The Tragedy of Macbeth
Duncan, King of Scotland
Malcolm, Donalbain, his sons
Macbeth, Banquo, generals of the King’s army
Macduff, Lennox, Ross, Menteith, Angus, Cathness, noblemen of
Scotland
Fleance, son to Banquo
Siward, Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces
Young Siward, his son
Seyton, an officer attending on Macbeth
Boy, son to Macduff
An English Doctor
A
Scotch Doctor
A
Captain
A
Porter
An
Old Man
Lady
Macbeth
Lady
Macduff
Gentlewomen
attending on Lady Macbeth
Hecate
Three
Witches
Lords,
Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers,
Attendants,
and Messengers; the Ghost of Banquo, and other Apparitions
Scene: Scotland and, only in Act IV 4 Scene 3, England
Act I Scene 1
A desert place.
[Thunder and
lightning. Enter three Witches]
First Witch. When shall we three meet
again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch. When the hurlyburly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won. 5
Third Witch. That will be ere the set of
sun.
First Witch. Where the place?
Second Witch. Upon the heath.
Third Witch. There to meet with Macbeth.
First Witch. I come, Graymalkin! 10
Second Witch. Paddock calls.
Third Witch. Anon.
All. Fair is foul, and foul is
fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
[Exeunt]
Act I Scene 2
A camp near Forres.
[Alarum
within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, with Attendants, meeting a
bleeding Sergeant]
Duncan. What bloody man is that? He
can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the
revolt
The newest state. 20
Malcolm. This is the sergeant
Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
’Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
Say to the king the knowledge of the broil
As thou didst leave it. 25
Sergeant. Doubtful it stood;
As two spent swimmers, that do
cling together
And choke their art. The
merciless Macdonwald—
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villanies of nature 30
Do swarm upon him—from the western isles
Of kerns and
gallowglasses
is supplied;
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
Show’d like a rebel’s whore: but all’s too weak:
For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name— 35
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour’s minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, 40
Till he unseam’d him from the
nave to the
chops,
And fix’d his head upon our battlements.
Duncan. O valiant cousin! worthy
gentleman!
Sergeant. As whence the sun ‘gins his
reflection
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break, 45
So from that spring whence comfort seem’d to come
Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark:
No sooner justice had with valour arm’d
Compell’d these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage, 50
With furbish’d arms and new supplies of men
Began a fresh assault.
Duncan. Dismay’d not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Sergeant. Yes; 55
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
If I say sooth, I must
report they were
As cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they
Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, 60
Or memorise another Golgotha,
I cannot tell.
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
Duncan. So well thy words become
thee as thy wounds;
They smack of honour both. Go get
him surgeons. 65
[Exit
Sergeant, attended]
Who comes here?
[Enter ROSS]
Malcolm. The worthy thane of Ross.
Lennox. What a haste looks through
his eyes!
So should he look
70
That seems to speak things strange.
Ross. God save the king!
Duncan. Whence camest thou, worthy
thane?
Ross. From Fife, great king;
Where the Norweyan banners flout the
sky 75
And fan our people cold. Norway himself,
With terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;
Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapp’d in
proof, 80
Confronted him with self-comparisons,
Point against point rebellious, arm ’gainst arm.
Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to
conclude,
The victory fell on us.
Duncan. Great happiness! 85
Ross. That now
Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition:
Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed at Saint Colme’s inch
Ten thousand dollars to our
general use. 90
Duncan. No more that thane of
Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest: go
pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
Ross. I’ll see it done.
Duncan. What he hath lost noble
Macbeth hath won. 95
[Exeunt]
Act I Scene 3
A heath near Forres.
[Thunder.
Enter the three Witches]
First Witch. Where hast thou been,
sister?
Second Witch. Killing swine.
Third Witch. Sister, where thou? 100
First Witch. A sailor’s wife had
chestnuts in her lap,
And mounch’d, and mounch’d, and mounch’d:—
‘Give me,’ quoth I:
’Aroint thee, witch!’
the rump-fed
ronyon cries.
Her husband’s to Aleppo gone,
master o’ the Tiger: 105
But in a sieve I’ll thither sail,
And, like a rat without a tail,
I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.
Second Witch. I’ll give thee a wind.
First Witch. Thou’rt kind. 110
Third Witch. And I another.
First Witch. I myself have all the
other,
And the very ports they blow,
All the quarters that they know
I’ the shipman’s card. 115
I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbid:
Weary se’n nights nine times
nine 120
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine:
Though his bark cannot be
lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost.
Look what I have.
Second Witch. Show me, show me. 125
First Witch. Here I have a pilot’s thumb,
Wreck’d as
homeward he did come.
[Drum within]
Third Witch. A drum, a drum!
Macbeth doth come. 130
All. The weyward sisters, hand in
hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about:
Thrice to thine and thrice to mine
And thrice again, to make up nine. 135
Peace! the charm’s wound up.
[Enter MACBETH
and BANQUO]
Macbeth. So foul and fair a day I
have not seen,.
Banquo. How far is’t call’d to
Forres? What are these
So wither’d and so wild in their attire, 140
That look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth,
And yet are on’t? Live you? or are
you aught
That man may question? You seem
to understand me,
By each at once her chappy finger
laying
Upon her skinny lips: you should be women, 145
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
Macbeth. Speak, if you can: what are
you?
First Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to
thee, thane of Glamis!
Second Witch. All hail, Macbeth, hail to
thee, thane of Cawdor! 150
Third Witch. All hail, Macbeth, thou
shalt be king hereafter!
Banquo. Good sir, why do you start;
and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? I’ the
name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that
indeed
Which outwardly ye show? My noble
partner 155
You greet with present grace and great
prediction
Of noble having and of
royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal: to me you
speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not, 160
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate.
First Witch. Hail!
Second Witch. Hail!
Third Witch. Hail! 165
First Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and
greater.
Second Witch. Not so happy, yet much
happier.
Third Witch. Thou shalt get kings,
though thou be none:
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
First Witch. Banquo and Macbeth, all
hail! 170
Macbeth. Stay, you imperfect
speakers, tell me more:
By Sinel’s death I know I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief, 175
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop
our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.
[Witches
vanish]
Banquo. The earth hath bubbles, as
the water has,
And these are of them. Whither are they vanish’d?
Macbeth. Into the air; and what seem’d
corporal
melted
As breath into the wind. Would they had stay’d!
Banquo. Were such things here as we
do speak about? 185
Or have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner?
Macbeth. Your children shall be
kings.
Banquo. You shall be king.
Macbeth. And thane of Cawdor too:
went it not so? 190
Banquo. To the selfsame tune and
words. Who’s here?
[Enter ROSS
and ANGUS]
Ross. The king hath happily
received, Macbeth,
The news of thy success; and when he reads
Thy personal venture in the rebels’ fight, 195
His wonders and his praises do contend
Which should be thine or his: silenced with that,
In viewing o’er the rest o’ the selfsame day,
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, 200
Strange images of death. As thick as hail
Came post with post; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom’s great defence,
And pour’d them down before him.
Angus. We are sent 205
To give thee from our royal master thanks;
Only to herald thee into his sight,
Not pay thee.
Ross. And, for an earnest of a
greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor: 210
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!
For it is thine.
Banquo. What, can the devil speak
true?
