"
Now, these words have usually been considered to afford the clue to
the _entire_ nature and extent of the supernatural influence brought
into play upon the present tragedy; whereas, in truth, all that they
express is a natural suspicion, called up in the mind of Banquo, by
Macbeth's remarkable deportment, that _such_ is the character of the
influence which is at this moment being exerted upon the soul of the
man to whom he therefore thinks proper to hint the warning they
contain.
The soliloquy which immediately follows the above passage is
particularly worthy of comment:
"This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill; cannot be good:--if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion,
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair,
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man, that function
Is smothered in surmise, and nothing is,
But what is not."
The early portion of this passage assuredly indicates that Macbeth
regards the communications of the witches merely in the light of an
invitation to the carrying out of a design pre-existent in his own
mind.
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