Macbeth PDF - William Shakespeare

The Tragedy of Macbeth William Shakespeare Dramatis Personæ DUNCAN, King of Scotland SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, general of MACBETH, Thane of Glami...

The Tragedy of Macbeth William Shakespeare Dramatis Personæ DUNCAN, King of Scotland SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, general of MACBETH, Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, a general in the the English forces King's army YOUNG SIWARD, his son LADY MACBETH, his wife SEYTON, attendant to Macbeth MACDUFF, Thane of Fife, a nobleman of Scotland HECATE, Queen of the Witches LADY MACDUFF, his wife MALCOLM, elder son of Duncan The Three Witches, Son of Macduff, DONALBAIN, younger son of Duncan Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth, BANQUO, Thane of Lochaber, a general in the King's army An English Doctor, A Scottish Doctor, FLEANCE, his son A Sergeant, A Porter, An Old Man, The Ghost LENNOX, nobleman of Scotland of Banquo and other Apparitions ROSS, nobleman of Scotland Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, MENTEITH nobleman of Scotland Murderers, Attendants, and Messengers ANGUS, nobleman of Scotland CAITHNESS, nobleman of Scotland  ACT I SCENE I. A desert place. Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches First Witch 5 When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain? Second Witch When the hurlyburly's done, [when the noise of the battle is over] When the battle's lost and won. 10 Third Witch That will be ere the set of sun. [before sunset] First Witch Where the place? Second Witch 15 Upon the heath. [in the open field] Third Witch There to meet with Macbeth. First Witch I come, Graymalkin! 20 Second Witch Paddock calls. Third Witch Anon. [I’ll be right here!] ALL 25 Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air. [let’s fly] Exeunt SCENE II. A camp near Forres. Alarum within. [Sounds of a trumpet and soldiers fighting offstage]. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, 30 DONALBAIN, LENNOX, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant DUNCAN What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight [state], of the revolt The newest state. 35 MALCOLM This is the sergeant Who like a good and hardy soldier fought 'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend! Say to the king the knowledge of the broil [fight] 40 As thou didst leave it. [when you left it] 1  Sergeant Doubtful it stood; [For a while you couldn’t tell] As two spent [exhausted] swimmers, that do cling together And choke their art [prevent each other]. The merciless Macdonwald-- 5 Worthy to be a rebel, for to that The multiplying villanies of nature Do swarm upon him--from the western isles Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied; [supported by foot soldiers and horsemen] And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, [luck was on his side smiling at his enemies] 10 Show'd like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak: [but they weren’t strong enough] For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name-- Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, [challenging Macdonwald’s luck with his sword] Which smoked with bloody execution, Like valour's minion carved out his passage 15 Till he faced the slave; Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseam'd [split open] him from the nave to the chaps, [from navel to the jawbone] And fix'd his head upon our battlements [castle walls]. DUNCAN 20 O valiant [brave] cousin! worthy gentleman! Sergeant As whence the sun 'gins his reflection [just as when the sun begins to rise] Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break, [storms break up unexpectedly] So from that spring [our success against Macdonwald] whence comfort seem'd to come 25 Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark: [listen to this] No sooner justice had with valour arm'd Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels, [as soon as we made them flee] But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage, [seeing his chance] With furbish'd arms [shiny weapons] and new supplies of men 30 Began a fresh assault. DUNCAN Dismay'd not this [Didn’t this frighten] Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? Sergeant 35 Yes; As sparrows eagles, or the hare [rabbit] the lion. [as much as sparrows frighten eagles…] If I say sooth, I must report they were [to tell the truth, I must say] As cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe: [they fought with twice as much force as before] 40 Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, Or memorise another Golgotha, [turn that battlefield into Golgotha, where Christ was crucified] I cannot tell. But I am faint, my gashes [wounds] cry for help. DUNCAN 45 So well thy words become thee as thy wounds; They smack of [bring] honour both. Go get him surgeons. Exit Sergeant, attended 2  Who comes here? Enter ROSS MALCOLM The worthy thane [Scottish title of nobility] of Ross. 5 LENNOX What a haste looks through his eyes! [His eyes seem frantic!] So should he look That seems to speak things strange. [looks like someone with a strange story to tell] ROSS God save the king! 10 DUNCAN Whence camest thou, worthy thane? ROSS From Fife, great king; Where the Norweyan banners [flag] flout [insult] the sky 15 And fan our people cold [frighten our people]. Norway himself, With terrible numbers, Assisted by that most disloyal traitor The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict [battle]; Till that Bellona's [goddess of war] bridegroom [Macbeth], lapp'd in proof [clad in strong armor], 20 Confronted him with self-comparisons, Point against point [shot by shot], rebellious, arm 'gainst arm. Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude, The victory fell on us. DUNCAN 25 Great happiness! ROSS That now Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition [wants a treaty]: Nor would we deign [let] him burial of his men 30 Till he disbursed [retreated] at Saint Colme's Inch Ten thousand dollars to our general use [and pay us ten thousand dollars…]. DUNCAN No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive [betray] Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death, [announce his execution] 35 And with his former title greet Macbeth. [tell Macbeth that Cawdor’s titles will be given to him] ROSS I'll see it done. DUNCAN What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won. 40 Exeunt SCENE III. A heath near Forres. Thunder. Enter the three Witches 3  First Witch Where hast thou been, sister? Second Witch Killing swine. 5 Third Witch Sister, where thou? First Witch A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap, And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd:-- 10 'Give me,' quoth I: [give me one I said] 'Aroint thee, witch!' [get away from me] the rump-fed [fed with rump meat] ronyon [scab, contemptible person] cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger: [as master of a ship called the Tiger] But in a sieve I'll thither sail, [I’ll sail there in a kitchen strainer] 15 And, like a rat without a tail, I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do. Second Witch I'll give thee a wind. First Witch 20 Thou'rt kind. [you are kind] Third Witch And I another. First Witch I myself have [control] all the other [winds], 25 And the very ports they blow, All the quarters [directions] that they know I' the shipman's card. [in the sailor’s compass] I will drain him dry as hay: [I’ll drain the life out of him] Sleep shall neither night nor day 30 Hang upon his pent-house lid; He shall live a man forbid: [he will live as a cursed man] Weary se'nnights nine times nine [seven nights (one week) X eighty-one times] Shall he dwindle, peak and pine: [waste away] Though his bark cannot be lost, [his ship cannot be destroyed] 35 Yet it shall be tempest-tost. [hit by strom] Look what I have. Second Witch Show me, show me. First Witch 40 Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wreck'd as homeward he did come. [who was drowned while trying to return home] Drum within Third Witch A drum, a drum! 45 Macbeth doth come. 4  ALL The weird sisters, hand in hand, Posters [travelers] of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about: 5 Thrice [three times] to thine and thrice to mine And thrice again, to make up nine. Peace! the charm's wound up. [the charm is ready] Enter MACBETH and BANQUO MACBETH 10 So foul and fair a day I have not seen. BANQUO How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these [he sees the witches] So wither'd and so wild in their attire, That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, 15 And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her chappy finger laying Upon her skinny lips: you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret 20 That you are so. MACBETH Speak, if you can: what are you? First Witch All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis! 25 Second Witch All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! Third Witch All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter! BANQUO 30 Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair? I' the name of truth, Are ye fantastical [illusions], or that indeed Which outwardly ye show [what you seem to be]? My noble partner You greet with present grace and great prediction [You’ve greeted my noble friend with honors…] 35 Of noble having and of royal hope, That he seems rapt withal [speechless]: [but] to me you speak not. If you can look into the seeds of time, [if you can see the future] And say which grain will grow and which will not, Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear 40 Your favours nor your hate. First Witch Hail! Second Witch Hail! 45 5  Third Witch Hail! First Witch Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 5 Second Witch Not so happy, yet much happier. Third Witch Thou shalt get kings [Your descendants will be kings], though thou be none: So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! 