Macbeth. The thane of Cawdor lives:
why do you dress me
In borrow’d robes? 215
Angus. Who was the thane lives
yet;
But under heavy judgment bears that life
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined
With those of Norway, or did
line the rebel
With hidden help and vantage, or that with both 220
He labour’d in his country’s wreck, I know not;
But treasons capital, confess’d and proved,
Have overthrown him.
Macbeth. [Aside] Glamis, and thane of Cawdor!
The greatest is behind. 225
[To ROSS and
ANGUS]
Thanks for your pains.
[To BANQUO]
Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me 230
Promised no less to them?
Banquo. That trusted home
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the thane of Cawdor. But ’tis strange:
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, 235
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray ’s
In deepest consequence.
Cousins, a word, I pray you.
Macbeth. [Aside] Two truths are told, 240
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.—I thank you, gentlemen.
[Aside] This supernatural
soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success, 245
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears 250
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother’d in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not. 255
Banquo. Look, how our partner’s
rapt.
Macbeth. [Aside] If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,
Without my stir.
Banquo. New horrors come upon him,
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould
260
But with the aid of use.
Macbeth. [Aside] Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
Banquo. Worthy Macbeth, we stay
upon your leisure.
Macbeth. Give me your favour: my
dull brain was wrought 265
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains
Are register’d where every day I turn
The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king.
Think upon what hath chanced, and, at more time,
The interim having weigh’d it, let us speak 270
Our free hearts each to other.
Banquo. Very gladly.
Macbeth. Till then, enough. Come,
friends.
[Exeunt]
Act I Scene 4
Forres. The palace.
[Flourish.
Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, and Attendants]
Duncan. Is execution done on
Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet return’d?
Malcolm. My liege,
They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
With one that saw him die: who did report 280
That very frankly he confess’d his treasons,
Implored your highness’ pardon and set forth
A deep repentance: nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it; he died
As one that had been studied in his death 285
To throw away the dearest thing he owed,
As ’twere a careless trifle.
Duncan. There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face,:
He was a gentleman on whom I built 290
An absolute trust,.
[Enter
MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSS, and ANGUS]
O worthiest cousin!
The sin of my ingratitude even now
Was heavy on me: thou art so far before 295
That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,
That the proportion both of thanks and payment
Might have been mine! only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay. 300
Macbeth. The service and the loyalty
I owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness’ part
Is to receive our duties; and our duties
Are to your throne and state children and servants,
Which do but what
they should, by doing every thing 305
Safe toward your love and honour.
Duncan. Welcome hither:
I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing. Noble
Banquo,
That hast no less deserved, nor must
be known 310
No less to have done so, let me
enfold thee
And hold thee to my heart.
Banquo. There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.
Duncan. My plenteous joys, 315
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow. Sons,
kinsmen, thanes,
And you whose places are the nearest, know
We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter 320
The Prince of Cumberland; which honour must
Not unaccompanied invest him only,
But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers. From
hence to Inverness,
And bind us further to you. 325
Macbeth. The rest is labour, which
is not used for you:
I’ll be myself the harbinger and make joyful
The hearing of my wife with your approach;
So humbly take my leave.
Duncan. My worthy Cawdor! 330
Macbeth. [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let
that be, 335
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.
[Exit]
Duncan. True, worthy Banquo; he is
full so valiant,
And in his commendations I am fed;
It is a banquet to me. Let’s after him, 340
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome:
It is a peerless kinsman.
[Flourish.
Exeunt]
Act I Scene 5
Inverness. Macbeth’s castle.
[Enter LADY
MACBETH, reading a letter]
Lady Macbeth. ‘They met me in the day of success: and I have 345
learned by the
perfectest report,
they have more in
them than
mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire
to question
them further, they made themselves air,
into which
they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in
the wonder of
it, came missives from the king, who 350
all-hailed me “Thane
of Cawdor;” by which title,
before, these
wayward sisters saluted me, and referred
me to the
coming on of time, with ‘Hail, king that
shalt be!’
This have I thought good to deliver
thee (my
dearest partner of greatness) that thou 355
mightst not
lose the dues of rejoicing, by being
ignorant of
what greatness is promised thee. Lay it
to thy heart,
and farewell.’
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; 360
It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way: thou
wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it: what
thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst
not play false, 365
And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou’ldst
have, great Glamis,
That which cries ‘Thus thou must do, if thou have
it;
And that which rather thou dost fear to do
Than wishest should be undone.’ Hie
thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear; 370
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crown’d withal.
[Enter a Messenger] 375
What is your tidings?
Messenger. The king comes here
to-night.
Lady Macbeth. Thou’rt mad to say it:
Is not thy master with him? who, were’t so,
Would have inform’d for preparation. 380
Messenger. So please you, it is true:
our thane is coming:
One of my fellows had the speed of him,
Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more
Than would make up his message.
Lady Macbeth. Give him tending; 385
He brings great news.
[Exit
Messenger]
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits 390
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me
here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make
thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature 395
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief! Come, thick night, 400
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not
the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry ‘Hold, hold!’
[Enter
MACBETH] 405
Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor!
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter,!
Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant. 410
Macbeth. My dearest love,
Duncan comes here to-night.
Lady Macbeth. And when goes hence?
Macbeth. To-morrow, as he purposes.
Lady Macbeth. O, never 415
Shall sun that morrow see!
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To
beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent
flower, 420
But be the serpent under’t. He that’s
coming
Must be provided for: and you
shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. 425
Macbeth. We will speak further.
Lady Macbeth. Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear:
Leave all the rest to me.
[Exeunt]
Act I Scene 6
Before Macbeth’s castle.
[Hautboys and
torches. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, BANQUO, LENNOX, MACDUFF, ROSS,
ANGUS, and Attendants]
Duncan. This castle hath a pleasant
seat; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses. 435
Banquo. This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does
approve,
By his loved mansionry, that the heaven’s breath
Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird 440
Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle:
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed,
The air is delicate.
[Enter LADY
MACBETH]
Duncan. See, see, our honour’d
hostess! 445
The love that follows us sometime is our trouble,
Which still we thank as love. Herein I
teach you
How you shall bid God ’ield us for your pains,
And thank us for your trouble.
Lady Macbeth. All our service 450
In every point twice done and then done double
Were poor and single business to contend
Against those honours deep and broad wherewith
Your majesty loads our house: for those of old,
And the late dignities heap’d up to them, 455
We rest your hermits.
Duncan. Where’s the thane of
Cawdor?
We coursed him at the heels, and had a purpose
To be his purveyor: but he rides well;
And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him 460
To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess,
We are your guest to-night.
Lady Macbeth. Your servants ever
Have theirs, themselves and what is theirs, in compt,
To make their audit at your
highness’ pleasure, 465
Still to return your own.
Duncan. Give me your hand;
Conduct me to mine host: we love
him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him.
By your leave, hostess. 470
[Exeunt]
Act I Scene 7
Macbeth’s castle.
[Hautboys and
torches. Enter a Sewer, and divers. Servants with dishes and service, and pass
over the stage. Then enter MACBETH]
Macbeth. If it were done when ’tis
done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination 475
Could trammel up the consequence, and
catch
With his surcease success;
that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and school of time,
We’ld jump the
life to come.
