Macbeth (abridged) (1st ed. - 06.16.10) - macbethabridged6jp
Copyright © 2010 Larry Nehring
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Dramatis Personae
DUNCAN, King of Scotland
MACBETH, Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, a general in the King’s army
LADY MACBETH, his wife
MACDUFF, Thane of Fife, a nobleman of Scotland
LADY MACDUFF, his wife
MALCOLM, elder son of Duncan
BANQUO, Thane of Lochaber, a general in the King’s army, and his
Ghost
FLEANCE, his son
LENNOX, nobleman of Scotland
SGT. ROSS, nobleman of Scotland
OLD SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces
YOUNG SIWARD, his son
SEYTON, attendant to Macbeth
FOUR WITCHES
A PORTER
THREE APPARITIONS
TWO MURTHERERS
SERVANT
MESSENGER
Scene
Scotland and England.
Production Note
The Set: simplicity is ideal. A central changing area upstage of curtains or partitions for quick changes and offstage voices, a handful
of benches and/or cubes for seating or tables, and that’s about all
that is needed.
The play is structured for most scenes to flow from ne into the next
seamlessly. Scene changes, ideally, should never hold up the flow of
the play.
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Macbeth (abridged)
written by William Shakespeare
assaulted by Larry Nehring
ACT I
Scene I
Scotland. A blasted heath.
(Thunder and lightning. Three WITCHES [A, B, & C].)
FIRST WITCH (A). When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
SECOND WITCH (B). When the hurlyburly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.
THIRD WITCH (C). That will be ere the set of sun.
FIRST WITCH (A). Where the place?
SECOND WITCH (B). Upon the heath.
THIRD WITCH (C). There to meet with Macbeth.
ALL. Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
(Exeunt.)
Scene II
Scotland. A camp near Forres.
(Alarum within. Enter a bleeding SGT. ROSS [D].)
SGT. ROSS (D). Doubtful it stood against the merciless Macdonwald.
(Enter MACBETH [C], fighting as with Macdonwald.)
But brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—
Carved out his passage till he faced the slave,
Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam’d him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix’d his head upon our battlements.
(Enter DUNCAN [A] to receive Sgt. Ross’s report.)
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No sooner justice had, with valor arm’d,
But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,
With furbish’d arms and new supplies of men,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
The Thane of Cawdor, began a fresh assault.
(Enter BANQUO [B] to fight alongside MACBETH [c].)
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo
Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe,
Curbing his lavish spirit; and, to conclude,
The victory fell on us.
(Exit MACBETH [C] and BANQUO [B].)
DUNCAN (A). No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
(Exit SGT. ROSS [D].)
What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.
(Exit.)
Scene III
Scotland. A heath.
(Thunder. Enter two WITCHES [A & D].)
FIRST WITCH (A). Where hast thou been, sister?
FOURTH WITCH (D). Killing swine.
FIRST WITCH (A). Look what I have.
FOURTH WITCH (D). Show me, show me.
FIRST WITCH (A). Here I have a sailor’s thumb,
Wreck’d as homeward he did come.
(Drum within.)
FOURTH WITCH (D). A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come.
BOTH WITCHES. The weird sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about,
Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Peace! The charm’s wound up.
Macbeth (abridged)
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(Enter MACBETH [C] and BANQUO [B].)
MACBETH (C). So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
BANQUO (B). How far is’t call’d to Forres? What are these
So wither’d and so wild in their attire?
Live you? or are you aught
That man may question?
MACBETH (C). Speak, if you can. What are you?
FIRST WITCH (A). All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
FOURTH WITCH (D). All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of
Cawdor!
BOTH WITCHES. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!
BANQUO (B). If you can look into the seeds of time,
Speak then to me.
FIRST WITCH (A). Hail!
FOURTH WITCH (D). Hail!
BOTH WITCHES.
Hail!
FIRST WITCH (A). Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
FOURTH WITCH (D). Not so happy, yet much happier.
BOTH WITCHES. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
FIRST WITCH (A). Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
MACBETH (C). By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be King
Stands not within the prospect of belief.
(WITCHES [A & D] vanish.)
BANQUO (B). Whither are they vanish’d?
MACBETH (C).
Into the air.
Would they had stay’d! Your children shall be kings.
BANQUO (B). You shall be King.
MACBETH (C).
BANQUO (B). Who’s here?
(Enter SGT. ROSS [D].)
And Thane of Cawdor too.