10 First Witch Banquo and Macbeth, all hail! MACBETH Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more: By Sinel's [Macbeth’s father] death I know I am thane of Glamis; 15 But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman; and to be king Stands not within the prospect of belief, [seems impossible] No more than to be Cawdor [just as it’s impossible for me to be thane of Cawdor]. Say from whence You owe this strange intelligence? or why 20 Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you. Witches vanish BANQUO The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, 25 And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd? MACBETH Into the air; and what seem'd corporal melted As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd! [I wish they had stayed] BANQUO 30 Were such things here as we do speak about? Or have we eaten on the insane root That takes the reason prisoner? MACBETH Your children shall be kings. 35 BANQUO You shall be king. MACBETH And thane of Cawdor too: went it not so? BANQUO 40 To the selfsame tune and words [That’s exactly what they said]. Who's here? Enter ROSS and ANGUS 6  ROSS The king hath happily received, Macbeth, The news of thy success; and when he reads Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, 5 His wonders and his praises do contend Which should be thine or his: silenced with that, In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day, He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, Nothing afeard [never afraid] of what thyself didst make, 10 Strange images of death [bodies of Macbeth’s victims]. As thick as tale Came post with post [news came]; and every one did bear Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence, And pour'd them down before him. ANGUS 15 We are sent To give thee from our royal master thanks; Only to herald thee into his sight, [to bring you to him] Not pay thee. ROSS 20 And, for an earnest of a greater honour, [to say the least] He bade [told] me, from him, call thee [to call you] thane of Cawdor: In which addition, hail, most worthy thane! For it is thine. [That title belongs to you now] BANQUO 25 What, can the devil speak true? MACBETH The thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me In borrow'd robes? ANGUS 30 Who was the thane lives yet; But under heavy judgment bears that life Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined With those of Norway, or did line the rebel With hidden help and vantage, or that with both 35 He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not; But treasons capital, confess'd and proved, Have overthrown him. MACBETH [Aside] [to himself] Glamis, and thane of Cawdor! 40 The greatest is behind [still to come]. To ROSS and ANGUS Thanks for your pains. To BANQUO 7  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 5 That trusted home [if the witches told the truth] Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, [you might be king] Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange: And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, [to harm us] The instruments of darkness tell us truths, 10 Win us with honest trifles, to betray's In deepest consequence. [they earn our trust only to betray us in the end] Cousins, a word, I pray you. MACBETH [Aside] Two truths are told, [So far the witches have told me two things that came true] 15 As happy prologues to the swelling act [seems like this will culminate in my becoming king] Of the imperial theme.--I thank you, gentlemen. Aside This supernatural soliciting [temptation] Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill, 20 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 hair And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, 25 Against the use of nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings: My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, [he is thinking about killing King Duncan] Shakes so my single state of man, that function Is smother'd in surmise [my ability to act is stifled by my murderous thoughts], and nothing is 30 But what is not. [nothing is real to me now except my imaginings, I’m losing my sense of reality] BANQUO Look, how our partner's rapt. [Look at Macbeth—he’s in a daze] MACBETH 35 [Aside] If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, [perhaps fate will just make it happen] Without my stir. [and I won’t have to do anything] BANQUO New honors [titles] come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould [like new clothes that don’t fit] 40 But with the aid of use. MACBETH [Aside] Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. BANQUO 45 Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure. [we’re ready when you are] 8  MACBETH Give me your favour: my dull brain was wrought [I beg your pardon; I was distracted] With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains Are register'd [I won’t forget] where every day I turn 5 The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king. Think upon what hath chanced [happened], and, at more time, The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak [when we have time] Our free hearts each to other. BANQUO 10 Very gladly. MACBETH Till then, enough. Come, friends. Exeunt 15 SCENE IV. Forres. The palace. Flourish [trumpet sounds]. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, and Attendants DUNCAN Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not Those in commission yet return'd? 20 MALCOLM My liege, [my king] They are not yet come back. But I have spoke With one that saw him die: who did report That very frankly he confess'd his treasons, 25 Implored [begged] your highness' pardon and set forth A deep repentance: nothing in his life Became him like the leaving it; he died As one that had been studied in his death To throw away the dearest thing he owed, 30 As 'twere a careless trifle. DUNCAN There's no art To find the mind's construction in the face: [to read a man’s mind by looking at his face] He was a gentleman on whom I built 35 An absolute trust. Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSS, and ANGUS O worthiest cousin! The sin of my ingratitude even now Was heavy on me: thou art so far before 40 That swiftest wing of recompense is slow [you’re so fast that I can’t reward you properly] To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved, [If you deserved less] That the proportion both of thanks and payment 9  Might have been mine! only I have left to say, [perhaps my payment would have matched your deeds] More is thy due than more than all can pay. MACBETH The service and the loyalty I owe, 5 In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part Is to receive our duties; and our duties Are to your throne and state children and servants, Which do but what they should, by doing every thing Safe toward your love and honour. 10 DUNCAN Welcome hither: I have begun to plant thee, and will labour [I have planted the seeds of a great career for you] To make thee full of growing. [to Banquo] Noble Banquo, That hast no less deserved, nor must be known [you deserve no less than Macbeth] 15 No less to have done so, let me enfold thee And hold thee to my heart. BANQUO There if I grow, The harvest is your own. 20 DUNCAN My plenteous joys, Wanton [limitless] in fullness, seek to hide themselves In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes, And you whose places are the nearest, know 25 We will establish our estate upon Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter The Prince of Cumberland; which honour must Not unaccompanied invest him only, But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine 30 On all deservers. [to Macbeth] From hence to Inverness, [let’s go to your castle at Inverness] And bind us further to you. [where I will become even more obliged to you] MACBETH The rest is labour, which is not used for you: I'll be myself the harbinger and make joyful 35 The hearing of my wife with your approach; So humbly take my leave. DUNCAN My worthy Cawdor! MACBETH 40 [Aside] [to himself] The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, [I won’t let my eye look at what my hand is doing, but..] 45 Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. [I’m still going to do that thing I’d be horrified to see] Exit 10  DUNCAN [to Banquo] True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant, And in his commendations [praises] I am fed; It is a banquet to me. Let's after him, 5 Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome: [he has gone ahead to prepare our welcome] It is a peerless kinsman. Flourish. Exeunt SCENE V. Inverness. Macbeth's castle. Enter LADY MACBETH, alone, with a letter 10 LADY MACBETH (reading) 'They [the witches] met me in the day of success: and I have learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire [they have supernatural knowledge] to question them further, they made themselves air, 15 into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed me 'Thane of Cawdor;' by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, king that 20 shalt be!' This have I thought good to deliver thee, 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.' 25 [She looks up from the letter] Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without 30 The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, [You don’t want to cheat…] And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'ldst have, great Glamis, [yet you want what doesn’t belong to you] That which cries 'Thus thou must do, if thou have it; And that which rather thou dost fear to do 35 Than wishest should be undone.' Hie thee hither, [hurry up, come here] That I may pour my spirits in thine ear; [so that I may persuade you] And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem 40 To have thee crown'd withal. Enter a Messenger What is your tidings? Messenger The king comes here to-night. 45 11  LADY MACBETH Thou'rt mad to say it: Is not thy master with him? who, were't so, Would have inform'd for preparation. [Macbeth would have told me in advance so I could prepare] 5 Messenger So please you, it is true: our thane is coming: One of my fellows had the speed of him, Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more Than would make up his message. 