But in these cases 480
We still have judgment here; that we
but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this
even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison’d chalice
To our own lips. He’s
here in double trust; 485
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as
his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been 490
So clear in his
great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or
heaven’s cherubim, horsed 495
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have
no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition,
which o’erleaps itself 500
And falls on the other.
[Enter LADY
MACBETH]
How now! what
news?
Lady Macbeth. He has almost supp’d: why have
you left the chamber?
Macbeth. Hath he ask’d for me? 505
Lady Macbeth. Know you not he has?
Macbeth. We will proceed no further
in this business:
He hath honour’d me of late; and I
have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, 510
Not cast aside so soon.
Lady Macbeth. Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress’d yourself? hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time 515
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem, 520
Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would,’
Like the poor cat i’ the adage?
Macbeth. Prithee, peace:
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none. 525
Lady Macbeth. What beast was’t, then,
That made you break this
enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time
nor place 530
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
They have made themselves, and that their fitness
now
Does unmake you. I have
given suck, and know
How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face, 535
Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
Macbeth. If we should fail?
Lady Macbeth. We fail! 540
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep—
Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey
Soundly invite him—his two
chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassail so convince 545
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only:
when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie as in a death,,
What cannot you and I perform upon 550
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers, who
shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
Macbeth. Bring forth men-children
only;
For thy undaunted mettle should compose 555
Nothing but males. Will it
not be received,
When we have mark’d with blood those sleepy two
Of his own chamber and used their very daggers,
That they have done’t?
Lady Macbeth. Who dares receive it other,
560
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?
Macbeth. I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show: 565
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
[Exeunt]
Act II Scene 1
Court of Macbeth’s castle.
[Enter BANQUO,
and FLEANCE bearing a torch before him]
Banquo. How goes the night, boy?
Fleance. The moon is down; I have
not heard the clock. 570
Banquo. And she goes down at twelve.
Fleance. I take’t, ’tis later, sir.
Banquo. Hold, take my sword. There’s
husbandry in heaven;
Their candles are all out. Take
thee that too.
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, 575
And yet I would not sleep: merciful powers,
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature
Gives way to in repose!
[Enter
MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch]
Give me my sword. 580
Who’s there?
Macbeth. A friend.
Banquo. What, sir, not yet at rest?
The king’s a-bed:
He hath been in unusual pleasure, and
Sent forth great largess to your offices. 585
This diamond he greets your wife withal,
By the name of most kind hostess; and shut up
In measureless content.
Macbeth. Being unprepared,
Our will became the servant to defect; 590
Which else should free have wrought.
Banquo. All’s well.
I dreamt last night of the three weyward sisters:
To you they have show’d some truth.
Macbeth. I think not of them: 595
Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,
We would spend it in some words upon that business,
If you would grant the time.
Banquo. At your kind’st leisure.
Macbeth. If you shall cleave to my
consent, when ’tis, 600
It shall make honour for you.
Banquo. So I lose none
In seeking to augment it, but
still keep
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsell’d. 605
Macbeth. Good repose the while!
Banquo. Thanks, sir: the like to
you!
[Exeunt
BANQUO and FLEANCE]
Macbeth. Go bid thy mistress, when
my drink is ready,
She strike upon the bell. Get thee
to bed. 610
[Exit Servant]
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible 615
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw. 620
Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o’ the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see
thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, 625
Which was not so before. There’s no
such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one halfworld
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain’d sleep;
witchcraft celebrates 630
Pale Hecate’s offerings,,
and wither’d murder,
Alarum’d by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl’s his watch, thus
with his stealthy pace.
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards
his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou
sure and firm-set earth, 635
Hear not my steps, which
way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. 640
[A bell rings]
I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
[Exit]
Act II Scene 2
The same.
[Enter LADY
MACBETH]
Lady Macbeth. That which hath made them
drunk hath made me bold;
What hath quench’d them hath given me fire.
Hark! Peace!
It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman, 650
Which gives the stern’st good-night. He is
about it:
The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms
Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg’d
their possets,
That death and nature do contend about them, 655
Whether they live or die.
Macbeth. [Within] Who’s there? what, ho!
Lady Macbeth. Alack, I am afraid they
have awaked,
And ’tis not done. The
attempt and not the deed
Confounds us. Hark! I
laid their daggers ready; 660
He could not miss ’em. Had he
not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done’t.
[Enter
MACBETH]
My husband!
Macbeth. I have done the deed. Didst
thou not hear a noise? 665
Lady Macbeth. I heard the owl scream and
the crickets cry.
Did not you speak?
Macbeth. When?
Lady Macbeth. Now.
Macbeth. As I descended? 670
Lady Macbeth. Ay.
Macbeth. Hark!
Who lies i’ the second chamber?
Lady Macbeth. Donalbain.
Macbeth. This is a sorry sight. 675
[Looking on
his hands]
Lady Macbeth. A foolish thought, to say a
sorry sight.
Macbeth. There’s one did laugh in’s
sleep, and one cried
‘Murder!’
That they did wake each other: I stood and heard
them: 680
But they did say their prayers, and address’d them
Again to sleep.
Lady Macbeth. There are two lodged
together.
Macbeth. One cried ‘God bless us!’
and ‘Amen’ the other;
As they had seen me with these hangman’s hands. 685
Listening their fear, I could not say ‘Amen,’
When they did say ‘God bless us!’
Lady Macbeth. Consider it not so deeply.
Macbeth. But wherefore could not I
pronounce ‘Amen’?
I had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’ 690
Stuck in my throat.
Lady Macbeth. These deeds must not be
thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad.
Macbeth. Methought I heard a voice
cry ‘Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep’, the innocent sleep, 695
Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast,—
Lady Macbeth. What do you mean? 700
Macbeth. Still it cried ‘Sleep no
more!’ to all the house:
‘Glamis hath murder’d sleep, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.
Lady Macbeth. Who was it that thus cried?
Why, worthy thane,
You do unbend your noble strength, to think 705
So brainsickly of things. Go get some water,
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.
Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
They must lie there: go carry
them; and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood. 710
Macbeth. I’ll go no more:
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on’t again I dare not.
Lady Macbeth. Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead 715
Are but as pictures: ’tis the
eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal;
For it must seem their guilt.
[Exit.
Knocking within]
Macbeth. Whence is that knocking?
How is’t with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this
blood
Clean from my hand? No, this
my hand will rather 725
The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
[Re-enter LADY
MACBETH]
Lady Macbeth. My hands are of your
colour; but I shame
To wear a heart so white. 730
[Knocking
within]
I hear a knocking
At the south entry: retire we to our chamber;
A little water clears us of this deed:
How easy is it, then! Your
constancy 735
Hath left you unattended.
[Knocking
within]
Hark! more knocking.
Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us,
And show us to be watchers. Be not lost 740
So poorly in your thoughts.
Macbeth. To know my deed, ’twere best
not know myself.
[Knocking
within]
Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!
[Exeunt]
Act II Scene 3
The same.
[Knocking
within. Enter a Porter]
Porter. Here’s a knocking indeed!
If a
man were porter of hell-gate, he should have
old turning the key.
[Knocking
within] 750
Knock,
knock, knock! Who’s there, i’ the name of
Beelzebub? Here’s a farmer, that hanged
himself on the expectation of plenty,:
come in
time; have
napkins enow about you,;
here 755
you’ll sweat for’t.
