, than the combination of
abstract qualities making up that individual human being; so what should
be last, is first; effects are mistaken for causes, qualities are
confounded with their results, and the perversion of what is essentially
good, with the operation of positive evil. Hence it is, that those who
can feel and estimate the magnificent conception and poetical
development of the character, have overlooked the grand moral lesson it
conveys; they forget that the crime of Lady Macbeth terrifies us in
proportion as we sympathize with her; and that this sympathy is in
proportion to the degree of pride, passion, and intellect, we may
ourselves possess. It is good to behold and to tremble at the possible
result of the noblest faculties uncontrolled or perverted. True it is,
that the ambitious women of these civilized times do not murder sleeping
kings: but are there, therefore, no Lady Macbeths in the world? no women
who, under the influence of a diseased or excited appetite for power or
distinction, would sacrifice the happiness of a daughter, the fortunes
of a husband, the principles of a son, and peril their own souls?

* * * * *

The character of Macbeth is considered as one of the most complex in the
whole range of Shakspeare's dramatic creations. He is represented in the
course of the action under such a variety of aspects; the good and evil
qualities of his mind are so poised and blended, and instead of being
gradually and successively developed, evolve themselves so like shifting
lights and shadows playing over the "unstable waters," that his
character has afforded a continual and interesting subject of analysis
and contemplation. None of Shakspeare's personages have been treated of
more at large; none have been more minutely criticized and profoundly
examined. A single feature in his character--the question, for instance,
as to whether his courage be personal or constitutional, or excited by
mere desperation--has been canvassed, asserted, and refuted, in two
masterly essays.

On the other hand, the character of Lady Macbeth resolves itself into
few and simple elements. The grand features of her character are so
distinctly and prominently marked, that, though acknowledged to be one
of the poet's most sublime creations, she has been passed over with
comparatively few words: generally speaking, the commentators seem to
have considered Lady Macbeth rather with reference to her husb