10 LADY MACBETH Give him tending; He brings great news. Exit Messenger The raven himself is hoarse [the messenger is short of breath, like a hoarse raven] 15 That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, [make me less like a woman and more like a man] And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; 20 Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature [human compassions] Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall [acid], you murdering ministers, 25 Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, And pall [cover] thee in the dunnest [darkest] smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, 30 To cry 'Hold, hold!' Enter MACBETH Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor! Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter! Thy letters have transported me beyond 35 This ignorant present, and I feel now The future in the instant. MACBETH My dearest love, Duncan comes here to-night. 40 LADY MACBETH And when goes hence? MACBETH To-morrow, as he purposes. 45 12  LADY MACBETH O, never Shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men 5 May read strange matters. To beguile the time, [In order to deceive people,] Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, [you must appear the way they expect you to look] Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't. He that's coming Must be provided for: and you shall put 10 This night's great business into my dispatch; Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway [power] and masterdom. MACBETH We will speak further. 15 LADY MACBETH Only look up clear; To alter favour ever is to fear: [or fear might show in your face] Leave all the rest to me. Exeunt 20 SCENE VI. Before Macbeth's castle. Hautboys [an instrument] and torches. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, BANQUO, LENNOX, MACDUFF, ROSS, ANGUS, and Attendants DUNCAN 25 This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses. BANQUO This guest of summer, 30 The temple-haunting martlet [a bird], does approve, By his loved mansionry [nest], that the heaven's breath Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle: [the birds have made nests in every part of the castle walls] 35 Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed, The air is delicate. Enter LADY MACBETH DUNCAN See, see, our honour'd hostess! 40 The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, [Sometimes the love my subjects show is inconvenient] Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you How you shall bid God 'ild us for your pains, And thank us for your trouble. 13  LADY MACBETH All our service In every point twice done and then done double Were poor and single business to contend 5 Against those honours deep and broad wherewith Your majesty loads our house: for those of old, And the late dignities heap'd up to them, We rest your hermits. [We gladly welcome you and your men as our guests] DUNCAN 10 Where's the thane of Cawdor? We coursed [followed] him at the heels, and had a purpose To be his purveyor: but he rides well; And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, 15 We are your guest to-night. LADY MACBETH Your servants ever Have theirs, themselves and what is theirs, in compt, [in your service] To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, 20 Still to return your own. [we’re glad to give you back what’s yours] DUNCAN Give me your hand; Conduct me to mine host: we love him highly, And shall continue our graces towards him. 25 By your leave, hostess. Exeunt SCENE VII. Macbeth's castle. Hautboys and torches. Enter a Sewer [a butler], and divers Servants with dishes and service, and pass over 30 the stage. Then enter MACBETH MACBETH If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly: if the assassination Could trammel up [sweep up] the consequence, and catch 35 With his surcease success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases [I would gladly put my soul at risk to do it] We still have judgment [punishment] here; that we but teach 40 Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice To our own lips. He's here in double trust; First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, 45 Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, 14  Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues 5 Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against The deep damnation of his taking-off; [his virtuous legacy will speak for him when he dies] And pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast [ride the wind], or heaven's cherubim, horsed Upon the sightless couriers of the air, [on invisible horses through the air] 10 Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only [I can’t spur myself to action] Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself [which makes people rush ahead of themselves…] And falls on the other. [toward disaster] 15 Enter LADY MACBETH How now! what news? LADY MACBETH He has almost supp'd: why have you left the chamber? MACBETH 20 Hath he ask'd for me? LADY MACBETH Know you not he has? MACBETH We will proceed no further in this business: 25 He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people, Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, Not cast aside so soon. [I don’t want to throw away these honors so soon] LADY MACBETH 30 Was the hope drunk Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since? [Were you drunk when you seemed so hopeful before?] And wakes it now, to look so green and pale At what it did so freely? From this time Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard 35 To be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,' [always saying “I can’t” after you say “I want to”] 40 Like the poor cat i' the adage? [like the poor cat in the old story] MACBETH Prithee, peace: [Please, stop!] I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none. 45 15  LADY MACBETH What beast was't, then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst [dared] do it, then you were a man; 5 And, to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place [The time and place weren’t right before,] Did then adhere, and yet you would make both: [but you would have gone ahead] They have made themselves, and that their fitness now Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know 10 How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this. 15 MACBETH If we should fail? LADY MACBETH We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, 20 And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep-- Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey Soundly invite him--his two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassail so convince That [their] memory, the warder of the brain, 25 Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep [When they lie asleep like pigs] Their drenched natures lie as in a death, What cannot you and I perform upon The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon 30 His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt Of our great quell [murder]? MACBETH Bring forth men-children only; [May you only give birth to male children] For thy undaunted mettle [your fearless spirit] should compose 35 Nothing but males. Will it not be received [believed], When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two Of his own chamber and used their very daggers, That they have done't? LADY MACBETH 40 Who dares receive it other, As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar Upon his death? MACBETH I am settled, and bend up 45 Each corporal agent [I will exert every muscle in my body] to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show: [go now, pretend to be a friendly hostess] False face must hide what the false heart doth know. Exeunt 16  ACT II SCENE I. Court of Macbeth's castle. Enter BANQUO, and FLEANCE bearing a torch before him BANQUO 5 How goes the night, boy? FLEANCE The moon is down; I have not heard the clock. BANQUO And she goes down at twelve. 10 FLEANCE I take't, 'tis later, sir. [I think it’s later than that, sir.] BANQUO Hold, take my sword. There's husbandry in heaven; [there’s too little light] Their candles are all out. Take thee that too. 15 A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, And yet I would not sleep: merciful powers, Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature [keep away the nightmares] Gives way to in repose [in sleep] ! Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch 20 Give me my sword. Who's there? MACBETH A friend. BANQUO 25 What, sir, not yet at rest? The king's a-bed: He hath been in unusual pleasure, and Sent forth great largess [gifts] to your offices. This diamond he greets your wife withal, By the name of most kind hostess; and shut up 30 In measureless content. MACBETH Being unprepared, Our will became the servant to defect; [we weren’t able to entertain him enough] Which else should free have wrought. 35 BANQUO All's well. I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters: To you they have show'd some truth. MACBETH 40 I think not of them: Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve, We would spend it in some words upon that business, If you would grant the time. 17  BANQUO At your kind'st leisure. MACBETH If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis, [If you stick with me, when the time comes,] 5 It shall make honour for you. BANQUO So I lose none In seeking to augment [increase] it, but still keep My bosom franchised and allegiance clear, [as long as I can do it with a clear conscience] 10 I shall be counsell'd [consulted]. MACBETH Good repose the while! [Rest easy in the meantime.] BANQUO Thanks, sir: the like to you! 15 Exeunt BANQUO and FLEANCE MACBETH Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready, She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed. Exit Servant 20 Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? or art thou but 25 A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I draw. Thou marshall'st [leading] me the way that I was going; 30 And such an instrument I was to use. Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses, [My eyesight is either the one sense that’s not working] Or else worth all the rest [or else it’s the only one that’s working right]; I see thee still, And on thy blade and dudgeon [handle] gouts [splotches] of blood, Which was not so [there] before. There's no such thing: 35 It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate's [a goddess] offerings, and wither'd [old man] murder, 40 Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf, Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace. With Tarquin's1 ravishing strides, towards his design [his destination] Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth, 1 A Roman prince who sneaked into a wife’s bedroom at night and raped her. 18  Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate [talk] of my whereabout, And take the present horror from the time, [and break the terrible stillness of this moment] Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat [stay here], he lives: 5 Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. [The more I talk, the more my courage cools] A bell rings I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell. 10 Exit SCENE II. The same. Enter LADY MACBETH LADY MACBETH That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold; 15 What hath quench'd them hath given me fire. Hark! Peace! [Listen! Quiet!] It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman, Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it: The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms [the drunk servants] 20 Do mock their charge [duty] with snores: I have drugg'd their possets [drinks], That death and nature do contend about them, Whether they live or die. MACBETH 25 [Within] Who's there? what, ho! LADY MACBETH Alack [oh no], I am afraid they have awaked, And 'tis not done. The attempt and not the deed [if attempted but not done] Confounds [would ruin] us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready; 30 He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled [If Duncan hadn’t reminded me of…] My father as he slept, I had done't. [I would have killed him myself] Enter MACBETH with bloody daggers My husband! MACBETH 35 I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise? LADY MACBETH I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did not you speak? MACBETH 40 When? 19  LADY MACBETH Now. MACBETH As I descended? 5 LADY MACBETH Ay. MACBETH Hark! Who lies i' the second chamber? 10 LADY MACBETH Donalbain. MACBETH This is a sorry sight. Looking on his hands 15 LADY MACBETH A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. MACBETH There's one [of the servants] did laugh in's sleep, and one cried 'Murder!' 20 That they did wake each other: I stood and heard them: But they did say their prayers, and address'd them Again to sleep. LADY MACBETH There are two lodged together. 25 MACBETH One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the other; As [as if] they had seen me with these hangman's hands. Listening their fear, I could not say 'Amen,' When they did say 'God bless us!' 30 LADY MACBETH Consider it not so deeply. [Don’t think about it so much] MACBETH But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'? I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen' 35 Stuck in my throat. LADY MACBETH These deeds must not be thought After these ways; so, it will make us mad. MACBETH 40 Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep, Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care, The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, 20  Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, Chief nourisher in life's feast,-- LADY MACBETH What do you mean? 5 MACBETH Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house: 'Glamis [Macbeth] hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor [Macbeth] Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.' LADY MACBETH 10 Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane, You do unbend your noble strength, to think So brainsickly of things. Go get some water, And wash this filthy witness from your hand. Why did you bring these daggers from the place? 15 They must lie there: go carry them; and smear The sleepy grooms [guards] with blood. MACBETH I'll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; 20 Look on't again I dare not. LADY MACBETH Infirm of purpose! [Coward!] Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood 25 That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal; For it must seem their guilt. Exit. Knocking within MACBETH 30 Whence is that knocking? How is't [what’s wrong] with me, when every noise appals [scares] me? What [whose] hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather [will instead make] 35 The multitudinous [numerous] seas in incarnadine [scarlet], Making the green one red. Re-enter LADY MACBETH LADY MACBETH My hands are of your colour; but I shame [I would be ashamed] 40 To wear a heart so white [weak as yours]. Knocking within I hear a knocking At the south entry: retire we to our chamber; 21  A little water clears us of this deed: How easy is it, then! Your constancy Hath left you unattended. [You’ve lost your resolve.] Knocking within 5 Hark! more knocking. Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us, [in case someone comes] And show [sees] us to be watchers [awake]. Be not lost So poorly in your thoughts. MACBETH 10 To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself. [I’d prefer to be completely unconscious] Knocking within Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would [I wish] thou couldst! Exeunt SCENE III. The same. 15 Knocking within. Enter a Porter, drunk Porter Here's a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. [he would have to turn the key a lot] Knocking within 20 Knock, knock, knock! Who's there, i' the name of Beelzebub? Here's a farmer, that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty [because grain was little] : come in [talking to the imaginary farmer] time; have napkins enough about you; here you'll sweat for't. Knocking within Knock, knock! Who's there, in the other devil's name? Faith, here's an equivocator [a liar, con man], that 25 could swear in both the scales against either scale; who committed treason enough for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to [deceive] heaven: O, come in, equivocator. Knocking within Knock, knock, knock! Who's there? Faith, here's an English tailor come hither, for stealing out of a French hose: come in, tailor; here you may roast your goose [you can heat your iron up in here]. 30 Knocking within Knock, knock; never at quiet! What are you? But this place is too cold for hell. I'll devil-porter it no further: I had thought to have let in some of all professions that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire. Knocking within 22  Anon, anon! I pray you, remember the porter. [I’m coming, I’m coming! Please, don’t forget to leave me a tip] Opens the gate Enter MACDUFF and LENNOX 5 MACDUFF Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, That you do lie so late? [that you’re having a hard time getting up now] Porter 'Faith [That’s right] sir, we were carousing [drinking] till the second cock: and drink, sir, is a great 10 provoker of three things. MACDUFF What three things does drink especially provoke? Porter Marry, sir, nose-painting [turns your nose red], sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; 15 it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance: therefore, much drink may be said to be an equivocator [a con artist] with lechery: it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off [It gets you up but it keeps you from getting off]; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep [makes you dream about erotic experiences], and, giving him the lie, leaves him. 20 MACDUFF I believe drink gave thee the lie last night. Porter That it did, sir, i' the very throat on me: but I requited him for his lie; and, I think, being too strong for him, though he took up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him. [I managed to vomit it] 25 MACDUFF Is thy master stirring [awake]? Enter MACBETH Our knocking has awaked him; here he comes. LENNOX 30 Good morrow, noble sir. MACBETH Good morrow, both. MACDUFF Is the king stirring, worthy thane? 35 MACBETH Not yet. MACDUFF He did command me to call timely on him: I have almost slipp'd the hour. 40 MACBETH I'll bring you to him. 23  MACDUFF I know this is a joyful trouble to you; But yet 'tis one. MACBETH 5 The labour we delight in physics [cures] pain. This is the door. MACDUFF I'll make so bold to call, For 'tis my limited service. [I’ll wake him, because that’s my job.] 10 Exit LENNOX Goes the king hence today? [Is the king leaving here] MACBETH He does: he did appoint so. 15 LENNOX The night has been unruly: where we lay, Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say, Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death, And prophesying with accents terrible 20 Of dire combustion and confused events New hatch'd to [will cause the beginning of] the woeful time: the obscure bird [the owl] Clamour'd the livelong night [cried all night]: some say, the earth Was feverous [had fever] and did shake. MACBETH 25 'Twas a rough night. LENNOX My young remembrance cannot parallel [remember] A fellow to it. [anything like it] Re-enter MACDUFF 30 MACDUFF O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart Cannot conceive nor name thee! MACBETH & LENNOX What's the matter? 35 MACDUFF Confusion now hath made his masterpiece! Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope [broke in] The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence The life o' the building! 40 MACBETH What is 't you say? the life? LENNOX Mean you his majesty? 24  MACDUFF Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight With a new Gorgon: do not bid me speak; See, and then speak yourselves. 5 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, 10 And look on death itself! up, up, and see The great doom's image! Malcolm! Banquo! As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites, To countenance [witness] this horror! Ring the bell. Bell rings 15 Enter LADY MACBETH LADY MACBETH What's the business, That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley The sleepers of the house? speak, speak! 20 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. 