[Knocking
within]
Knock,
knock! Who’s there, in the other devil’s
name? Faith, here’s an equivocator, that could 760
swear in both the scales against either scale,;
who committed treason enough for God’s sake,
yet could not equivocate to heaven: O, come
in, equivocator.
[Knocking
within] 765
Knock,
knock, knock! Who’s there? Faith, here’s an
English tailor come hither, for stealing out of
a French hose: come in,
tailor; here you may
roast your goose. 770
[Knocking
within]
Knock,
knock; never at quiet! What are you? But
this place is too cold for hell. I’ll devil-porter
it no further: I had
thought to have let in 775
some of all professions that go the primrose
way to the everlasting bonfire.
[Knocking
within]
Anon, anon! I pray you, remember the porter.
[Opens the
gate]
[Enter MACDUFF
and LENNOX]
Macduff. Was it so late, friend, ere you went
to bed,
That you do lie so late?
Porter. ’Faith sir, we were
carousing
till the
second cock: and
drink, sir, is a great 785
provoker of three things.
Macduff. What three things does
drink especially provoke?
Porter. Marry, sir,
nose-painting,
sleep, and
urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes;
it provokes the desire, but it takes 790
away the performance:
therefore, much drink
may be said to be an equivocator with lechery:
it makes him, and it mars him; it sets
him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him,
and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and 795
not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him
in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.
Macduff. I believe drink gave thee
the lie last night.
Porter. That it did, sir, i’ the
very throat on
me: but I
requited him for his lie; and, I 800
think, being too strong for him, though he took
up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast
him.
Macduff. Is thy master stirring?
[Enter
MACBETH] 805
Our knocking has awaked him; here he comes.
Lennox. Good morrow, noble sir.
Macbeth. Good morrow, both.
Macduff. Is the king stirring,
worthy thane?
Macbeth. Not yet. 810
Macduff. He did command me to call
timely on him:
I have almost slipp’d the hour.
Macbeth. I’ll bring you to him.
Macduff. I know this is a joyful
trouble to you;
But yet ’tis one. 815
Macbeth. The labour we delight in
physics pain.
This is the door.
Macduff. I’ll make so bold to call,
For ’tis my limited service.
[Exit]
Lennox. Goes the king hence to-day?
Macbeth. He does: he did appoint so.
Lennox. The night has been unruly:
where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down; and, as
they say,
Lamentings heard i’ the air; strange screams of
death,
825
And prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion and confused events
New hatch’d to the woeful time: the
obscure bird
Clamour’d the livelong night: some
say, the earth
Was feverous and did shake. 830
Macbeth. ’Twas a rough night.
Lennox. My young remembrance cannot
parallel
A fellow to it.
[Re-enter
MACDUFF]
Macduff. O horror, horror, horror!
Tongue nor heart 835
Cannot conceive nor name thee!
Macbeth. [with Lennox] What’s the matter.
Macduff. Confusion now hath made his
masterpiece!
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord’s anointed temple, and stole thence 840
The life o’ the building!
Macbeth. What is ‘t you say? the
life?
Lennox. Mean you his majesty?
Macduff. Approach the chamber, and
destroy your sight
With a new Gorgon: do not
bid me speak; 845
See, and then speak yourselves.
[Exeunt
MACBETH and LENNOX]
Awake, awake!
Ring the alarum-bell. Murder and treason!
Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake! 850
Shake off this downy sleep, death’s counterfeit,
And look on death itself! up, up, and see
The great doom’s image! Malcolm! Banquo!
As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites,,
To countenance this horror! Ring the
bell. 855
[Bell rings]
[Enter LADY
MACBETH]
Lady Macbeth. What’s the business,
That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
The sleepers of the house? speak, speak! 860
Macduff. O gentle lady,
’Tis not for you to hear what I can speak:
The repetition, in a woman’s ear,
Would murder as it fell.
[Enter BANQUO] 865
O Banquo, Banquo,
Our royal master ’s murder’d!
Lady Macbeth. Woe, alas!
What, in our house?
Banquo. Too cruel any where. 870
Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself,
And say it is not so.
[Re-enter
MACBETH and LENNOX, with ROSS]
Macbeth. Had I but died an hour
before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time; for, from this instant, 875
There ’s nothing serious in mortality:
All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.
[Enter MALCOLM
and DONALBAIN]
Donalbain. What is amiss?
Macbeth. You are, and do not know’t:
The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood
Is stopp’d; the very source of it is stopp’d.
Macduff. Your royal father ’s murder’d. 885
Malcolm. O, by whom?
Lennox. Those of his chamber, as it
seem’d, had done ’t:
Their hands and faces were an badged with
blood;
So were their daggers, which unwiped we found
Upon their pillows: 890
They stared, and were distracted; no man’s life
Was to be trusted with them.
Macbeth. O, yet I do repent me of my
fury,
That I did kill them.
Macduff. Wherefore did you so? 895
Macbeth. Who can be wise, amazed,
temperate and furious,
Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man:
The expedition my violent love
Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan,
His silver skin laced with his golden blood; 900
And his gash’d stabs look’d like a breach in nature
For ruin’s wasteful entrance: there, the murderers,
Steep’d in the colours of their
trade,
their daggers
Unmannerly breech’d with gore: who
could refrain,
That had a heart to love, and in that heart 905
Courage to make ’s love known?
Lady Macbeth. Help me hence, ho!
Macduff. Look to the lady.
Malcolm. [Aside to DONALBAIN] Why do we hold our tongues,
That most may claim this argument for ours? 910
Donalbain. [Aside to MALCOLM] What should be spoken here,
where our fate,
Hid in an auger-hole, may rush, and seize us?
Let ’s away;
Our tears are not yet brew’d. 915
Malcolm. [Aside to DONALBAIN] Nor our strong sorrow
Upon the foot of motion.
Banquo. Look to the lady:
[LADY MACBETH
is carried out]
And when we have our naked frailties hid, 920
That suffer in exposure, let us meet,
And question this most bloody piece of work,
To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us:
In the great hand of God I stand; and thence
Against the undivulged pretence I fight 925
Of treasonous malice.
Macduff. And so do I.
All. So all.
Macbeth. Let’s briefly put on manly
readiness,
And meet i’ the hall together. 930
All. Well contented.
[Exeunt all
but Malcolm and Donalbain.]
Malcolm. What will you do? Let’s not
consort with them:
To show an unfelt sorrow is an office
Which the false man does easy. I’ll to
England. 935
Donalbain. To Ireland, I; our
separated fortune
Shall keep us both the safer: where we are,
There’s daggers in men’s smiles: the near in blood,
The nearer bloody.
Malcolm. This murderous shaft that’s
shot 940
Hath not yet lighted, and our safest way
Is to avoid the aim.
Therefore, to horse;
And let us not be dainty of leave-taking,
But shift away: there’s
warrant in that theft
Which steals itself, when there’s no mercy left. 945
[Exeunt]
Act II Scene 4
Outside
Macbeth’s castle.
[Enter ROSS
and an old Man]
Old Man. Threescore and ten I can
remember well:
Within the volume of which time I have seen
Hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore
night 950
Hath trifled former knowings.
