Three Witches.

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,3

 

When the battle’s lost and won.

 

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, Grimalkin!8

 

second witch Paddock calls.9

 

third witch Anon.10

 

all

 

Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

 

Hover through the fog and filthy air.Exeunt.

1.2

Alarum within. Enter King [Duncan], Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.

 

duncan

 

What bloody man is that? He can report,

 

As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt

 

The newest state.

 

malcolm     This is the sergeant3

 

Who like a good and hardy soldier fought

 

’Gainst my captivity.—Hail, brave friend!

 

Say to the King the knowledge of the broil6

 

As thou didst leave it.

 

captain       Doubtful it stood,

 

As two spent swimmers that do cling together8

 

And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald—9

 

Worthy to be a rebel, for to that10

 

The multiplying villainies of nature11

 

Do swarm upon him—from the Western Isles12

Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;13

 

And Fortune, on his damnèd quarrel smiling,14

 

Showed like a rebel’s whore. But all’s too weak;15

 

For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—16

 

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,

 

Which smoked with bloody execution,18

 

Like valor’s minion carved out his passage19

 

Till he faced the slave,20

 

Which ne’er shook hands nor bade farewell to him21

 

Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops,22

 

And fixed his head upon our battlements.

 

duncan

 

Oh, valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!24

 

captain

 

As whence the sun ‘gins his reflection25

 

Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,26

 

So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come27

 

Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark.28

 

No sooner justice had, with valor armed,

 

Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels30

 

But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,31

 

With furbished arms and new supplies of men,32

 

Began a fresh assault.

 

duncan

 

Dismayed not this our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

 

captain

 

Yes, as sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.35

 

If I say sooth, I must report they were36

 

As cannons overcharged with double cracks,37

 

So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.38

 

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds39

 

Or memorize another Golgotha,40

 

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 honor both.—Go get him surgeons.

 

[Exit Captain, attended.]

 

Enter Ross and Angus.

 

Who comes here?

 

malcolm     The worthy Thane of Ross.45

lennox What a haste looks through his eyes!

 

So should he look that seems to speak things strange.47

 

ross God save the King!

 

duncan Whence cam’st thou, worthy thane?

 

ross From Fife, great King,

 

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky51

 

And fan our people cold.52

 

Norway himself, with terrible numbers,53

 

Assisted by that most disloyal traitor,

 

The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict,55

 

Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapped in proof,56

 

Confronted him with self-comparisons,57

 

Point against point, rebellious arm ‘gainst arm,58

 

Curbing his lavish spirit; and to conclude,

 

The victory fell on us.

 

duncan        Great happiness!

 

ross That now

 

Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition;62

 

Nor would we deign him burial of his men

 

Till he disbursèd at Saint Colme’s Inch64

Macbeth

• ••

[Dramatis Personae

 

duncan, King of Scotland

 

malcolm, his sons

 

donalbain

 

macbeth, Thane of Glamis, later of Cawdor, later King of Scotland

 

lady macbeth

 

banquo, a thane of Scotland

 

fleance, his son

 

macduff, Thane of Fife

 

lady macduff

 

son of Macduff and Lady Macduff

 

lennox,

 

ross,

 

menteith, thanes and noblemen of Scotland

 

angus,

 

caithness,

 

siward, Earl of Northumberland

 

young siward, his son

 

seyton, an officer attending Macbeth

 

Another lord

 

english doctor

 

scottish doctor

 

gentlewoman attending Lady Macbeth

 

captain serving Duncan

 

porter

 

old man

 

Three murderers of Banquo

 

first murderer at Macduff’s castle

 

messenger to Lady Macbeth

 

messenger to Lady Macduff

 

servant to Macbeth

 

servant to Lady Macbeth

 

Three witches or weird sisters

 

hecate

 

Three apparitions

 

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, and Attendants

 

scene: Scotland; England]

 

1.1

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,3

 

When the battle’s lost and won.

 

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, Grimalkin!8

 

second witch Paddock calls.9

 

third witch Anon.10

 

all

 

Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

 

Hover through the fog and filthy air.Exeunt.

 

1.1. Location: An open place.

 

3 hurlyburly’s tumult’s

 

8 Grimalkin i.e., gray cat, name of the witch’s familiar—a demon or evil spirit supposed to answer a witch’s call and to allow him or her to perform black magic.

 

9 Paddock toad; also a familiar

 

10 Anon At once, right away.

 

✤

 

1.2

Alarum within. Enter King [Duncan], Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.

 

duncan

 

What bloody man is that? He can report,

 

As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt

 

The newest state.

 

malcolm     This is the sergeant3

 

Who like a good and hardy soldier fought

 

’Gainst my captivity.—Hail, brave friend!

 

Say to the King the knowledge of the broil6

 

As thou didst leave it.

 

captain       Doubtful it stood,

 

As two spent swimmers that do cling together8

 

And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald—9

 

Worthy to be a rebel, for to that10

 

The multiplying villainies of nature11

 

Do swarm upon him—from the Western Isles12

 

Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;13

 

And Fortune, on his damnèd quarrel smiling,14

 

Showed like a rebel’s whore. But all’s too weak;15

 

For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—16

 

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,

 

Which smoked with bloody execution,18

 

Like valor’s minion carved out his passage19

 

Till he faced the slave,20

 

Which ne’er shook hands nor bade farewell to him21

 

Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops,22

 

And fixed his head upon our battlements.

 

duncan

 

Oh, valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!24

 

captain

 

As whence the sun ‘gins his reflection25

 

Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,26

 

So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come27

 

Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark.28

 

No sooner justice had, with valor armed,

 

Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels30

 

But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,31

 

With furbished arms and new supplies of men,32

 

Began a fresh assault.

 

duncan

 

Dismayed not this our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

 

captain

 

Yes, as sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.35

 

If I say sooth, I must report they were36

 

As cannons overcharged with double cracks,37

 

So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.38

 

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds39

 

Or memorize another Golgotha,40

 

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 honor both.—Go get him surgeons.

 

[Exit Captain, attended.]

 

Enter Ross and Angus.

 

Who comes here?

 

malcolm     The worthy Thane of Ross.45

 

lennox What a haste looks through his eyes!

 

So should he look that seems to speak things strange.47

 

ross God save the King!

 

duncan Whence cam’st thou, worthy thane?

 

ross From Fife, great King,

 

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky51

 

And fan our people cold.52

 

Norway himself, with terrible numbers,53

 

Assisted by that most disloyal traitor,

 

The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict,55

 

Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapped in proof,56

 

Confronted him with self-comparisons,57

 

Point against point, rebellious arm ‘gainst arm,58

 

Curbing his lavish spirit; and to conclude,

 

The victory fell on us.

 

duncan        Great happiness!

 

ross That now

 

Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition;62

 

Nor would we deign him burial of his men

 

Till he disbursèd at Saint Colme’s Inch64

 

Ten thousand dollars to our general use.65

 

duncan

 

No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive

 

Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death,67

 

And with his former title greet Macbeth.

 

ross I’ll see it done.

 

duncan

 

What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.

 

Exeunt.

1.3

Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

 

first witch Where hast thou been, sister?

 

second witch Killing swine.

 

third witch Sister, where thou?

 

first witch

 

A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap,

 

And munched, and munched, and munched. “Give me,” quoth I.

 

“Aroint thee, witch!” the rump-fed runnion cries.6

 

Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o’th’ Tiger;7

 

But in a sieve I’ll thither sail,

 

And like a rat without a tail9

 

I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.10

 

second witch

 

I’ll give thee a wind.

 

first witch

 

Thou’rt kind.

 

third witch

And I another.

 

first witch

 

I myself have all the other,14

 

And the very ports they blow,15

 

All the quarters that they know16

 

I’th’ shipman’s card.17

 

I’ll drain him dry as hay.18

 

Sleep shall neither night nor day

 

Hang upon his penthouse lid.20

 

He shall live a man forbid.21

 

Weary sev’nnights nine times nine22

 

Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.23

 

Though his bark cannot be lost,24

 

Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.

 

Look what I have.

 

second witch Show me, show me.

 

first witch

 

Here I have a pilot’s thumb,

 

Wrecked as homeward he did come.Drum within.

 

third witch

 

A drum, a drum!

Macbeth doth come.

 

all [dancing in a circle]

 

The Weird Sisters, hand in hand,32

 

Posters of the sea and land,33

 

Thus do go about, about,

 

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,

 

And thrice again, to make up nine.

 

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 called to Forres?—What are these,39

 

So withered and so wild in their attire,

 

That look not like th’inhabitantso’th’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 choppy finger laying44

 

Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,

 

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!

 

third witch

 

All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!