25 Enter BANQUO O Banquo, Banquo, Our royal master 's murder'd! LADY MACBETH Woe, alas! 30 What, in our house? BANQUO Too cruel any where. [no matter where it happened] Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself, And say it is not so. 35 Re-enter MACBETH and LENNOX, with ROSS MACBETH Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time; for, from this instant, There 's nothing serious in mortality: 40 All is but toys: renown and grace is dead; 25  The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees [only the dregs] Is left this vault to brag of. Enter MALCOLM and DONALBAIN DONALBAIN 5 What is amiss [wrong]? MACBETH You are, and do not know't: The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood [The source from which your royal blood comes] Is stopp'd; the very source of it is stopp'd. 10 MACDUFF Your royal father 's murder'd. MALCOLM O, by whom? LENNOX 15 Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done 't: Their hands and faces were an badged with blood; So were their daggers, which unwiped we found Upon their pillows: They stared, and were distracted; no man's life 20 Was to be trusted with them. MACBETH O, yet I do repent me of my fury, That I did kill them. [that drove me to kill them] MACDUFF 25 Wherefore did you so? [What did you do that for?] MACBETH Who can be wise, amazed, temperate and furious, Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man: The expedition my violent love 30 Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan, His silver skin laced with his golden blood; And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature For ruin's wasteful entrance: there, the murderers, Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers 35 Unmannerly breech'd with gore: who could refrain, [Who could have restrained himself,] That had a heart to love, and in that heart Courage to make 's love known? LADY MACBETH Help me hence, ho! 40 MACDUFF Look to the lady. MALCOLM [Aside to DONALBAIN] Why do we hold our tongues, That most may claim this argument for ours? [the two of us have the most to say in this matter] 45 26  DONALBAIN [Aside to MALCOLM] What should be spoken here, where our fate, Hid in an auger-hole, may rush, and seize us? [danger may be waiting to strike at us] 5 Let's away; Our tears are not yet brew'd. MALCOLM [Aside to DONALBAIN] Nor our strong sorrow Upon the foot of motion. [turn into action] 10 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, 15 And question this most bloody piece of work, To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us: In the great hand of God I stand; and thence Against the undivulged pretence I fight Of treasonous malice. 20 MACDUFF And so do I. ALL So all. MACBETH 25 Let's briefly put on manly readiness, And meet i' the hall together. ALL Well contented. Exeunt all but Malcolm and Donalbain. 30 MALCOLM What will you do? Let's not consort [stay here] with them: To show an unfelt sorrow is an office Which the false man does easy. I'll to England. DONALBAIN 35 To Ireland, I; our separated fortune Shall keep us both the safer: where we are, There's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood [Our closest relatives], The nearer bloody [are the ones most likely to murder us]. MALCOLM 40 This murderous shaft that's shot Hath not yet lighted [encountered], and our safest way Is to avoid the aim. Therefore, to horse; And let us not be dainty [worried] of leave-taking [saying goodbyes], 27  But shift away: there's warrant [justification] in that theft Which steals itself, when there's no mercy left. Exeunt SCENE IV. Outside Macbeth's castle. 5 Enter ROSS and an old Man Old Man Threescore and ten [the past seventy years] I can remember well: Within the volume of which time I have seen Hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore night 10 Hath trifled former knowings. ROSS Ah, good father, Thou seest, the heavens, as [they look] troubled with man's [evil] act, Threaten his bloody stage [the earth]: by the clock, 'tis day, 15 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 20 'Tis unnatural, Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last, A falcon, towering in her pride of place [circling high in the sky], Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd. ROSS 25 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 make War with mankind. 30 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. 35 Enter MACDUFF How goes the world, sir, now? MACDUFF Why, see you not? ROSS 40 Is't known who did this more than bloody deed? MACDUFF Those that Macbeth hath slain. 28  ROSS Alas, the day! What good could they pretend? MACDUFF 5 They were suborn'd [paid]: Malcolm and Donalbain, the king's two sons, Are stol'n away and fled; which puts upon them Suspicion of the deed. ROSS 10 'Gainst nature still! Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up Thine own life's means! Then 'tis most like The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth. MACDUFF 15 He is already named, and gone to Scone To be invested [crowned]. ROSS Where is Duncan's body? MACDUFF 20 Carried to Colmekill, The sacred storehouse of his predecessors, And guardian of their bones. ROSS Will you to Scone? 25 MACDUFF No, cousin, I'll to Fife. ROSS Well, I will thither. MACDUFF 30 Well, may you see things well done there: adieu! Lest our old robes sit easier than our new! [I hope our new situation won’t be worse than before] ROSS Farewell, father. Old Man 35 God's benison [blessing] go with you; and with those That would make good [out] of bad, and friends [out] of foes! Exeunt 40 29  ACT III SCENE I. Forres. The palace. Enter BANQUO BANQUO 5 Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, As the weird women promised, and, I fear, Thou play'dst most foully for't [you cheated for these titles]: yet it was said It should not stand in thy posterity [your descendants will not hold these titles], But that myself should be the root and father 10 Of many kings. If there come truth from them-- As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine-- Why, by the verities on thee made good, May they not be my oracles as well, And set me up in hope? But hush! no more. 15 Sennet [trumpet] sounded. Enter MACBETH, as king, LADY MACBETH, as queen, LENNOX, ROSS, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants MACBETH Here's our chief guest. LADY MACBETH 20 If he had been forgotten, It had been as a gap in our great feast, And all-thing unbecoming. [that wouldn’t be any good] MACBETH To-night we hold a solemn supper sir, 25 And I'll request your presence. BANQUO Let your highness Command upon me; to the which my duties Are with a most indissoluble tie 30 For ever knit. MACBETH Ride you this afternoon? BANQUO Ay, my good lord. 35 MACBETH We should have else desired your good advice, Which still hath been both grave and prosperous, In this day's council; but we'll take [wait until] to-morrow. Is't far you ride? 40 BANQUO As far, my lord, as will fill up the time 'Twixt this and supper: go not [unless] my horse [goes] the better, I must become a borrower of the night For a dark hour or twain. 30  MACBETH Fail not our feast. BANQUO My lord, I will not. 5 MACBETH We hear, our bloody cousins are bestow'd In England and in Ireland, not confessing Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers With strange invention: but [we’ll speak] of that to-morrow, 10 When therewithal we shall have [will discuss] cause of state Craving us jointly. Hie you [hurry up] to horse: adieu, Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you? BANQUO Ay, my good lord: our time does call upon 's. 15 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 time [is free] 20 Till seven at night: to make society The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself Till supper-time alone: while then, God be with you! Exeunt all but MACBETH, and an attendant Sirrah [servant], a word with you: attend those men 25 Our pleasure? [Are those men waiting for me?] ATTENDANT They are, my lord, without the palace gate. MACBETH Bring them before us. 30 Exit Attendant To be thus [to be king] is nothing; But to be safely thus [if I’m not safe].— Our fears in Banquo Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature Reigns that which would be fear'd: 'tis much he dares; 35 And, to that dauntless temper of his mind, He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour To act in safety. There is none but he Whose being I do fear: and, under him, My Genius is rebuked; as, it is said, 40 Mark Antony's was by Caesar. He chid [chided, criticized] the sisters When first they put the name of king upon me, And bade them speak to him: then prophet-like 31  They hail'd him father to a line of kings: Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, And put a barren sceptre in my gripe, Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand [Someone outside my family will take these away], 5 No son of mine succeeding. If 't be so, For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd; Put rancours in the vessel of my peace Only for them; and mine eternal jewel 10 Given to the common enemy of man, To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! Rather than so, come fate into the list. [I will challenge fate] And champion me to the utterance! Who's there? Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers 15 Now go to the door, and stay there till we call. Exit Attendant Was it not yesterday we spoke together? First Murderer It was, so please your highness. 20 MACBETH Well then, now Have you consider'd of my speeches? Know That it was he [Banquo] in the times past which held you So under fortune [treated you badly], which you thought had been 25 Our innocent self: this I made good to you In our last conference, pass'd in probation with you, [I explained] How you were borne in hand, how cross'd, the instruments, [how you were thwarted, the things that were used against you] Who wrought with them, and all things else that might 30 To half a soul and to a notion crazed [even a stupid and crazy person would understand] Say 'Thus did Banquo.' First Murderer You made it known to us. MACBETH 35 I did so, and went further, which is now Our point of second meeting. Do you find Your patience so predominant in your nature That you can let this go? Are you so gospell'd [pious] To pray for this good man and for his issue [children], 40 Whose heavy hand hath bow'd [pushed] you to the grave And beggar'd yours [your family] for ever? First Murderer We are men, my liege. 