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SGT. ROSS (D). The King hath happily received, Macbeth,
The news of thy success I am sent to give thee
Thanks; and call thee Thane of Cawdor.
BANQUO (B). What, can the devil speak true?
MACBETH (C). The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me
In borrow’d robes?
SGT. ROSS (D). His treasons capital,
Confess’d and proved, have overthrown him.
MACBETH (C). (Aside:) Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor!
This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good.
BANQUO (B).
Our partner’s rapt.
MACBETH (C). I yield to horrible imaginings:
And nothing is but what is not.
BANQUO (B).
Macbeth.
MACBETH (C). (Aside:) If chance will have me King, why, chance
may crown me
Without my stir.
(Exeunt.)
Scene IV
Forres. The palace.
(Flourish. Enter DUNCAN [A].)
DUNCAN (A). Th’execution is done on Cawdor.
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.
(Enter MACBETH [C], BANQUO [B], and SGT. ROSS [D].)
O worthiest cousin! Only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay.
MACBETH (C). The service and the loyalty l owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Our duties
Are to your throne and state and honor.
DUNCAN (A).
I have begun to plant thee, and will labor
To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserved. Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
Macbeth (abridged)
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We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
The Prince of Cumberland. From hence to Inverness.
MACBETH (C). I’ll be myself the harbinger,
So humbly take my leave.
My worthy Cawdor!
DUNCAN (A).
(Exeunt all but MACBETH [C].)
MACBETH (C). (Aside:) The Prince of Cumberland!
That is a step I must o’erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
(Exit.)
Scene V
Inverness. Macbeth’s castle.
(Enter LADY MACBETH [D], reading a letter.)
LADY MACBETH (D). “They met me in the day of success… they
have more in them than mortal knowledge… they vanished… missives from the King, who all-hailed me ‘Thane of Cawdor.’ This have
I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness. 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’ the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,
And chastise with the valor of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crown’d withal.
(Enter a MESSENGER [B].)
What is your tidings?
MESSENGER (B). The King comes here tonight.
LADY MACBETH (D). Thou’rt mad to say it!
MESSENGER (B). So please you, it is true; our Thane is coming.
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(Exit MESSENGER [B].)
LADY MACBETH (D). He brings great news. The raven himself is
hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood,
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, your murthering ministers!
Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry, “Hold, hold!”
(Enter MACBETH [C].)
Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor!
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!
MACBETH (C). My dearest love,
Duncan comes here tonight.
LADY MACBETH (D).
And when goes hence?
MACBETH (C). Tomorrow, as he purposes.
LADY MACBETH (D). O, never shall sun that morrow see!
Your face, my Thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue; look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it. He that’s coming
Must be provided for; and you shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch.
MACBETH (C). We will speak further.
LADY MACBETH (D).
To alter favor ever is to fear.
Leave all the rest to me.
(Exit MACBETH [C].)
Only look up clear;
Macbeth (abridged)
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Scene VI
Before Macbeth’s castle.
(Enter DUNCAN [A] and BANQUO [B].)
DUNCAN (A). This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.
See, see, our honor’d hostess!
LADY MACBETH (D). All our service were poor against the honors
Your Majesty loads our house.
DUNCAN (A). Fair and noble hostess,
We are your guest tonight.
LADY MACBETH (D).
Your servants ever.
DUNCAN (A). Conduct me to mine host. We love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him.
(Exeunt.)
Scene VII
Inverness. Macbeth’s castle.
(Enter MACBETH [C].)
MACBETH (C). If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly. If the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
With his surcease, success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all But in these cases
We still have judgment here. 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 murtherer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition—
(Enter LADY MACBETH [D].)
How now, what news?
LADY MACBETH (D). Why have you left the chamber?
MACBETH (C). We will proceed no further in this business:
He hath honor’d me of late.
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LADY MACBETH (D). Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress’d yourself? Hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard?
Wouldst thou live a coward?
MACBETH (C).
Prithee, peace!
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.
LADY MACBETH (D). 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. I have given suck and know
How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me—
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums
And dash’d the brains out had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
MACBETH (C). If we should fail?
LADY MACBETH (D).
We fail?
But screw your courage to the sticking-place
And we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep
His two chamberlains will I with wine and wassail
So convince that memory
Shall be a fume and when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan?
MACBETH (C). Bring forth men-children only.
