There may be a
proper season for these several terrors, and when they only come in as
aids and assistances to the poet, they are not only to be excused but
to be applauded."
The reader may be reminded that Shakespeare has evinced a very
decided partiality for ghosts. In "The Second Part of King Henry VI.,"
Bolingbroke, the conjurer, raises up a spirit. In "Julius Caesar,"
Brutus is visited in his tent by the ghost of the murdered Caesar. In
"Hamlet," we have, of course, the ghost of the late king. In "Macbeth"
the ghost of Banquo takes his seat at the banquet, and in the caldron
scene we are shown apparitions of "an armed head," "a bloody child,"
"a child crowned, with a tree in his hand," and "eight kings" who pass
across the stage, "the last with a glass in his hand." In "Richard
III." quite a large army of ghosts present and address themselves
alternately to Richard and to Richmond. The ghosts of Prince Edward,
Henry VI., Clarence, Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan, Hastings, the two
young Princes, Queen Anne, and Buckingham invoke curses upon the
tyrant and blessings upon his opponent.
Pages:
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338