Macbethadapted from the play by William Shakespeare

Cast of CharactersDuncan, King of England

Malcolm, his sonDonaldbain, his other son

Macbeth, nobleman of ScotlandBanquo, nobleman of ScotlandMacduff, nobleman of ScotlandLennox, nobleman of Scotland

Ross, nobleman of ScotlandAngus, nobleman of Scotland

Fleance, son of BanquoSiward, Earl of Northumberland

Young Siward, his sonSeyton, an officer attending on Macbeth

Boy, son of MacduffA Captain

A Scottish DoctorTwo MurderersLady MacbethLady Macduff

A Gentlewoman, attending on Lady MacbethThe Weird Sisters

Hecate, the leading witchServant

Act 1, Scene 1

At curtains, the three weird sisters are on stage.

Witch 1: When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Witch 2: When the hurlyburly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won.

Witch 3: That will be ere the set of sun.

Witch 1: Where the place?

Witch 2: Upon the heath.

Witch 3: There to meet with Macbeth.

Witch 1: I come, Graymalkin.

Witch 2: Paddock calls.

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Witch 3: Anon!

All: Fair is foul and foul is fair.

Act 1, Scene 2

King Duncan enters with Malcolm, Donaldbain, Lennox, meeting with a wounded Captain.

King: Who is this wounded man? The way he looks, he can tell us the latest news about the revolt. (Captain stuglles standing up.)

Malcolm: This is the captain who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought against my capture. Hail, brave friend. Tell the king what you know about the battle you just left.

Captain: It seemed to be doubtful who would win for a while. The merciless rebel, Macdonwald, had many Irishmen fighting for him, and Fortune was smiling upon him. But brave Macbeth laughed at the odds and carved his way to Macdonwald with his sword held high. He cut him open from navel to ribs, and put his head on a stake upon our battlements.

King: What a worthy soldier and man!

Captain: But just as storms and thunder sometime follow the sun, bad news came. As soon as the enemy soldiers turned away, the Norwegian lord, seeing an opportunity, began a fresh assault with a new battalion of soldiers.

King: Didn’t this scare Macbeth and Banquo?

Captain: Like sparrows scare eagles and rabbits scare lions. No, instead they fought twice as hard. Either they wanted to die in battle or have this battlefield remembered as another Golgotha; I can’t tell. I can’t speak anymore; I am too sorely hurt.

King: Your are honored by your wounds as well as by your words. Go to the surgeons. (Ross and Angus enter while Captain exits stage right.)

King: Who comes here?

Malcolm: The worthy Thane of Ross.

Ross: God save the King!

King: Where do you come from, worthy Thane?

Ross: From Fife, great King, where the Norwegian banners fly and chill the hearts of our people. The Lord of Norway himself, with a great number of his soldiers, and assisted by a traitor, the Thane of Cawdor, started a terrible war until Macbeth, like the husband of Belladonna, fought toe to toe against him and finally defeated him. The victory is ours.

King: Great happiness!

Ross: Now the king of Norway, Sweno, wants to surrender. We have not let him bury his dead

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yet until he pays a tribute of ten thousand gold coins.

King: The Thane of Cawdor will no longer deceive us. Execute him and when you find Macbeth, give him his title.

Ross: I’ll see it done.

King: What he has lost, Macbeth has won.

Act 1, Scene 3

Witch 1: Where hast thou been, sister?

Witch 2: Killing swine.

Witch 3: Sister, where thou?

Witch 1: A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap. And mounched, and mounched, and mounched. ‘Give me,’ quoth I. ‘Aroint thee, witch!’ the rump–fed ronyon cries. Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o’ th’ Tiger. But in a sieve I’ll thither sail and like a rat without a tail, I’ll do, and I’ll do, and I’ll do.

Witch 2: I’ll give thee a wind.

Witch 1: Th’ art kind.

Witch 3: And I another.

Witch 1: 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’night, nine times nine, shall he dwindle, peak, and pine. Though his bark cannot be lost, yet it shall be tempest–tost. Look what I have.

Witch 2: Show me, show me.

Witch 1: Here I have a pilot’s thumb, wracked as homeward he did come. (Drum within.)

Witch 3: A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come.

All: The weird sisters, hand in hand, posters of the sea and land, thus done go about, about, thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, and thrice again, to make up nine. Peace! The charms wound up.

Enter Macbeth and Banquo.

Macbeth: I have never seen a day so fair and so foul at the same time.

Banquo: How far is it to Forres? Who are these women, so withered and so wildly dressed, who do not look like inhabitants of the earth and yet live on it? Are you alive? You seem to understand me, since you put your choppy finger across your skinny lips. You should be

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women, and yet your beards tells me you are not.

Macbeth: Speak, if you can. Who are you?

Witch 1: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis.

Witch 2: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor.

Witch 3: All hail, Macbeth, that shall be King hereafter.

Banquo: Good sir, why do you react so violently to these words, and why do you appear to be afraid of words that sound so good. For Truth’s sake, are you creatures of fantasy? You greeted my noble companion with such great honor and the prediction of a noble title and of royal hope, that he is wrapped in his own thoughts. You didn’t say a thing to me. If you can read the sands of time, speak to me; I do not fear nor beg for your favors or your hate.

Witch 1: Hail!

Witch 2: Hail!

Witch 3: Hail!

Witch 1: Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

Witch 2: Not so happy, yet much happier.

Witch 3: Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo.

Witch 1: Banquo and Macbeth, all hail.

Macbeth: Stay here, tell me more. When Sinel died, I became Thane of Glamis. But how could I be Thane of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives as a prosperous gentleman. As for being King, it is no more believable than to be Thane of Cawdor. Tell me who told you this, or why you stopped us upon this heath with such prophecies. I order you to speak.

The witches vanish.

Banquo: There are spirits on earth, and these women were of them. Where have they gone?

Macbeth: Into the air. What seemed real has disappeared like a breath in the wind. I wished they had stayed.

Banquo: Were those women here, or did we eat the root that imprisons the reason?

Macbeth: (Pause) Your children shall be kings.

Banquo: You shall be King.

Macbeth: And also the Thane of Cawdor. Is it not what they said?

Banquo: It is, word for word. Who’s here?

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Ross and Angus enter.

Ross: The King has happily received the news of your success, Macbeth. He heard how you fought against the Norwegians, never afraid of what would happen to you. Everyone in the kingdom repeats the story to the King.

Angus: We are here to thank you in the name of our master.

Ross: He has ordered me to call you Thane of Cawdor. The title is yours.

Banquo: What? Can the devil tell the truth?

Macbeth: The Thane of Cawdor lives; why do you give me a title I can’t have?

Angus: The man who was the Thane of Cawdor still lives, but he awaits judgment. His treason has been proven and admitted, and has caused him to lose his title.

Macbeth: Thane of Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor. The greatest title is yet to come. (To Ross and Angus) Thanks for your pains. (Aside to Banquo.) Do you not hope that your children shall be kings, since it was promised to you just as being Thane of Cawdor was promised to me?

Banquo: Trusting that all the way might yet get you the crown beside the title of Thane of Cawdor. But often the instruments of darkness tell us truths, and win us with honest trifles, only to betray us when we really need them. —Cousins, I need to speak to you.

Macbeth (aside): Two truths have been told as the happy prologues to the final act of the imperial drama. —Thank you, gentlemen.— (Aside) This supernatural conversation cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill, why has it given me a desire for success, beginning with a truth? I am the Thane of Cawdor. If good, why does it scare me so?

Banquo: Look how much Macbeth is preoccupied. Macbeth, we will wait until you are ready.

Macbeth: Pardon me, I was remembering old times. I noticed and will remember how much you cared. Let’s join the King. (Aside to Banquo) Think about what happened and when we have the time, we will discuss it freely between us.

