" The transforming influence of the Lady is here just what it
should be, and the consequence is that she becomes a reality.
But it is in the Bride of Lammermoor more particularly that the use of
the supernatural is not only blameless but indispensable. We begin to
rise to it in that scene in which the Master of Ravenswood meets Alice.
"Begone from among them," she says, "and if God has destined vengeance
on the oppressor's house, do not you be the instrument. . . . If you
remain here, her destruction or yours, or that of both, will be the
inevitable consequence of her misplaced attachment." A little further
on, with great art, Scott having duly prepared us by what has preceded,
adds intensity and colour. He apologises for the "tinge of
superstition," but, not believing, he evidently believes, and we justly
surrender ourselves to him. The Master of Ravenswood after the insult
received from Lady Ashton wanders round the Mermaiden's Well on his way
to Wolf's Crag and sees the wraith of Alice. Scott makes horse as well
as man afraid so that we may not immediately dismiss the apparition as a
mere ordinary product of excitement.
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