Ross. Ah, good father,
Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man’s act,
Threaten his bloody stage: by the clock, ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp: 955
Is’t night’s predominance, or the day’s shame,
That darkness does the face of earth entomb,
When living light should kiss it?
Old Man. ’Tis unnatural,
Even like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last, 960
A falcon, towering in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d.
Ross. And Duncan’s horses—a thing
most strange and certain—
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race,
Turn’d wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung
out, 965
Contending ’gainst obedience, as they would make
War with mankind.
Old Man. ’Tis said they eat each
other.
Ross. They did so, to the
amazement of mine eyes
That look’d upon’t. Here comes the good Macduff. 970
[Enter
MACDUFF]
How goes the world, sir, now?
Macduff. Why, see you not?
Ross. Is’t known who did this
more than bloody deed?
Macduff. Those that Macbeth hath
slain. 975
Ross. Alas, the day!
What good could they pretend?
Macduff. They were suborn’d:
Malcolm and Donalbain, the king’s two sons,
Are stol’n away and fled; which puts upon them 980
Suspicion of the deed.
Ross. ’Gainst nature still!
Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up
Thine own life’s means! Then ‘tis
most like
The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth. 985
Macduff. He is already named, and
gone to Scone
To be invested.
Ross. Where is Duncan’s body?
Macduff. Carried to Colmekill,
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors, 990
And guardian of their bones.
Ross. Will you to Scone?
Macduff. No, cousin, I’ll to Fife.
Ross. Well, I will thither.
Macduff. Well, may you see things
well done there: adieu! 995
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!
Ross. Farewell, father.
Old Man. God’s benison go with
you; and with
those
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes!
[Exeunt]
Act III Scene
1
Forres. The palace.
[Enter BANQUO]
Banquo. Thou hast it now: king,
Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the weyward women promised, and, I fear,
Thou play’dst most foully for’t: yet it was said
It should not stand in thy posterity, 1005
But that myself should be the root and father
Of many kings. If there come truth from them—
As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine—
Why, by the verities on thee made good,
May they not be my oracles as well, 1010
And set me up in hope? But hush!
no more.
[Sennet
sounded.
Enter MACBETH, as king, LADY MACBETH, as queen, LENNOX, ROSS, Lords, Ladies,
and Attendants]
Macbeth. Here’s our chief guest.
Lady Macbeth. If he had been forgotten, 1015
It had been as a gap in our great feast,
And all-thing unbecoming.
Macbeth. To-night we hold a solemn
supper sir,
And I’ll request your presence.
Banquo. Let your highness 1020
Command upon me; to the which my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie
For ever knit.
Macbeth. Ride you this afternoon?
Banquo. Ay, my good lord. 1025
Macbeth. We should have else desired
your good advice,
Which still hath been both grave and prosperous,
In this day’s council; but we’ll take to-morrow.
Is’t far you ride?
Banquo. As far, my lord, as will
fill up the time 1030
’Twixt this and supper: go not my horse the better,
I must become a borrower of the night
For a dark hour or twain.
Macbeth. Fail not our feast.
Banquo. My lord, I will not. 1035
Macbeth. We hear, our bloody cousins
are bestow’d
In England and in Ireland, not confessing
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
With strange invention: but of that to-morrow,
When therewithal we shall have cause of state 1040
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse: adieu,
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you?
Banquo. Ay, my good lord: our time
does call upon ‘s.
Macbeth. I wish your horses swift
and sure of foot;
And so I do commend you to their backs. Farewell. 1045
[Exit BANQUO]
Let every man be master of his time
Till seven at night: to make society
The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself
Till supper-time alone: while then, God be with you! 1050
[Exeunt all
but MACBETH, and an attendant]
Sirrah, a word with you: attend
those men
Our pleasure?
Attendant. They are, my lord, without
the palace gate.
Macbeth. Bring them before us. 1055
[Exit Attendant]
To be thus is nothing;
But to be safely thus.—Our fears in Banquo
Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be fear’d: ‘tis much he
dares; 1060
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety. There is none but he
Whose being I do fear: and, under him,
My Genius is rebuked; as, it is said, 1065
Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the sisters
When first they put the name of king upon me,
And bade them speak to him: then
prophet-like
They hail’d him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, 1070
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If ’t be
so,
For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder’d; 1075
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,
To make them kings, the seed
of Banquo kings!
Rather than so, come fate into the list. 1080
And champion me to th’utterance,!
Who’s there!
[Re-enter
Attendant, with two Murderers]
Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.
[Exit
Attendant]
Was it not yesterday we spoke together? 1085
First
Murderer.
It was, so please your highness.
Macbeth. Well then, now
Have you consider’d of my speeches? Know
That it was he in the times past which held you
So under fortune, which you thought had been 1090
Our innocent self: this I
made good to you
In our last conference, pass’d
in probation with you,
How you were borne in hand, how cross’d,
the instruments,
Who wrought with them, and all
things else that might 1095
To half a soul and to a notion crazed
Say ‘Thus did Banquo.’
First
Murderer.
You made it known to us.
Macbeth. I did so, and went further,
which is now
Our point of second meeting. Do you find 1100
Your patience so predominant in your nature
That you can let this go? Are you
so gospell’d
To pray for this good man and for his issue,
Whose heavy hand hath bow’d you to the grave
And beggar’d yours for ever? 1105
First
Murderer.
We are men, my liege.
Macbeth. Ay, in the catalogue ye go
for men;
As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs,
water-rugs
and demi-wolves, are
clept
All by the name of dogs: the valued file 1110
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,
The housekeeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous nature
Hath in him closed; whereby
he does receive
Particular addition from the bill 1115
That writes them all alike: and so
of men.
Now, if you have a station in the file,
Not i’ the worst rank of manhood, say ’t;
And I will put that business in your bosoms,
Whose execution takes your enemy off, 1120
Grapples you to the heart and love of us,
Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
Which in his death were perfect.
Second
Murderer. I
am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world 1125
Have so incensed that I am reckless what
I do to spite the world.
First
Murderer.
And I another
So weary with disasters, tugg’d with fortune,
That I would set my life on any chance, 1130
To mend it, or be rid on’t.
Macbeth. Both of you
Know Banquo was your enemy.
First
Murderer. [with Second Murderer] True, my lord.
Macbeth. So is he mine; and in such
bloody distance, 1135
That every minute of his being thrusts
Against my near’st of life: and
though I could
With barefaced power sweep him from my sight
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not,
For certain friends that are both his and mine, 1140
Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
Who I myself struck down; and thence it is,
That I to your assistance do make love,
Masking the business from the common eye
For sundry weighty reasons. 1145
Second
Murderer.
We shall, my lord,
Perform what you command us.
First
Murderer.
Though our lives—
Macbeth. Your spirits shine through
you. Within this hour at most
I will advise you where to plant yourselves; 1150
Acquaint you with the perfect’st spy o’ the time,
The moment on’t; for’t must be done to-night,
And something from the palace; always thought
That I require a clearness: and with him—
To leave no rubs nor botches in the work— 1155
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me
Than is his father’s, must
embrace the fate
Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart:
I’ll come to you anon. 1160
First
Murderer. [With Second Murderer] We are resolved,
my lord.
Macbeth. I’ll call upon you
straight: abide within.
[Exeunt
Murderers]
It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul’s flight,
If it find heaven, must find it out to-night. 1165
[Exit]
Act III Scene
2
The palace.