Banquo: Very gladly.

Macbeth: Until then, enough is said. —Come, my friends. (They all leave)

Act 1, Scene 4

King, Lennox, Malcolm, Donaldbain enter.

King: Has the Thane of Cawdor been executed yet?

Malcolm: I have spoken with one who saw him die; he confessed his treasons, implored you

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pardon, and showed repentance.

King: He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust. (Macbeth, Banquo, Ross and Angus enter.)

King: One worthiest cousin, you deserve so many thanks that the swiftest reward is too slow. All I can say is that I owe you more than I can pay.

Macbeth: It is payment enough to have the honor to be loyal to you, your Highness.

King: I have begun to give you rewards and I will continue to do so. Noble Banquo, you are no less deserving and this must be known also.

Banquo: Any honor I get, I will owe to you.

King: And through all this joy and sorrow, let it be known that I establish my estate upon my eldest son, Malcolm. I name him Prince of Cumberland.

Macbeth: Please allow me to tell my wife that you are coming to our home. Humbly, take my leave. (Aside) Malcolm becoming the Prince of Cumberland— this is a step I must trip upon or step over. Hide your fires, stars; do not let light see my black and deep desires. The eye needs to be blind to what the hand does.

King: Yes, worthy Banquo, he is valiant, and a kinsman without peers. Let’s follow him as he prepares our welcome. (All exit.)

Act 1, Scene 5

Lady Macbeth: (Reads) ‘They met me the day we won the battle; and I have learned from them that they have more than mortal knowledge. When I tried to question them more, they disappeared into the air. While I stood wondering, messengers came from the King, hailing me Thane of Cawdor. The weird sisters saluted me in the same manner before the messengers, and they also referred to me as “King that shalt be!” I thought you should know this, my dearest partner of greatness, so you could rejoice knowing all the greatness that is promised to you. Keep it in your heart, and farewell.’

Glamis and Cawdor you are, and you shall be what has been promised to you. Yet, I am afraid you are too full of the milk of human kindness to take the easiest route to greatness. You want to be great, and you are not without ambition, but without the ruthlessness that would make it possible. Come to me and let me pour my spirits in your ear. With the valor of my tongue, let me chastise those who would keep you from the crown that fate and metaphysical aid seem to have put on your head. (Messenger enters) What news are you bringing?

Messenger: The King is coming here tonight.

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Lady Macbeth: You are mad! Is not your master with him? He would have let me known.

Messenger: It is true, our Thane is coming. One of my fellows ran here faster than him and told me the news.

Lady Macbeth: He brought great news. (Messenger exit.) Come, you spirits who give deadly thoughts, fill me from crown to toes with the direst cruelty. Make my blood thick; do not let remorse come out and keep me from achieving my end. Take my milk in exchange for gall, you murdering agents. Come, thick night, and shroud yourself in the invisible smoke of hell, so that my knife cannot see the wound it makes, and that heaven cannot peep ‘Stop! Stop!’ through the blanket of the dark. (Macbeth enters.) Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor! Greater than both! Your letters have transported me beyond the present and I feel the future in this moment.

Macbeth: My dearest love, Duncan comes here tonight.

Lady Macbeth: And when does he plan to leave?

Macbeth: He intends to leave tomorrow.

Lady Macbeth: The sun shall never see that tomorrow! Your face, my Thane, is a book where men can read strange matters. To make use of the occasion, play up to the occasion. Bear welcome in your eye, your hand, and your tongue; look like an innocent flower, but be the serpent under it. Follow my orders tonight and the nights and days that will follow will bring masterdom.

Macbeth: We will talk more about it later.

Lady Macbeth: Just appear untroubled; to change your countenance is to take a risk. Leave all the rest to me. (They exit.)

Act 1, Scene 6

The King, Malcolm, Donaldbain, Banquo, Lennox, Macduff, Ross, Angus enter.

King: This castle has a pleasant site.

Banquo: Look at this swallow! It has made its nest under a convenient corner. The air is delicate where those birds breed and live.

King: (Lady Macbeth enters.) See, our honored hostess. May God bless you for your troubles.

Lady Macbeth: If all our service to you was done twice and then twice again, it would still not be much in comparison to the honors you bring to this house with your presence. For past honors as well as new ones, we are your servants.

King: Where’s the Thane of Cawdor? We followed him as close as we could, but he rides well,

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and his great love for you has helped him get to you before us. Fair and noble hostess, we are your guest tonight. Give me your hand and take me to my host: we love him highly. By your leave, hostess. (They all leave.)

Act 1, Scene 7

Macbeth enters.

Macbeth: If it would be done with when it is done, it should be done with quickly. If the assassination could enclose the consequences in a net and catch with its completion all that follows, if that blow might be the be–all and the end–all, we would take the risk about the life to come from it. But we know that the bloody lessons we teach may come back to plague their teachers. He is here in double trust: first, I am his kinsman and subject and should stand strong against such a deed; then, as his host, I should lock the door against the murderer, not bear the knife myself. Besides, Duncan has been so meek and just as a king that his virtues will plead like angels against the damnation of his murder. I do not have the will to do it, only ambition that trips upon itself. (Lady Macbeth enters.) What are the news?

Lady Macbeth: He is almost done with supper. Why have you left the room?

Macbeth: Has he asked for me?

Lady Macbeth: Don’t you know that he has?

Macbeth: We will not proceed any further with this plan. He has given me great honors lately, and I have heard too many compliments from people. I should enjoy them instead of casting them aside.

Lady Macbeth: You dressed yourself in hope earlier; was it drunk? Has it slept since then, and awaken ashamed and scared at what it proposed earlier? From this moment on, your actions will prove your love for me. Are you afraid to be as brave in your desire as you were in battle? Would you prefer to live and know in your heart that you are a coward?

Macbeth: Please, peace! I dare do anything that befits a man; there are none that dare do more than me.

Lady Macbeth: What beast made you give me this plan, then? When you dared to do it, then you were a man, and because you wished to become more than you were, you would have been so much more a man. Neither time nor place lent themselves to the occasion then, but now that the occasion is here, you no longer dare. I have nursed my child, and I know how sweet it is to be a mother. Yet, I would pull away my baby and crush his head if I had promised you that I would do it.

Macbeth: What if we fail?

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Lady Macbeth: We fail? But show some courage and we will not fail. When Duncan is asleep, I will give so much wine to his two chamberlains that their memory will fail. When they fall to swinish sleep, what cannot you and I perform upon Duncan? What can’t we blame on his officers, who shall bear the guilt of our killing?

Macbeth: Have only men as children; your soul should make nothing but males. When we have marked with blood his two drunk chamberlains and use their own daggers, who will doubt that they have done it?

Lady Macbeth: Who will dare think anything else when we cry our grief aloud?

Macbeth: I am committed to this deed. Leave, and delude the time with a pleasant demeanor: False face must hide what the false heart does know.

Act 2, Scene 1

Banquo: How late is it, my son?

Fleance: The moon is down; I have not heard the clock strike.

Banquo: And it strikes at twelve.

Fleance: I take it it is later.

Banquo: Stop, take my sword. There are no stars in the heavens. I am so tired, yet I do not want to sleep. Merciful powers, restrain in me the evil thoughts that a man falls to when asleep. (Macbeth enters with Seyton.) Give me my sword. Who’s there?

Macbeth: A friend.

Banquo: What, sir, you are yet not asleep?The King is in bed. I dreamed of the three weird sisters last night. They have shown some truths to you.

Macbeth: I have not thought about them. Yet, when we can find an hour together, let’s spend some time talking about them.

Banquo: At your leisure.

Macbeth: If you favor my cause at the proper time, I will bestow much honor upon you.