 

banquo

 

Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear

 

Things that do sound so fair?—I’th’ name of truth,

 

Are ye fantastical or that indeed53

 

Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner54

 

You greet with present grace and great prediction55

 

Of noble having and of royal hope,

 

That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not.57

 

If you can look into the seeds of time

 

And say which grain will grow and which will not,

 

Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear60

 

Your favors nor your hate.61

 

first witch Hail!

 

second witch Hail!

 

third witch Hail!

 

first witch

 

Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

 

second witch

 

Not so happy, yet much happier.66

 

third witch

 

Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.67

 

So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

 

first witch

 

Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!

 

macbeth

 

Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more!70

 

By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis,71

 

But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives

 

A prosperous gentleman; and to be king

 

Stands not within the prospect of belief,

 

No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence75

 

You owe this strange intelligence, or why76

 

Upon this blasted heath you stop our way77

 

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 vanished?

 

macbeth

 

Into the air; and what seemed corporal melted,81

 

As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed!

 

banquo

 

Were such things here as we do speak about?

 

Or have we eaten on the insane root84

 

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?

 

banquo

 

To th’ 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 reads90

 

Thy personal venture in the rebels’ fight,91

 

His wonders and his praises do contend92

 

Which should be thine or his. Silenced with that,93

 

In viewing o’er the rest o’th’ selfsame day

 

He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,95

 

Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,96

 

Strange images of death. As thick as tale97

 

Came post with post, and every one did bear98

 

Thy praises in his kingdom’s great defense,

 

And poured them down before him.

 

angus              We are sent

 

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 honor,104

 

He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor;

 

In which addition, hail, most worthy thane,106

 

For it is thine.

 

banquo    What, can the devil speak true?

 

macbeth

 

The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me

 

In borrowed robes?

 

angus       Who was the thane lives yet,109

 

But under heavy judgment bears that life

 

Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined111

 

With those of Norway, or did line the rebel112

 

With hidden help and vantage, or that with both

 

He labored in his country’s wrack, I know not;114

 

But treasons capital, confessed and proved,115

 

Have overthrown him.

 

macbeth

 

[aside]    Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor!

 

The greatest is behind. [To Ross and Angus] Thanks for your pains.117

[Aside to Banquo] Do you not hope your children shall be kings

 

When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me

 

Promised no less to them?

 

banquo

 

[to Macbeth]    That, trusted home,120

 

Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,

 

Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But ‘tis strange;

 

And oftentimes to win us to our harm

 

The instruments of darkness tell us truths,

 

Win us with honest trifles, to betray ‘s

 

In deepest consequence.—126

 

Cousins, a word, I pray you.127

 

[He converses apart with Ross and Angus.]

 

macbeth

 

[aside] Two truths are told,

 

As happy prologues to the swelling act129

 

Of the imperial theme.—I thank you, gentlemen.

 

[Aside] This supernatural soliciting131

 

Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,

 

Why hath it given me earnest of success

Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.

 

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion

 

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair136

 

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,

 

Against the use of nature? Present fears138

 

Are less than horrible imaginings.

 

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,140

 

Shakes so my single state of man141

 

That function is smothered in surmise,142

 

And nothing is but what is not.143

 

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 honors come upon him,146

 

Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold147

 

But with the aid of use.

 

macbeth

 

[aside]     Come what come may,148

 

Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.149

banquo

 

Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.150

 

macbeth

 

Give me your favor. My dull brain was wrought151

 

With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains

 

Are registered where every day I turn153

 

The leaf to read them. Let us toward the King.

 

[Aside to Banquo] Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time,155

 

The interim having weighed it, let us speak156

 

Our free hearts each to other.157

 

banquo

 

[to Macbeth] Very gladly.

 

macbeth

 

[to Banquo] Till then, enough.—Come, friends.

 

Exeunt.

1.4

Flourish. Enter King [Duncan], Lennox, Malcolm, Donalbain, and attendants.

 

duncan

 

Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not

 

Those in commission yet returned?

 

malcolm            My liege,2

 

They are not yet come back. But I have spoke

 

With one that saw him die, who did report

 

That very frankly he confessed his treasons,

 

Implored Your Highness’ pardon, and set forth

 

A deep repentance. Nothing in his life

 

Became him like the leaving it. He died8

 

As one that had been studied in his death9

 

To throw away the dearest thing he owed10

 

As ’twere a careless trifle.

 

duncan        There’s no art11

 

To find the mind’s construction in the face.

 

He was a gentleman on whom I built

 

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 before16

 

That swiftest wing of recompense is slow

 

To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,

 

That the proportion both of thanks and payment19

 

Might have been mine! Only I have left to say,20

 

More is thy due than more than all can pay.

 

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,25

 

Which do but what they should by doing everything

 

Safe toward your love and honor.

 

duncan            Welcome hither!27

 

I have begun to plant thee, and will labor

 

To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,

 

That hast no less deserved, nor must be known

 

No less to have done so, let me infold thee

And hold thee to my heart.

 

banquo          There if I grow,

 

The harvest is your own.

 

duncan        My plenteous joys,

 

Wanton in fullness, seek to hide themselves34

 

In drops of sorrow.—Sons, kinsmen, thanes,

 

And you whose places are the nearest, know

 

We will establish our estate upon37

 

Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter

 

The Prince of Cumberland; which honor must39

 

Not unaccompanied invest him only,40

 

But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine

 

On all deservers.—From hence to Inverness,42

 

And bind us further to you.43

 

macbeth

 

The rest is labor which is not used for you.44

 

I’ll be myself the harbinger and make joyful45

 

The hearing of my wife with your approach;

 

So humbly take my leave.

 

duncan         My worthy Cawdor!

 

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;50

 

Let not light see my black and deep desires.

 

The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be52

 

Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.Exit. 53

 

duncan

 

True, worthy Banquo. He is full so valiant,54

 

And in his commendations I am fed;55

 

It is a banquet to me. Let’s after him,

 

Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome.

 

It is a peerless kinsman.Flourish. Exeunt.

1.5

Enter Macbeth’s Wife, alone, with a letter.

 

lady macbeth

 

[reads] “They met me in the day of success;

 

and I have learned by the perfect’st report they2

 

have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I

 

burnt 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 the6

 

King, who all-hailed me ‘Thane of Cawdor,’ by which

 

title, before, these Weird Sisters saluted me, and re- ferred

 

me to the coming on of time with ’Hail, king

 

that shalt be!’ This have I thought good to deliver thee,10

 

my dearest partner of greatness, that thou 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;16

 

It is too full o’th’ 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,20

 

That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,

 

And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou’dst have, great Glamis,

 

That which cries “Thus thou must do,” if thou have it,23

 

And that which rather thou dost fear to do24

 

Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,25

 

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear

 

And chastise with the valor of my tongue

 

All that impedes thee from the golden round28

 

Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem29

 

To have thee crowned withal.

 

Enter [a servant as] Messenger.

 

What is your tidings?30

 

messenger

 

The King comes here tonight.

 

lady macbeth       Thou’rt mad to say it!

 

Is not thy master with him, who, were’t so,

 

Would have informed for preparation?33

messenger

 

So please you, it is true. Our thane is coming.

 

One of my fellows had the speed of him,35

 

Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more

 

Than would make up his message.

 

lady macbeth        Give him tending;37

 

He brings great news.Exit Messenger.

 

The raven himself is hoarse

 

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan

 

Under my battlements. Come, you spirits

 

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here41

 

And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full

 

Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood;

 

Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,44

 

That no compunctious visitings of nature45

 

Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between46

 

Th’effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts47

 

And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,48

 

Wherever in your sightless substances49

 

You wait on nature’s mischief! Come, thick night,50

 

And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,51

 

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.

 

Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor!54

 

Greater than both by the all-hail hereafter!

 

Thy letters have transported me beyond56

 

This ignorant present, and I feel now57

 

The future in the instant.

 

macbeth        My dearest love,58

 

Duncan comes here tonight.

 

lady macbeth       And when goes hence?

 

macbeth

 

Tomorrow, as he purposes.

 

lady macbeth      Oh, never

 

Shall sun that morrow see!