Will it not be received,
When we have mark’d with blood those sleepy two
Of his own chamber and used their very daggers,
That they have done’t?
LADY MACBETH (D). Who dares receive it other?
MACBETH (C). I am settled.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
(Exeunt.)
Macbeth (abridged)
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ACT II
Scene I
Inverness. Court of Macbeth’s castle.
(Enter BANQUO [B] and FLEANCE [A], bearing a torch before
him.)
BANQUO (B). How goes the night, boy?
FLEANCE (A). The moon is down; I have not heard the clock.
BANQUO (B). Hold!
(Enter MACBETH [C] with a torch.)
Who’s there?
MACBETH (C).
A friend.
BANQUO (B). What, sir, not yet at rest? The King’s abed.
He hath been in unusual pleasure and
Sent forth great largess to your offices.
I dreamt last night of the weird sisters:
To you they have show’d some truth.
MACBETH (C). I think not of them;
Yet, if you shall cleave to my consent,
It shall make honor for you.
BANQUO (B). So I lose none in seeking it.
MACBETH (C). Good repose the while.
BANQUO (B). Thanks, sir. The like to you.
(Exeunt BANQUO [B] and FLEANCE [A].)
MACBETH (C). 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.
Mine eyes are made the fools o’ the other senses,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There’s no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain’d sleep; thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
But whiles I threat, he lives;
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
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(A bell rings.)
I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven, or to hell.
(Exit.)
Scene II
The same.
(Enter LADY MACBETH [D].)
LADY MACBETH (D). That which hath made them drunk hath
made me bold;
It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman.
He is about it:
The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms
Do mock their charge with snores. I’ve drugg’d their possets
That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they live or die.
MACBETH (C). (Within:) Who’s there’ what, ho!
LADY MACBETH (D). Alack, I am afraid they have awaked
And ’tis not done. The attempt and not the deed
Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready;
He could not miss ’em. Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done’t.
(Enter MACBETH [C].)
My husband!
MACBETH (C). I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?
LADY MACBETH (D). I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.
Did not you speak?
MACBETH (C). When?
LADY MACBETH (D). Now.
As I descended?
MACBETH (C).
LADY MACBETH (D). Ay.
MACBETH (C).
Hark! Who lies i’ the second chamber?
LADY MACBETH (D). Donalbain.
MACBETH (C). (Looks on his hands.) This is a sorry sight.
Macbeth (abridged)
15
LADY MACBETH (D). A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.
MACBETH (C). There’s one did laugh in’s sleep, and one cried,
“Murther!”
That they did wake each other. I stood and heard them,
But they did say their prayers and address’d them
Again to sleep.
LADY MACBETH (D). There are two lodged together.
MACBETH (C). One cried, “God bless us!” and “Amen” the other,
As they had seen me with these hangman’s hands.
Listening their fear, I could not say “Amen,”
When they did say, “God bless us!”
LADY MACBETH (D). These deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad.
MACBETH (C). I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murther sleep”—the innocent sleep,
The death of each day’s life—
LADY MACBETH (D).
What do you mean?
MACBETH (C). Still it cried, “Sleep no more!” to all the house—
LADY MACBETH (D). Who was it that thus cried? Go, get some water
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.
Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
They must lie there. Go carry them, and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.
MACBETH (C).
I’ll go no more.
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on’t again I dare not.
LADY MACBETH (D). Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures. If he do bleed,
I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal,
For it must seem their guilt.
(Exit. Knocking within.)
MACBETH (C). Whence is that knocking?
What hands are here? Ha, they pluck out mine eyes!
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
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(Re-enter LADY MACBETH [D].)
LADY MACBETH (D). My hands are of your color, but I shame
To wear a heart so white.
(Knocking within.)
I hear knocking
At the south entry. Retire we to our chamber.
A little water clears us of this deed.
How easy is it then!
(Knocking within.)
Hark, more knocking.
Get on your nightgown. Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.
(Exit LADY MACETH [D].)
MACBETH (C). To know my deed, ’twere best not know myself.
(Knocking within.)
Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!
(Exit.)
Scene III
The same.
(Knocking within.)
PORTER (D). (Off:) Knock, knock, knock! Here’s a knocking indeed!
If a man were porter of Hell Gate, he should have old turning the key.
(Knocking within.)
Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i’ the name of Belzebub? Have
napkins enow about you; here you’ll sweat for’t.
(Enter a PORTER [D]. Knocking within.)
Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there?
(Knocking within.)
Knock, knock! Never at quiet! What are you? But this place is too
cold for hell.
(Knocking within.)
Anon, anon! I pray you, remember the porter.
Macbeth (abridged)
17
(Opens the gate. Enter MACDUFF [A] and LENNOX [B].)
MACDUFF (A). Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed,
That you do lie so late?
PORTER (D). Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second cock; and
drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things.
MACDUFF (A). What three things?
PORTER (D). Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery,
sir, it provokes and unprovokes: it provokes the desire, but it takes
away the performance: makes him stand to and not stand to; in conclusion—
MACDUFF (A). Is thy master stirring?
(Enter MACBETH [C].)
Our knocking has awaked him; here he comes.
LENNOX (B). Good morrow, noble sir.
Good morrow, both.
MACBETH (C).
MACDUFF (A). Is the King stirring, worthy Thane?
Not yet.
MACBETH (C).
MACDUFF (A). He did command me to call timely on him.
MACBETH (C). I’ll bring you to him.
MACDUFF (A).
For ’tis my limited service.
I’ll make so bold to call,
(Exit.)
LENNOX (B). Goes the King hence today?
MACBETH (C).
He did appoint so.
He does;
LENNOX (B). The night has been unruly. Where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down, and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i’ the air, strange screams of death,
And prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion and confused events.
Some say the earth was fev’rous and did shake.
MACBETH (C). ’Twas a rough night.
LENNOX (B). My young remembrance cannot parallel
A fellow to it.
(Re-enter MACDUFF [A].)
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MACDUFF (A). O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart
Cannot conceive nor name thee.
MACBETH (C) & LENNOX (B). What’s the matter?
MACDUFF (A). Confusion now hath made his masterpiece.
Most sacrilegious murther hath broke open
The Lord’s anointed temple and stole thence
The life o’ the building.
LENNOX (B).
Mean you his Majesty?
MACDUFF (A). Do not bid me speak; approach the chamber,
See, and then speak yourselves.
(Exeunt MACBETH [C] and LENNOX [B].)
Ring the alarum bell. Murther and treason!
Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm, awake!
Shake off this downy sleep! Awake, awake!
And look on death itself! Ring the bell.
(Bell rings. Enter LADY MACBETH [D].)
Malcolm! Banquo!
LADY MACBETH (D). What’s the business,
That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
The sleepers of the house? Speak, speak!
MACDUFF (A). O gentle lady, ’tis not for you to hear
What I can speak.
(Enter BANQUO [B].)
O Banquo, Banquo!
Our royal master’s murther’d.
LADY MACBETH (D).
What, in our house?
Woe, alas!
BANQUO (B).
Too cruel anywhere.
Dear Duff, I prithee, say it is not so.
(Re-enter MACBETH [C].)
MACBETH (C). Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time.
LADY MACBETH (D). O, by whom?
MACDUFF (A). Those of his chamber, as it seem’d, had done’t.
MACBETH (C). O, yet I do repent me of my fury,
That I did kill them.
Macbeth (abridged)
LADY MACBETH (D).
19
Help me hence, ho!
MACDUFF (A). Look to the lady.
(Exit LADY MACBETH [D] and BANQUO [B].)
Wherefore did you so?
MACBETH (C). The expedition of my violent love
Outrun the pauser reason. Here lay Duncan,
There, the murtherers, steep’d in their trade.
(Enter LENNOX [B] and MALCOLM [D], separately.)
LENNOX (B). Let us meet
And question this most bloody piece of work.
MACBETH (C). Let’s briefly put on manly readiness
And meet i’ the hall together.
ALL but MALCOLM (D).
Well contented.
(Exeunt all but MALCOLM [D].)
MALCOLM (D). My royal father murder’d? Why hold my tongue?
I’ll not consort with them.
One shows an unfelt sorrow. Where I stand
There’s daggers in men’s smiles. I’ll to England
This murtherous shaft that’s shot
Hath not yet lighted,
My safest way is to avoid the aim.
(Exeunt.)
Scene IV
Outside Macbeth’s castle.
(Enter MACDUFF [A] and BANQUO [B].)
MACDUFF (A). Thou see’st the heavens. By the clock ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp.
BANQUO (B). ’Tis unnatural, like the deed that’s done.
Is’t known who did this?
MACDUFF (A).
Those Macbeth hath slain.
