E X T E N S I O N PAINTINGS The dramatic events, the strong personalities of the two characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, passionately violent till their end, have always inspired the Romantic imagination. The tragedy takes place in a land where the sky hardly1 sees the sun; the events are performed in old, dark castles which seem to be controlled by supernatural forces. This gloomy2 Gothic atmosphere inspired the visionary mind of William Blake (1757-1827), the pre-Romantic poet. This water-colour3, called Pity (c. 1795), illustrates lines from Macbeth (Act. 1, Sc. VII). The protagonist considers what would happen after the murder of Duncan. He has been a good king, so his death will arouse4 pity. Pity is compared to a new-born baby. Blake s contemporary, Henry Fuseli (Johann Heinrich F ssli, 17411825) was a Swiss-born painter, and writer on art, who had come to London in 1765 at the suggestion of the British Ambassador in Berlin. His paintings show how far ahead5 of his time Fuseli was in exploring the dark areas of the psyche where sex and fear meet. His fascination with the horrifying and fantastic also comes out in many of his literary subjects, which formed a major part of his work. The painter saw Macbeth on stage in 1760 with David Garrick playing Macbeth, and depicted scenes from the tragedy for many years. 1. hardly: scarcely. 2. gloomy: dark and depressive. 3. water-colour: painting made with coloured water paints. 4. arouse: provoke. 5. far ahead (adj.): precursor. 44