LENNOX.The night has been unruly: where we lay,Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say,Lamentings heard i’ th’ air, strange screams of death,And prophesying, with accents terrible,Of dire combustion and confus’d events,New hatch’d to the woeful time. The obscure birdClamour’d the live-long night. Some say the earthWas feverous, and did shake.
MACBETH.’Twas a rough night.
LENNOX.My young remembrance cannot parallelA fellow to it.
Enter Macduff.
MACDUFF.O horror, horror, horror!Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee!
MACBETH, LENNOX.What’s the matter?
MACDUFF.Confusion now hath made his masterpiece!Most sacrilegious murder hath broke opeThe Lord’s anointed temple, and stole thenceThe life o’ th’ building.
MACBETH.What is’t you say? the life?
LENNOX.Mean you his majesty?
MACDUFF.Approach the chamber, and destroy your sightWith a new Gorgon. Do not bid me speak.See, and then speak yourselves.
[_Exeunt Macbeth and Lennox._]
Awake, awake!—Ring the alarum bell.—Murder and treason!Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake!Shake off this downy sleep, death’s counterfeit,And look on death itself! Up, up, and seeThe great doom’s image. Malcolm! Banquo!As from your graves rise up, and walk like spritesTo countenance this horror!
[_Alarum-bell rings._]
Enter Lady Macbeth.
LADY MACBETH.What’s the business,That such a hideous trumpet calls to parleyThe sleepers of the house? Speak, speak!
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.
O Banquo, Banquo!Our royal master’s murder’d!
LADY MACBETH.Woe, alas!What, in our house?
BANQUO.Too cruel anywhere.—Dear Duff, I pr’ythee, contradict thyself,And say it is not so.
Enter Macbeth and Lennox with Ross.
MACBETH.Had I but died an hour before this chance,I had liv’d a blessed time; for, from this instantThere’s nothing serious in mortality.All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;The wine of life is drawn, and the mere leesIs 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 bloodIs stopp’d; the very source of it is stopp’d.
MACDUFF.Your royal father’s murder’d.
MALCOLM.O, by whom?
LENNOX.Those of his chamber, as it seem’d, had done’t:Their hands and faces were all badg’d with blood;So were their daggers, which, unwip’d, we foundUpon their pillows. They star’d, 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?
MACBETH.Who can be wise, amaz’d, temperate, and furious,Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man:Th’ expedition of my violent loveOutrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan,His silver skin lac’d with his golden blood;And his gash’d stabs look’d like a breach in natureFor ruin’s wasteful entrance: there, the murderers,Steep’d in the colours of their trade, their daggersUnmannerly breech’d with gore. Who could refrain,That had a heart to love, and in that heartCourage to make’s love known?
LADY MACBETH.Help me hence, ho!
MACDUFF.Look to the lady.
MALCOLM.Why do we hold our tongues,That most may claim this argument for ours?
DONALBAIN.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.
MALCOLM.Nor our strong sorrowUpon the foot of motion.
BANQUO.Look to the lady:—
[_Lady Macbeth is carried out._]
And when we have our naked frailties hid,That suffer in exposure, let us meet,And question this most bloody piece of workTo know it further. Fears and scruples shake us:In the great hand of God I stand; and thenceAgainst the undivulg’d pretence I fightOf treasonous malice.
MACDUFF.And so do I.
ALL.So all.
MACBETH.Let’s briefly put on manly readiness,And meet i’ th’ hall together.
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 officeWhich the false man does easy. I’ll to England.
DONALBAIN.To Ireland, I. Our separated fortuneShall 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 shotHath not yet lighted; and our safest wayIs to avoid the aim. Therefore to horse;And let us not be dainty of leave-taking,But shift away. There’s warrant in that theftWhich steals itself, when there’s no mercy left.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE IV. The same. Without the Castle.
Enter Ross and an Old Man.
OLD MAN.Threescore and ten I can remember well,Within the volume of which time I have seenHours dreadful and things strange, but this sore nightHath trifled former knowings.
ROSS.Ha, good father,Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act,Threatens his bloody stage: by the clock ’tis day,And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp.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,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,Contending ’gainst obedience, as they would makeWar 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.
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.
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 themSuspicion of the deed.
ROSS.’Gainst nature still:Thriftless ambition, that will ravin upThine own life’s means!—Then ’tis most likeThe sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth.
MACDUFF.He is already nam’d; and gone to SconeTo be invested.
ROSS.Where is Duncan’s body?
MACDUFF.Carried to Colmekill,The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,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!Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!