Banquo: As long as I lose none by trying to gain some, and still keep my bosom free from guilt, I will be open to persuasion.

Macbeth: Rest well until then.

Banquo: Thank you sir. The same to you. (Banquo and Fleance exit.)

Macbeth: Go ask your mistress to ring the bell when my drink is ready. Go to bed. (Seyton exits.) Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me grab you!

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Are you real, or are you a dagger of the mind, a false creation? I still see you, and on your blade I see drops of blood. There is no real dagger; it is my bloody plan that creates impressions to my eyes. Sure and firm–set earth, hear not my steps. While I threaten, he lives; words give heat to deeds that are too cold. (A bell rings.) I go, and it is done. Do not hear it, Duncan, for it is a bell that summons you to heaven or to hell. (Macbeth exits.)

Act 2, Scene 2

Lady Macbeth: What made them drunk has made me bold; what has quenched their thirst has given me fire. The doors are open, and the grooms are snoring. They are so drunk they are barely alive.

Macbeth: (Within.) Who’s there? What is it?

Lady Macbeth: Alas! I am afraid they woke up, and it is not done with. The attempt and not the deed confounds us. I laid out their daggers—he could not miss them. If the King did not look like my father as he slept, I would have done it. (Macbeth enters.) My husband.

Macbeth: I have done the deed. Didn’t you hear the noise? There’s one who was laughing in his sleep, and one cried ‘Murder’, but they said their prayers and went back to sleep. One cried ‘God bless us!’ and the other replied ‘Amen!’ as if they had seen me with these bloody hands. One could not say ‘Amen!’ when they said ‘God bless us!’

Lady Macbeth: Do not consider it so deeply.

Macbeth: But why could I not say ‘Amen’? I needed a blessing and ‘Amen’ stuck in my throat.

Lady Macbeth: We must not think about those deeds in that manner; it will make us mad.

Macbeth: I thought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth murders sleep!’—the innocent sleep, sleep that repairs the unraveled sleeve of work, the death of each day’s life, the bath of hard labor, the balm of hurt minds, the chief nourisher in life’s feast.

Lady Macbeth: What do you mean?

Macbeth: Still it cried ‘Sleep no more. Glamis has murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more.’

Lady Macbeth: Who cried this? Why do you waste your strength to think such things? Go get some water and wash the filthy evidence from your hand. Why did you bring these daggers from the room? They must stay there; take them back and smear the grooms with blood.

Macbeth: I will not go in there anymore; I am afraid to think about what I have done, and I don’t dare look on it.

Lady Macbeth: Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. If he does bleed, I’ll paint the faces of the grooms with it; they must appear guilty. (Lady Macbeth exits. Knock within.)

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Macbeth: Where does this knocking come from? Why is it that every noise appalls me? Could Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, my hand would instead turn the green sea red. (Lady Macbeth enters.)

Lady Macbeth: My hands are the same color as yours, but I am ashamed to wear a heart so white. (Knock within.) I hear a knocking at the south entry. Let’s go to our room. A little water will clear us of this deed. How easy it is then. (Knock.) Hark! More knocking. Get on your nightgown or they will find us up. Do not be so lost in your thoughts.

Macbeth: It would be best if I did not know my deed myself. (Knock.) Wake Duncan with your knocking! I wish you could. (They exit.)

Act 2, Scene 3

Macduff, Lennox and Seyton enter.

Macduff: Did you go to bed so late, my friend, that you lie so late?

Seyton: We were carousing until the rooster crowed for the second time, sir.

Macduff: Is your master stirring? (Macbeth enters.) Our knocking has awakened him; here he comes.

Lennox: Good morning, sir.

Macbeth: Good morning to you both.

Macduff: Is the King up, worthy Thane?

Macbeth: Not yet.

Macduff: He did order me to call on him early. I have almost missed the time.

Macbeth: This is the door.

Macduff: This is my duty. (Macduff exits.)

Lennox: Is the King leaving today?

Macbeth: He does; he did intend to

Lennox: The night was unruly; where we slept, our chimneys were blown down. Strange screams of death were heard and the raven clamored all night long. Some said the earth shook.

Macbeth: It was a rough night.

Lennox: I cannot remember one like it. (Macduff enters.)

Macduff: O horror, horror, horror! 11

Macbeth and Lennox: What’s the matter?

Macduff: Confusion has made its masterpiece. A most sacrilegious murder has stolen the life of the building.

Macbeth: What are you saying? The life?

Lennox: Do you mean his Majesty?

Macduff: Approach the room and destroy your eyes with a new Medusa. Do not ask me to say it. See and speak for yourselves. (Macbeth and Lennox exit.) Awake! Awake! Ring the alarm bell! Murder and treason! Banquo and Donaldbain! Malcolm, awake! Shake off sleep, the counterfeit of death, and look on death itself. Malcolm! Banquo! Ring the bell! (Bell rings. Lady Macbeth enters.)

Lady Macbeth: What business is so important that such a hideous noise wakes up the sleepers of the house. Speak, speak!

Macduff: O gentle lady, it is not for you to hear what I can speak. It would kill you to hear it. (Banquo enters.) O Banquo, Banquo, our royal master is murdered!

Lady Macbeth: Woe! In our house?

Banquo: It would be too cruel anywhere. Dear Macduff, please contradict yourself and tell me it is not so. (Macbeth, Lennox and Ross enter.)

Macbeth: Had I died an hour ago, I would have lived in a blessed time; from this instant, there is nothing worthwhile in human life. (Malcolm and Donaldbain enter.)

Donaldbain: What is amiss?

Macbeth: You are, and you do not know it. The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood is stopped.

Macduff: Your royal father has been murdered.

Malcolm: By whom?

Lennox: His grooms, as it seemed, had done it. Their hands and faces were red with blood, and so were their daggers, which we found unwiped on their pillows. They were drunk, and no man’s life was to be trusted with them.

Macbeth: Yet I do repent to have killed them in anger.

Macduff: Why did you do so?

Macbeth: Who can be wise, confused, temperate, furious, loyal and neutral at the same time? No man. My violent love outran reason. Here lay Duncan, his skin laced with blood; there, his murderers, steeped in blood like their daggers. Who could contain himself that had a heart to love?

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Lady Macbeth: Help me.

Malcolm: (Aside to Donaldbain) Why do we hold our tongues, when the topic is mostly our concern?

Donaldbain: (Aside to Malcolm) What should be said, when our fate may still spring up and seize us? Let’s go away; we have not yet begun to cry.

Banquo: Look to the lady. (Lady Macbeth is carried out by Seyton.) When we are dressed, let us meet and discuss this bloody piece of work. Fears and doubts shake us. In the great hand of God I stand, and from now on I will fight against the secret stratagems of treasonous malice.

Macduff: And so do I.

All: So all. (All exit except for Malcolm and Donaldbain.)

Malcolm: What will you do? Let’s not meet with them. The false man easily shows an unfelt sorrow. I am going to England.

Donaldbain: And I am going to Ireland. It will be safer if we are separate. Where we are, there are daggers in men’s smiles. The closer one is to blood, the closer he is to be bloody.

Malcolm: This murderous arrow that is shot has not yet landed, and our safest way is to avoid the aim. Let us quickly get to our horses and leave. There is justification in leaving when there is no mercy left. (Malcolm and Donaldbain leave.)

Act 2, Scene 4

Ross and Macduff enter from opposite sides.

Ross: How goes the world, sir, now?

Macduff: Why, don’t you see?

Ross: Is it known who did this more than bloody deed?

Macduff: Those that Macbeth has slain.

Ross: What good could they expect from it?

Macduff: They were bribed. Malcolm and Donaldbain, the King’s two sons, have fled; this puts the suspicion of the deed upon them.

Ross: Then it is most likely that the crown will fall upon Macbeth.

