ACT II.

In the 2d Act the same idea of _correspondence_ is pursued, and the propensity of the imagination to embody ideas which press upon the mind is dwelt upon.

In the first scene Banquo, when ordering the light to be removed, says: “Night’s candles are all out; there’s husbandry in Heaven.” This imagery, no doubt, very naturally suggests itself; but herein lies the peculiar art of these plays; there is seldom any thing forced or strained in the narrative or sentiment, the events and reflections fall in naturally and gracefully; and yet the same general idea is always kept in the foreground.

Macbeth tells Banquo if he will co-operate with him it shall be to his honor; the latter intimates his fear of losing the _substance_ by grasping at the _shadow_; “So I lose none in seeking to augment it,” etc. Then comes the fearful soliloquy of Macbeth on the air-drawn dagger. So intensely does the bloody business “inform to his mind,” that his very thoughts cast a shadow, and the object of his meditation stands pictured before him. All the imagery of the speech also embodies the central idea.

The next scene (the 2d) is full of horrible imaginings. So fearful are the workings of Macbeth’s conscience, that, in spite of his guilt, we pity as much as we abhor him; and all these exclamations of remorse and horror allude so plainly to the theme that I need not dwell on them. Lady Macbeth is seldom troubled with scruples, but takes “the nearest way” to her purpose. Thus she says,

The sleeping and the dead, Are but as pictures: ’tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil.

Yet even her stern nature, which bore down all real obstacles, yielded to the merely formal circumstance that Duncan resembled her father as he slept. This is, perhaps, the only amiable sentiment she utters, and it is of a _superstitious_ character, however commendable.

The 3d Scene opens with the humorous soliloquy of the Porter, who imagines himself porter of hell-gate, and gives each new comer an _appropriate_ reception, but soon finds that the place is _too cold_ for the purpose. His remarks on the effects of drink will not bear quotation, but are as much to the main purpose as any other passage of the play. When the murder of Duncan is announced, Lady Macbeth continues her formal part by _fainting_. This scene and the next are much occupied with accounts of omens and prodigies in connection with the murder of Duncan. In a superstitious age men were prone to believe and to imagine such things; and the relation of these events to the theme depends on that _literal, unspiritual_ tendency of mind which has led mankind under different circumstances to the making of graven images, to the worship of stocks and stones, to the belief in dreams and omens, and to every form of _superstition_.