ACT I SCENE 1 – An open place. Enter three WITCHES. 1st Witch When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain? 2nd Witch When the hurlyburly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won. 3rd Witch That will be ere the set of sun. 1st Witch Where the place? 2nd Witch Upon the heath. 3rd Witch There to meet with Macbeth. 1st Witch I come, Graymalkin! 2nd Witch Paddock calls. 3rd Witch Anon! All Fair is foul and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air. [Exeunt.] SCENE 2 – A camp. Alarum within. Enter KING DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENOX, with ATTENDANTS, meeting a bleeding MACDUFF. Duncan What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state. Malcolm This is Macduff, Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought ‘Gainst my captivity. ? Hail, brave friend! Say to the King the knowledge of the broil, As thou didst leave it. Macduff Doubtful it stood; As two spent swimmers, that do cling together And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald (Worthy to be a rebel, for to that The multiplying villainies of nature Do swarm upon him) from the western isles Of Kernes and Gallowglasses is supplied; And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, Show’d like a rebel’s whore: but all’s too weak; For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name), Disdaining Fortune, with his brandish’d steel, Which smok’d with bloody execution, Like Valour’s minion, carv’d out his passage, Till he fac’d the slave; Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseam’d him from the nave to th’ chops, And fix’d his head upon our battlements. But the Norweyan Lord, surveying vantage, With furbish’d arms, and new supplies of men, Began a fresh assult. Duncan Dismay’d not this Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? Macduff Yes; As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. If I say sooth, I must report they were As cannons overcharg’d with double cracks; So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe. Enter ROSSE. Duncan Who comes here? Malcolm The worthy Thane of Rosse. Lenox What haste looks through his eyes! So should he Look That seems to speak things strange. Rosse God save the King! Duncan Whence cam’st thou, worthy Thane? Rosse From Fife, great King, Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky, And fan our people cold. Norway himself, With terrible numbers, Assisted by that most disloyal traitor, The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict; Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapp’d in proof, Confronted him with self-comparisons, Point against point, rebellious arm ‘gainst arm, Curbing his lavish spirit : and, to conclude, The victory fell upon us; ? That now Sweno, the Norway’s King, craves composition; Nor would we deign him burial of his men Till he disbursed at Saint Colme’s Inch Ten thousand dollars to our general use. Duncan No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive Our bosom interest. ? Go pronounce his present death, And with his former title greet Macbeth. Rosse I’ll see it done. Duncan What he hath lost, noble Macbeth has won. [Exeunt.] SCENE 3 - A heath. Thunder. Enter the three WITCHES. 1st Witch Where hast thou been, Sister? 2nd Witch Killing swine. 3rd Witch Sister, where thou? 1st Witch A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap, And mounch’d, and mounch’d, and mounch’d: “Give me,” qouth I : ? “Aroynt thee, witch!” the rump-fed ronyon cries. Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o’ the’ Tiger: But in a sieve I’ll thither sail, And like a rat without a tail; I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do. 2nd Witch I’ll give thee a wind. 1st Witch Th’ art kind. 3rd Witch And I another. 1st Witch I myself have all the other; And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I’ th’ shipman’s card. I’ll drain him dry as hay: Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his penthouse lid; He shall live a man forbid. Weary sev’n-nights nine time nine, Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine: Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tost. Look what I have. 2nd Witch Show me, show me. 1st Witch Here I have a pilot’s thumb, Wrack’d, as homeward he did come. [Drum within.] 3rd Witch A drum! A drum! Macbeth doth come. All The Weird Sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about: Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, And thrice again, to make up nine. Peace! ? the charm’s wound up. Enter MACBETH and BANQUO. Macbeth So foul and fair a day I have not seen. Banquo How far is’t call’d to Forres? ? What are these, So wither’d and so wild in their attire, That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ earth, And yet are on’t? Live you? or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying Upon her skinny lips: you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so. Macbeth Speak, if you can: what are you? 1st Witch All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! 2nd Witch All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! 3rd Witch All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be King here-after. Banquo Good Sir, why do you start, and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair? ? I’ th’ name of truth, Are ye fantastical, or that indeed Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner You greet with present grace, and great prediction Of noble having, and of royal hope, That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not. If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow, and which will not, Speak then to me, who neither beg, nor fear, Your favours nor your hate. 1st Witch Hail! 2nd Witch Hail! 3rd Witch Hail! 1st Witch Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 2nd Witch Not so happy, yet much happier. 3rd Witch Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none: So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! 1st Witch Banquo and Macbeth, all hail! Macbeth Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more. By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis; But how of Cawdor? the Thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman; and to be King Stands not within the prospect of belief, No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence You owe this strange intelligence? or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting? ? Speak, I charge you. [WITCHES vanish.] Banquo The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them. ? Whither are they vanish’d? Macbeth Into the air; and what seem’d corporal, Melted as breath into the wind. Would they had stay’d! Banquo Were such things here, as we do speak about, Or have we eaten on the insane root, That takes the reason prisoner? Macbeth Your children shall be kings. Banquo You shall be King, Macbeth And Thane of Cawdor too; went it not so? Banquo To th’ selfsame tune, and words. Who’s here? Enter ROSSE. Rosse The King hath happily receiv’d, Macbeth, The news of thy success. And, for an earnest of a great honour, He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor: In which addition, hail, most worthy Thane, For it is thine. Banquo What! can the Devil speak true? Macbeth The Thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me In borrow’d robes? Rosse Who was the Thane, lives yet; But under heavy judgement bears that life Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combin’d With those of Norway, or did line the rebel With hidden help and vantage, or that with both He labour’d in his country’s wrack, I know not; But treasons capital, confess’d and prov’d, Have overthrown him. Macbeth [Aside] Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind. [to Rosse and Angus] Thanks for your pains. ? [to Banquo] Do you not hope your children shall be kings, When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me Promis’d no less to them? Banquo That, trusted home, Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But ‘tis strange: And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of Darkness tell us truths; Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s In deepest consequence. ? Cousins, a word, I pray you. Macbeth [Aside] Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme. ? I thank you, gentlemen. ? [Aside] This supernatural soliciting Cannot be ill; cannot be good: - If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success, Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor: If good, why do I yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, Against the use of nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings. My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man, That function is smother’d in surmise, And nothing is, but what is not. Banquo Look how our partner’s rapt. Macbeth [Aside] If Chance will have me King, why, Chance may crown me, Without my stir. Banquo New honours come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould, But with the aid of use, Macbeth [Aside] Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. Banquo Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure. Macbeth Give me your favour: my dull brain was wrought With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains Are register’d where every day I turn The leaf to read them. ? Let us toward the King. ? [To Banquo] Think upon what hath chanc’d; and at more time, The Interim having weigh’d it, let us speak Our free hearts each to other. Banquo Very gladly. Macbeth Till then, enough. ? Come, friends. [Exeunt.] SCENE IV – Forres. A room in the palace. Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENOX, and ATTENDANTS. Duncan Is execution done on Cawdor? Or not Those in commission yet return’d? Malcolm My Liege, They are not yet come back; but I have spoke With one that saw him die: who did report, That very frankly he confess’d his treasons, Implor’d 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 ow’d, As ‘twere a careless trifle. Duncan There’s no art To find the mind’s construction in the face: He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust ? Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSSE and ANGUS. Duncan O worthiest cousin! The sin of my ingratitude even now Was heavy on me. Thou art so far before, That swiftest wing of recompense is slow To overtake thee: would thou hadst less deserv’d, That the proportion both of thanks and payment Might have been mine! only I have left to say, More is thy due than more than all can pay. Macbeth The service and the loyalty I owe, In doing it, pays itself. Your Highness’ part Is to receive our duties: and our duties Are to your throne and state, children and servants; Which do but what they should, by doing everything Safe toward your love and honour. Duncan Welcome hither: I have begun to plant thee, and will labour To make thee full of growing. ? Noble Banquo, That hast no less deserv’d, nor must be known No less to have done so, let me infold thee, And hold thee to my heart. Banquo There if I grow, The harvest is your own. Duncan My plenteous joys, Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves In drops of sorrow. ? Sons, kinsmen, Thanes. And you whose places are the nearest, know, We will establish our estate upon Our eldest, Malcolm; whom we name hereafter The Prince of Cumberland: which honour must Not unaccompanied invest him only, But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine On all deserves. ? From hence to Inverness, And bind us further to you. Macbeth The rest is labour, which is not us’d for you: I’ll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful The hearing of my wife with your approach; So, humbly take my leave. Duncan My worthy Cawdor! Macbeth [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! – That is a step On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires; The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. [Exit MACBETH.] Duncan True, worthy Banquo: he is full so valiant, And in his commendations I am fed; It is a banquet to me. Let’s after him, Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome: It is a peerless kinsman. [Flourish. Exeunt.] SCENE V – Inverness. A room in Macbeth’s castle. Enter LADY MACBETH, reading a letter. Lady M “They met me in the day of success; and I have learn’d by the perfect’s report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burn’d in desire to question them further, they made themselves air, into which they vanish’d. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the King, who all-hail’d me, ‘Thane of Cawdor’; by which title, before, these Weird Sisters saluted me, and referr’d me to the coming on of time, with ‘Hail, King that shalt be!’ this have I thought good to deliver thee (my dearest partner of greatness) that thou might’st not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promis’d thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell”. Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promis’d. ? Yet do I fear thy nature: It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness, To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, And yet wouldst wrongly win; thou’dst have, great Glamis, That which cries, “Thus thou must do,” if thou have it; And that which rather thou dost fear to do, Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crown’d withal. Enter a MESSENGER. What is your tidings? Messenger The King comes here to-night. Lady M Thou’rt mad to say it. Is not thy master with him? who, were’t so, Would have inform’d for preparation. Messenger So please you, it is true: our Thane is coming; One of my fellows had the speed of him, Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more Than would make up his message. Lady M Give him tending: He brings great news. [Exit MESSENGER.] The raven himself is hoarse, That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you Spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood, Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse; That no compunctious visitings of Nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th’ effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, Whatever in your sightless substances You wait on Nature’s mischief! Come, thick Night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of Hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry, “Hold, hold!” Enter MACBETH. Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor! Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter! Thy letters have transported me beyond This ignorant present, and I feel now The future in the instant. Macbeth My dearest love, Duncan comes here to-night. Lady M And when he goes hence? Macbeth To-morrow, as he purposes. Lady M O! never Shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my Thane, is as a book, where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time, Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue: look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t. He that’s coming Must be provided for; and you shall put This night’s great business into my dispatch; Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. Macbeth We will speak further. Lady M Only look up clear; To alter favour ever is to fear. Leave all the rest to me. [Exeunt.] SCENE VI – The same. Before the castle. Hautboys and torches. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, BANQUO, LENOX, MACDUFF, ROSSE, ANGUS and ATTENDANTS. Duncan This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gently senses. Banquo This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, By his loved mansionry, that the heaven’s breath Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird Hath made his pendent bed, and procreant cradle: Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed The air is delicate. Enter LADY MACBETH. Duncan See, see! our honour’d hostess. The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, 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. Lady M All our service, In every point twice done, and then done double, Were poor and single business, to contend Against those honours deep and broad, wherewith Your Majesty loads our house: for those of old, And the late dignities heap’d up to them, We rest your hermits. Duncan Where’s the Thane of Cawdor? We cours’d 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, We are your guest to-night. Lady M Your servants ever Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt, To make their audit at your Highness’ pleasure, Still to return your own. Duncan Give me your hand; Conduct me to mine host: we love him highly, And shall continue our graces towards him. By your leave, hostess. [Exeunt.] SCENE VII – The same. A room in the castle. Hautboys and torches. Enter, and pass over the stage, a SEWER, and divers SERVANTS with dishes and service. Then enter MACBETH. Macbeth If it were done, when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well It were done quickly: if th’ assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all ? here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We’d jump the life to come. ? But in these cases, We still have judgements here; that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague th’ inventor: this