 

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men

 

May read strange matters. To beguile the time,63

 

Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,64

 

Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’innocent flower,

 

But be the serpent under’t. He that’s coming

Macbeth

• ••

[Dramatis Personae

 

duncan, King of Scotland

 

malcolm, his sons

 

donalbain

 

macbeth, Thane of Glamis, later of Cawdor, later King of Scotland

 

lady macbeth

 

banquo, a thane of Scotland

 

fleance, his son

 

macduff, Thane of Fife

 

lady macduff

 

son of Macduff and Lady Macduff

 

lennox,

 

ross,

 

menteith, thanes and noblemen of Scotland

 

angus,

 

caithness,

 

siward, Earl of Northumberland

 

young siward, his son

 

seyton, an officer attending Macbeth

 

Another lord

 

english doctor

 

scottish doctor

 

gentlewoman attending Lady Macbeth

 

captain serving Duncan

 

porter

 

old man

 

Three murderers of Banquo

 

first murderer at Macduff’s castle

 

messenger to Lady Macbeth

 

messenger to Lady Macduff

 

servant to Macbeth

 

servant to Lady Macbeth

 

Three witches or weird sisters

 

hecate

 

Three apparitions

 

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, and Attendants

 

scene: Scotland; England]

 

1.1

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,3

 

When the battle’s lost and won.

 

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, Grimalkin!8

 

second witch Paddock calls.9

 

third witch Anon.10

 

all

 

Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

 

Hover through the fog and filthy air.Exeunt.

 

1.1. Location: An open place.

 

3 hurlyburly’s tumult’s

 

8 Grimalkin i.e., gray cat, name of the witch’s familiar—a demon or evil spirit supposed to answer a witch’s call and to allow him or her to perform black magic.

 

9 Paddock toad; also a familiar

 

10 Anon At once, right away.

 

✤

 

1.2

Alarum within. Enter King [Duncan], Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.

 

duncan

 

What bloody man is that? He can report,

 

As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt

 

The newest state.

 

malcolm     This is the sergeant3

 

Who like a good and hardy soldier fought

 

’Gainst my captivity.—Hail, brave friend!

 

Say to the King the knowledge of the broil6

 

As thou didst leave it.

 

captain       Doubtful it stood,

 

As two spent swimmers that do cling together8

 

And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald—9

 

Worthy to be a rebel, for to that10

 

The multiplying villainies of nature11

 

Do swarm upon him—from the Western Isles12

 

Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;13

 

And Fortune, on his damnèd quarrel smiling,14

 

Showed like a rebel’s whore. But all’s too weak;15

 

For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—16

 

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,

 

Which smoked with bloody execution,18

 

Like valor’s minion carved out his passage19

 

Till he faced the slave,20

 

Which ne’er shook hands nor bade farewell to him21

 

Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops,22

 

And fixed his head upon our battlements.

 

duncan

 

Oh, valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!24

 

captain

 

As whence the sun ‘gins his reflection25

 

Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,26

 

So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come27

 

Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark.28

 

No sooner justice had, with valor armed,

 

Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels30

 

But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,31

 

With furbished arms and new supplies of men,32

 

Began a fresh assault.

 

duncan

 

Dismayed not this our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

 

captain

 

Yes, as sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.35

 

If I say sooth, I must report they were36

 

As cannons overcharged with double cracks,37

 

So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.38

 

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds39

 

Or memorize another Golgotha,40

 

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 honor both.—Go get him surgeons.

 

[Exit Captain, attended.]

 

Enter Ross and Angus.

 

Who comes here?

 

malcolm     The worthy Thane of Ross.45

 

lennox What a haste looks through his eyes!

 

So should he look that seems to speak things strange.47

 

ross God save the King!

 

duncan Whence cam’st thou, worthy thane?

 

ross From Fife, great King,

 

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky51

 

And fan our people cold.52

 

Norway himself, with terrible numbers,53

 

Assisted by that most disloyal traitor,

 

The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict,55

 

Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapped in proof,56

 

Confronted him with self-comparisons,57

 

Point against point, rebellious arm ‘gainst arm,58

 

Curbing his lavish spirit; and to conclude,

 

The victory fell on us.

 

duncan        Great happiness!

 

ross That now

 

Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition;62

 

Nor would we deign him burial of his men

 

Till he disbursèd at Saint Colme’s Inch64

 

Ten thousand dollars to our general use.65

 

duncan

 

No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive

 

Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death,67

 

And with his former title greet Macbeth.

 

ross I’ll see it done.

 

duncan

 

What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.

 

Exeunt.

 

1.2. Location: A camp near Forres.

 

 

0.1 Alarum trumpet call to arms

 

3 newest state latest news. sergeant i.e., staff officer. (There may be no inconsistency with his rank of “captain” in the stage direction and speech prefixes in the Folio.)

 

6 broil battle

 

8 spent tired out

 

9 choke their art render their skill in swimming useless.

 

9–

 

13 The merciless . . . supplied The merciless Macdonwald—worthy of the hated name of rebel, for in the cause of rebellion an ever-increasing number of villainous persons and unnatural qualities swarm about him like vermin—is joined by light-armed Irish footsoldiers and ax-armed horsemen from the western islands of Scotland (the Hebrides and perhaps Ireland)

 

14–

 

15 And Fortune . . . whore i.e., Fortune, proverbially a false strumpet, smiles at first on Macdonwald’s damned rebellion but deserts him in his hour of need.

 

16 well . . . name well he deserves a name that is synonymous with “brave”

 

18 Which . . . execution from which smoke and steam arose as if caused by its bloody business

 

19 minion darling. (Macbeth is Valor’s darling, not Fortune’s.)

 

20 the slave i.e., Macdonwald

 

21 Which . . . to him i.e., Macbeth paused for no ceremonious greeting or farewell to Macdonwald

 

22 nave navel. chops jaws

 

24 cousin kinsman

 

25–

 

8 As . . . swells Just as terrible storms at sea arise out of the east, from the place where the sun first begins its return from winter and shows itself in the seeming comfort of the dawn, even thus did a new military threat come on the heels of the seeming good news of Macdonwald’s execution.

 

30 skipping (1) lightly armed, quick at maneuvering (2) skittish. trust their heels take to their heels

 

31 surveying vantage seeing an opportunity

 

32 furbished polished, newly renovated

 

35 Yes . . . eagles Yes, about as much as sparrows terrify eagles. (Said ironically.)

 

36 say sooth tell the truth

 

37 cracks charges of explosive

 

38 So . . . strokes so vigorously did they redouble their blows

 

39 Except Unless

 

40 memorize make memorable or famous. Golgotha “place of a skull,” where Christ was crucified. (Mark 15:22.)

 

45 Thane Scottish title of honor, roughly equivalent to “Earl”

 

47 seems to seems about to

 

51 flout mock, insult

 

52 fan . . . cold fan cold fear into our troops.

 

53 Norway The King of Norway. terrible numbers terrifying numbers of troops

 

55 dismal ominous

 

56 Till . . . proof i.e., until Macbeth, clad in well-tested armor. (Bellona was the Roman goddess of war.)

 

57 him i.e., the King of Norway. self-comparisons i.e., matching counterthrusts

 

58 point sword point

 

62 Norways’ Norwegians’. composition ­agreement, treaty of peace

 

64 Saint Colme’s Inch Inchcolm, the Isle of St. Columba in the Firth of Forth

 

65 dollars Spanish or Dutch coins

 

67 Our (The royal “we.”) bosom close and intimate. present immediate

 

✤

 

1.3

Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

 

first witch Where hast thou been, sister?

 

second witch Killing swine.

 

third witch Sister, where thou?

 

first witch

 

A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap,

 

And munched, and munched, and munched. “Give me,” quoth I.

 

“Aroint thee, witch!” the rump-fed runnion cries.6

 

Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o’th’ Tiger;7

 

But in a sieve I’ll thither sail,

 

And like a rat without a tail9

 

I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.10

 

second witch

 

I’ll give thee a wind.

 

first witch

 

Thou’rt kind.

 

third witch

 

And I another.

 

first witch

 

I myself have all the other,14

 

And the very ports they blow,15

 

All the quarters that they know16

 

I’th’ shipman’s card.17

 

I’ll drain him dry as hay.18

 

Sleep shall neither night nor day

 

Hang upon his penthouse lid.20

 

He shall live a man forbid.21

 

Weary sev’nnights nine times nine22

 

Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.23

 

Though his bark cannot be lost,24

 

Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.

 

Look what I have.

 

second witch Show me, show me.

 

first witch

 

Here I have a pilot’s thumb,

 

Wrecked as homeward he did come.Drum within.

 

third witch

 

A drum, a drum!

 

Macbeth doth come.

 

all [dancing in a circle]

 

The Weird Sisters, hand in hand,32

 

Posters of the sea and land,33

 

Thus do go about, about,

 

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,

 

And thrice again, to make up nine.

 

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 called to Forres?—What are these,39

 

So withered and so wild in their attire,

 

That look not like th’inhabitantso’th’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 choppy finger laying44

 

Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,

 

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!

 

third witch

 

All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!

 

banquo

 

Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear

 

Things that do sound so fair?—I’th’ name of truth,

 

Are ye fantastical or that indeed53

 

Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner54

 

You greet with present grace and great prediction55

 

Of noble having and of royal hope,

 

That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not.57

 

If you can look into the seeds of time

 

And say which grain will grow and which will not,

 

Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear60

 

Your favors nor your hate.61

 

first witch Hail!

