Download The Tragedy of Macbeth

The Tragedy of
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
SCENE III. A heath near Forres.
Sergeant: Doubtful it stood; But brave Macbeth, with
his brandish'd steel, which smoked with bloody
execution, faced the slave--that rebel, the merciless
Macdonwald. He unseam'd him from the nave to the
chaps, and fix'd his head upon our battlements.
Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches
First Witch: When shall we three meet again, in thunder,
lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch: Killing swine.
First Witch: Look what I have…
Sergeant: Mark, king of Scotland: No sooner had these
kerns turned on their heels, but new arms and supplies
of men began a fresh assault.
Sergeant: No; they were as cannons overcharged,
doubling strokes upon the foe, wreaking havoc on their
enemy.
Exit Sergeant, attended
Drum within
Third Witch: A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come.
Enter MACBETH and BANQUO
MACBETH: So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
BANQUO: What are these so wither'd and so wild in
their attire?
Third Witch: That will be ere the set of sun.
Who comes here?
First Witch: Where the place?
Second Witch: Upon the heath.
Third Witch: Show me, show me!
First Witch: …a human thumb!
DUNCAN: Dismay'd not this our captains, Macbeth
and Banquo?
DUNCAN: Go get him surgeons.
Second Witch: When the hurlyburly's done, when the battle's
lost and won.
First Witch: Where hast thou been, sister?
DUNCAN: Valiant cousin!
ACT I
SCENE I. A desert place.
Thunder. Enter the three Witches
MACBETH: Speak, if you can: what are you?
Enter ROSS
Third Witch: There to meet with Macbeth.
MALCOLM: The worthy thane of Ross.
ALL: Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and
filthy air.
ROSS: God save the king!
First Witch: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of
Glamis!
Second Witch: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane
of Cawdor!
DUNCAN: Whence camest thou, worthy thane?
Exeunt
SCENE II. A camp near Forres.
ROSS: From Fife, great king; a dismal conflict, but the
victory fell on us.
Third Witch: All hail, Macbeth! Thou shalt be king
hereafter!
Alarum within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM,
DONALBAIN, LENNOX, meeting a bleeding Sergeant
DUNCAN: No more shall the thane of Cawdor deceive
us. Go pronounce his present execution, and with his
former title greet Macbeth.
BANQUO: I' the name of truth, are ye fantastical? My
partner you greet with prediction of royal hope: to me
you speak not. If you can look into the seeds of time,
speak then to me.
DUNCAN: What bloody man is that? Can he report of
the revolt?
ROSS: I'll see it done.
First Witch: Hail!
MALCOLM: Hail, brave friend! Say to the king the
knowledge of the fight as you left it.
Second Witch: Hail!
Exeunt
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Third Witch: Hail!
ANGUS: He who was the thane lives; but under heavy
judgment. His treason is confess'd and proved.
First Witch: Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
Second Witch: Not so happy, yet much happier.
Third Witch: Thou shalt get kings, though thou be
none: So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
MACBETH: Do you not now hope your children shall
be kings?
BANQUO: ‘Tis strange: but the instruments of
darkness tell us truths to betray us in deepest
consequence. Cousins, a word, I pray you.
First Witch: Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
MACBETH: Stay, tell me more: I know I am thane of
Glamis; but how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor
lives, and to be king stands not within belief. Say from
whence you claim this strange knowledge? Speak, I
charge you.
Witches vanish
BANQUO: Whither are they vanish'd?
MACBETH: Into the air; as breath into the wind.
BANQUO: Were such things ever here?
MACBETH: Your children shall be kings.
MACBETH: Two truths are told, as happy prologues
to the imperial theme. Gentlemen, let us toward the
king.
MACBETH: I'll be myself the messenger and tell my
wife of your approach; so humbly take my leave.
[Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on
which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, for in my way
it lies. Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black
and deep desires.
Exit
Flourish. Exeunt
SCENE V. Inverness. Macbeth's castle.
Enter LADY MACBETH, reading a letter
Exeunt
SCENE IV. Forres. The palace.
Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN,
LENNOX
DUNCAN: Is execution done on Cawdor?