45 32  MACBETH Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men; As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, Shoughs, water-rugs and demi-wolves, are clept 5 All by the name of dogs: the valued file Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle, The housekeeper, the hunter, every one According to the gift which bounteous nature Hath in him closed; whereby he does receive 10 Particular addition. from the bill That writes them all alike: and so of men. Now, if you have a station in the file, [if you occupy some place in the list of men] Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say 't; And I will put that business in your bosoms, 15 Whose execution takes your enemy off, Grapples you to the heart and love of us, Who wear our health but sickly in his life, [As long as Banquo lives, I am sick] Which in his death were perfect. Second Murderer 20 I am one, my liege, Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world Have so incensed [angry] that I am reckless what I do to spite the world. First Murderer 25 And I another So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune, That I would set [risk] my life on any chance, To mend it, or be rid on't. MACBETH 30 Both of you Know Banquo was your enemy. Both Murderers True, my lord. MACBETH 35 So is he mine; and in such bloody distance, That every minute of his being thrusts Against my near'st of life: and though I could With barefaced power sweep him from my sight And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not, 40 For certain friends that are both his and mine, Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall [I have to be able to moan and cry over his death in public] Who I myself struck down; and thence it is, That I to your assistance do make love, Masking the business from the common eye 45 For sundry weighty [important] reasons. Second Murderer We shall, my lord, Perform what you command us. 33  First Murderer Though our lives— MACBETH (interrupts him) Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour at most 5 I will advise you where to plant yourselves; Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time, The moment on't; for't must be done to-night, And something [away] from the palace; always thought [remember] That I require a clearness: and with him— 10 To leave no rubs nor botches [evidence] in the work— Fleance his son, that keeps him company, Whose absence is no less material to me Than is his father's, must embrace the fate Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart: [make sure you both really want to do this] 15 I'll come to you anon. Both Murderers We are resolved, my lord. MACBETH I'll call upon you straight: abide within. 20 Exeunt Murderers It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul's flight, If it find heaven, must find it out to-night. Exit SCENE II. The palace. 25 Enter LADY MACBETH and a Servant LADY MACBETH Is Banquo gone from court? Servant Ay, madam, but returns again to-night. 30 LADY MACBETH Say to the king, I would attend his leisure For a few words. Servant Madam, I will. 35 Exit LADY MACBETH Nought's had, all's spent, Where [if] our desire is got without content [happiness]: 'Tis safer to be that which we destroy 40 Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. 34  Enter MACBETH How now, my lord! why do you keep alone, Of sorriest fancies your companions making, [keep only the sad thoughts as company] Using those thoughts which should indeed have died 5 With them they think on [when you killed the king]? Things without all remedy Should be without regard [shouldn’t be thought]: what's done is done. MACBETH We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it: She'll close and be herself [will recover], whilst our poor malice 10 Remains in danger of her former tooth. But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer, Ere we will eat our meal in fear and sleep In the affliction of these terrible dreams 15 That shake us nightly: better be with the dead, Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, Than on the torture of the mind to lie In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave; After life's fitful fever [troubles] he sleeps well; 20 Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison, Malice domestic [rebellions], foreign levy [invasions], nothing, Can touch him further. LADY MACBETH Come on; 25 Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks; Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night. MACBETH So shall I, love; and so, I pray, be you: Let your remembrance apply to Banquo; 30 Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue: Unsafe the while, that we Must lave [wash] our honours in these flattering streams, And make our faces vizards [mask, disguise] to our hearts, Disguising what they are. 35 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. 40 LADY MACBETH But in them nature's copy's not eterne. MACBETH There's comfort yet; they are assailable; Then be thou jocund [cheerful]: ere the bat hath flown 45 His cloister'd flight, ere to black Hecate's summons [Hecate: Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night] The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums 35  Hath rung night's yawning peal [humming], there shall be done A deed of dreadful note. LADY MACBETH What's to be done? 5 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 hand 10 Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond Which keeps me pale! Light thickens; and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood: Good things of day begin to droop and drowse; While night's black agents to their preys do rouse. 15 Thou marvell'st [surprised] at my words: but hold thee still; Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill. [Bad deeds force you to commit more bad deeds] So, prithee, go with me. Exeunt SCENE III. A park near the palace. 20 Enter three Murderers First Murderer But who did bid thee join with us? Third Murderer Macbeth. 25 Second Murderer He needs not our mistrust [We can trust this guy], since he delivers Our offices and what we have to do To the direction just. [he has the same orders as we do] First Murderer 30 Then stand with us. The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day: Now spurs [urges] the lated traveller apace [quickly] To gain the timely inn; and near approaches The subject of our watch. 35 Third Murderer Hark! I hear horses. BANQUO [Within] Give us a light there, ho! Second Murderer 40 Then 'tis he: the rest That are within the note of expectation Already are i' the court [inside]. First Murderer His horses go about. 36  Third Murderer Almost a mile: but he does usually, So all men do, from hence to the palace gate Make it their walk. 5 Second Murderer A light, a light! Enter BANQUO, and FLEANCE with a torch Third Murderer 'Tis he. 10 First Murderer Stand to't. BANQUO It will be rain to-night. First Murderer 15 Let it come down. They set upon BANQUO BANQUO O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! Thou mayst revenge. O slave! 20 Dies. FLEANCE escapes Third Murderer Who did strike out the light? First Murderer Wast not the way? 25 Third Murderer There's but one down; the son is fled. Second Murderer We have lost Best half of our affair. 30 First Murderer Well, let's away, and say how much is done. Exeunt SCENE IV. The same. Hall in the palace. A banquet prepared. Enter MACBETH, LADY MACBETH, ROSS, LENNOX, Lords, and Attendants 35 MACBETH You know your own degrees; sit down: at first And last the hearty welcome. [From the highest to the lowest of you, I bid you a hearty welcome.] 37  Lords Thanks to your majesty. MACBETH Ourself will mingle with society, 5 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; 10 For my heart speaks they are welcome. First Murderer appears at the door MACBETH See, they encounter thee with their hearts' thanks. Both sides are even: here I'll sit i' the midst: 15 Be large in mirth; anon we'll drink a measure The table round. [Soon we will toast around the table] Approaching the door There's blood on thy face. First Murderer 20 'Tis Banquo's then. MACBETH 'Tis better thee without than he within. [I’d rather see his blood on your face than inside of him] Is he dispatch'd? First Murderer 25 My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him. MACBETH Thou art the best o' the cut-throats: yet he's good That did the like for Fleance [whoever did the same to Fleance must also be good]: if thou didst it, Thou art the nonpareil [the best]. 30 First Murderer Most royal sir, Fleance is 'scaped. MACBETH Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect, 35 Whole as the marble, founded as the rock, As broad and general as the casing air: But now I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confined, bound in To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo's safe? First Murderer 40 Ay, my good lord: safe in a ditch he bides, With twenty trenched gashes on his head; The least a death to nature. 