 

second witch Hail!

 

third witch Hail!

 

first witch

 

Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

 

second witch

 

Not so happy, yet much happier.66

 

third witch

 

Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.67

 

So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

 

first witch

 

Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!

 

macbeth

 

Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more!70

 

By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis,71

 

But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives

 

A prosperous gentleman; and to be king

 

Stands not within the prospect of belief,

 

No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence75

 

You owe this strange intelligence, or why76

 

Upon this blasted heath you stop our way77

 

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 vanished?

 

macbeth

 

Into the air; and what seemed corporal melted,81

 

As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed!

 

banquo

 

Were such things here as we do speak about?

 

Or have we eaten on the insane root84

 

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?

 

banquo

 

To th’ 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 reads90

 

Thy personal venture in the rebels’ fight,91

 

His wonders and his praises do contend92

 

Which should be thine or his. Silenced with that,93

 

In viewing o’er the rest o’th’ selfsame day

 

He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,95

 

Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,96

 

Strange images of death. As thick as tale97

 

Came post with post, and every one did bear98

 

Thy praises in his kingdom’s great defense,

 

And poured them down before him.

 

angus              We are sent

 

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 honor,104

 

He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor;

 

In which addition, hail, most worthy thane,106

 

For it is thine.

 

banquo    What, can the devil speak true?

 

macbeth

 

The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me

 

In borrowed robes?

 

angus       Who was the thane lives yet,109

 

But under heavy judgment bears that life

 

Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined111

 

With those of Norway, or did line the rebel112

 

With hidden help and vantage, or that with both

 

He labored in his country’s wrack, I know not;114

 

But treasons capital, confessed and proved,115

 

Have overthrown him.

 

macbeth

 

[aside]    Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor!

 

The greatest is behind. [To Ross and Angus] Thanks for your pains.117

 

[Aside to Banquo] Do you not hope your children shall be kings

 

When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me

 

Promised no less to them?

 

banquo

 

[to Macbeth]    That, trusted home,120

 

Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,

 

Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But ‘tis strange;

 

And oftentimes to win us to our harm

 

The instruments of darkness tell us truths,

 

Win us with honest trifles, to betray ‘s

 

In deepest consequence.—126

 

Cousins, a word, I pray you.127

 

[He converses apart with Ross and Angus.]

 

macbeth

 

[aside] Two truths are told,

 

As happy prologues to the swelling act129

 

Of the imperial theme.—I thank you, gentlemen.

 

[Aside] This supernatural soliciting131

 

Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,

 

Why hath it given me earnest of success

 

Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.

 

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion

 

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair136

 

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,

 

Against the use of nature? Present fears138

 

Are less than horrible imaginings.

 

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,140

 

Shakes so my single state of man141

 

That function is smothered in surmise,142

 

And nothing is but what is not.143

 

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 honors come upon him,146

 

Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold147

 

But with the aid of use.

 

macbeth

 

[aside]     Come what come may,148

 

Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.149

 

banquo

 

Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.150

 

macbeth

 

Give me your favor. My dull brain was wrought151

 

With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains

 

Are registered where every day I turn153

 

The leaf to read them. Let us toward the King.

 

[Aside to Banquo] Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time,155

 

The interim having weighed it, let us speak156

 

Our free hearts each to other.157

 

banquo

 

[to Macbeth] Very gladly.

 

macbeth

 

[to Banquo] Till then, enough.—Come, friends.

 

Exeunt.

 

1.3. Location: A heath near Forres.

 

6 Aroint thee Begone. rump-fed runnion fat-rumped baggage

 

7 Aleppo (in modern-day Syria). Tiger (A ship’s name.)

 

9–

 

10 like . . . do (Suggestive of the witches’ deformity and sexual insatiability. Witches were thought to seduce men sexually. Do means [1] act [2] perform sexually.)

 

14–

 

17 I . . . card I can summon all other winds, wherever they blow and from whatever quarter in the shipman’s compass card.

 

18 I’ll . . . hay (With a suggestion of sexually ­draining the seaman’s semen.)

 

20 penthouse lid i.e., eyelid (which projects out over the eye like a penthouse or slope-roofed structure).

 

21 forbid accursed.

 

22 sev’n-nights weeks

 

23 peak grow peaked or thin

 

24 bark small sailing vessel

 

32 Weird Sisters women connected with fate or destiny; also women having a mysterious or unearthly, uncanny appearance. Old English “wyrd” means “fate.” F reads “weyward.”

 

33 Posters of swift travelers over

 

39 is’t called is it said to be

 

44 choppy chapped

 

53 fantastical creatures of fantasy or imagination

 

54 show appear.

 

55 grace honor, title

 

57 rapt withal entranced.

 

60–

 

1 beg . . . hate beg your favors nor fear your hate.

 

66 happy ­fortunate

 

67 get beget

 

70 imperfect cryptic

 

71 Sinel’s (Sinel was Macbeth’s father.)

 

75–

 

6 Say . . . intelligence Say from what source you have this disturbing information

 

77 blasted blighted

 

81 corporal corporeal

 

84 on of. insane root root causing insanity; variously identified

 

90–

 

3 and when . . . his and when he reads or hears of your extraordinary valor in fighting the rebels, he concludes that your wondrous deeds outdo any praise he could offer.

 

95 stout haughty, determined, valiant

 

96 Nothing not at all

 

97–

 

8 As . . . with post As fast as could be told, i.e., counted, came ­messenger after messenger. (Unless the text should be amended to “As thick as hail.”)

 

104 earnest token payment

 

106 addition title

 

109 Who He who

 

111 combined confederate

 

112 line the rebel reinforce Macdonwald

 

114 in . . . wrack to bring about his country’s ruin

 

115 capital deserving death

 

117 The greatest is behind either (1) Two of the three prophecies (and thus the greatest number of them) have already been fulfilled, or (2) The greatest one, the kingship, is still to come.

 

120 home all the way

 

126 In deepest consequence in the profoundly important sequel.

 

127 Cousins i.e., Fellow lords

 

129 swelling act stately drama

 

131 soliciting tempting

 

136 unfix my hair make my hair stand on end

 

138 use custom.  fears things feared

 

140 whose . . . fantastical in which the conception of murder is merely imaginary at this point

 

141 single . . . man weak human condition

 

142 function normal power of action.  surmise speculation, imaginings

 

143 And . . . not and everything seems unreal.

 

146 stir bestirring (myself). come i.e., which have come

 

147–

 

8 cleave . . . use do not take the shape of the wearer until often worn. (Macbeth is often connected in the text with clothes that don’t really fit him.)

 

149 Time . . . day time moves relentlessly on, no matter what else happens.

 

150 stay wait

 

151 favor pardon. wrought shaped, preoccupied

 

153 registered recorded (in my memory)

 

155 at more time at a time of greater leisure

 

156 weighed it given oportunity for reflection on its meaning

 

157 Our free hearts our hearts freely

 

✤

 

1.4

Flourish. Enter King [Duncan], Lennox, Malcolm, Donalbain, and attendants.

 

duncan

 

Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not

 

Those in commission yet returned?

 

malcolm            My liege,2

 

They are not yet come back. But I have spoke

 

With one that saw him die, who did report

 

That very frankly he confessed his treasons,

 

Implored Your Highness’ pardon, and set forth

 

A deep repentance. Nothing in his life

 

Became him like the leaving it. He died8

 

As one that had been studied in his death9

 

To throw away the dearest thing he owed10

 

As ’twere a careless trifle.

 

duncan        There’s no art11

 

To find the mind’s construction in the face.

 

He was a gentleman on whom I built

 

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 before16

 

That swiftest wing of recompense is slow

 

To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,

 

That the proportion both of thanks and payment19

 

Might have been mine! Only I have left to say,20

 

More is thy due than more than all can pay.

 

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,25

 

Which do but what they should by doing everything

 

Safe toward your love and honor.

 

duncan            Welcome hither!27

 

I have begun to plant thee, and will labor

 

To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,

 

That hast no less deserved, nor must be known

 

No less to have done so, let me infold thee

 

And hold thee to my heart.

 

banquo          There if I grow,

 

The harvest is your own.

 

duncan        My plenteous joys,

 

Wanton in fullness, seek to hide themselves34

 

In drops of sorrow.—Sons, kinsmen, thanes,

 

And you whose places are the nearest, know

 

We will establish our estate upon37

 

Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter

 

The Prince of Cumberland; which honor must39

 

Not unaccompanied invest him only,40

 

But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine

 

On all deservers.—From hence to Inverness,42

 

And bind us further to you.43

 

macbeth

 

The rest is labor which is not used for you.44

 

I’ll be myself the harbinger and make joyful45

 

The hearing of my wife with your approach;

 

So humbly take my leave.

