not kill the King herself; and she never expected to have to carry back
the daggers, see the bloody corpse, and smear the faces and hands of the
grooms. But Macbeth's agony greatly alarmed her, and she was driven to
the scene of horror to complete his task; and what an impression it made
on her we know from that sentence uttered in her sleep, 'Yet who would
have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?' She had now,
further, gone through the ordeal of the discovery. Is it not quite
natural that the reaction should come, and that it should come just when
Macbeth's description recalls the scene which had cost her the greatest
effort? Is it not likely, besides, that the expression on the faces of
the lords would force her to realise, what before the murder she had
refused to consider, the horror and the suspicion it must excite? It is
noticeable, also, that she is far from carrying out her intention of
bearing a part in making their 'griefs and clamours roar upon his death'
(I. vii. 78). She has left it all to her husband, and, after uttering
but two sentences, the second of which is answered very curtly by
Banquo, for some time (an interval of 33 lines) she has said nothing. I
believe Shakespeare means this interval to be occupied in desperate
efforts on her part to prevent herself from giving way, as she sees for
the first time something of the truth to which she was formerly so
blind, and which will destroy her in the end.

It should be observed that at the close of the Banquet scene, where she
has gone through much less, she is evidently exhausted.

Shakespeare, of course, knew whether he meant the faint to be real: but
I am not aware if an actor of the part could show the audience whether
it was real or pretended. If he could, he would doubtless receive
instructions from the author.

NOTE EE.

DURATION OF THE ACTION IN _MACBETH_. MACBETH'S AGE. 'HE HAS NO
CHILDREN.'

1. The duration of the action cannot well be more than a few months. On
the day following the murder of Duncan his sons fly and Macbeth goes to
Scone to be invested (II. iv.). Between this scene and Act III. an
interval must be supposed, sufficient for news to arrive of Malcolm
being in England and Donalbain in Ireland, and for Banquo to have shown
himself a good counsellor. But the interval is evidently not long:
_e.g._ Banquo's first words are 'Thou hast it now' (III. i. 1). Banquo
is murdered on the day when he speaks these wo