ROSS.Farewell, father.
OLD MAN.God’s benison go with you; and with thoseThat would make good of bad, and friends of foes!
[_Exeunt._]
ACT III
SCENE I. Forres. A Room in the Palace.
Enter Banquo.
BANQUO.Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,As the Weird Women promis’d; and, I fear,Thou play’dst most foully for’t; yet it was saidIt should not stand in thy posterity;But that myself should be the root and fatherOf 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,And set me up in hope? But hush; no more.
Sennet sounded. Enter Macbeth as King, Lady Macbeth as Queen; Lennox,Ross, Lords, and Attendants.
MACBETH.Here’s our chief guest.
LADY MACBETH.If he had been forgotten,It had been as a gap in our great feast,And all-thing unbecoming.
MACBETH.Tonight we hold a solemn supper, sir,And I’ll request your presence.
BANQUO.Let your HighnessCommand upon me, to the which my dutiesAre with a most indissoluble tieFor ever knit.
MACBETH.Ride you this afternoon?
BANQUO.Ay, my good lord.
MACBETH.We should have else desir’d your good advice(Which still hath been both grave and prosperous)In this day’s council; but we’ll take tomorrow.Is’t far you ride?
BANQUO.As far, my lord, as will fill up the time’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.
MACBETH.We hear our bloody cousins are bestow’dIn England and in Ireland; not confessingTheir cruel parricide, filling their hearersWith strange invention. But of that tomorrow,When therewithal we shall have cause of stateCraving 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.—
[_Exit Banquo._]
Let every man be master of his timeTill seven at night; to make societyThe sweeter welcome, we will keep ourselfTill supper time alone: while then, God be with you.
[_Exeunt Lady Macbeth, Lords, &c._]
Sirrah, a word with you. Attend those menOur pleasure?
SERVANT.They are, my lord, without the palace gate.
MACBETH.Bring them before us.
[_Exit Servant._]
To be thus is nothing,But to be safely thus. Our fears in BanquoStick deep, and in his royalty of natureReigns that which would be fear’d: ’tis much he dares;And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valourTo act in safety. There is none but heWhose being I do fear: and under himMy genius is rebuk’d; as, it is said,Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the sistersWhen 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 plac’d a fruitless crown,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 fil’d my mind;For them the gracious Duncan have I murder’d;Put rancours in the vessel of my peaceOnly for them; and mine eternal jewelGiven to the common enemy of man,To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!Rather than so, come, fate, into the list,And champion me to th’ utterance!—Who’s there?—
Enter Servant with two Murderers.
Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.
[_Exit Servant._]
Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
FIRST MURDERER.It was, so please your Highness.
MACBETH.Well then, nowHave you consider’d of my speeches? KnowThat it was he, in the times past, which held youSo under fortune, which you thought had beenOur innocent self? This I made good to youIn our last conference, pass’d in probation with youHow you were borne in hand, how cross’d, the instruments,Who wrought with them, and all things else that mightTo half a soul and to a notion craz’dSay, “Thus did Banquo.”
FIRST MURDERER.You made it known to us.
MACBETH.I did so; and went further, which is nowOur point of second meeting. Do you findYour 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 forever?
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 cleptAll by the name of dogs: the valu’d fileDistinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,The housekeeper, the hunter, every oneAccording to the gift which bounteous natureHath in him clos’d; whereby he does receiveParticular addition, from the billThat writes them all alike: and so of men.Now, if you have a station in the file,Not i’ th’ worst rank of manhood, say’t;And I will put that business in your bosoms,Whose execution takes your enemy off,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 worldHath so incens’d that I am reckless whatI 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,To mend it or be rid on’t.
MACBETH.Both of youKnow Banquo was your enemy.
BOTH MURDERERS.True, my lord.
MACBETH.So is he mine; and in such bloody distance,That every minute of his being thrustsAgainst my near’st of life; and though I couldWith barefac’d 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,Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fallWho I myself struck down: and thence it isThat I to your assistance do make love,Masking the business from the common eyeFor sundry weighty reasons.
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,Acquaint you with the perfect spy o’ th’ time,The moment on’t; for’t must be done tonightAnd something from the palace; always thoughtThat I require a clearness. And with him(To leave no rubs nor botches in the work)Fleance his son, that keeps him company,Whose absence is no less material to meThan is his father’s, must embrace the fateOf that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart.I’ll come to you anon.
BOTH MURDERERS.We are resolv’d, 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 tonight.
[_Exit._]
SCENE II. The same. Another Room in the Palace.