 

duncan         My worthy Cawdor!

 

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;50

 

Let not light see my black and deep desires.

 

The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be52

 

Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.Exit. 53

 

duncan

 

True, worthy Banquo. He is full so valiant,54

 

And in his commendations I am fed;55

 

It is a banquet to me. Let’s after him,

 

Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome.

 

It is a peerless kinsman.Flourish. Exeunt.

 

1.4. Location: Forres. The palace.

 

2 in commission having warrant (to see to the execution of Cawdor)

 

8 Became graced, befitted

 

9 been studied made it his study

 

10 owed owned

 

11 careless uncared for

 

16 before ahead (in deserving)

 

19–

 

20 That . . . mine that I might have thanked and rewarded you in ample proportion to your worth.

 

25 Are . . . ­servants are like children and servants in relation to your throne and dignity, existing only to serve you

 

27 Safe . . . honor to safeguard you whom we love and honor.

 

34 Wanton unrestrained

 

37 We (The royal “we.”) establish our estate fix the succession of the kingdom

 

39 Prince of Cumberland title of the heir apparent to the Scottish throne

 

40 Not . . . only not be bestowed on Malcolm alone; other deserving nobles are to share honors

 

42 Inverness the seat or location of Macbeth’s castle, Dunsinane

 

43 bind . . . you put me further in your (Macbeth’s) obligation by your hospitality.

 

44 The rest . . . you All activity not devoted to serving you is mere tediousness and hard work.

 

45 harbinger forerunner, messenger

 

50 in my way it lies (The monarchy was not hereditary, and Macbeth had a right to believe that he himself might be chosen as Duncan’s successor; he here questions whether he will interfere with the course of events.)

 

52–

 

3 The eye . . . see Let the eye shut itself and not see the hand’s deed; yet when the deed is done, let it be fearful to behold.

 

54 full so valiant fully as valiant as you say. (Apparently, Duncan and Banquo have been conversing privately on this subject during Macbeth’s soliloquy.)

 

55 in . . . fed it nourishes me to hear him praised

 

✤

 

1.5

Enter Macbeth’s Wife, alone, with a letter.

 

lady macbeth

 

[reads] “They met me in the day of success;

 

and I have learned by the perfect’st report they2

 

have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I

 

burnt 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 the6

 

King, who all-hailed me ‘Thane of Cawdor,’ by which

 

title, before, these Weird Sisters saluted me, and re- ferred

 

me to the coming on of time with ’Hail, king

 

that shalt be!’ This have I thought good to deliver thee,10

 

my dearest partner of greatness, that thou 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;16

 

It is too full o’th’ 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,20

 

That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,

 

And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou’dst have, great Glamis,

 

That which cries “Thus thou must do,” if thou have it,23

 

And that which rather thou dost fear to do24

 

Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,25

 

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear

 

And chastise with the valor of my tongue

 

All that impedes thee from the golden round28

 

Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem29

 

To have thee crowned withal.

 

Enter [a servant as] Messenger.

 

What is your tidings?30

 

messenger

 

The King comes here tonight.

 

lady macbeth       Thou’rt mad to say it!

 

Is not thy master with him, who, were’t so,

 

Would have informed for preparation?33

 

messenger

 

So please you, it is true. Our thane is coming.

 

One of my fellows had the speed of him,35

 

Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more

 

Than would make up his message.

 

lady macbeth        Give him tending;37

 

He brings great news.Exit Messenger.

 

The raven himself is hoarse

 

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan

 

Under my battlements. Come, you spirits

 

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here41

 

And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full

 

Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood;

 

Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,44

 

That no compunctious visitings of nature45

 

Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between46

 

Th’effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts47

 

And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,48

 

Wherever in your sightless substances49

 

You wait on nature’s mischief! Come, thick night,50

 

And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,51

 

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.

 

Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor!54

 

Greater than both by the all-hail hereafter!

 

Thy letters have transported me beyond56

 

This ignorant present, and I feel now57

 

The future in the instant.

 

macbeth        My dearest love,58

 

Duncan comes here tonight.

 

lady macbeth       And when goes hence?

 

macbeth

 

Tomorrow, as he purposes.

 

lady macbeth      Oh, never

 

Shall sun that morrow see!

 

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men

 

May read strange matters. To beguile the time,63

 

Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,64

 

Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’innocent flower,

 

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,68

 

Which shall to all our nights and days to come

 

Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

 

macbeth

 

We will speak further.

 

lady macbeth    Only look up clear.71

 

To alter favor ever is to fear.72

 

Leave all the rest to me.Exeunt.

 

1.6

Hautboys and torches. Enter King [Duncan], Malcolm, Donalbain, Banquo, Lennox, Macduff, Ross, Angus, and attendants.

 

duncan

 

This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air1

 

Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself

 

Unto our gentle senses.

 

banquo        This guest of summer,3

 

The temple-haunting martlet, does approve4

 

By his loved mansionry that the heaven’s breath5

 

Smells wooingly here. No jutty, frieze,6

 

Buttress, nor coign of vantage but this bird7

 

Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle.8

 

Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed

 

The air is delicate.

 

Enter Lady [Macbeth].

 

duncan      See, see, our honored hostess!

 

The love that follows us sometime is our trouble,11

Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you12

 

How you shall bid God ’ild us for your pains,13

 

And thank us for your trouble.

 

lady macbeth        All our service

 

In every point twice done, and then done double,

 

Were poor and single business to contend16

 

Against those honors deep and broad wherewith17

 

Your Majesty loads our house. For those of old,18

 

And the late dignities heaped up to them,19

 

We rest your hermits.

 

duncan        Where’s the Thane of Cawdor?20

 

We coursed him at the heels, and had a purpose21

 

To be his purveyor; but he rides well,22

 

And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him23

 

To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess,

 

We are your guest tonight.

 

lady macbeth      Your servants ever25

 

Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs in compt26

 

To make their audit at Your Highness’ pleasure,27

 

Still to return your own.

 

Macbeth

• ••

[Dramatis Personae

 

duncan, King of Scotland

 

malcolm, his sons

 

donalbain

 

macbeth, Thane of Glamis, later of Cawdor, later King of Scotland

 

lady macbeth

 

banquo, a thane of Scotland

 

fleance, his son

 

macduff, Thane of Fife

 

lady macduff

 

son of Macduff and Lady Macduff

 

lennox,

 

ross,

 

menteith, thanes and noblemen of Scotland

 

angus,

 

caithness,

 

siward, Earl of Northumberland

 

young siward, his son

 

seyton, an officer attending Macbeth

 

Another lord

 

english doctor

 

scottish doctor

 

gentlewoman attending Lady Macbeth

 

captain serving Duncan

 

porter

 

old man

 

Three murderers of Banquo

 

first murderer at Macduff’s castle

 

messenger to Lady Macbeth

 

messenger to Lady Macduff

 

servant to Macbeth

 

servant to Lady Macbeth

 

Three witches or weird sisters

 

hecate

 

Three apparitions

 

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, and Attendants

 

scene: Scotland; England]

 

1.1

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,3

 

When the battle’s lost and won.

 

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, Grimalkin!8

 

second witch Paddock calls.9

 

third witch Anon.10

 

all

 

Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

 

Hover through the fog and filthy air.Exeunt.

 

1.1. Location: An open place.

 

3 hurlyburly’s tumult’s

 

8 Grimalkin i.e., gray cat, name of the witch’s familiar—a demon or evil spirit supposed to answer a witch’s call and to allow him or her to perform black magic.

 

9 Paddock toad; also a familiar

 

10 Anon At once, right away.

 

✤

 

1.2

Alarum within. Enter King [Duncan], Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.

 

duncan

 

What bloody man is that? He can report,

 

As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt

 

The newest state.

 

malcolm     This is the sergeant3

 

Who like a good and hardy soldier fought

 

’Gainst my captivity.—Hail, brave friend!

 

Say to the King the knowledge of the broil6

 

As thou didst leave it.

 

captain       Doubtful it stood,

 

As two spent swimmers that do cling together8

 

And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald—9

 

Worthy to be a rebel, for to that10

 

The multiplying villainies of nature11

 

Do swarm upon him—from the Western Isles12

 

Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;13

 

And Fortune, on his damnèd quarrel smiling,14

 

Showed like a rebel’s whore. But all’s too weak;15

 

For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—16

 

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,

 

Which smoked with bloody execution,18

 

Like valor’s minion carved out his passage19

 

Till he faced the slave,20

 

Which ne’er shook hands nor bade farewell to him21

 

Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops,22

 

And fixed his head upon our battlements.