MALCOLM: My liege, I have spoken with one that
saw him die: He confess'd his treason and implored
your highness' pardon.
LADY MACBETH: ‘These three met me on the day
of success: and they have more in them than mortal
knowledge. When I desired to question them further,
they vanished. Then came messengers from the king,
who hailed me 'Thane of Cawdor;' by which title, these
weird sisters had saluted me before, and referred to me
with 'Hail, king that shalt be!' This have I thought to
inform thee that thou might rejoice in what is promised
thee. Lay it to thy heart.'
BANQUO: To the word.
Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSS, and ANGUS
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. Hie thee hither, that I may
pour my spirits in thine ear; and with my tongue
remove all that impedes thee from the royal station
which fate doth seem to have thee crown'd withal.
Enter ROSS and ANGUS
Worthiest Macbeth! More is thy due than I can pay.
Enter a Messenger
MACBETH: The service and the loyalty I owe, in
doing it, pays itself.
What tidings?
BANQUO: You shall be king.
MACBETH: And thane of Cawdor too: went it not so?
ROSS: Macbeth, the king has happily received the
news of thy success.
ANGUS: We are sent to give thee from our royal
master thanks.
ROSS: And he bade me call thee thane of Cawdor.
Hail, most worthy thane!
MACBETH: But the thane of Cawdor lives.
DUNCAN: He was a man on whom I built an absolute
trust.
Messenger: The king comes here to-night.
DUNCAN: Welcome hither: I will labour to make thee
great. Noble Banquo, that deserve no less, let me hold
thee to my heart. My joys; sons, kinsmen, thanes, know
we will establish our kingdom upon our eldest,
Malcolm, whom we name hereafter The Prince of
Cumberland; honour him as you would I. From hence
to Inverness.
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LADY MACBETH: Is not my husband with him?
Messenger: Our thane is coming: I ran ahead to give
you his message.
LADY MACBETH: You bring great news.
Exit Messenger
Enter LADY MACBETH
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! Come to my woman's breasts,
and take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers!
Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke
of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes!
Our honour'd hostess! We thank thee with love for your
trouble.
LADY MACBETH: All our service were poor
compared against those honours your majesty loads our
house.
DUNCAN: Where is Macbeth? He rides well; and his
great love hath helped him to his home before us.
Noble hostess, we are your guests to-night.
Enter MACBETH
LADY MACBETH: Was the hope drunk wherein you
dress'd yourself? Hath it slept since? Art thou afeard to
be the same in act as thou art in desire?
MACBETH: Prithee, peace: I dare do all that any man
would; no more.
LADY MACBETH: What beast was't, then, that made
you break this news to me? And, to be more than what
you were, you would be so much more the man. I know
how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would,
while it was smiling in my face, have dash'd his brains
out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.
LADY MACBETH: Your servants ever.
Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor! Greater than both, by
the all-hail hereafter! Thy letters have transported me
beyond this present, and I feel now the future in the
instant.
MACBETH: If we should fail?
DUNCAN: Conduct me to mine host: we love him
highly, and shall continue our graces towards him.
Exeunt
MACBETH: My dearest love, Duncan comes here tonight.
LADY MACBETH: And when goes hence?
SCENE VII. Macbeth's castle.
Enter Servants with dishes and service, and pass over
the stage. Then enter MACBETH
MACBETH: To-morrow, as he purposes.
LADY MACBETH: O, never shall sun that morrow
see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men may
read strange matters; bear welcome in your eye, your
hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, but be
the serpent under't. He that's coming must be provided
for: and you shall put this night's great business into
my hands. Only look clear of conscience; leave all the
rest to me.
MACBETH: If it were done when 'tis done, then
'twere well it were done quickly: that this blow might
be the be-all and the end-all here, we would jump the
life to come. But he's here in double trust; first, as I am
his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the
deed; then, as his host, who should against his
murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself.
LADY MACBETH: We fail! But find your courage
and we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep, his two
guards will I with wine so convince that their memories
shall be a fume; when in swinish sleep they lie, what
cannot you and I perform upon the unguarded Duncan?