[Enter LADY
MACBETH and a Servant]
Lady Macbeth. Is Banquo gone from court?
Servant. Ay, madam, but returns
again to-night.
Lady Macbeth. Say to the king, I would
attend his leisure 1170
For a few words.
Servant. Madam, I will.
[Exit]
Lady Macbeth. Nought’s had, all’s spent,
Where our desire is got without content: 1175
’Tis safer to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.
[Enter
MACBETH]
How now, my lord! why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest fancies your companions making, 1180
Using those thoughts which should indeed have died
With them they think on? Things
without all remedy
Should be without regard: what’s done is done.
Macbeth. We have scotch’d the snake,
not kill’d it:
She’ll close and be herself, whilst our poor malice 1185
Remains in danger of her former tooth.
But let the frame of things disjoint, both the
worlds suffer,
Ere we will eat our meal in fear and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreams 1190
That shake us nightly: better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy. Duncan
is in his grave;
After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well; 1195
Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,
Can touch him further.
Lady Macbeth. Come on;
Gentle my lord, sleek o’er your rugged looks; 1200
Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night.
Macbeth. So shall I, love; and so, I
pray, be you:
Let your remembrance apply to Banquo;
Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue:
Unsafe the while, that we 1205
Must lave our honours in these flattering streams,
And make our faces vizards to our hearts,
Disguising what they are.
Lady Macbeth. You must leave this.
Macbeth. O, full of scorpions is my
mind, dear wife! 1210
Thou know’st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.
Lady Macbeth. But in them Nature’s Copy’s not
eterne.
Macbeth. There’s comfort yet; they
are assailable;
Then be thou jocund: ere the bat hath flown
His cloister’d flight, ere to black Hecate’s summons 1215
The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
Hath rung night’s yawning peal, there shall be done
A deed of dreadful note.
Lady Macbeth. What’s to be done?
Macbeth. Be innocent of the
knowledge, dearest chuck, 1220
Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day;
And with thy bloody and invisible hand
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
Which keeps me pale! Light thickens; and the crow 1225
Makes wing to the rooky wood:
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;
While night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.
Thou marvell’st at my words: but hold thee still;
Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill. 1230
So, prithee, go with me.
[Exeunt]
Act III Scene
3
A park near
the palace.
[Enter three
Murderers]
First
Murderer.
But who did bid thee join with us?
Third
Murderer.
Macbeth. 1235
Second
Murderer.
He needs not our mistrust, since he delivers
Our offices and what we have to do
To the direction just.
First
Murderer.
Then stand with us.
The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day: 1240
Now spurs the lated traveller apace
To gain the timely inn; and near approaches
The subject of our watch.
Third
Murderer.
Hark! I hear horses.
Banquo. [Within] Give us a light there, ho! 1245
Second
Murderer.
Then ’tis he: the rest
That are within the note of expectation
Already are i’ the court.
First
Murderer.
His horses go about.
Third
Murderer.
Almost a mile: but he does usually, 1250
So all men do, from hence to the palace gate
Make it their walk.
Second
Murderer. A
light, a light!
[Enter BANQUO,
and FLEANCE with a torch]
Third
Murderer. ’Tis
he. 1255
First
Murderer.
Stand to’t.
Banquo. It will be rain to-night.
First
Murderer.
Let it come down.
[They set upon
BANQUO]
Banquo. O, treachery! Fly, good
Fleance, fly, fly, fly! 1260
Thou mayst revenge. O slave!
[Dies. FLEANCE
escapes]
Third
Murderer.
Who did strike out the light?
First
Murderer.
Wast not the way?
Third Murderer. There’s but one down; the
son is fled. 1265
Second
Murderer.
We have lost
Best half of our affair.
First
Murderer.
Well, let’s away, and say how much is done.
[Exeunt]
Act III Scene
4
The same. Hall
in the palace.
[A banquet
prepared. Enter MACBETH, LADY MACBETH,. ROSS, LENNOX, Lords, and Attendants]
Macbeth. You know your own degrees;
sit down: at first
And last the hearty welcome.
Lords. Thanks to your majesty.
Macbeth. Ourself will mingle with
society, 1275
And play the humble host.
Our hostess keeps her state, but in best time
We will require her welcome.
Lady Macbeth. Pronounce it for me, sir,
to all our friends;
For my heart speaks they are welcome. 1280
[First
Murderer appears at the door]
Macbeth. See, they encounter thee
with their hearts’ thanks.
Both sides are even: here I’ll sit i’ the midst:
Be large in mirth; anon we’ll drink a measure
The table round. 1285
[Approaching
the door]
There’s blood on thy face.
First
Murderer. ’Tis
Banquo’s then.
Macbeth. ’Tis better thee without
than he within.
Is he dispatch’d? 1290
First
Murderer.
My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him.
Macbeth. Thou art the best o’ the cut-throats: yet
he’s good
That did the like for Fleance: if thou didst it,
Thou art the nonpareil.
First
Murderer.
Most royal sir, 1295
Fleance is ’scaped.
Macbeth. Then comes my fit again: I
had else been perfect,
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,
As broad and general as the casing air:
But now I am cabin’d, cribb’d, confined, bound in 1300
To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo’s safe?
First
Murderer.
Ay, my good lord: safe in a ditch he bides,
With twenty trenched gashes on his head;
The least a death to nature.
Macbeth. Thanks for that: 1305
There the grown serpent lies; the worm that’s fled
Hath nature that in time will venom breed,
No teeth for the present. Get thee gone: to-morrow
We’ll hear, ourselves, again.
[Exit
Murderer]
Lady Macbeth. My royal lord,
You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold
That is not often vouch’d, while ‘tis a-making,
‘Tis given with welcome: to feed were best at home;
From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony; 1315
Meeting were bare without it.
Macbeth. Sweet remembrancer!
Now, good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both!
Lennox. May’t please your highness
sit. 1320
[The GHOST OF
BANQUO enters, and sits in MACBETH’s place]
Macbeth. Here had we now our country’s
honour roof’d,
Were the graced person of our Banquo present;
Who may I rather challenge for unkindness 1325
Than pity for mischance!
Ross. His absence, sir,
Lays blame upon his promise. Please’t your highness
To grace us with your royal company.
Macbeth. The table’s full. 1330
Lennox. Here is a place reserved,
sir.
Macbeth. Where?
Lennox. Here, my good lord. What is’t
that moves your highness?
Macbeth. Which of you have done
this?
Lords. What, my good lord? 1335
Macbeth. Thou canst not say I did
it: never shake
Thy gory locks at me.
Ross. Gentlemen, rise: his
highness is not well.
Lady Macbeth. Sit, worthy friends: my
lord is often thus,
And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat; 1340
The fit is momentary; upon a thought
He will again be well: if much you note him,
You shall offend him and extend his passion:
Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man?
Macbeth. Ay, and a bold one, that
dare look on that 1345
Which might appal the devil.
Lady Macbeth. O proper stuff!
This is the very painting of your fear:
This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said,
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts, 1350
Impostors to true fear, would well become
A woman’s story at a winter’s fire,
Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!
Why do you make such faces? When all’s done,
You look but on a stool. 1355
Macbeth. Prithee, see there! behold!
look! lo!
how say you?
Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.
