Coleridge by way of comment upon these words
of Banquo,
"Good sir, why do you stand, and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair?"
writes thus: "The general idea is all that can be required of a
poet--not a scholastic logical consistency in all the parts, so as to
meet metaphysical objectors. * * * * * * * * How strictly true to
nature it is, that Banquo, and not Macbeth himself, directs our
notice to the effects produced in Macbeth's mind, _rendered temptible
by previous dalliance with ambitious thoughts_." Here Coleridge
denies the _necessity_ of "logical consistency, so as to meet
metaphysical objectors," although he has, throughout his criticisms
upon Shakspere, endeavored, and nearly always with success, to prove
the _existence_ of that consistency; and so strongly has he felt the
want of it here, that he has, in order to satisfy himself, _assumed_
that "previous dalliance with ambitious thoughts," whose existence it
has been our object to _prove_.
But, putting Coleridge's imperfect perception of the truth out of the
question, surely nothing can be easier than to believe _that_ for the
belief in which we have so many precedents. How many beauties, lost
upon Dryden, were perceived by Johnson; How many, hidden to Johnson
and his cotemporaries, have been brought to light by Schlegel and by
Coleridge.
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