even-handed Justice Commends th’ ingredience of our poison’d chalice To our own lips. He’s here in double trust: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongu’d, against The deep damnation of his taking-off; And Pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast, or heaven’s Cherubins, hors’d Upon the sightless couriers of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, That tears shall drown the wind. ? I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself And falls on th’ other ? Enter LADY MACBETH. How now! what news? Lady M He has almost supp’d. Why have you left the chamber? Macbeth Hath he ask’d for me? Lady M Know you not, he has? Macbeth We will proceed no more in this business: He hath honour’d me of late; and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people, Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, Not cast aside so soon. Lady M Was the hope drunk, Wherein you dress’d yourself? Hath it slept since? And wakes it now, to look so green and pale At what it did so freely? From this time Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and valour, As thou art in desire? Would’st 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”, Like the poor cat I’ th’ adage? Macbeth Pr’ythee, peace. I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more, is none. Lady M What beast was’t then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And, to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man. Nor time, nor place, Did then adhere, and yet you would make both: They have made themselves, and that their fitness now Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn As you have done to this. Macbeth If we should fail? Lady M We fail. But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep (Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey Soundly invite him), his two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassail so convince, That memory, the warder of the brain, Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep Their drenched natures lie, as in a death, What cannot you and I perform upon Th’ unguarded Duncan? what not put upon His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt Of our great quell? Macbeth Bring forth men-children only! For thy undaunted mettle should compose Nothing but males. Will it not be receiv’d, When we have mark’d with blood those sleepy two Of his own chamber, and us’d their very daggers, That they have done’t? Lady M Who dares receive it other As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar Upon his death? Macbeth I am settled, and bend up Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show: False face must hide what the false heart doth know. [Exeunt.] ACT TWO SCENE I – The same. Court within the castle. Enter BANQUO and FLEANCE, with a torch before him. Banquo How goes the night, boy? Fleance The moon is down; I have not heard the clock. Banquo And she goes down at twelve. Fleance I take’t, ‘tis later, Sir. Banquo Hold, take my sword. ? There’s husbandry in heaven; Their candles are all out. ? Take thee that too. A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, And yet I would not sleep: merciful Powers! Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature Gives way to in repose! ? Give me my sword. Enter MACBETH, and a SERVANT with a torch. Who’s there? Macbeth A friend. Banquo What, Sir? not yet at rest? The King’s a-bed: He hath been in unusual pleasure, and Sent forth great largess to your offices. This diamond he greets your wife withal, By the name of most kind hostess, and shut up In measureless content. Macbeth Being unprepar’d, Our will became the servant to defect, Which else should free have wrought. Banquo All’s well. I dreamt last night of the three Weird Sisters: To you they have show’d some truth. Macbeth I think not of them: Yet, when we can entreat an hour to server, We would spend it in some words upon this business, If you would grant the time. Banquo At your kind’st leisure. Macbeth If you shall cleave to my consent, when ‘tis, It shall make honour for you. Banquo So I lose none In seeking to augment it, but still keep My bosom franchis’d, and allegiance clear, I shall be counsell’d. Macbeth Good repose, the while! Banquo Thanks, Sir: the like to you. [Exeunt BANQUO and FLEANCE.] Macbeth Go, bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready, She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed. ? [Exeunt SERVANT.] Is this a dagger, which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee: ? I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling, as to sight? or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I draw. Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going; And such an instrument I was to use. ? Mine eyes are made the fools o’ th’ other senses, Or else worth all the rest: I see thee still; And on thy blade, and dudgeon, gouts of blood, Which was not so before. ? There’s no such thing. It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes. ? Now o’er the one half-world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtail’d sleep: Witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate’s off’rings; and wither’d Murder, Alarum’d by his sentinel, the wolf, Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design Moves like a ghost. ? Thou sure and firm-set earth, Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate of my where-about, And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it. ? Whiles I threat, he lives: Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. [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. [Exeunt.] SCENE II – The same. Enter LADY MACBETH. Lady M That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold: What hath quench’d them hath given me fire. ? Hark! ? Peace! It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman, Which gives the stern’st good-night. He is about it. The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg’d their possets, That Death and Nature do contend about them, Whether they live, or die. Macbeth [Within.] Who’s there? ? what, ho! Lady M Alack! I am afraid they have awak’d, And ‘tis not done: ? th’ attempt and not the deed Confounds us. ? Hark! ? I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss ‘em. ? Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done’t. ? My husband! Enter MACBETH. Macbeth I have done the deed. ? Didst thou not hear a noise? Lady M I heard the owl scream, and the crickets cry. Did you not speak? Macbeth When? Lady M Now. Macbeth As I descended? Lady M Ay. Macbeth Hark! Who lies i’ th’ second chamber? Lady M Donalbain. Macbeth This is a sorry sight. Lady M A foolish thought to say a sorry sight. Macbeth There’s one did laugh in’s sleep, and one cried, “Murder!” That they did wake each other: I stood and heard them; But they did say their prayers, and address’d them Again to sleep. Lady M There are two lodg’d together. Macbeth One cried, “God bless us!” and, “Amen”, the other, As they had seen me with these hangman’s hands. List’ning their fear, I could not say, “Amen”, When they did say, “God bless us”. Lady M Consider it not so deeply. Macbeth But wherefore could I not pronounce “Amen”? I had most need of blessing, and “Amen” Stuck in my throat. Lady M These deeds must not be thought After these ways: so, it will make us mad. Macbeth Methought, I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! Macbeth doth murder Sleep”, ? the innocent Sleep; Sleep, that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great Nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast; ? Lady M What do you mean? Macbeth Still it cried, “ Sleep no more!” to all the house: “Glamis hath murder’d Sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more!” Lady M 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 for your hand. ? Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there: go, carry them, and smear The sleepy grooms with blood. Macbeth I’ll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on’t again I dare not. Lady M Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping, and the dead, Are but as pictures; ‘tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal, For it must seem their guilt. [Exit LADY MACBETH. Knocking within.] Macbeth Whence is that knocking? ? How is’t with me, when every noise appals me? What hands are here? Ha! they pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red. Re-enter LADY MACBETH. Lady M My hands are of your colour; but I shame To wear a heart so white. [Knock.] I hear a knocking At the south entry: ? retire we to our chamber. A little water clears us of this deed: How easy is it then! Your constancy Hath left you unattended. ? [Knock.] Hark! more knocking. Get on your night-gown, lest occasion call us, And show us to be watchers. ? Be not lost So poorly in your thoughts. Macbeth To know my deed, ‘twere best not know myself. [Knock.] Wake Duncan with thy knocking: I would thou couldst! [Exeunt.] SCENE III – The same. Enter a PORTER. [Knocking within.] Porter Here’s a knocking, indeed! If a man were Porter of Hell Gate, he should have old turning the key. [Knocking.] Knock, knock, knock. Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Belzebub? ? Here’s a farmer, that hang’d himself on th’ expectation of plenty: come in, time-server; have napkins enow about you; here you’ll sweat for’t. [Knocking.] Knock, knock. Who’s there, i’ th’ other devil’s name? ? Faith, here’s an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale; who committed treason enough for God’s sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven: O! come in, equivocator. [Knocking.] Knock, knock, knock. Who’s there? ? Faith, here’s an English tailor come hither for stealing out of a French hose: come in, tailor; hence you may roast your goose. [Knocking.] 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 th’ everlasting bonfire. [Knocking.] Anon, anon: I pray you, remember the Porter. [Opens the gate.] Enter MACDUFF and LENOX. Macduff Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, That you did lie so late? Porter Faith, Sir, we were carousing till the second cock; and drink, Sir, is a great provider of three things. Macduff What three things does drink especially provoke? Porter Marry, Sir, nose-painting, sleep and urine. Lechery, Sir, it provokes, and unprovokes: it provokes desire, but it takes away the performance. Therefore, much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery: it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and not stand to: in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him. Macduff I believe, drink gave thee the lie last night. Porter That it did, Sir, i’ the very throat on me: but I requited him for his lie; and (I think) being too strong for him, though he took up my legs some-time, yet I made a shift to cast him. Macduff Is thy master stirring? Enter MACBETH. Our knocking has awak’d him; here he comes. Lenox Good morrow, noble Sir! Macbeth Good morrow, both! Macduff Is the King stirring, worthy Thane? Macbeth Not yet. Macduff He did command me to call timely on him: I have almost slipp’d the hour. Macbeth I’ll bring you to him. Macduff I know, this is a joyful trouble to you; But yet ‘tis one. Macbeth The labour we delight in physics pain. This is the door. Macduff I’ll make so bold to call, For ‘tis my limited service. [Exit MACDUFF.] Lenox Goes the King hence to-day? Macbeth He does: ? he did appoint so. Lenox 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 th’ woeful time, the obscure bird Clamour’d the livelong night: some say, the earth Was feverous, and did shake. Macbeth ‘Twas a rough night. Lenox My young remembrance cannot parallel A fellow to it. Re-enter MACDUFF. Macduff O horror! horror! horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive, nor name thee! Macb/Len What’s the matter? Macduff Confusion now hath made his masterpiece! Most sacrilegious Murder hath broke ope The Lord’s anointed Temple, and stole thence The life o’ th’ building! Macbeth What is’t you say? the life? Lenox Mean you his Majesty? Macduff Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight With a new Gorgon. ? Do not bid me speak: See, and then speak yourselves. ? [Exeunt MACBETH and LENOX.] 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 see The great doom’s image! ? Malcolm! Banquo! As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites, To countenance this horror! [Bell rings.] Enter LADY MACBETH. Lady M What’s the business, That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley The 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 further as it fell. Enter BANQUO. O Banquo! Banquo! Our royal mater’s murder’d! Lady M Woe, alas! What! in our house? Banquo Too cruel, anywhere. Dear Duff, I pr’ythee, contradict thyself, And say, it is not so. Re-enter MACBETH and LENOX. Macbeth Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had liv’d a blessed time; for, from this instant, There’s nothing serious in mortality; All is but toys: renown, and grace, is dead; The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag of. Enter MALCOLM and DONALBAIN. Donalb. What is amiss? Macbeth You are, and do not know’t: The spring , the head, the fountain of your blood Is stopp’d; the very source of it stopp’d. Macduff Your royal father’s murder’d. Malcolm O! by whom? Lenox 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 found Upon 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 love Outrun 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 nature For ruin’s wasteful entrance: there, the murderers, Steep’d in the colours of their trade, their daggers Unmannerly breech’d with gore. Who could refrain, That had a heart to love, and in that heart Courage, to make’s love known? Lady M Help me hence, ho! Macduff Look to the Lady. Malcolm [Aside to Donalbain.] Why do we hold our tongues, that most may claim This argument for ours? Donalbain [Aside to Malcolm.] What should be spoken Here, where our fate, hid in an auger-hole, May rush, and seize us? Let’s away: Our tears are not yet brew’d. Malcolm [Aside to Donalbain.] Nor our strong sorrow Upon the foot of motion. Banquo Look to the Lady: ? [LADY MACBETH is carried out.] And when we have our naked frailties hid, That suffer in exposure, let us meet, And question this most bloody piece of work, To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us: In the great hand of God I stand; and thence Against the undivulg’d pretence I fight Of 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 contended. [Exeunt all but MALCOLM and DONALBAIN.] Malcolm What will you do? Let’s not consort with them: To show an unfelt sorrow is an office Which the false man does easy. I’ll to England. Donalbain To Ireland, I: our separated fortune Shall keep us both the safer; where we are, There’s daggers in men’s smiles: the near the blood, The nearer the body. Malcolm This murderous shaft that’s shot Hath not yet lighted, and our safest way Is to avoid the aim: therefore, to horse; As let us not be dainty of leave-taking, But shift away. There’s warrant in that theft Which steals itself, when there’s no mercy left. [Exeunt.] SCENE 4 – Without the castle. Enter ROSSE and an OLD MAN. Old Man Threescore and ten I can remember well; Within the volume of which time I have seen Hours dreadful, and things strange, but this sore night Hath trifled former knowings. Rosse 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. Rosse 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. Old Man ‘Tis said, they eat each other. Rosse They did so; to th’ amazement of mine eyes, That look’d upon ‘t. Enter MACDUFF. Here comes the good Macduff. How goes the world, Sir, now? Macduff Why, see you not? Rosse Is’t known, who did this more than bloody deed? Macduff Those that Macbeth hath slain. Rosse Alas, the day! What good could they pretend? Macduff They were suborn’d. Malcolm, and Donalbain, the King’s two sons, Are stol’n away and fled; which puts upon them Suspicion of the deed. Rosse ‘Gainst nature still: Thriftless Ambition, that will ravin up Thine own life’s means! ? Then ‘tis most like The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth. Macduff He is already nam’d, and gone to Scone To be invested. Rosse Where is Duncan’s body? Macduff Carried to Colme-kill, The sacred storehouse of his predecessors, And guardian of their bones. Rosse Will you to Scone? Macduff No cousin, I’ll to Fife. Rosse Well, I will thither. Macduff Well, may you see things well done there: ? adieu! ? Lest our old robes sit easier than our new! Rosse Farewell, Father. Old Man God’s benison go with you; and with those That would make good of bad, and friends of foe! [Exeunt.] ACT THREE 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 it; yet it was said, It should not stand in thy posterity; But that myself should be the root and father Of many kings. If there come truth from them (As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine), Why, by the verities on thee made good, May they not be my oracles as well, And set me up in hope? But, hush; no more. Sennet sounded. Enter MACBETH as King, LADY MACBETH as Queen, LENOX, ROSSE, and LORDS and ATTENDANTS. Macbeth Here’s our chief guest. Lady M If he had been forgotten, It had been as a gap in our great feast, And all-thing unbecoming. Macbeth To-night we hold a solemn supper, Sir, And I’ll request your presence. Banquo Let your Highness Command upon me, to the which my duties Are with a most indissoluble tie For ever knit. Macbeth Ride you this afternoon? Banquo Ay, my good Lord. 