[Footnote 1: Parker Correspondence, 222. Parker Society.]
57. There were thus two opposite schools of belief in this matter of the
supposed spirits of the departed:--the conservative, which held to the
old doctrine of ghosts; and the reforming, which denied the possibility
of ghosts, and held to the theory of devils. In the midst of this
disagreement of doctors it was difficult for a plain man to come to a
definite conclusion upon the question; and, in consequence, all who were
not content with quiet dogmatism were in a state of utter uncertainty
upon a point not entirely without importance in practical life as well
as in theory. This was probably the position in which the majority of
thoughtful men found themselves; and it is accurately reflected in three
of Shakspere's plays, which, for other and weightier reasons, are
grouped together in the same chronological division--"Julius Caesar,"
"Macbeth," and "Hamlet." In the first-mentioned play, Brutus, who
afterwards confesses his belief that the apparition he saw at Sardis was
the ghost of Caesar,[1] when in the actual presence of the spirit,
says--
"Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil?"[2]
The same doubt flashes across the mind of Macbeth on the second entrance
of Banquo's ghost--which is probably intended to be a devil appearing at
the instigation of the witches--when he says, with evident allusion to a
diabolic power before referred to--
"What man dare, I dare:
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The armed rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger,
Take any shape but that.
Pages:
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76