(5) It does not speak, like the Ghost in _Hamlet_ even on its last
appearance, and like the Ghost in _Julius Caesar_.
(6) It is visible only to Macbeth.
I should attach no weight to (6) taken alone (see p. 140). Of (3) it may
be remarked that Brutus himself seems to attribute the vanishing of
Caesar's Ghost to his taking courage: 'now I have taken heart thou
vanishest:' yet he certainly holds it to be real. It may also be
remarked on (5) that Caesar's Ghost says nothing that Brutus' own
forebodings might not have conjured up. And further it may be asked why,
if the Ghost of Banquo was meant for an illusion, it was represented on
the stage, as the stage-directions and Forman's account show it to have
been.
On the whole, and with some doubt, I think that Shakespeare (1) meant
the judicious to take the Ghost for an hallucination, but (2) knew that
the bulk of the audience would take it for a reality. And I am more sure
of (2) than of (1).
INDEX
The titles of plays are in italics. So are the numbers of the pages
containing the main discussion of a character. The titles of the Notes
are not repeated in the Index.
Aaron, 200, 211.
Abnormal mental conditions, 13, 398.
Accident, in tragedy, 7, 14-16, 26, 28;
in _Hamlet_, 143, 173;
in _Othello_, 181-2;
in _King Lear_, 253, 325.
Pages:
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725