Macduff: He has already been named, and he has gone to Scone to be crowned.

Ross: Where is Duncan’s body?

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Macduff: It was carried to Colmekill, the sacred storehouse of his ancestors.

Ross: Are you going to Scone?

Macduff: No, cousin, I am off to Fife.

Ross: I will go there then.

Macduff: Adieu.

Ross: Farewell. (Both exit.)

Act 3, Scene 1

Banquo: (As he enters.) You have it all now—King, Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis, all as the weird sisters promised, and I am afraid that you played most cheatingly for it. Yet it was said that these titles should not extend to your children, but that myself should be the root and father of many kings. If some truth comes from those weird sisters, may they not be my oracles as well and raise my hope? But hush, no more! (A trumpet sounds. Macbeth, as King, Lady Macbeth , Lennox, Ross and Seyton enter.)

Macbeth: Here is our main guest.

Lady Macbeth: If he had been forgotten, there would have been an empty space at our feast.

Macbeth: Tonight we hold a solemn supper, sir, and I’ll request your presence.

Banquo: My duties are knit in an indissoluble tie to the orders your Highness gives me.

Macbeth: Are you riding away this afternoon?

Banquo: Yes, my good lord.

Macbeth: We would have liked you to give us advice during today’s council, but we will wait until tomorrow. Are you riding far?

Banquo: As far as it takes to fill the time between now and supper. Unless my horse goes faster than usual, I will have to ride at night for an hour or two.

Macbeth: Do not miss our feast.

Banquo: My lord, I will not.

Macbeth: We hear that our bloody cousins are hiding in England and Ireland, inventing strange stories instead of confessing their cruel parricide. But let us talk more about this tomorrow. Go to your horse. Adieu, until you return tonight. Is Fleance going with you?

Banquo: Yes, my lord. It is time for us to go.

Macbeth: I wish your horses to be swift and sure of foot. Farewell. (Banquo exits.) Let every 14

man do what he wants until seven. To make our time together more sweet, we will stay alone until supper time comes. Until then, God be with you! (All leave except Macbeth and Seyton.) Sirrah, a word with you. Are the men I expected waiting for us?

Seyton: They are, my lord. outside of the palace gate.

Macbeth: Bring them before us. (Seyton exits.) To be what I am is nothing unless I hold those titles safely—Our fears about Banquo are deeply embedded in us, and the royalty of his nature deserves to be feared. He is daring, and this dauntless temper has a wisdom that guides him to act safely. He is the only man I fear, just as Mark Antony was daunted by Caesar. He laughed of the sisters when they gave me the name of King, and then they hailed him as father of kings. If it be so, I defiled my mind for the sake of Banquo, for his sons I murdered the gracious Duncan. Only for them I gave my eternal soul to Satan. Rather than that, come into the fields of combat, Fate, and engage with me to the death. Who’s there? (Two murderers and Seyton enter.) Now go to the door and stay there until we call. (Seyton exits.) Was it not yesterday that we spoke together?

Murderers: It was, your Highness.

Macbeth: Well, then, have you considered what I said? Do you know that it was he which held you out of favor with fortune in times past. I made this clear to you during our last visit. I reviewed the evidence, how you were manipulated and thwarted. One with half a soul or half a mind would say that Banquo did it.

Murderer 1: You told us so.

Macbeth: I did tell you so, and I went further, which is the point of this meeting. Are you so patient that you can forgive this? Are you so religious that you would pray for this man, whose heavy hand has made beggars out of you?

Murderer 1: We are men, my liege.

Macbeth: Aye, if you belong with men and not in the worst rank of manhood, say it: and I will put that business in your trust that would get rid of your enemy.

Murderer 2: I am a man, my liege, who has been so buffeted by the world that I recklessly want to spite the world.

Murderer 1: I am another man, who has been so mistreated by life that I would risk my life to fix it or be rid of it.

Macbeth: Both of you know that Banquo was your enemy.

Murderers: True, my lord.

Macbeth: He is mine too, and although I could with barefaced power sweep him from my sight, I must not since certain friends are both his and mine. I could not lose their love, and I must

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cry when Banquo falls, to mask the business from the common eye for many reasons.

Murderer 1: We shall perform what you command us.

Macbeth: Within an hour at the most I will advise you where to plant yourselves. Be sure to have perfect timing, to find the perfect moment, always remembering that I require an alibi. And with him, be sure to kill his son, whose death is no less important to me than his father’s. Resolve yourself to do this deed and I will be with you right away.

Murderers: We are resolved, my lord.

Macbeth: I’ll be with you in a moment. Abide within. Banquo, if your soul is to go to heaven, it must find it tonight.

Act 3, Scene 2

Lady Macbeth: (As she and Seyton enter.) Has Banquo left?

Seyton: Yes, madam, but he will return tonight.

Lady Macbeth: Tell the King I need to talk to him.

Seyton: I will, madam (Seyton leaves.).

Lady Macbeth: Nothing is had, all is spent, when we get what we desire but cannot enjoy it. It is safer to be what we destroy than to dwell in doubtful joy because of destruction. (Macbeth enters.) What now, my lord? Why do you stay alone, making the most hated fancies your companions? Things without remedies should not be contemplated. What’s done is done.

Macbeth: We have slashed the snake, not killed it. She’ll heal while our feeble opposition remains in danger of her fang. But let the universe collapse, as we eat our meal in fear and sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us every night. Duncan is in his grave and after the fitful fever of life he sleeps well. Treason has gotten rid of his worst problems: neither steel nor poison, civil war, foreign attacks, nothing can touch him further.

Lady Macbeth; Come on. Relax my lord and be bright and jovial among your guests tonight.

Macbeth: I shall, love; and I hope that you will too. Exalt Banquo, make our faces masks to our hearts, disguising what they are. My mind is full of scorpions. You know that Banquo and Fleance live.

Lady Macbeth: Nature’s lease on life is not eternal in them.

Macbeth: There’s yet comfort: they can be attacked, so be happy.

Lady Macbeth: What’s to be done?

Macbeth: Do not ask to know until you applaud the deed. Come, night that sews the eyes shut, and with your bloody and invisible hand cancel and tear to pieces that great bond that keeps me pale. Things that started badly make themselves stronger through more evil. Please go

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with me. (They leave.)

Act 3, Scene 3

Murderer 1: The last glimmers of daylight are spurring the late traveler, and the subject of our watch is approaching.

Murderer 2: I hear horses.

Banquo: (Within) Give us a light there.

Murderer 2: It is him. All the others have already arrived.

Murderer 1: His horse just went by. Like most men, he prefers to walk the last mile to the palace gate. (Banquo and Fleance enter.)

Murderer 2: It is him.

Banquo: It will be rain tonight.

Murderer 1: Let it come down!

Banquo: O, treachery! Run away, Fleance, run, run, run! (Fleance exit.) May you take revenge! (Banquo is slain by Murderer 2.)

Murderer 1: There is only one down; the son has fled.

Murderer 2: We have lost the best half of our affair.

Murderer 1: Well, let’s leave and tell how much we have done

Act 3, Scene 4

Macbeth: (Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Ross, Lennox enter.) Please sit down, and welcome to all.

Lords: Thanks to your majesty.

Macbeth: We will mingle with society and play the humble host. Our hostess is staying seated, but in good time we will require her to welcome our guests. (Murderer 1 enters. Macbeth goes to him.) There’s blood on your face.

Murderer 1: It is Banquo’s then.

Macbeth: Is he dead?

Murderer 1: My lord, his throat is cut; I did that for him.

Macbeth: You are the best of the cut–throats. He is good who did the same for Fleance; if you did, no one is better than you.

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Murderer 1: Most royal sir, Fleance has escaped.