 

duncan

 

Oh, valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!24

 

captain

 

As whence the sun ‘gins his reflection25

 

Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,26

 

So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come27

 

Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark.28

 

No sooner justice had, with valor armed,

 

Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels30

 

But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,31

 

With furbished arms and new supplies of men,32

 

Began a fresh assault.

 

duncan

 

Dismayed not this our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

 

captain

 

Yes, as sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.35

 

If I say sooth, I must report they were36

 

As cannons overcharged with double cracks,37

 

So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.38

 

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds39

 

Or memorize another Golgotha,40

 

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 honor both.—Go get him surgeons.

 

[Exit Captain, attended.]

 

Enter Ross and Angus.

 

Who comes here?

 

malcolm     The worthy Thane of Ross.45

 

lennox What a haste looks through his eyes!

 

So should he look that seems to speak things strange.47

 

ross God save the King!

 

duncan Whence cam’st thou, worthy thane?

 

ross From Fife, great King,

 

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky51

 

And fan our people cold.52

 

Norway himself, with terrible numbers,53

 

Assisted by that most disloyal traitor,

 

The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict,55

 

Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapped in proof,56

 

Confronted him with self-comparisons,57

 

Point against point, rebellious arm ‘gainst arm,58

 

Curbing his lavish spirit; and to conclude,

 

The victory fell on us.

 

duncan        Great happiness!

 

ross That now

 

Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition;62

 

Nor would we deign him burial of his men

 

Till he disbursèd at Saint Colme’s Inch64

 

Ten thousand dollars to our general use.65

 

duncan

 

No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive

 

Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death,67

 

And with his former title greet Macbeth.

 

ross I’ll see it done.

 

duncan

 

What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.

 

Exeunt.

 

1.2. Location: A camp near Forres.

 

 

0.1 Alarum trumpet call to arms

 

3 newest state latest news. sergeant i.e., staff officer. (There may be no inconsistency with his rank of “captain” in the stage direction and speech prefixes in the Folio.)

 

6 broil battle

 

8 spent tired out

 

9 choke their art render their skill in swimming useless.

 

9–

 

13 The merciless . . . supplied The merciless Macdonwald—worthy of the hated name of rebel, for in the cause of rebellion an ever-increasing number of villainous persons and unnatural qualities swarm about him like vermin—is joined by light-armed Irish footsoldiers and ax-armed horsemen from the western islands of Scotland (the Hebrides and perhaps Ireland)

 

14–

 

15 And Fortune . . . whore i.e., Fortune, proverbially a false strumpet, smiles at first on Macdonwald’s damned rebellion but deserts him in his hour of need.

 

16 well . . . name well he deserves a name that is synonymous with “brave”

 

18 Which . . . execution from which smoke and steam arose as if caused by its bloody business

 

19 minion darling. (Macbeth is Valor’s darling, not Fortune’s.)

 

20 the slave i.e., Macdonwald

 

21 Which . . . to him i.e., Macbeth paused for no ceremonious greeting or farewell to Macdonwald

 

22 nave navel. chops jaws

 

24 cousin kinsman

 

25–

 

8 As . . . swells Just as terrible storms at sea arise out of the east, from the place where the sun first begins its return from winter and shows itself in the seeming comfort of the dawn, even thus did a new military threat come on the heels of the seeming good news of Macdonwald’s execution.

 

30 skipping (1) lightly armed, quick at maneuvering (2) skittish. trust their heels take to their heels

 

31 surveying vantage seeing an opportunity

 

32 furbished polished, newly renovated

 

35 Yes . . . eagles Yes, about as much as sparrows terrify eagles. (Said ironically.)

 

36 say sooth tell the truth

 

37 cracks charges of explosive

 

38 So . . . strokes so vigorously did they redouble their blows

 

39 Except Unless

 

40 memorize make memorable or famous. Golgotha “place of a skull,” where Christ was crucified. (Mark 15:22.)

 

45 Thane Scottish title of honor, roughly equivalent to “Earl”

 

47 seems to seems about to

 

51 flout mock, insult

 

52 fan . . . cold fan cold fear into our troops.

 

53 Norway The King of Norway. terrible numbers terrifying numbers of troops

 

55 dismal ominous

 

56 Till . . . proof i.e., until Macbeth, clad in well-tested armor. (Bellona was the Roman goddess of war.)

 

57 him i.e., the King of Norway. self-comparisons i.e., matching counterthrusts

 

58 point sword point

 

62 Norways’ Norwegians’. composition ­agreement, treaty of peace

 

64 Saint Colme’s Inch Inchcolm, the Isle of St. Columba in the Firth of Forth

 

65 dollars Spanish or Dutch coins

 

67 Our (The royal “we.”) bosom close and intimate. present immediate

 

✤

 

1.3

Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

 

first witch Where hast thou been, sister?

 

second witch Killing swine.

 

third witch Sister, where thou?

 

first witch

 

A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap,

 

And munched, and munched, and munched. “Give me,” quoth I.

 

“Aroint thee, witch!” the rump-fed runnion cries.6

 

Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o’th’ Tiger;7

 

But in a sieve I’ll thither sail,

 

And like a rat without a tail9

 

I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.10

 

second witch

 

I’ll give thee a wind.

 

first witch

 

Thou’rt kind.

 

third witch

 

And I another.

 

first witch

 

I myself have all the other,14

 

And the very ports they blow,15

 

All the quarters that they know16

 

I’th’ shipman’s card.17

 

I’ll drain him dry as hay.18

 

Sleep shall neither night nor day

 

Hang upon his penthouse lid.20

 

He shall live a man forbid.21

 

Weary sev’nnights nine times nine22

 

Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.23

 

Though his bark cannot be lost,24

 

Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.

 

Look what I have.

 

second witch Show me, show me.

 

first witch

 

Here I have a pilot’s thumb,

 

Wrecked as homeward he did come.Drum within.

 

third witch

 

A drum, a drum!

 

Macbeth doth come.

 

all [dancing in a circle]

 

The Weird Sisters, hand in hand,32

 

Posters of the sea and land,33

 

Thus do go about, about,

 

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,

 

And thrice again, to make up nine.

 

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 called to Forres?—What are these,39

 

So withered and so wild in their attire,

 

That look not like th’inhabitantso’th’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 choppy finger laying44

 

Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,

 

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!

 

third witch

 

All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!

 

banquo

 

Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear

 

Things that do sound so fair?—I’th’ name of truth,

 

Are ye fantastical or that indeed53

 

Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner54

 

You greet with present grace and great prediction55

 

Of noble having and of royal hope,

 

That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not.57

 

If you can look into the seeds of time

 

And say which grain will grow and which will not,

 

Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear60

 

Your favors nor your hate.61

 

first witch Hail!

 

second witch Hail!

 

third witch Hail!

 

first witch

 

Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

 

second witch

 

Not so happy, yet much happier.66

 

third witch

 

Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.67

 

So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

 

first witch

 

Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!

 

macbeth

 

Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more!70

 

By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis,71

 

But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives

 

A prosperous gentleman; and to be king

 

Stands not within the prospect of belief,

 

No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence75

 

You owe this strange intelligence, or why76

 

Upon this blasted heath you stop our way77

 

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 vanished?

 

macbeth

 

Into the air; and what seemed corporal melted,81

 

As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed!

 

banquo

 

Were such things here as we do speak about?

 

Or have we eaten on the insane root84

 

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?

 

banquo

 

To th’ 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 reads90

 

Thy personal venture in the rebels’ fight,91

 

His wonders and his praises do contend92

 

Which should be thine or his. Silenced with that,93

 

In viewing o’er the rest o’th’ selfsame day

 

He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,95

 

Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,96

 

Strange images of death. As thick as tale97

 

Came post with post, and every one did bear98

 

Thy praises in his kingdom’s great defense,

 

And poured them down before him.

 

angus              We are sent

 

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 honor,104

 

He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor;

 

In which addition, hail, most worthy thane,106

 

For it is thine.

 

banquo    What, can the devil speak true?

 

macbeth

 

The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me

 

In borrowed robes?

 

angus       Who was the thane lives yet,109

 

But under heavy judgment bears that life

 

Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined111

 

With those of Norway, or did line the rebel112

 

With hidden help and vantage, or that with both

 

He labored in his country’s wrack, I know not;114

 

But treasons capital, confessed and proved,115

 

Have overthrown him.

 

macbeth

 

[aside]    Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor!

 

The greatest is behind. [To Ross and Angus] Thanks for your pains.117

 

[Aside to Banquo] Do you not hope your children shall be kings

 

When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me

 

Promised no less to them?