I fear they were suborn’d: and Malcolm,
The King’s dear son and heir, is stol’n away
And fled, which puts on him suspicion.
BANQUO (B). Then ’tis most like the sovereignty will fall
Upon Macbeth.
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MACDUFF (A). Already named, and gone
To be invested.
BANQUO (B). Will you—?
MACDUFF (A).
No.
BANQUO (B). Well, I will thither.
MACDUFF (A). Well, may you see things well done there. Adieu,
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!
BANQUO (B). Farewell.
(Exit MACDUFF [A].)
Macbeth (abridged)
21
ACT III
Scene I
Forres. The palace.
BANQUO (B). Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the weird women promised, and I fear
Thou play’dst most foully for’t. But hush, no more.
(Sennet sounds. Enter MACBETH [C], crowned, and SERVANT
[D].)
MACBETH (C). Here’s our chief guest.
Tonight we hold a solemn supper, sir,
And I’ll request your presence.
BANQUO (B).
Let your Highness
Command upon me, to the which my duties
Are ever knit.
MACBETH (C). Ride you this afternoon?
BANQUO (B). Ay, my good lord.
MACBETH (C).
Fail not our feast.
My lord.
BANQUO (B).
MACBETH (C). Goes Fleance with you?
BANQUO (B).
Ay, my good lord.
MACBETH (C). I wish your horses swift and sure of foot,
And so I do commend you to their backs.
Farewell.
(Exit BANQUO [B].)
Attend those men our pleasure?
SERVANT (D). They are, my lord, without the palace gate.
MACBETH (C). Bring them before us.
(Exit SERVANT [D].)
To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus…
Our fears in Banquo stick deep.
He chid the sisters when first they spake.
They hail’d him father to a line of kings.
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown.
Rather than so, come, Fate, into the list—
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(Enter two MURTHERERS [A & B].)
Who’s there?
MACBETH (C). Have you consider’d of my speeches? Know
That it was he in the times past which held you
So under fortune, which you thought had been
Our innocent self?
1ST MURTHERER (A). You made it known.
MACBETH (C).
Do you find
Your patience so predominant in your nature,
That you can let this go?
2ND MURTHERER (B). I am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incensed that I am reckless what
I do to spite the world.
1st MURTHERER (A). And I another.
MACBETH (C). Both of you know Banquo was your enemy.
MURTHERERS. True, my lord.
MACBETH (C). So is he mine.
2nd MURTHERER (B). We shall, my lord, perform what you command us.
MACBETH (C).
Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour at most
I will advise you where to plant yourselves,
The moment on’t; for’t must be done tonight.
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me
Than is his father’s, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour.
MURTHERERS. We are resolved, my lord.
MACBETH (C). I’ll call upon you straight. Abide within.
(Exeunt MURTHERERS [A & B].)
It is concluded: Banquo, thy soul’s flight,
If it find heaven, must find it out tonight.
Macbeth (abridged)
23
Scene II
Inverness. Macbeth’s castle.
(Enter LADY MACBETH [C].)
LADY MACBETH (D). How now, my lord? Why do you keep alone?
MACBETH (C). O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
Thou know’st that Banquo and his Fleance lives.
LADY MACBETH (D). Gentle my lord, sleek o’er your rugged looks;
Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight.
MACBETH (C). So shall I, love, and so, I pray, be you.
Let your remembrance apply to Banquo.
LADY MACBETH (D). Is Banquo gone from court?
MACBETH (C). Ay, madam, but returns again tonight.
LADY MACBETH (D). You must leave this.
MACBETH (C).
They are assailable.
There shall be done a deed of dreadful note.
LADY MACBETH (D). What’s to be done?
MACBETH (C). Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night,
And with thy bloody and invisible hand
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
Which keeps me pale! Light thickens, and the crow
Makes wing to the rooky wood;
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse.
Thou marvel’st at my words, but hold thee still:
Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.
So, prithee, go with me.
(Exeunt.)
Scene III
A park near the palace.
(Enter two MURTHERERS [A & D].)
1st MURTHERER (A). The west yet glimmers with some streaks
of day.
3rd MURTHERER (D). Hark! I hear horses.
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BANQUO (B). (Within:) Give us a light there, ho!
1st MURTHERER (A). His horses go about.
Almost a mile—
3rd MURTHERER (D).
1st MURTHERER (A). A light, a light!
(Enter BANQUO [B] with a torch.)