38  MACBETH Thanks for that: There the grown serpent lies; the worm that's fled Hath nature that in time will venom breed, [the one that escaped will in time become poisonous] 5 No teeth for the present. Get thee gone: to-morrow We'll hear, ourselves, again. Exit Murderer LADY MACBETH My royal lord, 10 You do not give the cheer [amuse your guests]: the feast is sold [the feast can only be considered as sold] That is not often vouch'd [if not given], while 'tis a making, 'Tis given with welcome [if the host doesn’t show courtesy]: to feed were best at home; From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony; Meeting were bare [would be boring] without it. 15 MACBETH Sweet remembrancer! Now, good digestion wait on appetite, And health on both! LENNOX 20 May't please your highness sit. The GHOST OF BANQUO enters, and sits in MACBETH's place MACBETH Here had we now our country's honour roof'd, Were the graced person of our Banquo present; 25 Who may I rather challenge for unkindness [I hope it turns out that he’s late out of rudeness] Than pity for mischance! [and not because something bad has happened to him] https://www.google.com/search?q=Macbeth+the+ghost+scene&sca_esv=590278102&rlz=1C1GCEA_enTR1020TR1020&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwic4LKZ3IqDAxWfcvEDHR6IAyoQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA ROSS His absence, sir, Lays blame upon his promise. Please't your highness 30 To grace us with your royal company. MACBETH The table's full. LENNOX Here is a place reserved, sir. 35 MACBETH Where? LENNOX Here, my good lord. What is't that moves your highness? [What’s wrong, your highness?] MACBETH 40 [seeing the ghost] Which of you have done this? Lords What, my good lord? 39  MACBETH [to the ghost] Thou canst not say I did it: never shake Thy gory locks [your bloody head] at me. ROSS 5 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 thought 10 He will again be well: if much you note him, You shall offend him and extend his passion [convulsions]: Feed, and regard him not. (Aside to Macbeth) Are you a man? MACBETH Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that 15 Which might appall the devil. LADY MACBETH O proper stuff! [that’s nonsense!] This is the very painting of your fear: [hallucination] This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said, 20 Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts, Impostors to true fear, would well become A woman's story at a winter's fire, Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself! Why do you make such faces? When all's done, [When the vision passes,] 25 You look but on a stool. [you’ll see that you’re just looking at a stool] MACBETH Prithee, see there! behold! look! lo! how say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too. 30 If charnel-houses and our graves must send Those that we bury back, our monuments [bodies] Shall be the maws of kites. [better be in the jaws of birds of prey] GHOST OF BANQUO vanishes LADY MACBETH 35 What, quite unmann'd in folly? MACBETH If I stand here, I saw him. LADY MACBETH Fie, for shame! [nonsense!] 40 MACBETH Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time, Ere humane statute [laws] purged the gentle weal [well-being]; Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd Too terrible for the ear: the times have been, 45 That, when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end [and that would be it]; but now they rise again, 40  With twenty mortal murders [wounds] on their crowns [head], And push us from our stools: this is more strange Than such a murder is. LADY MACBETH 5 My worthy lord, Your noble friends do lack you. MACBETH I do forget. Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends, 10 I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing To 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' the whole table, And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss; 15 Would he were here! to all, and him, we thirst, And all to all. Lords Our duties, and the pledge. Re-enter GHOST OF BANQUO 20 MACBETH Avaunt! and quit my sight! let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; Thou hast no speculation in those eyes Which thou dost glare with! 25 LADY MACBETH Think of this, good peers, But as a thing of custom [a strange habit]: 'tis no other [nothing else]; Only it spoils the pleasure of the time. MACBETH 30 What man dare, I dare: Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger; Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble: or be alive again, 35 And dare me to the desert with thy sword; If trembling I inhabit then, protest me The baby of a girl. Hence [Get out], horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence! GHOST OF BANQUO vanishes 40 Why, so: being gone, I am a man again. Pray you, sit still. LADY MACBETH You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting, With most admired disorder. 41  MACBETH Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer's cloud, Without our special wonder? You make me [feel] strange 5 Even to the disposition that I owe, When now I think you can behold such sights, And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, [you can stay calm] When mine is blanched with fear. ROSS 10 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 [rank], 15 But go at once. LENNOX Good night; and better health Attend his majesty! LADY MACBETH 20 A kind good night to all! Exeunt all but MACBETH and LADY MACBETH MACBETH It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood: [the dead will have their revenge] Stones have been known to move and trees to speak; 25 Augurs [omens] and understood relations have By magot-pies [jays] and choughs [crows] and rooks [crows] brought forth [exposed] The secret'st man of blood [murderers]. What is the night? LADY MACBETH Almost at odds with morning, which is which. 30 MACBETH How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person At our great bidding? LADY MACBETH Did you send to [for] him, sir? 35 MACBETH I hear it by the way; but I will send: There's not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant fee'd [to spy for me]. I will to-morrow, And betimes [early] I will, to the weird sisters: 40 More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know, By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good, All causes shall give way: I am in blood Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade [go on] no more, Returning were as tedious [difficult] as go o'er: 45 Strange things I have in head, that will to hand [that I’m planning to put into action]; Which must be acted ere they may be scann'd [thought about]. 42  LADY MACBETH You lack the season of all natures, sleep. MACBETH Come, we'll to sleep. My strange and self-abuse [My strange self-delusions] 5 Is the initiate fear that wants hard use: [just come from inexperience] We are yet but young in deed. Exeunt SCENE V. A Heath. Thunder. Enter the three Witches meeting HECATE 10 First Witch Why, how now, Hecate! you look angerly. HECATE Have I not [any] reason, beldams [witches] as you are, Saucy and overbold? How did you dare 15 To trade and traffic with Macbeth In 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, 20 Or show the glory of our art? And, which is worse, all you have done Hath been but for a wayward son, Spiteful and wrathful, who, as others do, Loves for his own ends, not for you. 25 But make amends now: get you gone, And at the pit of Acheron [a river in hell] Meet me i' the morning: thither he Will come to know his destiny: Your vessels and your spells provide, 30 Your charms and every thing beside. I am for the air; this night I'll spend Unto a dismal and a fatal end: Great business must be wrought ere noon: Upon the corner of the moon 35 There hangs a vaporous drop profound; I'll catch it ere it come to ground: And that distill'd by magic sleights [spells] Shall raise such artificial sprites [spirits] As by the strength of their illusion 40 Shall draw him on to his confusion: He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear He hopes [will think he is] 'bove wisdom, grace and fear: And you all know, security [overconfidence] Is mortals' chiefest enemy. 45 Music and a song within: 'Come away, come away,' & c 43  Hark! I am call'd; my little spirit, see, Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me. Exit First Witch 5 Come, let's make haste; she'll soon be back again. Exeunt SCENE VI. Forres. The palace. Enter LENNOX and another Lord LENNOX 10 My former speeches have but hit your thoughts, [you think in the same way] Which can interpret further [you can draw further conclusions]: only, I say, Things have been strangely borne. The gracious Duncan Was pitied of Macbeth: marry, he was dead: 15 And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late; Whom, you may say, if't please you, Fleance kill'd, For Fleance fled: men must not walk too late. Who cannot want the thought how monstrous It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain 20 To kill their gracious father? damned fact! How it did grieve Macbeth! [Lennox speaks sarcastically, he knows Macbeth’s murder] did he not straight In pious rage the two delinquents tear, That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep? Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too; 25 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 [in prison]— As, an't please heaven, he shall not—they 30 should find What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance. But, peace! for from broad words and 'cause he [Macduff] fail'd His presence at the tyrant's [Macbeth’s] feast, I hear Macduff lives in disgrace: sir, can you tell 35 Where he bestows himself? Lord The son of Duncan [Malcolm], From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth [stole the throne], Lives in the English court, and is received 40 Of the most pious Edward with such grace That the malevolence of fortune nothing Takes from his high respect: thither Macduff Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid [to ask for help for alliance] To wake [the people of] Northumberland and [their lord] warlike Siward: 45 That, by the help of these—with Him [god] above 44  To ratify the work—we may again Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights, Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives, Do faithful homage and receive free honours: 5 All which we pine for now: and this report Hath so exasperate the king that he Prepares for some attempt of war. LENNOX Sent he to Macduff? [Did King Edward of England tell Macduff to return to Scotland?] 10 Lord He did: and [Macduff responded] with an absolute 'Sir, not I,' The cloudy messenger turns me [Macduff] his back, And hums, as who should say 'You'll rue the time [regret] That clogs [for giving] me with this answer.' 15 LENNOX And that well might Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance [that might make him realize] His wisdom can provide [it would be wise to stay in England]. Some holy angel [should] Fly to the court of England and unfold 20 His message ere he come, that a swift blessing May [He should] soon return to this our suffering country Under a hand accursed! [he should return to free it] Lord I'll send my prayers with him. 25 Exeunt ACT IV SCENE I. A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron. Thunder. Enter the three Witches 30 First Witch Thrice the brinded [tawny, orange-brown] cat hath mew'd. Second Witch Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined. Third Witch 35 Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time. First Witch Round about the cauldron go; In the poison'd entrails [internal organs] throw. Toad, that under cold stone 40 Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter'd venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. 