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 to-morrow. 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’d In England, and in Ireland; not confessing Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers With strange invention. But of that to-morrow, When, therewithal, we shall have cause of State, Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse; adieu, Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you? Banquo Ay, my good Lord: our time does call upon’s. Macbeth I wish your horses swift, and sure of foot; And so I do command you to their backs. Farewell. [Exit BANQUO.] Let every man be master of his time Till seven at night; To make society the sweeter welcome, We will keep ourself till supper-time alone: While then, God be with you. [Exeunt all except MACBETH.] Enter Three MURDERERS. Macbeth Both of you Know, Banquo was your enemy. All True, my Lord. Macbeth So is he mine. [Exeunt MURDERERS.] It is concluded: Banquo, thy soul’s flight, If it find Heaven, must find it out to-night. [Exit.] SCENE 2 – The same. Another room. Enter LADY MACBETH and a SERVANT. Lady M Is Banquo gone from court? Servant Ay, Madam, but returns again to-night. Lady M Say to the King, I would attend his leisure For a few words. Servant Madam, I will [Exit SERVANT.] Lady M Nought’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 died With them they think on? Things without all remedy Should 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 malice 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, 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 lie In 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, nothing Can touch him further! Lady M Come on: 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: Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue: Unsafe the while, that we Must lave our honours in these flattering streams, And make our faces vizards to our hearts, Disguising what they are. Lady M You must leave this. Macbeth O! full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! Thou know’st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives. Lady M But in them Nature’s copy’s not enterne. Macbeth There’s comfort yet; they are assailable: Then be thou jocund. Ere the bat hath flown His cloister’d flight; ere to black Hecate’s summons The shard-born beetle, with his drowsy hums, Hath rung Night’s yawning peal, there shall be done A deed of dreadful note. Lady M 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 hand, Cancel, and tear to pieces, that great bond Which keeps me pale! ? Light thickens; and the crow Makes 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 3 – The same. A park, with a road leading to the palace. Enter Banquo and Fleance. Enter MURDERERS. Banquo O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! Thou may’st revenge ? O slave! [Dies. FLEANCE escapes.] SCENE 4 – A room of state in the palace. A banquet prepared. Enter MACBETH, LADY MACBETH, ROSSE, LENOX, LORDS and ATTENDANTS. Macbeth You know your own degrees, sit down: at first And last, the hearty welcome. Lords Thanks to your Majesty. Macbeth Ourself will mingle with society, And play the humble host. Our hostess keeps her state; but, in best time, We will require her welcome. Lady M Pronounce it for me, Sir, to all our friends; For my heart speaks, they are welcome. Enter MURDERERs, 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 measure The table round. [Goes to door.] There’s blood upon thy face. Murd 1 ‘Tis Banquo’s then. Macbeth ‘Tis better thee without, than he within. Is he dispatch’d? Murd 1 My Lord, his throat is cut; That I did for him. Safe in a ditch he bides, With twenty trenched gashes on his head; 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. Murd 1 Most royal Sir… Fleance is scap’d. Macbeth Then comes my fit again: I have else been perfect; Whole as a marble, founded as the rock, As broad and general as the casing air: But now, I am cabin’d, cribb’d, confin’d, bound in. To saucy doubts and fears. ? But Banquo’s safe? There the grown serpent lies; the worm, that’s fled, Hath nature that in time will venom breed, No teeth for th’ present. ? Get thee gone; to-morrow We’ll hear ourselves again. [Exit MURDERERS.] Lady M My royal Lord, You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold, That is not often vouch’d, while ‘tis a-making, ‘tis given with welcome: to feed were best at home; from thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony; meeting were bare without it. Macbeth Sweet remembrancer! ? Now, good digestion wait on appetite, And health on both! Lenox My it please your Highness sit? Macbeth Here had we now our country’s honour roof’d, Were the grac’d person of our Banquo present; The GHOST OF BANQUO enters, and sits in Macbeth’s place. Who may I rather challenge for unkindness, Than pity for mischance! Rosse His absence, Sir, Lays blame upon his promise. Please ‘t your Highness To grace us with your royal company? Macbeth The table’s full. Lenox Here is a place reserv’d, Sir. Macbeth Where? Lenox 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 shake Thy gory locks at me. Rosse Gentlemen, rise; his Highness is not well. Lady M 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 He will again be well. If much you note him, You shall offend him, and extend his passion; Feed, and regard him not. ? Are you a man? Macbeth Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that Which might appal the Devil. Lady M 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 become A 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 send Those that we bury, back, our monuments Shall be the maws of kites. [Ghost disappears.] Lady M What! quite unmann’d in folly? Macbeth If I stand here, I saw him. Lady M 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’d Too 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 strange Than such a murder is. Lady M 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 nothing To those that know me. Come, love and health to all; Then, Ill set down. ? Give me some wine: fill full: ? I drink to th’ general joy o’ th’ whole table, And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss; Would he were here! Re-enter GHOST. 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 eyes, Which thou dost glare with. Lady M 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 liked the rugged Russian bear, The arm’d rhinoceros, or th’ Hyrcan tiger; Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble: or, be alive again, And dare me to the desert with thy sword; If trembling I inhabit then, protest me The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence! ? [GHOST disappears.] Why, so; ? being gone, I am a man again. ? Pray you, sit still. Lady M You have displac’d the mirth, broke the good meeting With most admir’d disorder. Macbeth Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer’s cloud, Without our special wonder? You make me strange Even to the disposition that I owe, When now I think you can behold such sights, And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, When mine is blanch’d with fear. Rosse What sights, my Lord? Lady M 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. Lenox Good night, and better health Attend his Majesty! Lady M A kind good night to all! [Exeunt LENOX, ROSSE, LORDS and ATTENDANTS.] Macbeth It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood: Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak Augures, and understood relations, have By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth The secret’st man of blood. ? What is the night? Lady M Almost at odds with morning, which is which. Macbeth How say’st thou, that Macduff denies his person, At our great bidding? Lady M Did you send to him, Sir? Macbeth I hear it by the way; but I will send. There’s not a one of them, but in his house I keep a servant fee’d. I will to-morrow (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 blood Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er. Strange things I have in head, that will to hand, Which must be acted, ere they may be scann’d. Lady M You lack the season of all natures, sleep. Macbeth Come, we’ll to sleep. My strange and self-abuse Is the initiate of fear, that wants hard use: We are yet but young in deed. [Exeunt.] SCENE 5 – The heath VOICE OVER The son of Duncan, From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth, Lives in the English court; and is receiv’d 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 wake Northumberland, and warlike Siward; That, by the help of these (with Him above To ratify the work), we may again Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights, Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives, Do faithful homage, and receive free honours, All which we pine for now. And this report Hath so exasperate the King, that he Prepares for some attempt of war. Thunder. Enter the three WITCHES, meeting HECATE. 