

court.

Lennox. My former speeches have but hit your thoughts,
Which can interpret further: only, I say,

Things have been strangely borne. The gracious Duncan
Was pitied of Macbeth: marry, he was dead:

And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late;

Whom, you may say, if't please you, Fleance kill'd,

For Fleance fled: men must not walk too late.

Who cannot want the thought how monstrous

It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain

To kill their gracious father? damned fact!
Ilow it did grieve Macbeth! did he not straight
In pious rage the two delinquents tear,

That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep?

Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too;
For 'twould have anger'd any heart alive
To hear the men deny 't. So that, I say,

CHAP. VI.

He has borne all things well: and I do think
That had he Duncan's sons under his key-

As, an't please heaven, he shall not-they should find
What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance.

Under the bitter irony of this speech we can see clearly
enough that Macbeth has been exposed by his series of
suspicious acts; he has 'done all things well'; and in
particular by peculiar resemblances between this last incident
of Banquo and Fleance and the previous incident of Duncan
and his son. It appears then that Macbeth's last successful
crime proves the means by which retribution overtakes all his
other crimes; the latter half of the play is needed to develop
the steps of the retribution, but, in substance, Macbeth's fall
is latent in the final step of his rise. Thus the first half of
the play, that which traces the rise of Macbeth, is a complete
Nemesis Action—a career of sins in which the last sin secures
the punishment of all.

Macbeth a

separate

The same reasoning applies to the latter half of the play: The fall of the fall of Macbeth not only serves as the retribution for his rise, but further contains in itself a crime and its nemesis Ñemesis Action. complete. What Banquo is to the first half of the play Macduff is to the latter half; the two balance one another as, in the play of Julius Cæsar, Cæsar himself is balanced by Antony; and Macduff comes into prominence upon Banquo's death as Antony upon the fall of Cæsar. Now Macduff, when he finally slays Macbeth, is avenging not only Scotland, but also his own wrongs; and the tyrant's crime against Macduff, with its retribution, just gives unity to the second half of the play, in the way in which the first half was made complete by the association between Macbeth and Banquo, from their joint encounter with the Witches on to the murder of Banquo as iii. i. 57– a consequence of the Witches' prediction. Accordingly we find that no sooner has Macbeth, by the appearance of the

К

72.

CHAP. VI. Ghost at the banquet, realised the turn of fate, than his first thoughts are of Macduff:

iii. iv. 128.

iv. i. 74. iv. i, from

139.

Macbeth. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person
At our great bidding?

Lady M.

Did you send to him, sir?

Macbeth. I hear it by the way; but I will send.

When the Apparitions bid Macbeth 'beware Macduff,' he

answers,

Thou hast harp'd my fear aright!

On the vanishing of the Apparition Scene, the first thing that
happens is the arrival of news that Macduff has fled to
England, and is out of his enemy's power; then Macbeth's
bloody thoughts devise a still more cruel purpose of vengeance
to be taken on the fugitive's family.

Time, thou anticipatest my dread exploits :
The flighty purpose never is o'ertook
Unless the deed go with it....

The castle of Macduff I will surprise;

Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword

His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line.

iv. ii, iii. In succeeding scenes we have this diabolical massacre carried out, and see the effect which the news of it has in rousing v. vii. 15. Macduff to his revenge; until in the final scene of all he feels that if Macbeth is slain and by no stroke of his, his wife and children's ghosts will for ever haunt him. Thus Macduff's function in the play is to be the agent not only of the grand nemesis which constitutes the whole plot, but also of a nemesis upon a private wrong which occupies the latter half of the play. And, putting our results together, we find that a Nemesis Action is the description alike of the whole plot and of the rise and fall which are its two halves.

The Oracu

lar as one

phase of

With Nemesis is associated in the play of Macbeth Destiny in two distinct phases. The first of these is the Oracular. In Destiny:, ancient thought, as Destiny was the supreme governor of the its partial revelation, universe, so oracles were the revelation of Destiny; and thus

the term 'the Oracles of God' is appropriately applied to CHAP. VI. the Bible as the Christian revelation. With the advent of

oracular

Christianity the oracles became dumb. But the triumph of Christianity was for centuries incomplete; heathen deities. were not extirpated, but subordinated to the supernatural personages of the new religion; and the old oracles declined A minor into oracular beings such as witches and wizards, and form of the Oracular oracular superstitions, such as magic mirrors, dreams, appa- in modern ritions-all means of dimly revealing hidden destiny. Shake- beings. speare is never wiser than the age he is pourtraying; and accordingly he has freely introduced witches and apparitions into the machinery of Macbeth, though in the principles that govern the action of this, as of all his other plays, he is true to the modern notions of Providence and moral law. An The Oracular Action: oracle and its fulfilment make up a series of events eminently fitted to constitute a dramatic interest; and no form of working ancient Drama and Story is more common than this of the from mystery to 'Oracular Action.' Its interest may be formulated as Destiny clearness; working from mystery to clearness. At the commencement of an oracular story the fated future is revealed indeed, but in a dress of mystery, as when the Athenians are bidden to defend themselves with only wooden walls; but as the story of Themistocles develops itself, the drift of events is throwing more and more light on to the hidden meaning of the oracle, until by the naval victory over the Persians the oracle is at once clear and fulfilled.

Destiny

The Oracular Action is so important an element in plot, that it may be worth while to prolong the consideration of it by noting the three principal varieties into which it falls, all of which are illustrated in the play of Macbeth. In each case the interest consists in tracing the working of Destiny out of mystery into clearness: the distinction between the varieties depends upon the agency by which Destiny works, and the (1) by the relation of this agency to the original oracle. In the first agency of variety Destiny is fulfilled by the agency of blind obedience. ence ;

blind obedi

CHAP. VI. The Spartans, unfortunate in their war with the Messenians, enquire of an oracle, and receive the strange response that they must apply for a general to the Athenians, their hereditary enemies. But they resolve to obey the voice of Destiny, though to all appearance they obey at their peril; and the Athenians mock them by selecting the most unfit subject they can find a man whose bodily infirmities had excluded him from the military exercises altogether. Yet in the end the faith of the Spartans is rewarded. It had been no lack of generalship that had caused their former defeats, but discord and faction in their ranks; now Tyrtæus turned out to be a lyric poet, whose songs roused the spirit of the Spartans and united them as one man, and when united, their native military talent led them to victory. Thus in its fulfilment the hidden meaning of the oracle breaks out into clearness : and blind obedience to the oracle is the agency by which it has been fulfilled.

(2) by the agency of free will;

In the second variety the oracle is fulfilled by the agency of indifference and free will: it is neither obeyed nor disobeyed, but ignored. One of the best illustrations is to be found in the plot of Sir Walter Scott's novel, The Betrothed. Its heroine, more rational than her age, resists the family tradition that would condemn her to sleep in the haunted chamber; overborne, however, by age and authority, she consents, and the lady of the bloody finger appears to pronounce her doom:

Widow'd wife, and wedded maid;
Betrothed, Betrayer, and Betrayed.

This seems a mysterious destiny for a simple and virtuous girl. The faithful attendant Rose declares in a burst of devotion that betrayed her mistress may be, but betrayer never; the heroine herself braces her will to dismiss the foreboding from her thoughts, and resolves that she will not be influenced by it on the one side or on the other. Yet it all comes about. Gratitude compels her to give her hand to the elderly