That this is not over-ingenuity, seeing
what is not to be seen, nor meant to be seen, is clear to me from what
follows. When Duncan and Banquo arrive at the castle, their fancies, free
from all suggestion of evil, call up only gracious and amiable images.
The raven was but the fantastical creation of Lady Macbeth's over-wrought
brain.
"This castle hath a pleasant seat, the air
Nimbly and sweetly doth commend itself
Unto our gentle senses.
This _guest_ of summer,
The _temple-haunting_ martlet, doth approve
By his _loved mansionry_ that the heaven's breath
Smells _wooingly_ here; no jutty, frieze,
Buttress, or coigne of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle."
The contrast here cannot but be as intentional as it is marked. Every
image is one of welcome, security, and confidence. The summer, one may
well fancy, would be a very different hostess from her whom we have just
seen expecting _them_. And why _temple-haunting_, unless because it
suggests sanctuary? _O immaginativa, che si ne rubi delle cose di fuor_,
how infinitely more precious are the inward ones thou givest in return!
If all this be accident, it is at least one of those accidents of which
only this man was ever capable.
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