What not put upon his officers, who shall bear the guilt
of our great deed?
MACBETH: Bring forth men-children only; for thy
mettle should breed nothing but males. I am settled.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show: false face
must hide what the false heart doth know.
Exeunt
ACT II
Enter LADY MACBETH
SCENE I. Court of Macbeth's castle.
Exeunt
How now! What news?
Enter BANQUO, and FLEANCE bearing a torch
before him
SCENE VI. Before Macbeth's castle.
LADY MACBETH: Why have you left the chamber?
Hautboys and torches. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM,
DONALBAIN, BANQUO, LENNOX, ROSS, ANGUS
MACBETH: We will proceed no further in this
business: he hath honour'd me of late; and I have
golden opinions from all sorts of people, which should
be worn now in their newest gloss, not cast aside so
soon.
DUNCAN: This castle hath a pleasant air; sweet unto
our gentle senses.
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BANQUO: How goes the night, son?
FLEANCE: I take't, 'tis late, father.
BANQUO: Take my sword. There's strangeness in the
heavens; their candles are all out. A heavy summons
lies like lead upon me, and yet I cannot sleep.
Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch
Enter LADY MACBETH
Who's there?
LADY MACBETH: That which hath made them
drunk hath made me bold. The guards snore: I have
drugg'd them well.
MACBETH: To know my deed, 'twere best not know
myself.
BANQUO: What, sir, not yet at rest? The king's a-bed:
All's well. I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters:
they have show'd some truth to you.
Enter MACBETH
Knocking within
My husband!
Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou
couldst!
MACBETH: I think not of them: yet--if you would
grant the time…
MACBETH: I have done the deed. This is a sorry
sight.
Exeunt
Looking on his hands
SCENE III. The same.
LADY MACBETH: A foolish thought, to say a sorry
sight. Go get some water, and wash this filthy witness
from your hand. Why did you bring these daggers?
They must lie there: go carry them; and smear the
sleepy guards with blood.
Knocking within. Enter a Porter
MACBETH: A friend.
BANQUO: At your kind'st leisure.
MACBETH: Good repose the while!
BANQUO: Thanks, sir: the like to you!
Exeunt BANQUO and FLEANCE
More knocking! Get on your nightgown, be not lost so
poorly in your thoughts.
MACBETH: Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is
ready, she strike the bell.
MACBETH: I'll go no more: look on't again I dare
not.
Exit Servant
LADY MACBETH: Infirm of purpose! If he still
bleeds, I'll paint the faces of the guards with his blood;
for it must seem they are guilty.
Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle
toward my hand? Art thou a dagger of the mind, a false
creation? Thou show'st me the way that I was going;
and such an instrument I was to use, and on thy blade
gouts of blood. There's no such thing: it is the bloody
business which informs thus to mine eyes. Thou earth,
hear not my steps, for fear thy very stones prate of my
whereabouts.
A bell rings
I go, the bell invites me, and it is done; Hear it not,
Duncan; for it summons thee to heaven or to hell.
SCENE II. The same.
Knocking within
Knock, knock, knock! Who's there, i' the name of
Beelzebub the devil?
Knocking within
Knock, knock; never at quiet! This place is too cold for
hell. Anon, anon!
Exit. Knocking within
MACBETH: Whence is that knocking? How is't,
when every noise appals me? Will it take the ocean to
wash this blood clean from my hand?
Opens the gate
Re-enter LADY MACBETH
MACDUFF: Was it so late, friend, before you went to
bed, that you still sleep?
Enter MACDUFF and LENNOX
LADY MACBETH: My hands are of your colour.
Knocking within
Exit
Porter: Here's a knocking indeed!
I hear a knocking at the south entry: let’s retire to our
chamber; a little water clears us of this deed.
Porter: 'Faith sir, we were carousing all night: and
drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things: lust,
sleep, and urine. Lust, sir, it provokes the desire, but it
takes away the performance: it makes him, and it mars
him; makes him stand to, and not stand to.
MACDUFF: Is thy master stirring?
