Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbec only.—vii, 63-67.
The whole of Macbeth's soliloquy at the beginning of scene vii is a case in point. It may be taken up here, but to my thinking is better treated
after the class is familiar with the circumstances under which it is spoken.
IV
The taking up of especially striking passages beforehand may be omitted altogether, although what I consider the possible advantages I have already indicated.[175:1] Perhaps the better plan is to do this after the first reading of the play, and before the second reading prepares the way for detailed study. The sort of passage I have in mind is indicated by the following examples:
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not.—iii, 58-59.
The attention of the pupils may be called to the especial force and fitness of the image. The impossibility of telling from the appearance of a seed whether it will grow or what will spring from it makes very striking this comparison of events to them, so unable are we to say which of these "seeds of time" will produce important results and which will show no more growth than a seed unsprouting.
Dun. This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air