45  ALL Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Second Witch 5 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, 10 Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. ALL Double, double toil and trouble; 15 Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Third Witch Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches' mummy, maw and gulf Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark, 20 Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark, Liver of blaspheming Jew, Gall of goat, and slips of yew Silver'd in the moon's eclipse, Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips, 25 Finger of birth-strangled babe Ditch-deliver'd by a drab, Make the gruel thick and slab: Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, For the ingredients of our cauldron. 30 ALL Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Second Witch Cool it with a baboon's blood, 35 Then the charm is firm and good. Enter HECATE to the other three Witches HECATE O well done! I commend your pains; [I admire your efforts] And every one shall share i' the gains; 40 And now about the cauldron sing, Live elves and fairies in a ring, Enchanting all that you put in. Music and a song: 'Black spirits,' & c HECATE retires 46  Second Witch By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. Open, locks, 5 Whoever knocks! Enter MACBETH MACBETH How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags! What is't you do? 10 ALL A deed without a name. MACBETH I conjure you, by that which you profess, Howe'er you come to know it, answer me: 15 Though you untie the winds and let them fight Against the churches; though the yesty waves Confound and swallow navigation up; Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down; Though castles topple on their warders' heads; 20 Though palaces and pyramids do slope Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure Of nature's germens tumble all together, Even till destruction sicken; answer me To what I ask you. 25 First Witch Speak. Second Witch Demand. Third Witch 30 We'll answer. First Witch Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our mouths, Or from our masters? MACBETH 35 Call 'em; let me see 'em. First Witch Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten Her nine farrow; grease that's sweaten From the murderer's gibbet throw 40 Into the flame. ALL Come, high or low [spirits]; Thyself and office [what you do] deftly show! Thunder. First Apparition: an armed Head [an armored helmet] 47  MACBETH Tell me, thou unknown power— First Witch He knows thy thought: 5 Hear his speech, but say thou nought. First Apparition Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff; Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough. Descends 10 MACBETH Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks; Thou hast harp'd [guessed] my fear aright: but one word more— First Witch 15 He will not be commanded: here's another, More potent than the first. Thunder. Second Apparition: A bloody Child Second Apparition Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! 20 MACBETH Had I three ears, I'ld hear thee [I’d listen with all three]. Second Apparition Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman born 25 Shall harm Macbeth. Descends MACBETH Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee? But yet I'll make assurance double sure, 30 And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live; That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, [That way I can conquer my own fear] And sleep in spite of thunder. Thunder. Third Apparition: a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand What is this 35 That rises like the issue of a king, And wears upon his baby-brow the round And top of sovereignty? ALL Listen, but speak not to't. 40 48  Third Apparition Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care Who chafes [hates], who frets [resents], or where conspirers are: Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until 5 Great Birnam Wood [marches] to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him. Descends MACBETH That will never be 10 Who can impress [command] the forest, bid the tree Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements [omens]! good! Rebellion's head [the ones I murdered], rise never till the wood Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath 15 To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart Throbs to know one thing: tell me, if your art Can tell so much: shall Banquo's issue ever Reign in this kingdom? ALL 20 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? 25 Hautboys First Witch Show! Second Witch Show! 30 Third Witch Show! ALL Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; Come like shadows, so depart! 35 A show of Eight Kings, the last with a glass [mirror] in his hand; GHOST OF BANQUO following MACBETH Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down! Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls. And thy hair, Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first. 40 A third is like the former. Filthy hags! Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes! What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom? Another yet! A seventh! I'll see no more: 49  And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass Which shows me many more; and some I see That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry: Horrible sight! Now, I see, 'tis true; 5 For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me, And points at them for his. Apparitions vanish What, is this so? First Witch 10 Ay, sir, all this is so: but why Stands Macbeth thus amazedly? Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites, And show the best of our delights: I'll charm the air to give a sound, 15 While you perform your antic round: That this great king may kindly say, Our duties did his welcome pay. Music. The witches dance and then vanish, with HECATE MACBETH 20 Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour Stand aye accursed in the calendar! [be marked forever in the calendar as cursed] Come in, without there! Enter LENNOX LENNOX 25 What's your grace's will? MACBETH Saw you the weird sisters? LENNOX No, my lord. 30 MACBETH Came they not by you? LENNOX No, indeed, my lord. MACBETH 35 Infected be the air whereon they ride; And damn'd all those that trust them! I did hear The galloping of horse: who was't came by? LENNOX 'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word 40 Macduff is fled to England. MACBETH Fled to England! 50  LENNOX Ay, my good lord. MACBETH Time, thou anticipatest my dread exploits: [you thwart my dreadful plans] 5 The flighty purpose never is o'ertook [a plan is never accomplished] Unless the deed go with it [unless one doesn’t act immediately]; from this moment The very firstlings of my heart shall be The firstlings of my hand. And even now, To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done: 10 The castle of Macduff I will surprise; Seize upon [the town of] Fife; give to the edge o' the sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool; This deed I'll do before this purpose cool. 15 But no more sights!—Where are these gentlemen? Come, bring me where they are. Exeunt SCENE II. Fife. Macduff's castle. Enter LADY MACDUFF, her Son, and ROSS 20 LADY MACDUFF What had he done, to make him fly the land? ROSS You must have patience, madam. LADY MACDUFF 25 He had none: His flight was madness: when our actions do not, Our fears do make us traitors. ROSS You know not 30 Whether it was his wisdom or his fear. LADY MACDUFF Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave his babes, His mansion and his titles in a place From whence himself does fly? He loves us not; 35 He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren, The most diminutive [smallest] of birds, will fight, Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. All is the fear and nothing is the love; As little is the wisdom, where the flight 40 So runs against all reason. ROSS My dearest coz [relative], I pray you, school yourself: but for your husband, He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows 45 The fits o' the season. I dare not speak 51  much further; But cruel are the times, when we are traitors And do not know ourselves, when we hold rumour From what we fear, yet know not what we fear, 5 But float upon a wild and violent sea Each way and move. I take my leave of you: Shall not be long but I'll be here again: Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward To what they were before. My pretty cousin, 10 Blessing upon you! LADY MACDUFF Father'd he is, and yet he's fatherless. ROSS I am so much a fool, should I stay longer, 15 It would be my disgrace and your discomfort: I take my leave at once. Exit LADY MACDUFF Sirrah, your father's dead; 20 And what will you do now? How will you live? Son As birds do, mother. LADY MACDUFF What, with worms and flies? 25 Son With what I get, I mean; and so do they. LADY MACDUFF Poor bird! thou'ldst never fear the net nor lime, The pitfall nor the gin. 30 Son Why should I, mother? Poor birds they are not set [looked] for. My father is not dead, for all your saying. LADY MACDUFF Yes, he is dead; how wilt thou do for a father? 35 Son Nay, how will you do for a husband? LADY MACDUFF Why, I can buy me twenty at any market. Son 40 Then you'll buy 'em to sell again. LADY MACDUFF Thou speak'st with all thy wit: and yet, i' faith, With wit enough for thee. [but you’re very smart anyway] 52  Son Was my father a traitor, mother? LADY MACDUFF Ay, that he was. 5 Son What is a traitor? LADY MACDUFF Why, one that swears and lies. Son 10 And be all traitors that do so? LADY MACDUFF Every one that does so is a traitor, and must be hanged. Son And must they all be hanged that swear and lie? 15 LADY MACDUFF Every one. Son Who must hang them? LADY MACDUFF 20 Why, the honest men. Son Then the liars and swearers are fools, for there are liars and swearers enow to beat the honest men and hang up them. 25 LADY MACDUFF Now, God help thee, poor monkey! But how wilt thou do for