Act 1. Scene 3.1

MACBETH.

Things that do sound so fair?-I' the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical', or that indeed
Which outwardly ye shew? My noble partner
You greet with present grace, and great prediction
Of noble having2, and of royal hope,
That he seems wrapt withal; to me you speak not:
[not:
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say, which grain will grow, and which will
Speak then to me, who neither beg, nor fear,
Your favours, nor your hate.

1 Witch. Hail!

2 Witch. Hail!

3 Witch. Hail!

1 Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 2 Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier. 3 Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be [none: So, all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

5

10

Only to herald thee into his sight,
Not pay thee.

Rosse. And for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me,from him, call thee thane of Cawdor:
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!
For it is thine.

Bun. What, can the devil speak true? [dress me
Macb. The thane of Cawdor lives; Why do you
In borrow'd robes ?

Ang. Who was the thane, lives yet;
But under heavy judgment bears that life,
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was
Combin'd with Norway; or did line the rebel
With hidden help and vantage; or that with both
15 He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not;
But treasons capital, confess'd, and prov'd,
Have overthrown him.

1 Witch. Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail !
Mach. Stay, you imperfect speakers tell me more:
By Sinel's' death, I know, I am thane of Glamis ; 20
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
[Witches vanish.

you.

Mach. Glamis, and thane of Cawdor:
The greatest is behind.-Thanks for your pains.—
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?

Ban. That, trusted home",

Might yet enkindle' you unto the crown,
25 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 us
In deepest consequence.-Cousins, a word, I pray
Maeb. Two truths are told,

Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them :-Whither are they va-30 [melted

nish'd?

[about 35

Macb. Into the air; and what seemed corporal,
As breath into the wind.--'Would they had staid!
Ban. Were such things here, as we do speak
Or have we eaten of the insane root",
That takes the reason prisoner?
Mach. Your children shall be kings.
Ban. You shall be king.

[so?

Macb. And thane of Cawdor too; went it not!
Bun. To the self-same tune, and words. Who's 40
here?

Enter Rosse and Angus.

Rosse. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth,
The news of thy success; and when he reads
Thy personal venture in the rebel's fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend,
Which should be thine, or his: Silenc'd with that,
In viewing o'er the rest o' the self-same day,
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afraid of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as tale,
Came post with post'; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.

Ang. We are sent,

To give thee, from our royal master, thanks;

4

[you.

As happy prologues to the swelling act 、
Of the imperial theme.-Ithank you, gentlemen.-
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 this suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my air,
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,

Macb. Come what come may,

Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
Ban. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your
leisure.
[was wrought
Macb. Give me your favour:--my dull brain

2 Having, we have before observed, is estate, posses1i. e. creatures of fantasy or imagination. Shakspeare here alludes to the qualities anciently asThe father of Macbeth. i. e. carried as tar sion, fortune. That is, posts arrived as fast as they could be counted. scribed to hemlock. Warburton thinks soliciting is here put for Enkindle, for to stimulate you to seek. Meaning, "Of things now about as it will go. information; while Johnson rather thinks it means incitement.

me I have no perception, being intent wholly on that which has yet no existence." . e. was worked, agitated.

With

'That is, instructed in the art of dying. i. e. the frame or disposition of the mind, whether it is determined to good or ill. i. e. We do but perform our duty when we contract all our views to your service. Mr. Steevens observes, that " the crown of Scotland was originally not hereditary. When a successor was declared in the life-time of a king (as was often the case), the title of Prince of Cumberland was immediately bestowed on him as the mark of his designation. Cumberland was at that time held by Scotland of the crown of England, as a fiet." i. e. By the best intelligence. i, e. the diaden. Metaphysical is here put for supernatural.

Wherever in your sightless substances [night,
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick 25,
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,
Tocry,Hold,hold! GreatGlamis! worthy Cawdor!
Enter Macbeth.

Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!
Thy letters have transported me beyond

This ignorant present time, and I feel now

The future in the instant.

Mach. My dearest love,

Duncan comes here to-night.

Lady. And when goes hence?

Macb. To-morrow, as he purposes.

Lady. Oh, never

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Ban. This guest of summer,

The temple-haunting martlet, does approve
By his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath
Smells wooingly here: no jutty frieze,

Buttress, nor coigne of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendant bed, and procreant cradle:
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ'd,
The air is delicate.

Enter Lady Macbeth.

King. See, see! our honour'd hostess !-
The love that follows us, sometimes is our trouble,
Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you,
How you shall bid God yield us for your pains,
And thank us for your trouble.

Lady. 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".

King. 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; Thum
And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp
To his home before us: Fair and noble hostess,
We are your guest to-night.

Lady. Your servants ever

[compt

Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in
To make their audit at your highness' pleasure,
Still to return your own.

King. Give me your hand :

Conduct me to mine host: we love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him.
By your leave, hostess.

SCENE VII.

[Exeunt.

Hautboys and Torches. Enter a Sewer's, and divers Servants with dishes and service over the stage. Then enter Macbeth.

Macb. If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well

It were done quickly: If the assassination

3 i. e.

That is, murtherous, or deadly designs. 2 i. e. nor delay the execution of my purpose. Take away my milk, and put gall into the place. + Nature's mischief is mischief done to Nature. i. e. wrap thyself in a pall, which was a robe of state, as well as a covering thrown over the dead. The word knife was anciently used to express a sword. Mr. Tollet explains this passagethus: The thought is taken from the old military laws, which inflicted capital punishment upon "whosoever shall strike stroke at his adversary, either in the heat or otherwise, if a third do cry hold, to the intent to part them; except that they did fight in a combat in a place inclosed; and then no man shall be so hardy as to bid hold, but the general." i, e. unknowing. i. e. our calm composed senses. 10 Meaning, convenient corner. i. e. God reward; or, perhaps, as Dr. Johnson suggests, protect us. 12 Hermits, for beadsinen 13 i. e. subject to account. The office of a sewer was to place the dishes in order at a feast. His chief mark of distinction was a towel round his arin.