1st Witch Why, how now, Hecate? you look angerly. Hecate Have I not reason, beldams as you are, Saucy, and overbold? How did you dare To trade and traffic with Macbeth, In riddle, 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 done Hath been but for a wayward sone, Spiteful, and wrathful; who, as others do, Loves for his own ends, not for you. But make amends now: get you gone, And at the pit of Acheron Meet me i’ th’ morning: thither he Will 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 spend Unto a dismal and a fatal end: Great business must be wrought ere noon. Upon the corner of the moon There hangs a vap-rous drop profound; I’ll catch it ere it come to ground: And that, distill’d by magic sprites, As, by the strength of their illusion, Shall draw him on to his confusion. He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear His hopes ‘bove wisdom, grace, and fear; And you all know, security Is mortals’ chiefest enemy. [Song within: “come away, come away” etc.] Hark! I am call’d: my little spirit, see, Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays with me. [ACT IV – SCENE 1] 1st Witch Come, let’s make haste: she’ll soon be back again. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. ? [Knocking.] 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 fight Against the Churches; though the yesty waves Confound 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 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. 1st Witch Speak. 2nd Witch Demand. 3rd Witch We’ll answer. 1st Witch Say, if thou ‘dst rather hear it from our mouths, Or from our masters? Macbeth Call ‘em; let me see ‘em. 1st Witch Pour in sow’s blood, that hath eaten Her nine farrow; grease, that’s sweaten From the murderer’s gibbet, throw Into the flame. All Come, high, or low; Thyself and office deftly show. Thunder. First Apparition, an armed head. Macbeth Tell me, thou unknown power, ? 1st Witch He knows thy thought: Hear his speech, but say thou nought. 1st App. 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: ? 1st Witch He will not be commanded. Here’s another, More potent than the first. Thunder. Second Apparition, a bloody child. 2nd App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! ? Macbeth Had I three ears, I’d hear thee. 2nd App. Be bloody, bold, and resolute: laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth. [Descends.] Macbeth Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee? But yet I’ll make assurance double sure, And take a bond of Fate: thou shalt not live; That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, And sleep in spite of thunder. ? Thunder. Third Apparition, All Listen, but speak not to’t. 3rd App. Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be, until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him. [Descends.] Macbeth That will never be: Who can impress the forest; bid the tree Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements! good! Rebellious dead, rise never, till the wood Of Birnam rise; and our high-plac’d Macbeth Shall live the lease of Nature, pay his breath To time, and mortal custom. [ The WITCHES vanish.] Macbeth Where are they? Gone? ? Let this pernicious hour Stand aye accursed in the calendar! ? Come in, without there! Enter LENOX. Lenox What’s your Grace’s will? Macbeth Saw you the Weird Sisters? Lenox No, my Lord. Macbeth Came they not by you? Lenox No, indeed, my Lord. Macbeth Infected be the air whereon they ride; And damn’d all those that trust them! ? I did hear The galloping of horse: who was’t came by? Lenox ‘Tis two or three, my Lord, that bring you word, Macduff is fled to England. Macbeth Fled to England? Lenox Ay, my good Lord. Macbeth [Aside] Time, thou anticipat’st my dread exploits: The flighty purpose never is o’ertook, Unless the deed go with it. From this moment, The very firstlings of my heart shall be The firstlings of my hand. And even now, To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done: The castle of Macduff I will surprise; Seize upon Fife; give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool; This deed I’ll do, before this purpose cool: But no more sights! ? Where are these gentlemen? Come, bring me where they are. [Exeunt.] SCENE 2 – Fife. A room in Macduff’s castle. Enter LADY MACDUFF, her SON, and ROSSE. Lady Mac What had he done, to make him fly the land? Rosse You must have patience, Madam. Lady Mac He had none: His flight was madness: when our actions do not, Our fears do make us traitors. Rosse You know not, Whether it was his wisdom, or his fear. Lady Mac Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave his babes, His mansion, and his titles, in a place From whence himself does fly? He loves us not: He wants the natural touch; for the poor wren, The most diminitive 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 So runs against all reason. Rosse My dearest coz, I pray you, school yourself: but for your husband, He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows The fits o’ th’ season. I dare not speak 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, 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, Blessing upon you! Lady Mac Father’d he is, and yet he’s fatherless. Rosse I am so much a fool, should I stay longer, It would be my disgrace, and your discomfort: I take my leave at once. [Exit ROSSE.] Lady Mac Sirrah, your father’s dead: And what will you do now? How will you live? Son As birds do, mother. Lady Mac What, with worms and flies? Son With what I get, I mean; and so do they. Lady Mac Poor bird! thoud’st never fear the net, nor lime, The pit-fall, nor the gin. Son Why should I, mother? Poor birds they are not set for. My father is not dead, for all your saying. Lady Mac Yes, he is dead: how wilt thou do for a father? Son Nay, how will you do for a husband? Lady Mac Why, I can but me twenty at any market. Son Then you’ll buy ‘em to sell again. Lady Mac Thou speak’st with all thy wit, And yet, i’ faith, with wit enough for thee. Son Was my father a traitor, mother? Lady Mac Ay, that he was. Son What is a traitor? Lady Mac Why, one that swears and lies. Son And be all traitors that do so? Lady Mac Every one that does so is a traitor, and must be hang’d. Son And must they all be hang’d that swear and lie? Lady Mac Every one. Son Who must hang them? Lady Mac 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. Lady Mac Now God help thee, poor monkey! But how wilt thou do for a father? Son If he were dead, you’ld weep for him: if you would not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have a new father. Lady Mac Poor prattler, how thou talk’st! Enter a MESSENGER. Messenger Bless you, fair dame! I am not to you known, Though in your state of honour I am perfect. I doubt, some danger does approach you nearly: If you will take a homely man’s advice, Be not found here; hence, with your little ones. To fright you thus, methinks, I am too savage; To do worse to you were fell cruelty, Which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you! I dare abide no longer. [Exit MESSENGER.] Lady Mac Whither should I fly? I have done no harm. But I remember now I am in this earthly world, where, to do harm Is often laudable; to do good, sometime Accounted dangerous folly: why then, alas! Do I put up that womanly defence, To say, I have done no harm? What are these faces! Enter MURDERERS. Murd Where is your husband? Lady Mac I hope, in no place so unsanctified, Where such as thou may’st find him. Murd He’s a traitor. Son Thou liest, thou shag-hair’d villian! Murd What, you egg! [Stabbing him.] Young fry of treachery! Son He has kill’d me, mother: Run away, I pray you! [Dies.] [Exit LADY MACDUFF, crying “Murder!” and pursued by the MURDERERS.] SCENE 3 – England. A room in the King’s palace. MALCOLM onstage. Enter MACDUFF. Malcolm I think our country sinks beneath the yoke; It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds: I think, withal, There would be hands uplifted in my right; And here, from gracious England, have