[143]
The speech, however, relates neither to bravery, nor timidity; and Mr. Whateley has again entirely mistaken the sentiment of the poet. Macbeth hears the shrieks of women, and demands with haughty indifference,—
What noise is that?[1]—
but instantly reflecting on his insensibility to cries so piercing, and uttered too by female voices, he is shocked at the total want of common feeling in his bosom, and, "sadly summing what he has lost," vents his self-reproach in this touching effusion of remorse:—
- ↑ Macbeth, Act v. Sc 5.