Macbeth: I would have been whole as the marble otherwise, but I am bound to insolent fears now. The grown serpent lies, and the worm who has fled will breed venom in time, but he has no fangs now. —Go. We will hear from you tomorrow again. (Murderer 1 exits.)

Lady Macbeth: My royal lord, you are not giving tokens of hospitality. The sauce for meat is ceremony; meeting would be pointless without it. (Ghost of Banquo enters.)

Macbeth: Sweet prompter! Good digestion depends on appetite, and health depends on both.

Lennox: May your Highness please sit.

Macbeth: Our house would be more greatly honored if Banquo was present.

Ross: His absence, sir, lays blame on his promise. Won’t your Highness grace us with your royal company?

Macbeth: The table is full.

Lennox: Here is a place reserved for you, sir.

Macbeth: Where?

Lennox: Here, my good lord. What is it that upsets your Highness?

Macbeth: Which one of you has done this?

Lords: What, my good lord?

Macbeth: You can’t say I did it. Never shake your gory locks at me.

Ross: Gentlemen, rise. His Highness is not well.

Lady Macbeth: Sit my worthy friends. My lord is often like this, and has been since he was young. His fit is momentary; in a moment he will be well. If you notice him too much, you will offend him and prolong his seizure. Eat and do not look at him. —Are you a man?

Macbeth: Yes, and a bold one who dares to look upon what would appall the devil.

Lady Macbeth: O proper stuff! This is the dagger fashioned of air which you said led you to Duncan. Those outbursts and starts would make a woman’s story at a winter’s fire. This is shame itself! Why do you make such faces? When all is done, you look at a stool.

Macbeth: Please look there! Behold! Look! —What do you say? If you can nod, speak too. If our graves must send back those that we bury, our tombs shall be the belly of ravens. (Ghost of Banquo exits.)

Lady Macbeth: For shame!

Macbeth: There was a time when the brains were out the man would die and it would be the

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end of it. But now they rise again with twenty murders on their crown and they push us from our stool.

Lady Macbeth: My worthy friend, your noble friends miss you.

Macbeth: Do not wonder about me, my most worthy friends. I have a strange infirmity which is nothing to those who know me. Come, love and health to all I’ll sit down. Give me some wine, and fill my cup full. (Ghost of Banquo enters.) I drink to the health of the whole table, and to our dear friend Banquo.

Lords: Our duties and the pledge.

Macbeth: Quit my sight! Let the earth hide you! Your bones have no marrow, your blood is cold. You have no intelligence in those eyes with which you glare at me. Go away, horrible shadow. Unreal mockery, go away! (Ghost of Banquo leaves.) Now that he is gone, I am a man again. Please sit still.

Lady Macbeth: You have taken away the pleasure, broken the good meeting.

Macbeth: You take away from me the role of a brave man, when you can behold such sights and keep the natural ruby in your cheeks, when mine are made pale with fear.

Ross: What sights, my lord.

Lady Macbeth: Please do not speak; he gets worse and worse and questions enrage him. Good night. Please leave right away.

Lennox: Good night and better health to his Majesty.

Lady Macbeth: A kind good night to all. (Lords exit.)

Macbeth: It will have blood they say; blood will have blood. Did you say that Macduff refused our invitation?

Lady Macbeth: Did you send for him?

Macbeth: I will know more since I keep a spy in his household. Tomorrow, I will go to the weird sisters. They will tell me more, because I am determined to know the worst. I have strange ideas in my head that must be acted upon without being closely studied.

Lady Macbeth: You are missing the most important preservative, sleep.

Macbeth: Come, we’ll go to sleep. My strange self–abuse is the beginner’s fear that lacks toughening. (They leave.)

Act 3, Scene 5

Thunder. The three Witches enter, meeting Hecate.

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Witch 1: 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 riddles and affairs of death; and I, the mistress of your charms, the close contriver of all harms, was never called 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 son, 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 fatal end. Great business must be brought 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, distilled by magic sleights, shall raise such artificial 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. (Music, and a song.) Hark! I am called. My little spirit, see, sits in a foggy cloud and stays for me. (Hecate exits.)

Witch 1: Come, let’s make haste: she’ll soon be back again. (All exit.)

Act 3, Scene 6

Lennox: What I have just said matched your thoughts, which can interpret farther. All I say is that strange things have happened. The Gracious Duncan was pitied by Macbeth. Behold, he was dead. And the right valiant Banquo walked too late; whom, you may say if it pleases you, Fleance killed because Fleance fled.Who can avoid thinking how monstrous it was for Malcolm and Donaldbain to kill their father. How much did Macbeth grieve! Did he not kill the two delinquent that were drunk? It was noble and wise, because it would have angered any heart alive to hear them deny it. I do think that if Malcolm and Donaldbain were under his key, they would find what it was like to kill a father, and so would Fleance. I hear that Macduff lives in disgrace because he failed to show up for the feast. Can you tell me where he hides?

Angus: The son of Duncan lives in the English court under the protection of pious King Edward. Macduff is soliciting the holy King to ask Northumberland and Siward to support us, so we can have meat on our tables, sleep during our nights, and do faithful homage. This report has so exasperated the King that he prepares for some war.

Lennox: Advise Macduff to hold his distance, and may a swift blessing soon return to our country who suffers under an accursed hand. (They exit.)

Act 4, Scene 1

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Witch 1: Thrice the brindled cat hath mewed.

Witch 2: Thrice, and once the hedge–pig wined.

Witch 3: Harper cries—’Tis time, ‘tis time.

Witch 1: Round about the cauldron go; in the poisoned entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone days and nights has thirty–one sweltered venom, sleeping got, boil thou first i’ th’ charmèd pot.

All: Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Witch 2: Fillet of a fenny snake, in the cauldron boil and bake; eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog, adder’s fork, and blindworm’s sting, lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing—For a charm of pow’rful trouble like a hell–broth boil and bubble.

All: Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Witch 3: Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witch’s mummy, maw and gulf of the ravined salt–sea shark, roots of hemlock digged i’ th’ dark, liver of blaspheming Jew, gall of goat, and slips of yew slivered in the moon’s eclipse, nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips, finger of birth–strangled babe ditch–delivered by a drab make the gruel thick and slab. Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron for th’ ingredience of our cauldron.

All: Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Witch 2: Cool it with a baboon’s blood, then the charm is firm and good. (Hecate enters.)

Hecate: O, well done! I commend your pains, and every one shall share i’ th’ gains. And now about the cauldron sing like elves and fairies in a ring, enchanting all that you put in. (Hecate leaves.)

Witch 2: By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. Open locks, whoever knocks!

Macbeth: How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags, what is’t you do?

All: A deed without a name.

Macbeth: I order you by what that which you profess, however you come to know it, answer me. Even if you must untie the winds and let them fight against the churches, even if the foamy waves swallow boats up, even if castles topple over their owner’s head, even if pyramids incline their heads to their foundations, answer me what I ask you.

Witch 1: Speak.

Witch 2: Demand.

Witch 3: We’ll answer.

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Witch 1: Say if th’ hadst rather hear it from our mouths or from our masters.

Macbeth: Call ‘em. Let me see ‘em.

Witch 1: Pour in sow’s blood, that hath eaten her nine farrow; grease that 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—

Witch 1: He knows thy thought; hear his speech, but say thou naught.

Apparition 1: Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth, beware Macduff! Beware the Thane of Fife! Dismiss me.—Enough. (Apparition 1 disappears.)

Macbeth: Whatever you are, thank you for the warning; you have confirmed my fears. But one more word—

Witch 1: He will not be commanded. Here’s another, more potent than the first. (Thunder, Second Apparition, a Bloody Child.)

Apparition 2: Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth—

Macbeth: Even if I had three ears, I couldn’t hear you better.