I offer Of goodly thousands: but, for all this, When I shall tread upon the tyrant’s head, Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country Shall have more vices than it had before, More suffer, and more sundry ways than ever, By him that shall succeed. Macduff What should he be? Malcolm It is myself I mean; in whom I know All the particulars of vice so grafted, That, when they shall be open’d, black Macbeth Will seem as pure as snow; and the poor State Esteem him as a lamb, being compar’d With my confineless harms. Macduff Not in the legions Of horrid Hell can come a devil more damn’d In evils, to top Macbeth. Malcolm I grant him bloody, Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin That has a name; but there’s no bottom, none, In my voluptuousness: your wives, your daughters, Your matrons, and your maids, could not fill up The cistern of my lust; and my desire All continent impediments would o’erbear, That did oppose my will: better Macbeth, Than such a one to reign. But I have none: the king-becoming graces, As Justice, Verity, Temp’rance, Stableness, Bounty, Perseverance, Mercy, Lowliness, Devotion, Patience, Courage, Fortitude, I have no relish of them; but abound In the division of each several crime, Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should Pour the sweet milk of concord into Hell, Uproar the universal peace, confound All unity on earth. If such a one be fit to govern, speak: I am as I have spoken. Macduff Fit to govern? No, not to live. ? O nation miserable! With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter’d, When shalt thou see they wholesome days again, Since that the truest issue of thy throne By his own interdiction stands accus’d, And does blaspheme his breed? The royal father Was a most sainted King: the Queen, that bore thee, Oft’ner upon her knees than on her feet, Died every day she liv’d. Fare thee well! These evils thou repeat’st upon thyself Hath banish’d me from Scotland. ? O my breast, Thy hope ends here! Malcolm Macduff, this noble passion, Child of integrity, hath from my soul Wip’d the black scruples, reconcil’d my thoughts To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth By many of these trains hath sought to win me Into his power, and modest wisdom plucks me From over-credulous haste: but God above Deal between thee and me! for even now I put myself to thy direction, and Unspeak mine own detraction; here abjure The taints and blames I laid upon myself, For strangers to my nature. I am yet Unknown to woman; never was forsworn; Scarcely have coveted what was mine own; At no time broke my faith: would not betray The Devil to his fellow; and delight No less in truth, than life: my first false speaking Was this upon myself. What I am truly, Is thine, and my poor country’s, to command: Whither, indeed, before thy here-approach, Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men, Already at a point, was setting forth. Now we’ll together, and the chance of goodness Be like our warranted quarrel. Why are you silent? Macduff Such welcome and unwelcome things at once, ‘Tis hard to reconcile. Malcolm Be’t their comfort, We are coming hither. Gracious England hath Lent us good Siward, and ten thousand men; An older, and a better soldier, none That Christendom gives out. Enter ROSSE. Rosse Would I could answer This comfort with the like! But I have words, That would be howl’d out in the desert air, Where hearing should not latch them. Macduff What concern they? The general cause? or is it a fee-grief, Due to some single breast? Rosse No mind that’s honest But in it shares some woe, though the main part Pertains to you alone. Macduff If it be mine, Keep it not from me; quickly let me have it. Rosse Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever, Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound, That ever yet they heard. Macduff Humh! I guess at it. Rosse Your castle is surpris’d; your wife, and babes, Savagely slaughter’d: to relate the manner, Were, on the quarry of these murder’d deer, To add the death of you. Malcolm Merciful Heaven! ? What, man! ne’er pull your hate upon your brows: Give sorrow words; the grief, that does not speak, Whispers the o‘er-fraught heart, and bids it break. Macduff My children too? Rosse Wife, children, servants, all That could be found. Macduff And I must be from thence! My wife kill’d too? Rosse I have said. Malcolm Be comforted: Let’s make us med’cines of our great revenge, To cure this deadly grief. Macduff He has no children. ? All my pretty ones? Did you say all? ? O Hell-kite! ? All? What, all my pretty chickens, and their dam, At one feel swoop? Malcolm Dispute it like a man. Macduff I shall do so; But I must also feel it as a man: I cannot remember such things were, That were most precious to me. ? Did Heaven look on, And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff! They were all struck for thee. Naught that I am, Not for their own demerits, but for mine, Fell slaughter on their souls: Heaven rest them now! Malcolm Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it. Macduff O! I could play the woman with mine eyes, And braggart with my tongue. ? But, gentle Heavens, Cut short all intermission; front to front, Bring thou this fiend of Scotland, and myself; Within my sword’s length set him; if he ‘scape, Heaven forgive him too! Malcolm This tune goes manly. Come, go we to the King: our power is ready; Our lack is nothing but our leave. Macbeth Is ripe for shaking, and the Powers above Put on their instruments. Receive what cheer you may; The night is long that never finds the day. [Exeunt.] ACT 5 SCENE 1 – Dunsinane. A room in the castle. Enter a DOCTOR of Physic and a WAITING-GENTLEWOMAN. Doctor I have two nights watch’d with you, but can perceive no truth in your report. When was it she last walk’d? Enter LADY MACBETH, with a taper. Gentle Lo you! here she comes. This is her very guise; and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her: stand close. Doctor How came she by that light? Gentle Why, it stood by her: she has light by her continually; ‘tis her command. Doctor You see, her eyes are open. Gentle Ay, but their sense are shut. Doctor What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands. Gentle It is an accustom’d action with her, to seem thus washing her hands. I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour. Lady M Yet here’s a spot. Doctor Hark! she speaks. I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly. Lady M Out, damned spot! out, I say! ? One; two; why, then ‘tis time to do’t. ? Hell is murky. ? Fie, my Lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? ? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to accompt? ? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? Doctor Do you mark that? Lady M The Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? ? What, will these hands ne’er be clean? ? No more o’ that, my Lord, no more o’ that: you mar all with this starting. Doctor Go to, go to: you have known what you should not. Gentle She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that: Heaven knows what she has known. Lady M Here’s the smell of blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! oh! oh! Doctor What a sigh is there! The heart is sorely charg’d. Gentle I would not have such a heart in my bosom, for the dignity of the whole body. Doctor Well, well, well. Gentle Pray God it be, Sir. Doctor This disease is beyond my practice: yet I have known those which have walk’d in their sleep, who have died holily in their beds. Lady M Wash your hands, put on your night-gown; look not so pale. ? I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried: he cannot come out on’s grave. Doctor Even so? Lady M To bed, to bed: there’s knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed. [Exit LADY MACBETH.] Doctor Will she go now to bed? Gentle Directly. Doctor Foul whisp’rings are abroad. Unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. More needs she the divine than the physician. ? God, God forgive us all! Look after her; Remove from her the means of all annoyance, And still keep eyes upon her. ? So, good night: My mind she has mated, and amaz’d my sight. I think, but dare not speak. Gentle Good night, good Doctor. [Exeunt.] SCENE 2 – The Country near Dunsinane. SCENE 3 – Dunsinane. A room in the castle. Enter MACBETH, the DOCTOR, and ATTENDANTS. Seyton The English power is near, let on by Malcolm, His uncle Siward, and the good Macduff. Revenges burn in them; for their dear causes Would, to the bleeding and the grim alarm, Excite the mortified man. Macbeth Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother? Seyton