Could

Mach. Prythee, peace:

I dare do all that may become a man:
Who dares do more, is none.

Lady. What beast was it then,

That made you break the 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: 10 They have made themselves, and that their fitness

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, 5
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips'. He's here in double trust
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
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 cherubin, hors'd
Upon the sightless couriers of the air2,
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'er-leaps itself,
And falls on the other-How now! what news?
Enter Lady.

Lady. He has almost supp'd; Why have you

left the chamber?

Macb. Hath he ask’d for me?

Lady. Know you not, he has?

Mach. We will proceed no farther 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.

Ludy. Was the hope drunk,

Wherein you drest 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 afraid
To be the same in thine own act and valour,
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that

Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thy own esteem;
Letting I dare not wait upon I would,
Like the poor cat i' the adage?

15

25

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 its boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I but so sworn
As you have done to this.

Macb. If we should fail,-
Lady. We fail!

20 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 wassel' 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
30 The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spungy officers; who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell'?

Macb. Bring forth men-children only!
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
35 Nothing but males.

40

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. Who dares receive it other,

As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?

Mach. I am settled, and bend up

Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.

45 Away, and mock the time with fairest show: False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

[Excunt.

This obscure soliloquy, about the meaning of which none of the readers of Shakspeare agree, Dr. Johnson explains thus: If that which I am about to do, when it is once done and executed, were done and ended without any following effects, it would then be best to do it quickly; if the murder could terminate in itself, and restrain the regular course of consequences, if its success could secure its surcease, if being once done succes fully, without detection, it could fix a period to all vengeance and enquiry, so that this blow might be all that I have to do, and this anxiety all that I have to suffer; if this could be my condition, even here in this world, in this contracted period of temporal existence, on this narrow bunk in the ocean of eternity, I would jump the life to come, I would venture upon the deed without care of any future state. But this is one of these cases in which judgment is pronounced and vengeance inflicted upon us here in our present life. We teach others to do as we have done, and are punished by our example. Couriers of air mean winds, air in motion. Sightless is invisible. 3 The proverb alluded to is, "The cat loves fish, but dares not wet her feet." Wassel or W'assail is a word still used in Staffordshire, and the adjoining counties, and signifies at present what is called Lamb's wool, i. e. roasted apples in strong beer, with sugar and spice. Wassel, however, may be put here for rist or intemperance, ' i. e. overpower or subdue. Or, the centinel. i. e. the re ceptacie. Meaning, it shall be only a vessel to emit fumes or vapours. Quellis murder.

ACT

Act 2. Scene 2.]

SCENE

I.

MACBETH.

ACT II.

1.

Enter Banquo, and Fleance with a torch before him.

Ban. HOW goes the night, boy?

Thou marshal'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest: I see thee still; [blood,

Fle. The moon is down; I have not 5 And on thy blade, and dudgeon', gouts

heard the clock.

Ban. And she goes down at twelve.

Fle. I take't, 'tis later, sir.

Ban. Hold, take my sword :—there's husband

ry in heaven,

of

Which was not so before.-There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business, which informs
Thus to mine eyes.-Now o'er one half the world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
10 The curtain'd sleep; now witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,

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;-15
Enter Macbeth, and a servant with a torch.
Who's there?

Macb. A friend.

[bed:

Ban. What, sir, not yet at rest? The king's a-
He hath been in unusual pleasure, and
Sent forth great largess to your officers :
This diamond he greets your wife withal,

By the name of most kind hostess; and shut up1
In measureless content.

Mach. Being unprepar'd,

Our will became the servant to defect;
Which else should free have wrought.

Ban. All's well.

I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters:
To you they've shew'd some truth.

Macb. I think not of them:

Yet, when we can intreat an hour to serve, [ness,
We would spend it in some words upon that busi-

If

you would grant the time.

Ban. At your kind'st leisure.

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 of where-about, my Thy very stones prate And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it.-While I threat, he lives, 20 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

Lady. That which hath made them drunk, hath made me bold;

30 What hath quench'd them, hath given me fire:Hark!-Peace!

['tis, 35

Mach. If you shall cleave to my consent?, when It shall make honour for you.

Ban. So I lose none

In seeking to augment it, but still keep

My bosom franchis'd, and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsell'd.

Mach. Good repose, the while!

Ban. Thanks, sir; The like to you! [Exit Ban.
Macb. Go, bid thy mistress, when my drink is

ready,

She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed. [Ex.Ser.
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.

To shut up, is to conclude.

It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bell-man, [it:
Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about
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.

Macb. [Within.] Who's there?-what, ho!
40 Lady. Alack! I am afraid they have awak'd,
And 'tis not done:-the attempt, and not the deed,
Confounds us:-- Hark!--I laid their daggers ready,
He could not miss them.--Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done't.--My husband?
Enter Macbeth.

45

50

2 Consent for will.

Macb. This is a sorry sight. [Looking on his

'Dudgeon properly means the haft or handle

of a dagger, and is used for that particular sort of handle which has some ornament carved on the top i. e. spots; the phrase is borrowed from heraldry.

* It was the general custom in those Lady.