Apparition 2: Be bloody, bold and resolute! Laugh to scorn the pow’r of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth. (Apparition 2 disappears.)

Macbeth: Then live, Macduff,—why should I be afraid of you? But yet I’ll make double sure and secure a guarantee from fate. You shall not live; then I may tell pale–hearted fear that it lies, and I can sleep in spite of thunder. (Thunder, Third Apparition, a Child Crowned, with a tree in his hand.) What is this that rises like the son of a king and wears upon his brow the crown of sovereignty?

All: Listen, but do not speak to ‘t.

Apparition 3: Be lion–mettled, proud, and take no care who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are! Macbeth shall never be vanquished until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him. (Apparition 3 disappears.)

Macbeth: That will never happen. Who can conscript a forest and convince the tree to pull his roots? Sweet prophecies, good!The dead will not rise until the forest of Birnam rise, and our high–placed Macbeth shall live a full lifespan, and die of natural death. Yet, my heart throbs to know one more thing. Tell me if you can: Shall Banquo’s offspring ever reign in this kingdom?

All: Seek to know no more.

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Macbeth: I must know. Deny me this, and an eternal curse will fall on you. Let me know. (Hautboys) What noise is this?

Witch 1: Show!

Witch 2: Show!

Witch 3: Show!

All: Show his eyes, and grieve his heart! Come like shadows, so depart! (Eight Kings and Banquo enter.)

Macbeth: You are too much like the spirit of Banquo. Down! Your crown sears my eyeballs. Filthy hags, why do you show me this? A fourth? What, will the line stretch to the crack of doom? Horrible sight! Now I see it is true; Banquo, matted with blood, smiles at me and point at them. Is is true?

Witch 1: Ay, sir, all this is so. But why stands Macbeth thus amazedly? Come, sisters, cheer we up his spirits and show the best of our delights. I’ll charm the air to give a sound while you perform your antic round, that this great king may kindly say our duties did his welcome pay. (Music. The Witches dance, and vanish.)

Macbeth: Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour stand cursed on the calendar from here on. Whoever is out there, come in! (Lennox enters.)

Lennox: What does your Grace want?

Macbeth: Did you see the weird sisters?

Lennox: No, my lord.

Macbeth: Didn’t they go by you?

Lennox: No indeed, my lord.

Macbeth:I did hear the galloping horses. Who was it that came by?

Lennox: A few men came, my lord, to bring you word that Macduff has fled to England.

Macbeth: Fled to England?

Lennox: Yes, my good lord (He leaves.).

Macbeth: (Aside.) Time, you have forestalled my success. From this moment on, I shall act as soon as I feel the first impulse. Right now, to crown my thoughts with acts, I want this thought and done: I will surprise Macduff’s castle, and kill his wife, children and all who are related to him. Where are these gentlemen I have used before? Let’s go where they are.

Act 4, Scene 223

Lady Macduff: (Lady Macduff, her Son, and Ross enter.) What has he done that he had to flee?

Ross: You must be patient, madam.

Lady Macduff: He didn’t have any reasons. His flight was madness. When our actions do not make us traitors, our fears do.

Ross: You do not know if it was his fears or his wisdom.

Lady Macduff: Wisdom? To leave his wife, to leave his children, his mansion and his titles in a place from which he flees? He does not love us, he lacks the natural touch. Even the poor wren, the smallest of birds, will fight against the owl from her nest if she has young ones. All is fear and nothing is love and wisdom when fleeing so runs against the reason.

Ross: My dearest cousin, please calm yourself. You husband is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows the reasons. I dare not speak much further. Things will stop getting worse, or else get better and be like they were before.— My pretty cousin, may God bless you. (Ross leaves.)

Lady Macduff: Sirrah, your father’s dead. What will you do now? How will you live?

Son: Like the birds do, mother.

Lady Macduff: What, eating worms and flies?

Son: I mean with what I find.

Lady Macduff: Poor bird! You would never fear the net, the pitfall or the trap.

Son: Why should I, mother? No matter how much you say it, my father is not dead.

Lady Macduff: Yes, he is dead. What will you do to have a father?

Son: What will you do to have a husband?

Lady Macduff: I can buy me twenty at any market.

Son: Then you’ll buy them to betray them again. Was my father a traitor, mother?

Lady Macduff: Yes, that he was.

Son: What is a traitor?

Lady Macduff: One that swears and lies.

Son: And all those that do so are traitors?

Lady Macduff: Every one that does so is a traitor and should be hanged.

Son: And all those that swear and lie would be hanged?

Lady Macduff: Every one.

Son: Who must hang them?

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Lady Macduff: The honest men.

Son: Then the liars and swearers are fools, for there are liars and swearers enough to beat the honest men and hang them up.

Lady Macduff: God help you, my dear child. But how will you manage without a father?

Son: If he was dead, you would weep for him. And if you didn’t, it is a good sign that I should have a new father quickly.

Lady Macduff: Poor prattler, you talk so much!—What are these faces. (Murderers enter.)

Murderer 1: Where is your husband?

Lady Macduff: I hope he is in no place so unsanctified that someone like you could find him.

Murderer 1: He’s a traitor.

Son: You lie, you shaggy haired villain!

Murderer 2: Young spawn of treachery. (He stabs the Son.)

Son: He has killed me. mother. Run away, please. (Son dies. Lady Macduff exits, crying ‘Murder!’, pursued by the Murderers.)

Act 4, Scene 3

Macduff and Malcolm enter.

Malcolm: Let us find some shade and weep.

Macduff: Let us hold fast our sword instead and protect our place of birth. Each day new widows and orphans cry in Scotland.

Malcolm: Maybe this tyrant was once honest; you loved him well, and he has not hurt you yet. You may deserve something of him by offering a weak, poor, innocent lamb like me to appease an angry god.

Macduff: I am not treacherous.

Malcolm: But Macbeth is. A good and virtuous nature may reverse itself under royal pressure. But I beg your pardon; my thought cannot change what you are. Angels are bright even though the brightest angel fell.

Macduff: I will not be the villain that you think.

Malcolm: I do not speak of you. When I will tread on the tyrant’s head or wear it on my sword, my country will have more vices than before under the guidance of him that will succeed Macbeth.

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Macduff: Who will he be?

Malcolm: I speak of myself. Macbeth is bloody, avaricious, false, deceitful, malicious, yet I am worse than him. It is better that Macbeth reigns than me.

Macduff: Intemperance in nature is a tyranny; it has been the fall of many kings. But do not be afraid to take what belongs to you.

Malcolm: But I have none of the qualities a king should have. Justice, verity, temperance, perseverance, mercy, courage, patience, I take no pleasure in them. No, if I had power, I would pour the sweet milk of peace into hell.

Macduff: O Scotland, Scotland!

Malcolm: If someone like me is fit to govern, speak. I am what I said I am.

Macduff: Fit to govern? You are not even fit to live! Miserable nation, with a tyrant holding the scepter in a bloody–hand, the truest descendant of the throne stands cursed by his own curse and blasphemes his breed? Your father was a saintly king, and so was your mother.

Malcolm: Macduff, your noble passion has banished my scruples and has reconciled my thoughts to your truth and honor. Macbeth has tried to make an evil man of me through his many plots, but God deals between you and me. I abjure the blames I laid upon myself. I delight in truth as much as I delight in life. I am at my country’s command. As we speak, Old Siward has gathered ten thousand soldiers. We will join him and let the chance of success equal the justice of our cause. (Ross enters.)

Macduff: See who comes here. Is Scotland the way we left it?

Ross: Alas, our poor country is barely recognizable. It cannot be called our mother, but our grave. No one is seen smiling. No one ask for whom the dead man knell’s ring.

Macduff: How is my wife?