If charnel-houses and our graves
must send
Those that we bury back, our monuments 1360
Shall be the maws of kites,.
[GHOST OF
BANQUO vanishes]
Lady Macbeth. What, quite unmann’d in
folly?
Macbeth. If I stand here, I saw him.
Lady Macbeth. Fie, for shame! 1365
Macbeth. Blood hath been shed ere
now, i’ the olden time,
Ere human statute purged the gentle weal;
Ay, and since too, murders have been perform’d
Too terrible for the ear: the times
have been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die, 1370
And there an end; but now
they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools: this is more strange
Than such a murder is.
Lady Macbeth. My worthy lord, 1375
Your noble friends do lack you.
Macbeth. I do forget.
Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends,
I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing
To those that know me. Come, love and health to all; 1380
Then I’ll sit down. Give me some wine; fill full.
I drink to the general joy o’ the whole table,
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss;
Would he were here! to all, and him, we thirst,
And all to all. 1385
Lords. Our duties, and the pledge.
[Re-enter
GHOST OF BANQUO]
Macbeth. Avaunt! and quit my sight!
let the earth hide thee!
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 1390
Which thou dost glare with!
Lady Macbeth. Think of this, good peers,
But as a thing of custom: ’tis no other;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.
Macbeth. What man dare, I dare: 1395
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The arm’d rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger;
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble: or be
alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword; 1400
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence,
horrible shadow!
Unreal mockery, hence!
[GHOST OF
BANQUO vanishes]
Why, so: being gone, 1405
I am a man again. Pray you,
sit still.
Lady Macbeth. You have displaced the
mirth, broke the good meeting,
With most admired disorder.
Macbeth. Can such things be,
And overcome us like a summer’s cloud, 1410
Without our special wonder? You make
me strange
Even to the disposition that I owe,
When now I think you can behold such sights,
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,
When mine is blanched with fear. 1415
Ross. What sights, my lord?
Lady Macbeth. I pray you, speak not; he
grows worse and worse;
Question enrages him. At once, good night:
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once. 1420
Lennox. Good night; and better
health
Attend his majesty!
Lady Macbeth. A kind good night to all!
[Exeunt all
but MACBETH and LADY MACBETH]
Macbeth. It will have blood; they
say, blood will have blood: 1425
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;
Augurs and
understood relations have
By magot-piesand
choughs and rooks brought
forth
The secret’st man of blood. What is
the night?
Lady Macbeth. Almost at odds with
morning, which is which.
1430
Macbeth. How say’st thou, that
Macduff denies his person
At our great bidding?
Lady Macbeth. Did you send to him, sir?
Macbeth. I hear it by the way; but I
will send:
There’s not a one of them but in his house 1435
I keep a servant fee’d. I will
to-morrow,
And betimes I will, to the weyward sisters:
More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know,
By the worst means, the worst. For mine
own good,
All causes shall give way: I am in
blood 1440
Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er:
Strange things I have in head, that will to hand;
Which must be acted ere they may be scann’d.
Lady Macbeth. You lack the season of all
natures, sleep. 1445
Macbeth. Come, we’ll to sleep. My
strange and self-abuse
Is the initiate fear that
wants hard use:
We are yet but young in deed.
[Exeunt]
Act III Scene
5
A Heath.
[Thunder.
Enter the three Witches meeting HECATE]
First Witch. Why, how now, Hecate! you
look angerly.
Hecate. Have I not reason, beldams as you
are,
Saucy and
overbold? How did you dare
To trade and traffic with Macbeth
In riddles and affairs of death; 1455
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of all
harms,
Was never call’d to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?
And, which is worse, all you have done 1460
Hath been but for a wayward son,
Spiteful and wrathful, who, as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for you.
But make amends now: get you gone,
And at the pit of Acheron 1465
Meet me i’ the morning: thither he
Will come to know his destiny:
Your vessels and your spells provide,
Your charms and every thing beside.
I am for the air; this night I’ll spend 1470
Unto a dismal and a fatal end:
Great business must be wrought ere noon:
Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vaporous drop profound;
I’ll catch it ere it come to ground: 1475
And that distill’d by magic sleights
Shall raise such artificial sprites
As by the strength of their illusion
Shall draw him on to his confusion:
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear 1480
His hopes ’bove wisdom, grace and fear:
And you all know, security
Is mortals’ chiefest enemy.
[Music and a
song within: ‘Come away, come away,’ &c]
Hark! I am call’d; my little spirit, see, 1485
Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me.
[Exit]
First Witch. Come, let’s make haste; she’ll
soon be back again.
[Exeunt]
Act III Scene
6
Forres. The palace.
[Enter LENNOX
and another Lord]
Lennox. My former speeches have but
hit your thoughts,
Which can interpret further: only, I say,
Things have been strangely borne. The
gracious Duncan
Was pitied of Macbeth: marry, he was dead: 1495
And the right-valiant Banquo walk’d too late;
Whom, you may say, if’t please you, Fleance kill’d,
For Fleance fled: men must not walk too late.
Who cannot want the thought how monstrous
It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain 1500
To kill their gracious father? damned fact!
How it did grieve Macbeth! did he not straight
In pious rage the two delinquents tear,
That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep?
Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too; 1505
For ’twould have anger’d any heart alive
To hear the men deny’t. So that,
I say,
He has borne all things well: and I do think
That had he Duncan’s sons under his key—
As, an’t please heaven, he shall not—they 1510
should find
What ’twere to kill a father; so should Fleance.
But, peace! for from broad words and ’cause he fail’d
His presence at the tyrant’s feast,, I
hear
Macduff lives in disgrace: sir, can you tell 1515
Where he bestows himself?
Lord. The son of Duncan,
From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth
Lives in the English court, and is received
Of the most pious Edward with such
grace 1520
That the malevolence of fortune nothing
Takes from his high respect: thither Macduff
Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid
To wake Northumberland and warlike Siward:
That, by the help of these—with Him above 1525
To ratify the work—we may again
Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights,
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives,
Do faithful homage and receive free honours:
All which we pine for now: and this report 1530
Hath so exasperate the king that he
Prepares for some attempt of war.
Lennox. Sent he to Macduff?
Lord. He did: and with an
absolute ‘Sir, not I’
The cloudy messenger turns me his back, 1535
And hums, as who should say ‘You’ll rue the time
That clogs me with this answer.’
Lennox. And that well might
Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance
His wisdom can provide. Some holy
angel 1540
Fly to the court of England and unfold
His message ere he come, that a swift blessing
May soon return to this our suffering country
Under a hand accursed!
Lord. I’ll send my prayers with
him. 1545
[Exeunt]
Act IV Scene 1
A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron.
[Thunder.
Enter the three Witches]
First Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath
mew’d.
Second Witch. Thrice and once the
hedge-pig whined.
Third Witch. Harpier cries ’Tis time, ’tis
time. 1550
First Witch. Round about the cauldron
go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter’d venom sleeping got, 1555
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.
All. Double, double
toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake; 1560
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble, 1565
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
All. Double, double toil and
trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Third Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of
wolf,
Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf 1570
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver’d in the moon’s eclipse, 1575
Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron, 1580
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
All. Double, double toil and
trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch. Cool it with a baboon’s
blood,
Then the charm is firm and good. 1585
[Enter HECATE
to the other three Witches]
Hecate. O well done! I commend your
pains;
And every one shall share i’ the gains;
And now about the cauldron sing,
Live elves and fairies in a ring, 1590
Enchanting all that you put in.
