Macbeth
Page 5
They smack of honor both. Go get him surgeons.
[Exit Captain, attended.]
Enter Ross and Angus.
Who comes here?45
MALCOLM The worthy Thane of Ross.
LENNOX
What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look46
That seems to speak things strange.47
ROSS God save the king.
KING DUNCAN
Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?
ROSS From Fife, great king, Where the Norwegian banners flout the sky
50 And fan our people cold.
51 Norway himself, with terrible numbers, Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
53 The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict, 54 Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapped in proof, 55 Confronted him with self-comparisons, 56 Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm, Curbing his lavish spirit; and to conclude,
The victory fell on us.
KING DUNCAN Great happiness!
ROSS
That now
60 Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition; Nor would we deign him burial of his men
62 Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme's Inch, 63 Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
KING DUNCAN
No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
65 Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death And with his former title greet Macbeth.
ROSS
I'll see it done.
KING DUNCAN
What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.
Exeunt.
I.3Thunder. Enter the three Witches.
FIRST WITCH
Where hast thou been, sister?
SECOND WITCH
Killing swine.
THIRD WITCH
Sister, where thou?
FIRST WITCH
A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap
And munched and munched and munched. "Give
me," quoth I.
"Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed runnion cries.6
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' th' Tiger:7
But in a sieve I'll thither sail
And, like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.
SECOND WITCH
I'll give thee a wind.
FIRST WITCH
Thou'rt kind.
THIRD WITCH
And I another.
FIRST WITCH
I myself have all the other,
And the very ports they blow,15
All the quarters that they know
I' th' shipman's card.17
I'll drain him dry as hay.
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid.20
He shall live a man forbid.21
Weary sev'nights, nine times nine,
23 Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.
Look what I have.
SECOND WITCH
Show me, show me.
FIRST WITCH
Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wrecked as homeward he did come.
Drum within.
THIRD WITCH
30 A drum, a drum; Macbeth doth come.
ALL
32 The weird sisters, hand in hand, 33 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
39 How far is't called to Forres? What are these, 40 So withered 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,
44 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?
FIRST WITCH
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!48
SECOND WITCH
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
THIRD WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!50
BANQUO
Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? [To the Witches] I' th'name of truth, Are ye fantastical, or that indeed53
Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction55
Of noble having and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not.57
If you can look into the seeds of time58
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear60
Your favors nor your hate.
FIRST WITCH Hail!
SECOND WITCH Hail!
THIRD WITCH Hail!
FIRST WITCH
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
SECOND WITCH
Not so happy, yet much happier.66
THIRD WITCH
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.67
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
FIRST WITCH
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
MACBETH
70 Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more: 71 By Finel'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,
80 And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?
MACBETH
81 Into the air, and what seemed corporal melted As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed!
BANQUO
Were such things here as we do speak about?
84 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 Ross and Angus.
ROSS
The king hath happily received, Macbeth,
90 The news of thy success; and when he reads Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend92
Which should be thine or his. Silenced with that,
In viewing o'er the rest o' th' selfsame day,
He finds thee in the stout Norwegian ranks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as tale97
Came post with post, and every one did bear98
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defense
And poured them down before him.100
ANGUS We are sent
To give thee from our royal master thanks;
Only to herald thee into his sight,
Not pay thee.
ROSS
And for an earnest of a greater honor,
He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor;
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane,106
For it is thine.
BANQUO What, can the devil speak true?
MACBETH
The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me
In borrowed robes?
ANGUS Who was the thane lives yet, But under heavy judgment bears that life110
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined111
With those of Norway, or did line the rebel112
With hidden help and vantage, or that with both113
He labored in his country's wrack, I know not;
But treasons capital, confessed and proved,
Have overthrown him.
MACBETH [Aside] Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor-
117 The greatest is behind.
[To Ross and Angus] Thanks for your pains.