Ross: Well.

Macduff: And all my children?

Ross: Well too.

Macduff: The tyrant has not bothered them?

Ross: No, they were at peace when I left them.

Macduff: Do not be so quiet. How are things in Scotland?

Ross: When I left to come here, there ran a rumor of many good men up in arms. Now is the time for you to help. Your presence in Scotland would create soldiers and make our women fight.

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Malcolm: We are leaving now, since England has lent us Siward and ten thousand men.

Ross: I wish I could give you such comforting words!

Macduff: Should your bad news concern Scotland or a single person?

Ross: No honest mind would fail to share these sad news, but they mostly concern you.

Macduff: If it concerns me, do not keep it from me, let me know quickly.

Ross: I hope your ears will not despise my tongue forever. This is the saddest sound they will ever hear. Your castle was attacked, your wife and children were savagely slaughtered.

Malcolm: Merciful heaven! Give words to your sorrow. The grief that does not speak aloud whispers to the overwrought heart and breaks it.

Macduff: My children too?

Ross: Wife, children, servants, all that could be found.

Macduff: My wife was killed too?

Ross: As I said.

Malcolm: Be comforted. Let’s make the medicine that will cure your grief out of our revenge.

Macduff: He has no children. All my pretty ones. Did you say all? All?

Malcolm: Take it like a man.

Macduff: I shall do so; but I must also feel it like a man. I cannot but remember that such things were the most precious to me. Sinful Macduff, they were all struck because of you. None of them were slaughtered for their faults but for mine. Heaven rest them now!

Malcolm: Let this be the whetstone for your sword. Let grief turn into anger; do not blunt the heart, enrage it.

Macduff: Gentle heavens, bring this fiend of Scotland and myself together. Put him within striking distance of my sword.

Malcolm: Come, let’s go to the King. Nothing remains but to say farewell. (They exit.)

Act 5, Scene 1

A doctor and a Gentlewoman enter.

Doctor: I have stayed up two nights with you, but I see no truth in what you have told me. When is the last time she walked in her sleep?

Gentlewoman: Since his Majesty went into the field I have seen her rise from her bed, put on

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her nightgown, unlock her desk, take some paper, fold it, write on it, read it, seal it and again return to bed; and all the while, she was fast asleep.

Doctor: To receive at once the benefit of sleep and act as if awake is a great perturbation of nature. In this sleepy agitation, besides her walking and other actions, what have you heard her say?

Gentlewoman: Something I will not repeat, sir.

Doctor: You can report to me, and it is most fitting that you should.

Gentlewoman: Not to you or anyone, since I have no witness to what I heard. (Lady Macbeth enters, carrying a candle.) Be quiet, here she comes. This is her habit and, upon my life, she is fast asleep. Observe her; stand close.

Doctor: How come she has that candle?

Gentlewoman: It was at her bedside. She has light by her at all times, she ordered it.

Doctor: You see that her eyes are open.

Gentlewoman: Yes, but her senses are shut.

Doctor: What is she doing now? Look how she rubs her hands.

Gentlewoman: It is a habit with her, to seem to be washing her hands. I have known her to do this for a quarter of an hour at a time.

Lady Macbeth: Here’s a spot.

Doctor: Listen, she speaks.I will write down what she says, so I can remember better.

Lady Macbeth: Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One—Two—Why then, when is it time to do it? Hell is murky. Go, my lord, go! A soldier and afraid? Why should we fear if anyone knows, when none is powerful enough to have us account for it? Yet, who would have thought to have had so much blood in him?

Doctor: Did you hear that?

Lady Macbeth: The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now? Will these hands ever be clean? No more of that, my lord, no more of that!

Doctor: Go, go! You have known what you should not.

Gentlewoman: She has spoken what she should not. I am sure of that. Heaven knows what she knows.

Lady Macbeth: Here is the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!

Doctor: What a sigh this was. Her heart is heavy.28

Gentlewoman: I would not have such a heart in my bosom for the dignity of my whole body.

Doctor: This disease is beyond my competence. Yet, I have known some people who walked in their sleep and who still died quietly in their beds.

Lady Macbeth: Wash your hands, put on your nightgown, look not so pale! I tell you again, Banquo’s buried. He cannot come out of his grave. To bed, to bed! There’s knocking at the gate. Come, come, give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed (She leaves.)

Doctor: Will she go to bed now?

Gentlewoman: Directly.

Doctor: Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles. She needs the divine more than the physician. God, God, forgive us all! Look after her; take away anything with which she could hurt herself and keep an eye on her. I think, but I dare not speak.

Gentlewoman: Good night, good doctor. (They exit.)

Act 5, Scene 2

Angus and Lennox enter.

Angus: The English army is near; it is led by Malcolm, his uncle Siward, and the good Macduff. Revenges burn in them. We shall meet them at Birnam Wood; they are coming that way. What does the tyrant do?

Lennox: He is fortifying the castle of Dunsinane. Some people say that he is crazy: others that hate him less call it brave fury. For certain, he cannot buckle his diseased cause within the belt of reason.

Angus: Now he feels his secret murders sticking to his hands. Now revolts unbraid his treason by the minute. Now those he commands only move because he orders it, not out of love for him. Now he feels his title hanging loose on him, like a giant’s robe on a dwarfish thief.

Lennox: Let’s march on to obey those to whom we truly owe obedience. Let’s meet the cure of the sickly commonwealth and join him in purging our country. Let’s march toward Birnam. (They exit.)

Act 5, Scene 3

Macbeth and Doctor enter.

Macbeth: Bring me no more reports. Let them all fly! Until Birnam Wood moves itself to Dunsinane I will not be afraid. What about the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of woman?

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The spirits that know all human sequences of events have said: ‘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 that guides me and the heart that I bear will never sag with doubt or shake with fear. (Servant enters.) May the devil damn you black, you cream–faced loon! Why do you look pale as a goose?

Servant: There is ten thousand—

Macbeth: Geese, villain?

Servant: Soldiers, sir.

Macbeth: Go prick your face and redden your fear, you lily–livered boy. What soldiers, fool? Death to your soul! Your cheeks of linen are counselors to fear. What soldiers, milk–face?

Servant: The English force.

Macbeth: Take your face away. (Servant exits.) Seyton!—It makes me sick to see—Seyton, I say!—This struggle will cheer me for ever or take away my throne. I have lived long enough. My way of life is fallen in the dry, yellow leaves, and what should accompany old age, honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look forward to have. Instead, I get quiet but deep curses and people who honor me with their mouth. Seyton! (Seyton enters.)

Seyton: What’s your gracious pleasure?

Macbeth: What are the latest news?

Seyton: All has been confirmed, sir, that was reported.

Macbeth: I’ll fight until my flesh is hacked from my bones. Give me my armor.

Seyton: It is not needed yet.

Macbeth: I’ll put it on. Send out more horses, scour the country around. Hang those that talk with fear. Give me my armor. How is your patient, doctor?

Doctor: Not sick as much as she is troubled with dreams that keep her from her rest.

Macbeth: Cure her of that! Can’t you heal a mind diseased, pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, erase problems written in the brain, and with some antidote cleanse the bosom of that perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart?

Doctor: In this case, the patient must heal herself.

Macbeth: Throw medicine to the dogs, I’ll have none of it! Come, put my armor on. Give me my staff. Seyton, send out.—Doctor, the thanes are fleeing away from me.—Come, sir, hurry.—If you could, doctor, examine my country, find her disease, and purge her to a sound and pristine health, I would applaud you until the echo comes back.—Bring the rest of my armor to me. I will not be afraid of death and destruction until Birnam Forest comes to

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Dunsinane. (Seyton and Macbeth exit.)

Doctor: If I was away from Dunsinane, no money could draw me here. (Doctor exits.)