Knocking within
4
Enter MACBETH
Our knocking has awoken him; here he comes.
Awake, awake! Ring the alarum-bell. Murder and
treason! Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm! Awake!
Shake off sleep, and look on death!
LENNOX: Good morrow, noble sir.
Bell rings
daggers soaked with gore: who could refrain, that had
any loyalty in his heart?
LADY MACBETH: Help me!
MACDUFF: Look to the lady.
MACBETH: Good morrow, both.
MACDUFF: Is the king stirring? He commanded me
to timely call on him: I have almost slipp'd the hour.
MACBETH: There is the door.
MACDUFF: I'll make so bold to call.
Enter LADY MACBETH
LADY MACBETH: What's the business that such a
hideous trumpet calls? Speak!
MACDUFF: Lady, 'tis not for you to hear what I
speak.
Enter BANQUO
MALCOLM: [to DONALBAIN] Why do we hold our
tongues?
DONALBAIN: [Aside to MALCOLM] What should
we say, when we could be killed as well? Let’s away!
BANQUO: Look to the lady.
LADY MACBETH is carried out
Exeuntit MACDUFF
Banquo, Banquo, our royal master's murder'd!
LADY MACBETH: Murdered? What, in our house?
And when we can, let us meet and question this most
bloody piece of work, to know it further.
BANQUO: Macduff, I prithee, say it is not so.
Exeunt all but Malcolm and Donalbain.
Re-enter MACBETH and LENNOX, with ROSS
MALCOLM: What will you do? Let's not consort
with them: I'll to England.
Exit: Offstage: “My King? Art thou awake?”
LENNOX: Does the king leave here to-day?
MACBETH: He does.
LENNOX: The night has been unruly: where we slept,
we heard lamentings i' the air and strange screams of
death.
MACBETH: 'Twas a rough night.
Enter MALCOLM and DONALBAIN
DONALBAIN: What is amiss?
MACDUFF: Your royal father’s murder'd.
Re-enter MACDUFF
MALCOLM: By whom?
MACDUFF: Horror, horror! I cannot conceive or
name thee!
MACBETH/ LENNOX: What's the matter?
MACDUFF: Confusion, most sacrilegious murder!
Exeunt MACBETH and LENNOX
MALCOLM: Ay, our safest way is to avoid the aim.
Let’s away.
LENNOX: Those of his chamber, it seems, have
done't: their hands and faces were covered with blood;
so were their daggers.
Exeunt
MACBETH: O, I do repent that in my fury, I killed
them.
Enter ROSS and MACDUFF
MACDUFF: Why did you so?
ROSS: How goes the world, sir, now? Is't known who
did this more than bloody deed?
LENNOX: Mean you his majesty?
MACDUFF: Approach the chamber! Do not bid me
speak; see, and then speak yourselves.
DONALBAIN: To Ireland, I; our separated fortune
shall keep us both the safer: where we are, there's
daggers in men's smiles.
MACBETH: Who can be calm and furious, loyal and
neutral, in a moment? No man: here lay Duncan,
covered in his own blood; there, the murderers, their
5
SCENE IV. Outside Macbeth's castle.
MACDUFF: Those that Macbeth has killed.
ROSS: What could they have hoped to gain by killing
the king?
MACDUFF: They were bribed: Malcolm and
Donalbain, the king's two sons, have fled; which puts
upon them suspicion of the deed.
BANQUO: Ay, my good lord. An hour or two.
Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
MACBETH: Fail not our feast.
First Murderer: It was, so please your highness.
ROSS: Then 'tis most likely the crown will fall upon
Macbeth.
BANQUO: My lord, I will not.
MACBETH: Well then, have you consider'd our
conversation? Both of you know Banquo was your
enemy. Are you so goodly to this man that you can let
this go?
MACBETH: Goes Fleance with you?
MACDUFF: He is already named, and gone to Scone
to be crowned.
ROSS: Will you follow after him?
BANQUO: Ay, my good lord.
MACBETH: I wish your horses swift and sure of foot;
farewell.
MACDUFF: No, I'll to Fife.