‘Tis he.
3rd MURTHERER (D).
Stand to’t.
1st MURTHERER (A).
BANQUO (b). It will be rain tonight.
1st MURTHERER (A).
Let it come down.
(They set upon BANQUO [B].)
BANQUO (B). O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!
Thou mayst revenge. O slave!
(Dies.)
1st MURTHERER (A). There’s but one down; the son is fled.
3rd MURTHERER (D). Let’s away and say how much is done.
(Exeunt.)
Scene IV
A Hall in the palace. A banquet prepared.
(Enter MACBETH [C], addressing the audience.)
MACBETH (C). You know your own degrees; sit down. At first
And last the hearty welcome.
(Enter LADY MACBETH [d].)
Our hostess keeps her state, but in best time
We will require her welcome.
LADY MACBETH (D). Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends,
For my heart speaks they are welcome.
(Enter first MURTHERER [A] to the door.)
MACBETH (C). See, they encounter thee with their hearts’ thanks.
Both sides are even; here I’ll sit i’ the midst.
Be large in mirth; anon we’ll drink a measure
The table round.
Macbeth (abridged)
25
(MACBETH [C] approaches the door.)
There’s blood upon thy face.
1st MURTHERER (A).
‘Tis Banquo’s then.
MACBETH (C). ’Tis better thee without than he within.
Is he dispatch’d?
1st MURTHERER (A). My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him.
MACBETH (C). Thou art the best o’ the cut-throats! Yet he’s good
That did the like for Fleance. If thou didst it,
Thou art the nonpareil.
1st MURTHERER (A). Most royal sir,
Fleance is escaped.
MACBETH (C). But Banquo’s safe?
1st MURTHERER (A). Ay, my good lord. Safe in a ditch he bides.
MACBETH (C). The worm that’s fled in time will venom breed,
No teeth for the present. Get thee gone. Tomorrow
We’ll hear ourselves again.
(Exit MURTHERER [A].)
LADY MACBETH (D). My royal lord,
You do not give the cheer. The
Meeting were bare without it.
MACBETH (C).
Sweet remembrancer!
Now good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both!
LADY MACBETH (D). May’t please your Highness sit.
(The Ghost of BANQUO [B] enters and sits in Macbeth’s place.)
MACBETH (C). Here had we now our country’s honor roof’d,
Were the graced person of our Banquo present,
Who may I rather challenge for unkindness
Than pity for mischance!
LADY MACBETH (D). His absence, sir,
Lays blame upon his promise. Please’t your Highness
To grace us with your royal company.
Here, my good lord. What is’t that moves your Highness?
MACBETH (C). Which of you have done this?
Thou canst not say I did it; never shake
Thy gory locks at me.
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LADY MACBETH (D). Sit, worthy friends; my lord is often thus,
And hath been from his youth. Pray you, keep seat.
The fit is momentary; upon a thought
He will again be well. If much you note him,
You shall offend him and extend his passion.
Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man?
MACBETH (C). Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appall the devil.
LADY MACBETH (D).
O proper stuff!
This is the very painting of your fear;
This is the air-drawn dagger which you said
Led you to Duncan. Such flaws and starts become
A woman’s story at a winter’s fire!
Why do you make such faces? When all’s done,
You look but on a stool.
MACBETH (C). Prithee, see there! Behold! Look! Lo! How say you?
Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.
(Exit GHOST [B].)
LADY MACBETH (D). What, quite unmann’d in folly?
MACBETH (C). If I stand here, I saw him.
LADY MACBETH (D).
Fie, for shame!
MACBETH (C). Blood hath been shed ere now, murthers perform’d.
The time has been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end; but now they rise again,
And push us from our stools.
LADY MACBETH (D).
My worthy lord,
Your noble friends do lack you.
MACBETH (C).
I do forget.
Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends.
I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing
To those that know me. Come, love and health to all;
Then I’ll sit down. Give me some wine, fill full.
I drink to the general joy o’ the whole table,
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss.
Would he were here! To all and him we thirst,
And all to all.
LADY MACBETH (D). Our duties and the pledge.
(Re-enter GHOST [B].)
Macbeth (abridged)
27
MACBETH (C). Avaunt, and quit my sight!
(Exit GHOST [B].)
Can such sights be?
LADY MACBETH (D). I pray you, speak not; he grows worse and
worse.
At once, good night.
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once. A kind good night to all!