Enter Lady Macbeth and a Servant.
LADY MACBETH.Is Banquo gone from court?
SERVANT.Ay, madam, but returns again tonight.
LADY MACBETH.Say to the King, I would attend his leisureFor a few words.
SERVANT.Madam, I will.
[_Exit._]
LADY MACBETH.Naught’s had, all’s spent,Where our desire is got without content:’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,Using those thoughts which should indeed have diedWith them they think on? Things without all remedyShould be without regard: what’s done is done.
MACBETH.We have scorch’d the snake, not kill’d it.She’ll close, and be herself; whilst our poor maliceRemains 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 sleepIn the affliction of these terrible dreamsThat 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 lieIn restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave;After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well;Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothingCan touch him further.
LADY MACBETH.Come on,Gently my lord, sleek o’er your rugged looks;Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight.
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 weMust 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!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 flownHis cloister’d flight, ere to black Hecate’s summonsThe shard-born beetle, with his drowsy hums,Hath rung night’s yawning peal, there shall be doneA deed of dreadful note.
LADY MACBETH.What’s to be done?
MACBETH.Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night,Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day,And with thy bloody and invisible handCancel and tear to pieces that great bondWhich keeps me pale!—Light thickens; and the crowMakes wing to th’ rooky wood.Good things of day begin to droop and drowse,Whiles 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.So, pr’ythee, go with me.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE III. The same. A Park or Lawn, with a gate leading to the Palace.
Enter three Murderers.
FIRST MURDERER.But who did bid thee join with us?
THIRD MURDERER.Macbeth.
SECOND MURDERER.He needs not our mistrust; since he deliversOur offices and what we have to doTo the direction just.
FIRST MURDERER.Then stand with us.The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day.Now spurs the lated traveller apace,To gain the timely inn; and near approachesThe subject of our watch.
THIRD MURDERER.Hark! I hear horses.
BANQUO.[_Within._] Give us a light there, ho!
SECOND MURDERER.Then ’tis he; the restThat are within the note of expectationAlready are i’ th’ court.
FIRST MURDERER.His horses go about.
THIRD MURDERER.Almost a mile; but he does usually,So all men do, from hence to the palace gateMake it their walk.
Enter Banquo and Fleance with a torch.
SECOND MURDERER.A light, a light!
THIRD MURDERER.’Tis he.
FIRST MURDERER.Stand to’t.
BANQUO.It will be rain tonight.
FIRST MURDERER.Let it come down.
[_Assaults Banquo._]
BANQUO.O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!Thou mayst revenge—O slave!
[_Dies. Fleance escapes._]
THIRD MURDERER.Who did strike out the light?
FIRST MURDERER.Was’t not the way?
THIRD MURDERER.There’s but one down: the son is fled.
SECOND MURDERER.We have lost best half of our affair.
FIRST MURDERER.Well, let’s away, and say how much is done.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE IV. The same. A Room of state in the Palace.
A banquet prepared. Enter Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Ross, Lennox, Lordsand Attendants.
MACBETH.You know your own degrees, sit down. At firstAnd last the hearty welcome.
LORDS.Thanks to your Majesty.
MACBETH.Ourself will mingle with society,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.
Enter first Murderer to the door.
MACBETH.See, they encounter thee with their hearts’ thanks.Both sides are even: here I’ll sit i’ th’ midst.
Be large in mirth; anon we’ll drink a measureThe table round. There’s blood upon thy face.
MURDERER.’Tis Banquo’s then.
MACBETH.’Tis better thee without than he within.Is he dispatch’d?
MURDERER.My lord, his throat is cut. That I did for him.
MACBETH.Thou art the best o’ th’ cut-throats;Yet he’s good that did the like for Fleance:If thou didst it, thou art the nonpareil.
MURDERER.Most royal sir,Fleance is ’scap’d.
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, confin’d, bound inTo saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo’s safe?
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.There the grown serpent lies; the worm that’s fledHath nature that in time will venom breed,No teeth for th’ present.—Get thee gone; tomorrowWe’ll hear, ourselves, again.
[_Exit Murderer._]
LADY MACBETH.My royal lord,You do not give the cheer: the feast is soldThat 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;Meeting were bare without it.
The Ghost of Banquo rises, and sits in Macbeth’s place.
MACBETH.Sweet remembrancer!—Now, good digestion wait on appetite,And health on both!
LENNOX.May’t please your Highness sit.