For certain, Sir, he is not. I have a file Of all gentry: there is Siward’s son, And many unrough youths, that even now Protest their first of manhood. Macbeth Bring me no more reports; let them fly all: Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, I cannot taint with fear. What’s the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know All mortal consequence have pronounc’d me thus: “Fear not, Macbeth; no man that’s born of woman Shall e’er have power upon thee.” ? Then fly, false Thanes, And mingle with the English epicures: The mind I sway by, and the heart I bear, Shall never sag with doubt, nor shake with fear. The devil damn thee black, thou cream-fac’d loon! Where gott’st thou that goose look? Seyton There is ten thousand ? Macbeth Geese, villian? Seyton Soldiers, Sir. Macbeth Go, prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, Thou lily-liver’d boy. What soldiers, patch? Death of thy soul! those linen cheeks of thine Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, why-face? Seyton The English force, so please you. Macbeth Take thy face hence. [Exit SERVANT.] Throw physic to the dogs; I’ll none of it. ? I'll fight, til from my bones my flesh be hack'd Seyton, send out ? Doctor, the Thanes fly from me. ? Come, sir, despatch. ? If thou couldst, Doctor, cast The water of my land, find her disease, And purge it to a sound and pristine health, I would applaud thee to the very echo, That should applaud again. ? Pull ‘t off, I say. What rhubarb, cyme or what purgative drug, Would scour these English hence? ? Hear’st thou of them? Doctor Ay, my good Lord: your royal preparation Makes us hear something. Macbeth Bring it after me. ? I will not be afraid of death and bane, Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane. [Exeunt.] SCENE 4 – Country near Dunsinane. A wood in view. Enter, with drums and colours, MALCOLM, old SIWARD, and his SON, MACDUFF, MENTETH, CATHNESS, ANGUS, LENOX, ROSSE, and SOLDIERS, marching. Siward What wood is this before us? Lennox The wood of Birnam. Lord Siward Malcolm Let every soldier hew him down a bough, And bear’t before him: thereby shall we shadow The numbers of our host, and make discovery Err in report of us. Soldier It shall be done. Malcolm Then, when near enough: your leavy screens throw down, And show like those you are. ? You, worthy uncle, Shall, with my cousin, your right noble son, Lead our first battle: worthy Macduff, and we, Shall take upon’s what else remains to do, According to our order. Macduff Make all our trumpets speak; give them all breath, Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death. SCENE 5 – Dunsinane. Within the castle. Enter, with drum and colours, MACBETH, SEYTON, and SOLDIERS. Macbeth Hang out our banners on the outward walls; The cry is still, “They come!” Our castle’s strength Will laugh a siege to scorn: here let them lie, Till famine and the ague eat them up. Were they not forc’d with those that should be ours, We might have met them dareful, beard to beard, And beat them backward home. What is that noise? [A cry within, of women.] Seyton It is the cry of women, my good Lord. Macbeth Wherefore was that cry? Seyton The Queen, my Lord, is dead [Exit SEYTON.] Macbeth She should have died hereafter: There would have been a time for such a word. ? To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Enter SEYTON. Thou com’st to use thy tongue; thy story quickly. Seyton Gracious my Lord, I should report that which I say I saw, But know not how to do’t. Macbeth Well, say, sir. Seyton As I did stand my watch upon the hill, I look’d toward Birnam, and anon, methought, The wood began to move. Macbeth Liar, and slave! Seyton Let me endure your wrath, if’t be not so. Within this three mile may you see it coming; I say, a moving grove. Macbeth If thou speak’st false, Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive, Till famine cling thee: if thy speech be truth, I care not if thou dost for me as much. ? I pull in resolution; and begin To doubt th’ equivocation of the fiend, That lies like truth: “Fear not, till Birnam wood Do come to Dunsinane” ; ? and now a wood Comes toward Dunsinane. ? Arm, arm, and out! ? If this which he avouches does appear, There is nor flying hence, nor tarrying here. I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun, And wish th’ estate o’ th’ world were now undone. ? Ring the alarum bell! ? Blow, wind! come, wrack! At least we’ll die with harness on our back. SCENE 7 – The same. Another part of the plain. Macbeth They have tied me to a stake: I cannot fly, But, bear-like, I must fight the course. ? What’s he, That was not born of woman? Such a one Am I to fear, or none. Enter YOUNG SIWARD. Young S. What is thy name? Macbeth Thou’lt be afraid to hear it. Young S. No; though thou call’st thyself a hotter name Than any is in hell. Macbeth My name’s Macbeth. Young S. The devil himself could not pronounce a title More hateful to mine ear. Macbeth No, nor more fearful. Young S. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant: with my sword I’ll prove the lie thou speak’st. [They fight, and young SIWARD is slain.] Macbeth That wast born of woman: ? But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, Brandish’d by man that’s of a woman born. [Exit MACBETH.] Alarums. Enter MACDUFF. Macduff That way the noise is. ? Tyrant, show thy face: If thou be’st slain, and with no stroke of mine, My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me still. I cannot strike at wretched Kernes, whose arms Are hir’d to bear their slaves: either thou, Macbeth, Or else my sword, with an unbatter’d edge, I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be; By this great clatter, one of greatest note Seems bruited. Let me find him, Fortune! And more I beg not. [Exit MACDUFF. Alarum.] SCENE 8 – Another part of the field. Enter MACBETH. Macbeth Why should I play the Roman fool, and die On mine own sword? whiles I see lives, the gashes Do better upon them. Enter MACDUFF. Macduff Turn, Hell-hound, turn! Macbeth Of all men else I have avoided thee: But get thee back, my soul is too charg’d With blood of thine already. Macduff I have no words; My voice is in my sword: thou bloodier villian Than terms can give thee out! Macbeth I bear a charmed life; which must not yield To one of woman born. Macduff Despair thy charm; And let the Angel, whom thou still hast serv’d, Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb Untimely ripp’d. Then yield thee, coward, And live to be the show and gaze o’ th’ time: We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, Painted upon a pole, and underwrit, “Here may you see the tyrant.” Macbeth I will not yield, To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet, And be baited with the rabble’s curse. Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, And thou oppos’d, being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last: before my body I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff; And damn’d be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!” [They fight and MACBETH slain.] Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM, OLD SIWARD, ROSSE, THANES, and SOLDIERS. Rosse Your son, my Lord, as paid a soldier’s debt: He only liv’d but till he was a man; The which no sooner had his prowess confirm’d, In the unshrinking station where he fought, But like a man he died. Siward Then he is dead? Rosse Ay, and brought off the field. Your cause of sorrow Must not be measur’d by his worth, for then It hath no end. Enter MACDUFF, reveals Macbeth’s head. Macduff Hail, King! for so thou art. Behold, where stands Th’ usurper’s cursed head: the time is free. I see thee compass’d with thy kingdom’s pearl, That speak my salutation in their minds; Whose voices I desire aloud with mine, ? Hail, King of Scotland! All Hail, King of Scotland! [Flourish.] Malcolm We shall not spend a large expense of time, Before we reckon with your several loves, And make us even with you. My Thanes and kinsmen, Henceforth be Earls; the first that ever Scotland In such an honour nam’d. what’s more to do, Which would be planted newly with the time, ? As calling home our exil’d friends abroad, That fled the snares of watchful tyranny; Producing forth the cruel ministers Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like Queen, Who, as ‘tis thought, by self and violent hands Took off her life; ? this, and what needful else That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace, We will perform in measure, time, and place. So thanks to all at once, and to each one, Whom we invite to see us crown’d at Scone. [Flourish. Exeunt.]