(Exeunt all but MACBETH [C] and LADY MACBETH [D].)
MACBETH (C). It will have blood; they say blood will have blood.
LADY MACBETH (D). Which?
MACBETH (C). How say’st thou, that Macduff denies his person
At our great bidding?
LADY MACBETH (D). Did you send to him, sir?
MACBETH (C). There’s not a one of them but in his house
I keep a servant feed. I will tomorrow,
To the weird sisters.
More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know,
By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good
All causes shall give way.
LADY MACBETH (D). You lack the season of all natures, sleep.
MACBETH (C). Come.
(Exeunt.)
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ACT IV
Scene I
A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron.
(Thunder. Enter two WITCHES [A & B].)
FIRST WITCH (A). Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.
SECOND WITCH (B). Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.
FOURTH WITCH (D). (Off:) Harpier cries, “’Tis time, ’tis time.”
FIRST WITCH (A). Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.
SECOND WITCH (B). Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
(Enter WITCH [D].)
FOURTH WITCH (D). Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
ALL. Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
SECOND WITCH (B). By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
(Enter MACBETH [C].)
MACBETH (C). How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?
What is’t you do?
ALL.
A deed without a name.
MACBETH (C). I conjure you, by that which you profess
(Howe’er you come to know it) answer me:
To what I ask you.
FIRST WITCH (A). Speak.
SECOND WITCH (B).
FOURTH WITCH (D).
Demand.
We’ll answer.
(Thunder. FIRST WITCH [A] becomes the FIRST APPARITION: an armed Head.)
MACBETH (C). Tell me, thou unknown power—
1st APPARITION (A). Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff,
Beware the Thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.
Macbeth (abridged)
29
(Descends.)
MACBETH (C). But one word more—
FIRST WITCH (A). He will not be commanded. Here’s another,
More potent than the first.
(Thunder. SECOND WITCH [B] becomes SECOND APPARITION: a bloody Child.)
2nd APPARITION (B). Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!
MACBETH (C). Had I three ears, I’d hear thee.
2nd APPARITION (B). Be bloody, bold, and resolute: laugh to
scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth.
(Descends.)
MACBETH (C). Then live, Macduff. What need I fear of thee?
But yet I’ll make assurance double sure:
Thou shalt not live,
That I may sleep in spite of thunder.
(Thunder. FOURTH WITCH [D] becomes THIRD APPARITION: a Child crowned, holding a tree in his hand.)
3rd APPARITION (D). Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him.
(Descends.)
MACBETH (C).
That will never be.
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree
Unfix his earth-bound root? Yet my heart
Throbs to know one thing—
Seek to know no more.
ALL.
MACBETH (C). I will be satisfied! Shall Banquo’s issue ever
Reign in this kingdom?
FIRST WITCH (A).
SECOND WITCH (B).
FOURTH WITCH (D).
Show!
Show!
Show!
ALL WITCHES. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart;
Come like shadows, so depart!
(Music. The WITCHES dance and then become new APPARITIONS led by BANQUO’S GHOST [B] bearing a crown aloft.
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Each APPARITION carries many crowns.)
MACBETH (C). Thou are too like the spirit of Banquo! Down!
(Exit BANQUO’S GHOST [B].)
A second and a third is like the former.
Filthy hags! Why do you show me this?
What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?
(Exeunt APPARITIONS.)
Horrible sight! Now I see ’tis true;
For the blood-bolter’d Banquo smiled upon me,
And ’pointed them for his. What, is this so?
(Enter LENNOX [B].)
LENNOX (B). My lord?
MACBETH (C).
Saw you the weird sisters?
No, my lord.
LENNOX (B).
MACBETH (C). Infected be the air whereon they ride!
LENNOX (B). My lord, Macduff is fled to England.
MACBETH (C). (Aside:) Time, thou anticipatest my dread exploits.
From this moment
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand. Be it thought and done:
The castle of Macduff I will surprise,
Seize upon Fife, give to the edge o’ the sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. Come.
(Exeunt.)
Scene II
England. Before the King’s palace.
(Enter MALCOLM [D] and MACDUFF [A].)
MACDUFF (A). Each new morn
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows
Strike heaven on the face.
MALCOLM (D).
This tyrant,
Was once thought honest.
He hath not touch’d you yet.
Macbeth (abridged)
31
MACDUFF (A). I am not treacherous.
MALCOLM (D).
But Macbeth is.