[Music and a
song: ‘Black spirits,’ &c]
[HECATE
retires]
Second Witch. By the pricking of my
thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes. 1595
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks!
[Enter
MACBETH]
Macbeth. How now, you secret, black,
and midnight hags!
What is’t you do? 1600
All. A deed without a name.
Macbeth. I conjure you, by that
which you profess,
Howe’er you come to know it, answer me:
Though you untie the winds and let them fight
Against the churches; though
the yesty waves 1605
Confound and swallow navigation up;
Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down;
Though castles topple on their warders’ heads;
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
Their heads to their foundations; though the
treasure 1610
Of nature’s germens tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken; answer me
To what I ask you.
First Witch. Speak.
Second Witch. Demand. 1615
Third Witch. We’ll answer.
First Witch. Say, if thou’dst rather
hear it from our mouths,
Or from our masters?
Macbeth. Call ’em; let me see ’em.
First Witch. Pour in sow’s blood, that
hath eaten 1620
Her nine farrow; grease that’s sweaten
From the murderer’s gibbet throw
Into the flame.
All. Come, high or low;
Thyself and office deftly show! 1625
[Thunder.
First Apparition: an armed Head]
Macbeth. Tell me, thou unknown
power,—
First Witch. He knows thy thought:
Hear his speech, but say thou nought.
First
Apparition.
Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff;
1630
Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.
[Descends]
Macbeth. Whate’er thou art, for thy
good caution, thanks;
Thou hast harp’d my fear aright: but one
word more,— 1635
First Witch. He will not be commanded:
here’s another,
More potent than the first.
[Thunder.
Second Apparition: A bloody Child]
Second
Apparition.
Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!
Macbeth. Had I three ears, I’ld hear
thee. 1640
Second
Apparition.
Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth.
[Descends]
Macbeth. Then live, Macduff: what
need I fear of thee? 1645
But yet I’ll make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live;
That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies,
And sleep in spite of thunder.
[Thunder.
Third Apparition: a Child crowned,
with a tree in his hand] 1650
What is this
That rises like the issue of a king,
And wears upon his baby-brow the round
And top of sovereignty?
All. Listen, but speak not to’t. 1655
Third
Apparition.
Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:
Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him. 1660
[Descends]
Macbeth. That will never be
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree
Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements! good!
Rebellion’s head, rise never till the wood 1665
Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath
To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart
Throbs to know one thing: tell me, if your art
Can tell so much: shall Banquo’s issue ever 1670
Reign in this kingdom?
All. Seek to know no more.
Macbeth. I will be satisfied: deny
me this,
And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know.
Why sinks that cauldron? and what noise is this?
1675
[Hautboys]
First Witch. Show!
Second Witch. Show!
Third Witch. Show!
All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; 1680
Come like shadows, so depart!
[A show of
Eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand; GHOST OF BANQUO following]
Macbeth. Thou art too like the
spirit of Banquo: down!
Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls. And thy hair, 1685
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.
A third is like the former. Filthy hags!
Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes!
What, will the line stretch out to the crack of
doom?
Another yet! A seventh! I’ll see no more: 1690
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass
Which shows me many more; and some I see
That two-fold balls and treble sceptres carry:
Horrible sight! Now, I see, ’tis true;
For the blood-bolter’d Banquo smiles upon me, 1695
And points at them for his.
[Apparitions
vanish]
What, is this so?
First Witch. Ay, sir, all this is so:
but why
Stands Macbeth thus amazedly? 1700
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites,
And show the best of our delights:
I’ll charm the air to give a sound,
While you perform your antic round:
That this great king may kindly say, 1705
Our duties did his welcome pay.
[Music. The
witches dance and then vanish, with HECATE]
Macbeth. Where are they? Gone? Let
this pernicious hour
Stand aye accursed in the calendar!
Come in, without there! 1710
[Enter LENNOX]
Lennox. What’s your grace’s will?
Macbeth. Saw you the weird sisters?
Lennox. No, my lord.
Macbeth. Came they not by you? 1715
Lennox. No, indeed, my lord.
Macbeth. Infected be the air whereon
they ride;
And damn’d all those that trust them! I did hear
The galloping of horse: who was’t came by?
Lennox. ’Tis two or three, my lord,
that bring you word 1720
Macduff is fled to England.
Macbeth. Fled to England!
Lennox. Ay, my good lord.
Macbeth. Time, thou anticipatest my
dread exploits:
The flighty purpose never is o’ertook 1725
Unless the deed go with it; from this moment
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand. And even now,
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and
done:
The castle of Macduff I will surprise; 1730
Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o’ the sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool;
This deed I’ll do before this purpose cool.
But no more sights!—Where are these gentlemen? 1735
Come, bring me where they are.
[Exeunt]
Act IV Scene 2
Fife. Macduff’s
castle.
[Enter LADY
MACDUFF, her Son, and ROSS]
Lady Macduff. What had he done, to make
him fly the land?
Ross. You must have patience,
madam. 1740
Lady Macduff. He had none:
His flight was madness: when our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.
Ross. You know not
Whether it was his wisdom or his fear. 1745
Lady Macduff. Wisdom! to leave his wife,
to leave his babes,
His mansion and his titles in a place
From whence himself does fly? He loves us not;
He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight, 1750
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love;
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason.
Ross. My dearest coz, 1755
I pray you, school yourself: but for your husband,
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
The fits o’ the season. I dare not speak
much further;
But cruel are the times, when we are traitors 1760
And do not know ourselves, when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,
But float upon a wild and violent sea
Each way and move. I take my leave of you:
Shall not be long but I’ll be here again: 1765
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
To what they were before. My pretty cousin,
Blessing upon you!
Lady Macduff. Father’d he is, and yet he’s
fatherless.
Ross. I am so much a fool, should
I stay longer, 1770
It would be my disgrace and your discomfort:
I take my leave at once.
[Exit]
Lady Macduff. Sirrah, your father’s dead;
And what will you do now? How will you live? 1775
Son. As birds do, mother.
Lady Macduff. What, with worms and flies?
Son. With what I get, I mean;
and so do they.
Lady Macduff. Poor bird! thou’ldst never
fear the net nor lime,
The pitfall nor the gin. 1780
Son. Why should I, mother? Poor
birds they are not set for.
My father is not dead, for all your saying.
Lady Macduff. Yes, he is dead; how wilt
thou do for a father?
Son. Nay, how will you do for a
husband?
Lady Macduff. Why, I can buy me twenty at
any market. 1785
Son. Then you’ll buy ’em to sell
again.
Lady Macduff. Thou speak’st with all thy
wit: and yet, i’ faith,
With wit enough for thee.
Son. Was my father a traitor,
mother?
Lady Macduff. Ay, that he was. 1790
Son. What is a traitor?
Lady Macduff. Why, one that swears and
lies.
Son. And be all traitors that do
so?
Lady Macduff. Every one that does so is a
traitor, and must be hanged.
Son. And must they all be hanged
that swear and lie? 1795
Lady Macduff. Every one.
Son. Who must hang them?
Lady Macduff. Why, the honest men.