 

banquo

 

[to Macbeth]    That, trusted home,120

 

Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,

 

Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But ‘tis strange;

 

And oftentimes to win us to our harm

 

The instruments of darkness tell us truths,

 

Win us with honest trifles, to betray ‘s

 

In deepest consequence.—126

 

Cousins, a word, I pray you.127

 

[He converses apart with Ross and Angus.]

 

macbeth

 

[aside] Two truths are told,

 

As happy prologues to the swelling act129

 

Of the imperial theme.—I thank you, gentlemen.

 

[Aside] This supernatural soliciting131

 

Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,

 

Why hath it given me earnest of success

 

Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.

 

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion

 

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair136

 

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,

 

Against the use of nature? Present fears138

 

Are less than horrible imaginings.

 

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,140

 

Shakes so my single state of man141

 

That function is smothered in surmise,142

 

And nothing is but what is not.143

 

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 honors come upon him,146

 

Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold147

 

But with the aid of use.

 

macbeth

 

[aside]     Come what come may,148

 

Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.149

 

banquo

 

Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.150

 

macbeth

 

Give me your favor. My dull brain was wrought151

 

With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains

 

Are registered where every day I turn153

 

The leaf to read them. Let us toward the King.

 

[Aside to Banquo] Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time,155

 

The interim having weighed it, let us speak156

 

Our free hearts each to other.157

 

banquo

 

[to Macbeth] Very gladly.

 

macbeth

 

[to Banquo] Till then, enough.—Come, friends.

 

Exeunt.

 

1.3. Location: A heath near Forres.

 

6 Aroint thee Begone. rump-fed runnion fat-rumped baggage

 

7 Aleppo (in modern-day Syria). Tiger (A ship’s name.)

 

9–

 

10 like . . . do (Suggestive of the witches’ deformity and sexual insatiability. Witches were thought to seduce men sexually. Do means [1] act [2] perform sexually.)

 

14–

 

17 I . . . card I can summon all other winds, wherever they blow and from whatever quarter in the shipman’s compass card.

 

18 I’ll . . . hay (With a suggestion of sexually ­draining the seaman’s semen.)

 

20 penthouse lid i.e., eyelid (which projects out over the eye like a penthouse or slope-roofed structure).

 

21 forbid accursed.

 

22 sev’n-nights weeks

 

23 peak grow peaked or thin

 

24 bark small sailing vessel

 

32 Weird Sisters women connected with fate or destiny; also women having a mysterious or unearthly, uncanny appearance. Old English “wyrd” means “fate.” F reads “weyward.”

 

33 Posters of swift travelers over

 

39 is’t called is it said to be

 

44 choppy chapped

 

53 fantastical creatures of fantasy or imagination

 

54 show appear.

 

55 grace honor, title

 

57 rapt withal entranced.

 

60–

 

1 beg . . . hate beg your favors nor fear your hate.

 

66 happy ­fortunate

 

67 get beget

 

70 imperfect cryptic

 

71 Sinel’s (Sinel was Macbeth’s father.)

 

75–

 

6 Say . . . intelligence Say from what source you have this disturbing information

 

77 blasted blighted

 

81 corporal corporeal

 

84 on of. insane root root causing insanity; variously identified

 

90–

 

3 and when . . . his and when he reads or hears of your extraordinary valor in fighting the rebels, he concludes that your wondrous deeds outdo any praise he could offer.

 

95 stout haughty, determined, valiant

 

96 Nothing not at all

 

97–

 

8 As . . . with post As fast as could be told, i.e., counted, came ­messenger after messenger. (Unless the text should be amended to “As thick as hail.”)

 

104 earnest token payment

 

106 addition title

 

109 Who He who

 

111 combined confederate

 

112 line the rebel reinforce Macdonwald

 

114 in . . . wrack to bring about his country’s ruin

 

115 capital deserving death

 

117 The greatest is behind either (1) Two of the three prophecies (and thus the greatest number of them) have already been fulfilled, or (2) The greatest one, the kingship, is still to come.

 

120 home all the way

 

126 In deepest consequence in the profoundly important sequel.

 

127 Cousins i.e., Fellow lords

 

129 swelling act stately drama

 

131 soliciting tempting

 

136 unfix my hair make my hair stand on end

 

138 use custom.  fears things feared

 

140 whose . . . fantastical in which the conception of murder is merely imaginary at this point

 

141 single . . . man weak human condition

 

142 function normal power of action.  surmise speculation, imaginings

 

143 And . . . not and everything seems unreal.

 

146 stir bestirring (myself). come i.e., which have come

 

147–

 

8 cleave . . . use do not take the shape of the wearer until often worn. (Macbeth is often connected in the text with clothes that don’t really fit him.)

 

149 Time . . . day time moves relentlessly on, no matter what else happens.

 

150 stay wait

 

151 favor pardon. wrought shaped, preoccupied

 

153 registered recorded (in my memory)

 

155 at more time at a time of greater leisure

 

156 weighed it given oportunity for reflection on its meaning

 

157 Our free hearts our hearts freely

 

✤

 

1.4

Flourish. Enter King [Duncan], Lennox, Malcolm, Donalbain, and attendants.

 

duncan

 

Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not

 

Those in commission yet returned?

 

malcolm            My liege,2

 

They are not yet come back. But I have spoke

 

With one that saw him die, who did report

 

That very frankly he confessed his treasons,

 

Implored Your Highness’ pardon, and set forth

 

A deep repentance. Nothing in his life

 

Became him like the leaving it. He died8

 

As one that had been studied in his death9

 

To throw away the dearest thing he owed10

 

As ’twere a careless trifle.

 

duncan        There’s no art11

 

To find the mind’s construction in the face.

 

He was a gentleman on whom I built

 

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 before16

 

That swiftest wing of recompense is slow

 

To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,

 

That the proportion both of thanks and payment19

 

Might have been mine! Only I have left to say,20

 

More is thy due than more than all can pay.

 

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,25

 

Which do but what they should by doing everything

 

Safe toward your love and honor.

 

duncan            Welcome hither!27

 

I have begun to plant thee, and will labor

 

To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,

 

That hast no less deserved, nor must be known

 

No less to have done so, let me infold thee

 

And hold thee to my heart.

 

banquo          There if I grow,

 

The harvest is your own.

 

duncan        My plenteous joys,

 

Wanton in fullness, seek to hide themselves34

 

In drops of sorrow.—Sons, kinsmen, thanes,

 

And you whose places are the nearest, know

 

We will establish our estate upon37

 

Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter

 

The Prince of Cumberland; which honor must39

 

Not unaccompanied invest him only,40

 

But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine

 

On all deservers.—From hence to Inverness,42

 

And bind us further to you.43

 

macbeth

 

The rest is labor which is not used for you.44

 

I’ll be myself the harbinger and make joyful45

 

The hearing of my wife with your approach;

 

So humbly take my leave.

 

duncan         My worthy Cawdor!

 

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;50

 

Let not light see my black and deep desires.

 

The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be52

 

Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.Exit. 53

 

duncan

 

True, worthy Banquo. He is full so valiant,54

 

And in his commendations I am fed;55

 

It is a banquet to me. Let’s after him,

 

Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome.

 

It is a peerless kinsman.Flourish. Exeunt.

 

1.4. Location: Forres. The palace.

 

2 in commission having warrant (to see to the execution of Cawdor)

 

8 Became graced, befitted

 

9 been studied made it his study

 

10 owed owned

 

11 careless uncared for

 

16 before ahead (in deserving)

 

19–

 

20 That . . . mine that I might have thanked and rewarded you in ample proportion to your worth.

 

25 Are . . . ­servants are like children and servants in relation to your throne and dignity, existing only to serve you

 

27 Safe . . . honor to safeguard you whom we love and honor.

 

34 Wanton unrestrained

 

37 We (The royal “we.”) establish our estate fix the succession of the kingdom

 

39 Prince of Cumberland title of the heir apparent to the Scottish throne

 

40 Not . . . only not be bestowed on Malcolm alone; other deserving nobles are to share honors

 

42 Inverness the seat or location of Macbeth’s castle, Dunsinane

 

43 bind . . . you put me further in your (Macbeth’s) obligation by your hospitality.

 

44 The rest . . . you All activity not devoted to serving you is mere tediousness and hard work.

 

45 harbinger forerunner, messenger

 

50 in my way it lies (The monarchy was not hereditary, and Macbeth had a right to believe that he himself might be chosen as Duncan’s successor; he here questions whether he will interfere with the course of events.)

 

52–

 

3 The eye . . . see Let the eye shut itself and not see the hand’s deed; yet when the deed is done, let it be fearful to behold.

 

54 full so valiant fully as valiant as you say. (Apparently, Duncan and Banquo have been conversing privately on this subject during Macbeth’s soliloquy.)