MACBETH.Here had we now our country’s honour roof’d,Were the grac’d person of our Banquo present;Who may I rather challenge for unkindnessThan pity for mischance!
ROSS.His absence, sir,Lays blame upon his promise. Please’t your HighnessTo grace us with your royal company?
MACBETH.The table’s full.
LENNOX.Here is a place reserv’d, 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?
MACBETH.Thou canst not say I did it. Never shakeThy 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;The fit is momentary; upon a thoughtHe 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 thatWhich 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(Impostors to true fear), would well becomeA woman’s story at a winter’s fire,Authoris’d by her grandam. Shame itself!Why do you make such faces? When all’s done,You look but on a stool.
MACBETH.Pr’ythee, 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 sendThose that we bury back, our monumentsShall be the maws of kites.
[_Ghost disappears._]
LADY MACBETH.What, quite unmann’d in folly?
MACBETH.If I stand here, I saw him.
LADY MACBETH.Fie, for shame!
MACBETH.Blood hath been shed ere now, i’ th’ olden time,Ere humane statute purg’d the gentle weal;Ay, and since too, murders have been perform’dToo terrible for the ear: the time has been,That, when the brains were out, the man would die,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 strangeThan such a murder is.
LADY MACBETH.My worthy lord,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 nothingTo those that know me. Come, love and health to all;Then I’ll sit down.—Give me some wine, fill full.—I drink to the general joy o’ th’ whole table,And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss:Would he were here.
Ghost rises again.
To all, and him, we thirst,And all to all.
LORDS.Our duties, and the pledge.
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 eyesWhich 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:Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,The arm’d rhinoceros, or th’ Hyrcan tiger;Take any shape but that, and my firm nervesShall never tremble: or be alive again,And dare me to the desert with thy sword;If trembling I inhabit then, protest meThe baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!Unreal mock’ry, hence!
[_Ghost disappears._]
Why, so;—being gone,I am a man again.—Pray you, sit still.
LADY MACBETH.You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meetingWith most admir’d disorder.
MACBETH.Can such things be,And overcome us like a summer’s cloud,Without our special wonder? You make me strangeEven 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 are blanch’d with fear.
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.
LENNOX.Good night; and better healthAttend his Majesty!
LADY MACBETH.A kind good night to all!
[_Exeunt all Lords and Attendants._]
MACBETH.It will have blood, they say, blood will have blood.Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak;Augurs, and understood relations, haveBy magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forthThe secret’st man of blood.—What is the night?
LADY MACBETH.Almost at odds with morning, which is which.
MACBETH.How say’st thou, that Macduff denies his personAt 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 houseI keep a servant fee’d. I will tomorrow(And betimes I will) to the Weird 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 bloodStepp’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.
MACBETH.Come, we’ll to sleep. My strange and self-abuseIs the initiate fear that wants hard use.We are yet but young in deed.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE V. The 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 dareTo trade and traffic with MacbethIn riddles and affairs of death;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 doneHath 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 AcheronMeet me i’ th’ morning: thither heWill come to know his destiny.Your vessels and your spells provide,Your charms, and everything beside.I am for th’ air; this night I’ll spendUnto a dismal and a fatal end.Great business must be wrought ere noon.Upon the corner of the moonThere hangs a vap’rous drop profound;I’ll catch it ere it come to ground: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 bearHis hopes ’bove wisdom, grace, and fear.And you all know, securityIs mortals’ chiefest enemy.
[_Music and song within, “Come away, come away” &c._]
Hark! I am call’d; my little spirit, see,Sits in a foggy cloud and stays for me.
[_Exit._]
FIRST WITCH.Come, let’s make haste; she’ll soon be back again.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE VI. Forres. A Room in the Palace.
Enter Lennox and another Lord.
LENNOX.My former speeches have but hit your thoughts,Which can interpret farther: only, I say,Thing’s have been strangely borne. The gracious DuncanWas pitied of Macbeth:—marry, he was dead:—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 monstrousIt was for Malcolm and for DonalbainTo kill their gracious father? damned fact!How it did grieve Macbeth! did he not straight,In pious rage, the two delinquents tearThat were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep?Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too;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, and’t please heaven, he shall not) they should findWhat ’twere to kill a father; so should Fleance.But, peace!—for from broad words, and ’cause he fail’dHis presence at the tyrant’s feast, I hear,Macduff lives in disgrace. Sir, can you tellWhere he bestows himself?
