The Tragedy of Macbeth, Part II: The Seed of Banquo
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MALCOLM What awful illusion is this?
It squirms as a snake, yet wears the head
of a man-child.
FIRST APPARITION Fleance will attack.
But you shall find him first.
Exit First Apparition.
MALCOLM Find him first? Then I’ll stop him!
What else have you, ladies? I bid, summon!
Enter Second Apparition.
MALCOLM What’s this? A horned helmet with no face?
SECOND APPARITION Norway shall invade,
but will not win. You shall
be greater than she, yet lesser.
Exit Second Apparition.
MALCOLM Greater yet lesser? Strange indeed. Yet Norway
shall not win—’tis all that counts.
FIRST WITCH Are ye satisfied?
MALCOLM Tell me of my lady. . . . Will there be an heir?
SECOND WITCH We bid you not press further.
MALCOLM Summon! I charge you!
THIRD WITCH Thane, some mirrors are best turned round.
MALCOLM I demand!
Enter Third Apparition.
MALCOLM Send it back!
This two-headed beast scorns with a visage borrowed
from my father and brother both! Send
it back I tell you!
THIRD APPARITION Your union shall not last.
Torn asunder it
shall be, by man of no
woman born.
Exit Third Apparition.
MALCOLM How dreadful such things exist! Whence
summoned
you this creature?
FIRST WITCH ’Tis not for your knowledge.
MALCOLM Shall not last? Why, ’tis false.
Man of no woman born? Macduff
only. But he would not—
she would not—’tis foolery.
Tell me more!
SECOND WITCH You have overstayed your welcome,
Scotland.
ALL By the pricking of our thumbs,
something wicked this way comes.
Witches vanish.
MALCOLM Stay! I charge you, stay!
Exit.
SCENE V
Dunsinane. Dining hall.
Seyton, Siward and Macduff, seated.
SIWARD ’Tis as if Macbeth were resurrected.
I fear he is unwell.
SEYTON Do you fear it? I fear something greater.
MACDUFF Of what do you speak?
SEYTON Do you think such a sudden shift in nature
hails unprovoked? That it hath no tutor?
SIWARD Pray, who?
SEYTON Why, our new queen.
MACDUFF ’Tis false.
SEYTON Her nurse informed me of a plot—
MACDUFF Villain!
You lie! Lady Malcolm is the very portrait
of virtue—she will not be touched. The cause
of Malcolm’s malady lies in his sudden
grief.
SEYTON ’Tis as I heard.
MACDUFF I will not hear
more of this. And speak not of it further.
Exit Macduff.
SIWARD A defensive soul.
SEYTON Perhaps he and the queen each other know
too well?
SIWARD Think you?
SEYTON Why else so heated o’er
a stranger?
SIWARD I hadn’t thought.
SEYTON Be sure, the queen
doth stand behind Malcolm’s descent. Morn
‘til night she whispers in his ear, stirring
him to greater ambition.
SIWARD What greater
ambition for a king?
SEYTON Why, the safety
of that kingship.
SIWARD By what means?
SEYTON The removal
of all too close.
SIWARD What!
SEYTON Why else would Lady
Macbeth orphan her child?
SIWARD I hadn’t thought.
SEYTON To ensure the safety of the Macbeths. She knew
her fatal games could bring her early death
and thus stowed her seed in reserve,
that it might sprout whene’er the time was right.
SIWARD O most treacherous lineage!
SEYTON And when
this new Macbeth has fulfilled her plan,
Malcolm will have us buried far beneath
the ground, Then she will poison Malcolm—
as did her mother gracious Duncan—and claim
the throne alone.
SIWARD Ignoble scheme! O true
heir to Macbeth!
SEYTON Shall we wait for that dreadful
day?
SIWARD Never! Still crave I vengeance
for the murder of my young Siward. Since
her father lives no more, she can do
the trick.
SEYTON Then listen close, and we will oust her yet.
Exeunt.
ACT IV
SCENE I
Dunsinane. Malcolm’s chamber.
Enter Malcolm, by window.