 

55 in . . . fed it nourishes me to hear him praised

 

✤

 

1.5

Enter Macbeth’s Wife, alone, with a letter.

 

lady macbeth

 

[reads] “They met me in the day of success;

 

and I have learned by the perfect’st report they2

 

have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I

 

burnt 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 the6

 

King, who all-hailed me ‘Thane of Cawdor,’ by which

 

title, before, these Weird Sisters saluted me, and re- ferred

 

me to the coming on of time with ’Hail, king

 

that shalt be!’ This have I thought good to deliver thee,10

 

my dearest partner of greatness, that thou 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;16

 

It is too full o’th’ 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,20

 

That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,

 

And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou’dst have, great Glamis,

 

That which cries “Thus thou must do,” if thou have it,23

 

And that which rather thou dost fear to do24

 

Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,25

 

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear

 

And chastise with the valor of my tongue

 

All that impedes thee from the golden round28

 

Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem29

 

To have thee crowned withal.

 

Enter [a servant as] Messenger.

 

What is your tidings?30

 

messenger

 

The King comes here tonight.

 

lady macbeth       Thou’rt mad to say it!

 

Is not thy master with him, who, were’t so,

 

Would have informed for preparation?33

 

messenger

 

So please you, it is true. Our thane is coming.

 

One of my fellows had the speed of him,35

 

Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more

 

Than would make up his message.

 

lady macbeth        Give him tending;37

 

He brings great news.Exit Messenger.

 

The raven himself is hoarse

 

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan

 

Under my battlements. Come, you spirits

 

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here41

 

And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full

 

Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood;

 

Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,44

 

That no compunctious visitings of nature45

 

Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between46

 

Th’effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts47

 

And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,48

 

Wherever in your sightless substances49

 

You wait on nature’s mischief! Come, thick night,50

 

And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,51

 

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.

 

Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor!54

 

Greater than both by the all-hail hereafter!

 

Thy letters have transported me beyond56

 

This ignorant present, and I feel now57

 

The future in the instant.

 

macbeth        My dearest love,58

 

Duncan comes here tonight.

 

lady macbeth       And when goes hence?

 

macbeth

 

Tomorrow, as he purposes.

 

lady macbeth      Oh, never

 

Shall sun that morrow see!

 

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men

 

May read strange matters. To beguile the time,63

 

Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,64

 

Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’innocent flower,

 

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,68

 

Which shall to all our nights and days to come

 

Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

 

macbeth

 

We will speak further.

 

lady macbeth    Only look up clear.71

 

To alter favor ever is to fear.72

 

Leave all the rest to me.Exeunt.

 

1.5. Location: Inverness. Macbeth’s castle.

 

2 perfect’st most accurate

 

6 missives messengers

 

10 deliver thee inform you of

 

16 do I fear I mistrust

 

20 illness evil (that).  highly greatly

 

23 have are to have, want to have

 

24–5 And that . . . undone i.e., and the thing you ambitiously crave frightens you more in terms of the means needed to achieve it than in the idea of having it; if you could have it without those means, you certainly wouldn’t wish it undone.

 

25 Hie Hasten

 

28 round crown

 

29 metaphysical supernatural

 

30 withal with.

 

33 informed for preparation i.e., sent me word so that I might get things ready.

 

35 had . . . of outstripped

 

37 Give him tending Tend to his needs

 

41 tend . . . thoughts attend on, act as the instruments of, deadly or murderous thoughts

 

44 remorse pity

 

45 nature natural feelings

 

46 fell fierce, cruel

 

46–7 nor . . . and it nor intervene between my fell purpose and its accomplishment.

 

48 for gall in exchange for gall, or perhaps as gall. ministers agents

 

49 sightless invisible

 

50 You . . . mischief you aid and abet the wickedness of human nature.

 

51 pall envelop. dunnest darkest

 

54 Hold Stop

 

56 letters have i.e., letter has

 

57–

 

8 I feel . . . instant I sense a glorious future almost as though it were with us right now.

 

63–

 

4 To beguile . . . time To deceive everyone, look the way people expect you to look

 

68 dispatch management

 

71–

 

2 Only . . . fear Whatever else you do, keep an innocent countenance. To alter one’s countenance is to betray a guilty conscience.

 

✤

 

1.6

Hautboys and torches. Enter King [Duncan], Malcolm, Donalbain, Banquo, Lennox, Macduff, Ross, Angus, and attendants.

 

duncan

 

This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air1

 

Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself

 

Unto our gentle senses.

 

banquo        This guest of summer,3

 

The temple-haunting martlet, does approve4

 

By his loved mansionry that the heaven’s breath5

 

Smells wooingly here. No jutty, frieze,6

 

Buttress, nor coign of vantage but this bird7

 

Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle.8

 

Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed

 

The air is delicate.

 

Enter Lady [Macbeth].

 

duncan      See, see, our honored hostess!

 

The love that follows us sometime is our trouble,11

 

Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you12

 

How you shall bid God ’ild us for your pains,13

 

And thank us for your trouble.

 

lady macbeth        All our service

 

In every point twice done, and then done double,

 

Were poor and single business to contend16

 

Against those honors deep and broad wherewith17

 

Your Majesty loads our house. For those of old,18

 

And the late dignities heaped up to them,19

 

We rest your hermits.

 

duncan        Where’s the Thane of Cawdor?20

 

We coursed him at the heels, and had a purpose21

 

To be his purveyor; but he rides well,22

 

And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him23

 

To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess,

 

We are your guest tonight.

 

lady macbeth      Your servants ever25

 

Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs in compt26

 

To make their audit at Your Highness’ pleasure,27

 

Still to return your own.

 

duncan        Give me your hand.28

 

Conduct me to mine host. We love him highly,

 

And shall continue our graces towards him.

 

By your leave, hostess.Exeunt.

 

1.7

Hautboys. 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 th’assassination2

 

Could trammel up the consequence, and catch3

 

With his surcease success—that but this blow4

 

Might be the be-all and the end-all!—here,5

 

But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,

 

We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases7

 

We still have judgment here, that we but teach8

 

Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return9

 

To plague th’inventor. This evenhanded justice10

 

Commends th’ingredience of our poisoned chalice11

 

To our own lips. He’s here in double trust:

 

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 been17

 

So clear in his great office, that his virtues18

 

Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against

 

The deep damnation of his taking-off;20

 

And Pity, like a naked newborn babe

 

Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubin, horsed22

 

Upon the sightless couriers of the air,23

 

Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,

 

That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur25

 

To prick the sides of my intent, but only

 

Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself

 

And falls on th’other—28

 

Enter Lady [Macbeth].

 

How now, what news?

 

lady macbeth

 

He has almost supped. Why have you left the chamber?

 

macbeth

 

Hath he asked for me?

 

lady macbeth    Know you not he has?

 

macbeth

We will proceed no further in this business.

 

He hath honored me of late, and I have bought33

 

Golden opinions from all sorts of people,

 

Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,35

 

Not cast aside so soon.

 

lady macbeth    Was the hope drunk

 

Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?37

 

And wakes it now, to look so green and pale38

 

At what it did so freely? From this time39

 

Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard

 

To be the same in thine own act and valor41

 

As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that42

 

Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,43

 

And live a coward in thine own esteem,

 

Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,”45

 

Like the poor cat i’th’ adage?

 

macbeth          Prithee, peace!46

 

I dare do all that may become a man;

 

Who dares do more is none.

 

lady macbeth       What beast was’t, then,

 

That made you break this enterprise to me?49

When you durst do it, then you were a man;

 

And, to be more than what you were, you would51

 

Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place52

 

Did then adhere, and yet you would make both.53

 

They have made themselves, and that their fitness now54

 

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,

 

Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums

 

And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you

 

Have done to this.

 

macbeth      If we should fail?

 

lady macbeth          We fail?

 

But screw your courage to the sticking place61

 

And we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep—

 

Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey

 

Soundly invite him—his two chamberlains64

 

Will I with wine and wassail so convince65

 

That memory, the warder of the brain,66

 

Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason67

 

A limbeck only. When in swinish sleep68

Their drenchèd natures lies as in a death,69

 

What cannot you and I perform upon

 

Th’unguarded Duncan? What not put upon

 

His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt72

 

Of our great quell?

 

macbeth     Bring forth men-children only!73

 

For thy undaunted mettle should compose74

 

Nothing but males. Will it not be received,75

 

When we have marked 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,78

 

As we shall make our griefs and clamor roar79

 

Upon his death?

 

macbeth     I am settled, and bend up80

 

Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.81

 

Away, and mock the time with fairest show.82

 

False face must hide what the false heart doth know.Exeunt.