LORD.The son of Duncan,From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth,Lives in the English court and is receiv’dOf the most pious Edward with such graceThat the malevolence of fortune nothingTakes from his high respect. Thither MacduffIs gone to pray the holy king, upon his aidTo wake Northumberland, and warlike SiwardThat, by the help of these (with Him aboveTo ratify the work), we may againGive 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 reportHath so exasperate the King that hePrepares 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,And hums, as who should say, “You’ll rue the timeThat clogs me with this answer.”
LENNOX.And that well mightAdvise him to a caution, t’ hold what distanceHis wisdom can provide. Some holy angelFly to the court of England, and unfoldHis message ere he come, that a swift blessingMay soon return to this our suffering countryUnder a hand accurs’d!
LORD.I’ll send my prayers with him.
[_Exeunt._]
ACT IV
SCENE I. A dark Cave. In the middle, a Cauldron Boiling.
Thunder. Enter the three Witches.
FIRST WITCH.Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.
SECOND WITCH.Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whin’d.
THIRD WITCH.Harpier cries:—’Tis time, ’tis time.
FIRST WITCH.Round about the cauldron go;In the poison’d entrails throw.—Toad, that under cold stoneDays and nights has thirty-oneSwelter’d venom sleeping got,Boil thou first i’ th’ 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;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 howlet’s wing,For a charm of powerful trouble,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,Witch’s mummy, maw and gulfOf the ravin’d salt-sea shark,Root of hemlock digg’d i’ th’ dark,Liver of blaspheming Jew,Gall of goat, and slips of yewSliver’d in the moon’s eclipse,Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips,Finger of birth-strangled babeDitch-deliver’d by a drab,Make the gruel thick and slab:Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,For th’ 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.
Enter Hecate.
HECATE.O, well done! I commend your pains,And everyone shall share i’ th’ gains.And now about the cauldron sing,Like elves and fairies in a ring,Enchanting all that you put in.
[_Music and a song: “Black Spirits,” &c._]
[_Exit Hecate._]
SECOND WITCH.By the pricking of my thumbs,Something wicked this way comes.Open, locks,Whoever knocks!
Enter Macbeth.
MACBETH.How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!What is’t you do?
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 fightAgainst the churches; though the yesty wavesConfound and swallow navigation up;Though bladed corn be lodg’d, and trees blown down;Though castles topple on their warders’ heads;Though palaces and pyramids do slopeTheir heads to their foundations; though the treasureOf nature’s germens tumble all together,Even till destruction sicken, answer meTo what I ask you.
FIRST WITCH.Speak.
SECOND WITCH.Demand.
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 eatenHer nine farrow; grease that’s sweatenFrom the murderer’s gibbet throwInto the flame.
ALL.Come, high or low;Thyself and office deftly show!
[_Thunder. An Apparition of an armed Head rises._]
MACBETH.Tell me, thou unknown power,—
FIRST WITCH.He knows thy thought:Hear his speech, but say thou naught.
APPARITION.Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff;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.
FIRST WITCH.He will not be commanded. Here’s another,More potent than the first.
[_Thunder. An Apparition of a bloody Child rises._]
APPARITION.Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!
MACBETH.Had I three ears, I’d hear thee.
APPARITION.Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scornThe power of man, for none of woman bornShall harm Macbeth.
[_Descends._]
MACBETH.Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee?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. An Apparition of a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand,rises._]
What is this,That rises like the issue of a king,And wears upon his baby brow the roundAnd top of sovereignty?
ALL.Listen, but speak not to’t.
APPARITION.Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no careWho chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be, untilGreat Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hillShall come against him.
[_Descends._]
MACBETH.That will never be:Who can impress the forest; bid the treeUnfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements, good!Rebellious head, rise never till the woodOf Birnam rise, and our high-plac’d MacbethShall live the lease of nature, pay his breathTo time and mortal custom.—Yet my heartThrobs to know one thing: tell me, if your artCan tell so much, shall Banquo’s issue everReign 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?
[_Hautboys._]
FIRST WITCH.Show!
SECOND WITCH.Show!
THIRD WITCH.Show!
ALL.Show his eyes, and grieve his heart;Come like shadows, so depart!
[_A show of eight kings appear, and pass over in order, the last witha glass in his hand; Banquo following._]
MACBETH.Thou are too like the spirit of Banquo. Down!Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs:—and thy hair,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 th’ crack of doom?Another yet!—A seventh!—I’ll see no more:—And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glassWhich shows me many more; and some I seeThat twofold balls and treble sceptres carry.Horrible sight!—Now I see ’tis true;For the blood-bolter’d Banquo smiles upon me,And points at them for his.—What! is this so?