Act 5, Scene 4

Drum and horn. Malcolm, Siward, Macduff, Siward’s son, Angus, Lennox, Ross march in.

Malcolm: Cousins, I hope the days are near when sleeping chambers will be safe.

Siward: We do not doubt it. (Pause) What forest is in front of us?

Malcolm: The Wood of Birnam. Let every soldier cut himself a branch and hold it in front of him. This way we will hide the size of our army and make scouts err in their report.

Ross, Siward and Lennox: It will be done.

Siward: We have learned that no one but the confident tyrant is in Dunsinane. More people are joining the revolt, and no one serves him but those who are ordered to do so.

Macduff: Let our impartial judgment be with us, and let’s act like good soldiers.

Siward: The time comes when we will know what we have and what we owe. Thoughts speculate and relate their hopes but certain issues must be judged by the strokes of the sword. Let’s march to war. (They exit.)

Act 5, Scene 5

Macbeth and Seyton enter to horns and drums.

Macbeth: Nag out our banners on the outward walls. Our castle’s strength will laugh to scorn a siege. Let them besiege us until famine and the plague eat them up. If they were not reinforced by those who should be on our side, we would have met them, beard to beard, and we would have beat them back toward home. (A cry within of women.) What is that noise?

Seyton: It is the cry of women, my good lord. (Seyton exits.)

Macbeth: I have almost forgotten the taste of fear. It used to be that a shriek in the night would have cooled my senses, and my hair would have stood on end to hear a dismal story. I have supped full of horrors. Horror, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, cannot startle me. (Seyton enters.) What was that cry?

Seyton: The queen, my lord, is dead.

Macbeth: She should have died later; there would have been a time for such a word. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, this petty pace creeps from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time. And all of our yesterdays have lighted the way for fools to get to their dusty

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death. Out, out, brief candle! Life is nothing but a walking shadow, a poor actor that struts and fret about his hour on the stage, and then is no longer heard. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. (Servant enters.) You come to use your tongue; tell your story quickly!

Servant: My good lord, I should report what I saw, but I do not know how to do it.

Macbeth: Well, say it.

Servant: As is was looking from the hill, I looked toward Birnam, and suddenly I thought I saw the forest begin to move.

Macbeth: Liar and slave!

Servant: Let me endure your wrath if it is not true. Within three miles you can see it coming. I mean it, it is a moving grove.

Macbeth: If you are lying, you will hang alive from the closest tree until famine shrivels you. If you tell the truth, I do not care if you do the same to me. I begin to suspect the double–talk of the fiend that lies like truth. ‘Fear not, till Birnam Wood do come to Dunsinane!’ and now a forest comes toward Dunsinane. To arms, to arms, and out! If what he says is true, there is no use fleeing from here or staying here. I begin to be weary of the sun, and I wish the nature of the world was undone. Ring the alarm bell! Blow wind, come destruction, at least we will die with our armor on our back. (They exit.)

Act 5, Scene 6

Drum and horn. Malcolm, Siward, Young Siward, Macduff enter with branches.

Malcolm: We are close enough now. Throw down your branches and show who you are. You, my worthy uncle, will lead our first battalion with your noble son. Macduff and we will do what remains to be done according to our battle plan.

Siward: Fare you well. If we do not find the tyrant’s forces to night, let us be beaten if we cannot fight.

Macduff: Make all our trumpets speak, give them all breath, they are the loud harbingers of blood and death. (They exit. Horns sound.)

Act 5, Scene 7

Macbeth: (Macbeth enters.) They have tied me to a stake, I cannot run away. I must fight to the end like a bear. Who is he that is not born of a woman? I am to fear such a man, or no one. (Young Siward enters.)

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Young Siward: What is your name?

Macbeth: You would be afraid to hear it.

Young Siward: No I wouldn’t, even if you called yourself a hotter name than any in hell.

Macbeth: My name’s Macbeth.

Young Siward: The devil himself could not pronounce a title more hated to my ear.

Macbeth: No, or not more frightening.

Young Siward: You lie, you despised tyrant. With my sword I’ll prove the lie that you speak. (They fight, and Young Siward is slain.)

Macbeth: You were born of a woman. I smile at swords and laugh at weapons that are brandished by a man that was born of a woman. (Macbeth exits.)

Macduff: The noise came from this way. (Macduff enters.) Show your face, tyrant. If you were to be killed by someone else than me, the ghosts of my wife and children would haunt me forever. I cannot strike at wretched soldiers who are hired to carry their spears. Either I strike you, Macbeth, or I must sheath my sword without deed. Let me find him, Fortune; I beg nothing else from you. (Macduff exits. Malcolm and Siward enter.)

Siward: This way, my lord. The castle has surrendered without a great fight. The soldiers of the tyrant fight on both sides, the noble thanes are doing bravely, the day almost declares itself yours.

Malcolm: We have met with enemies who fight at our side.

Siward: Enter the castle, sir. (They exit. Macbeth enters.)

Macbeth: Why should I act like a Roman fool and die on my own sword? While I see enemies alive, the gashes look better on them. (Macduff enters.)

Macduff; Turn around, hellhound, turn around!

Macbeth: I avoided you of all men. Get back! My soul is too charged with some blood of yours already.

Macduff: I have no words; my voice is my sword, you villain who is bloodier than words can express. (They fight.)

Macbeth: You are wasting your time. You can make me bleed as easily as you can leave a mark in the air. Let your blade fall off vulnerable crests. I lead a charmed life, which can not yield to one born of a woman.

Macduff: Despair of your charm, and let the host of Lucifer who has always served you tell you that Macduff was untimely torn from his mother’s womb.

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Macbeth: A curse be on the tongue that tells me so, it has scared away most of my manly side! And may we no longer believe those juggling fiends that quibble with us in double sense, that keep the word of promise to our ear and break it to our hope. I will not fight with you.

Macduff: Then give up, coward, and live to be the spectacle of the time. We’ll have you, as our rarer monsters are, painted on a banner and under it will be written, ‘Here you may see the tyrant.’

Macbeth: I will not give up, I will not kiss the ground in front of young Malcolm’s feet and be baited by the cries of the crowd. Although Birnam Wood has come to Dunsinane, and although you are my opponent, being of no woman born, I will still try to the last instant. In front of my body I throw my shield. Lay on, Macduff, and may he be damned who first cries ‘Stop, enough!’(They exit fighting. They reenter, and exit. Macbeth is slain. Malcolm, Siward, Ross, Duncan enter.)

Malcolm: I wish the friends we are missing would arrive safe.

Siward: Some will have died; and yet, a great day like this one is cheaply bought.

Malcolm: Macduff is missing, and your noble son.

Ross: Your son, my lord, has paid the debt of a soldier. He lived long enough to be a man; as soon as his prowess confirmed his manliness, he died like a man.

Siward: Then he is dead?

Ross: Yes. Your cause for sorrow must not be measured by his worth, because it would have no end.

Siward: If I had as many sons as I have hairs, I would not wish them a fairer death. So God be with him. Here comes newer comfort. (Macduff enters, followed by Lennox and Angus carrying Macbeth’s body.)

Macduff: Hail, King, for so you are. Behold, here is the usurper’s body. The country is free. I see that you are surrounded by the best men of the land, who speak my greeting in their minds. I want their voices aloud with mine—Hail, King of Scotland!

All: Hail, King of Scotland!

Malcolm: It will not be long before we account for your faithfulness and become even with you. My Thanes and kinsmen, you will now be called Earls, the first that Scotland has ever had. More should be done at the outset of this new era— like calling home our friends who fled the snares of tyranny. We will do this and more, by the grace of God, in the right place, and time, and manner. We thank you all and we invite each of you to see us crowned at Scone.(They all leave.)

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