Why in that rawness left you wife and child,
Without leave-taking?
MACDUFF (A).
Fare thee well, lord.
I would not be the villain that thou think’st.
MALCOLM (D). Be not offended;
I speak not as in absolute fear of you.
I think our country sinks beneath the yoke;
It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash
Is added to her wounds.
MACDUFF (A).
O Scotland, Scotland!
MALCOLM (D). This noble passion, hath reconciled my thoughts;
Thine and my poor country’s to command.
Whither indeed, before thy here-approach,
Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men
Already at a point, was setting forth.
Now we’ll together, and the chance of goodness
Be like our warranted quarrel!
MACDUFF (A).
Who comes?
(Enter LENNOX [B].)
MALCOLM (D). My countryman, but yet I know him not.
MACDUFF (A). My ever gentle cousin, welcome hither.
LENNOX (B). Sir, amen.
MACDUFF (A). Stands Scotland where it did?
LENNOX (B).
Alas, poor country;
Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air,
And good men’s lives
Expire before the flowers in their caps.
MACDUFF (A). How does my wife?
LENNOX (B). Why, well.
MACDUFF (A). And all my children?
LENNOX (B). Well too.
MACDUFF (A). The tyrant has not batter’d at their peace?
LENNOX (B). No, they were well at peace when I did leave ’em.
I came hither to transport the tidings,
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Which I have heavily borne. The tyrant’s power’s afoot.
Now is the time of help—
MACDUFF (A).
Be’t their comfort
We are coming thither. Gracious England hath
Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men.
LENNOX (B). Would I could answer with the like! But I have words
That would be howl’d out in the desert air,
Where hearing should not latch them.
Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes
Savagely slaughter’d.
MACDUFF (A).
My children too?
LENNOX (B). Wife, children, servants, all
That could be found.
MALCOLM (D).
Be comforted.
MACDUFF (A). He has no children. All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?
MALCOLM (D). Be this the whetstone of your sword. Let grief
Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it.
MACDUFF (A). Did heaven look on, and would not take their part?
MALCOLM (D). Come, go we to the King; our power is ready,
Our lack is nothing but our leave. Macbeth
Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above
Put on their instruments. Receive what cheer you may,
The night is long that never finds the day.
(Exeunt MALCOLM [D] and LENNOX [B].)
MACDUFF (A). Cut short all intermission; front to front
Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself;
Within my sword’s length set him; if he ’scape,
Heaven forgive him too!
(Exeunt.)
Macbeth (abridged)
33
ACT V
Scene I
Dunsinane. Anteroom in the castle.
(Enter LADY MACBETH [D] with a taper.)
LADY MACBETH (D). Yet here’s a spot. Out, damned spot! Out, I
say! One—two—why then ’tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord,
fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when
none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought
the old man to have had so much blood in him? The Thane of Fife
had a wife; where is she now? What, will these hands ne’er be clean?
No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that. You mar all with this starting. Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia
will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh! Wash your hands, put
on your nightgown, look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo’s
buried; he cannot come out on’s grave. To bed, to bed; there’s knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s
done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed.
(Exit.)
Scene II
Country near Birnam Wood.
(Drum and colors. Enter OLD SIWARD [B] and MACDUFF [A].)
OLD SIWARD (B). What wood is this before us?
MACDUFF (A). The Wood of Birnam.
OLD SIWARD (B). Let every soldier hew him down a bough,
And bear’t before him; thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host, and make discovery
Err in report of us.
MACDUFF (A). It shall be done.
(Exeunt, marching.)
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Scene III
Dunsinane. A room in the castle.
(Enter MACBETH [C].)
MACBETH (C). Bring me no more reports; let them fly all!
Till Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane
I cannot taint with fear. What’s the boy Malcolm?
Was he not born of woman?
Hang out our banners on the outward walls;
Our castle’s strength will laugh a siege to scorn.
(A cry of women within.)
What is that noise?
I will not be afraid of death and bane
Till Birnam Forest come to Dunsinane:
I have supp’d full with horrors;
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
Cannot once start me.
(Enter SEYTON [D].)
Wherefore was that cry?
SEYTON (D). The Queen, my lord, is dead.
MACBETH (C). She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
SEYTON (D).
Gracious my lord,
As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
I look’d toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
The Wood began to move.
MACBETH (C).
Liar and slave!
SEYTON (D). Within this three mile may you see it coming.
(Exit SEYTON [D].)
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