Page:Works of Heinrich Heine 01.djvu/370

LADY MACBETH. [MACBETH.] I TURN from the authentic historical drama to those tragedies whose plots are either purely invented or else drawn from old legends and romances. Macbeth forms a transition to such poems, in which the genius of the great Shake- speare spreads its wings most freely and boldly. The substance of it is taken from an old legend, it does not belong to history, and yet the drama makes some demand on historical faith, because the ancestor of the royal house of England played a part in it. For Macbeth was first played before James I., who, as is well known, descended from the Scottish Banquo. In this relation the poet has interwoven several prophecies in honour of the reigning dynasty. Macbeth is a favourite subject with critics, who here find opportunity enough to set forth in widest opposition their views as to the antique fatalistic tragedies in comparison with concep- tion of fate by modern tragedians. On this sub- ject I will make merely a fleeting remark. Shakespeare's idea of destiny differs from that of the ancients, just as the prophetic sorceresses who in the Norse legend meet Macbeth promis-