[Aside to Banquo]
Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me
120 Promised no less to them?
BANQUO [To Macbeth] 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
126 In deepest consequence.-
127 Cousins, a word, I pray you.
MACBETH [Aside] Two truths are told, 128 As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme.-I thank you, gentlemen.-[Aside]
130 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
136 And make my seated heart knock at my ribs 137 Against the use of nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings:
139 My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, 140 Shakes so my single state of man that function Is smothered 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 honors come upon him,
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold145
But with the aid of use.
MACBETH [Aside] Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.147
BANQUO
Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.
MACBETH
Give me your favor. My dull brain was wrought149
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains150
Are registered where every day I turn
The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king.
[Aside to Banquo]
Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time,
The interim having weighed it, let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.155
BANQUO Very gladly.
MACBETH
Till then, enough.-Come, friends.
Exeunt.
I.4Flourish. Enter King [Duncan], Lennox, Malcolm, Donalbain, and Attendants.
KING DUNCAN
Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet returned?2
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 confessed his treasons,
Implored your highness' pardon, and set forth
A deep repentance. Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it. He died
9 As one that had been studied in his death 10 To throw away the dearest thing he owed As 'twere a careless trifle.
KING 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, Ross, and Angus.
[To Macbeth] O worthiest cousin,
The sin of my ingratitude even now
16 Was heavy on me. Thou art so far before That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,
19 That the proportion both of thanks and payment 20 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
27 Safe toward your love and honor.
KING DUNCAN Welcome hither.
28 I have begun to plant thee and will labor To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,
30 That hast no less deserved nor must be known 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.
KING DUNCAN My plenteous joys, Wanton in fullness, seek to hide themselves34
In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
And you whose places are the nearest, know
We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
The Prince of Cumberland; which honor must39
Not unaccompanied invest him only,40
But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers. From hence to Inverness,
And bind us further to you.
MACBETH
The rest is labor which is not used for you.
I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful
The hearing of my wife with your approach;
So, humbly take my leave.
KING DUNCAN My worthy Cawdor!
MACBETH [Aside]
The Prince of Cumberland-that is a step
On which I must fall down or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;50
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be52
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.
Exit.
KING 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.
I.5Enter Macbeth's Wife, alone, with a letter.
LADY MACBETH[Reads.] "They met me in the day of 2 success; and I have learned by the perfect'st report they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves air, into which they vanished. Whiles I 6 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 shalt 10 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 promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell."
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature.
It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness
17 To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without
19 The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly, 20 That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou'dst have, great Glamis, That which cries "Thus thou must do" if thou have it; 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 valor of my tongue
All that imped
es thee from the golden round27
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem28
To have thee crowned withal.
Enter Messenger.29 What is your tidings?
MESSENGER
The king comes here tonight.30
LADY MACBETH Thou'rt mad to say it!
Is not thy master with him? who, were't so,
Would have informed 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 more35
Than would make up his message.
LADY MACBETH 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,40
And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood;
Stop up th' access and passage to remorse,43
That no compunctious visitings of nature44
Shake my fell purpose nor keep peace between45
Th' effect and it. Come to my woman's breasts
And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers,47
Wherever in your sightless substances48
49 You wait on nature's mischief. Come, thick night, 50 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
56 This ignorant present, and I feel now The future in the instant.
MACBETH My dearest love,
Duncan comes here tonight.
LADY MACBETH And when goes hence?
MACBETH
Tomorrow, as he purposes.
LADY MACBETH O, never
60 Shall sun that morrow see.
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
62 May read strange matters. To beguile the time, 63 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
67 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
70 We will speak further.
LADY MACBETH Only look up clear.
71 To alter favor ever is to fear.
Leave all the rest to me.
Exeunt.
I.6Hautboys and torches. Enter King [Duncan], Malcolm, Donalbain, Banquo, Lennox, Macduff,
Ross, Angus, and Attendants.
KING DUNCAN
This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air1
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.3
BANQUO This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve4
By his loved mansionry that the heaven's breath5
Smells wooingly here. No jutty, frieze,6
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird7
Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle.8
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed
The air is delicate.10Enter Lady [Macbeth].