That it was Baquo who he in times past who crossed
you, held you down, spoke ill of you, and all things
else that you would then know, ‘Thus did Banquo.’?
Exit BANQUO
ROSS: Well, I will follow him.
MACDUFF: May you see things well done there.
ROSS: Farewell.
, whose heavy hand has lowered you and yours
forever?
Let every man be master of his time.
Exeunt all but MACBETH, and an attendant
Second Murderer: You made it known to us.
Sir, a word with you: have the men I sent for arrived?
MACBETH: I did so, which brings us now to the
point of our second meeting. Are you so patient in your
nature
ACT III
ATTENDANT: They are outside the palace gate, my
lord
First Murderer: We are men, my liege.
SCENE I. Forres. The palace.
MACBETH: Bring them before us.
Enter BANQUO
Exit Attendant
BANQUO: You have it now, Macbeth: king, Cawdor,
Glamis, all as the weird sisters promised, and, I fear,
you play'd most foully for't: yet it was said the throne
would not be your sons’, but that myself should be the
father of many kings. If there come truth from them--as
upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine--why, may
they not be my oracles as well, and set me up in hope?
But hush! No more.
To be thus is nothing; but to be safely thus. I fear
Banquo. 'Tis much he dares; and he has a wisdom that
guides his valour to act in safety. There is none but he I
do fear. When first the sisters put the name of king
upon me, he bade them speak to him: then prophet-like
they hail'd him father to a line of kings: upon my head
they placed a fruitless crown, and put a barren sceptre
in my grip, no son of mine succeeding. If 't be so, for
Banquo's sons have I murder’d Duncan, risked all to
make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! Rather
than so, come fate into the list. And champion me to
the utterance! Who's there!
Exeunt
MACBETH: Ay, ye go for men; as hounds and
greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, and wolves, all
go by the name of dogs.
Both Murderers: True, my lord.
Sennet sounded. Enter MACBETH, as king, LADY
MACBETH, as queen, LENNOX, ROSS, Lords, Ladies,
and Attendants
MACBETH: Here's our chief guest. To-night we hold
a solemn supper sir, and I'll request your presence.
Ride you this afternoon?
MACBETH: So is he mine; and every minute of his
being endangers my own life: and thence it is, that I
ask your assistance, masking the business from the
common eye.
Second Murderer: We shall, my lord, perform what
you command us.
MACBETH: It must be done to-night, and away from
the palace. And to leave no botches in the work-Fleance his son must share the same fate. Resolve
yourselves.
Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers
Both Murderers: We are resolved, my lord.
Exit Attendant
MACBETH: I'll call upon you straight.
6
Exeunt Murderers
Second Murderer: A light, a light!
There's blood on thy face.
It is done, Banquo, if you would find heaven, you must
find it to-night.
Enter BANQUO, and FLEANCE with a torch
First Murderer: 'Tis Banquo's then; his throat is cut.
MACBETH: If you have done the same for Fleance...
'Tis he.
SCENE II. The palace.
First Murderer: Stand to't.
Enter LADY MACBETH
BANQUO: It will be rain to-night.
LADY MACBETH: How now, my lord! Why do you
keep alone, in desperate thought? What's done is done.
MACBETH: We have provoked the snake, not kill'd
it: we eat our meals in fear and sleep with these terrible
dreams that shake us nightly: better to be with the dead.
Duncan is in his grave; he sleeps well; nothing can
touch him further.
LADY MACBETH: Come on; gentle my lord, sleek
o'er your rugged looks; be bright and jovial among
your guests to-night.
First Murderer: Let it come down.
They set upon BANQUO
BANQUO: O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly,
fly! So thou mayst revenge!
First Murderer: Sir, Fleance is 'scaped.
MACBETH: I had else been perfect! But Banquo's
dead?
First Murderer: Ay, my lord: in a ditch with twenty
gashes on his head.
MACBETH: Thanks for that: get thee gone: tomorrow we'll speak again.
Exit Murderer
Dies. FLEANCE escapes
LADY MACBETH: My royal lord, show cheer!
First Murderer: The son is fled.
LENNOX: May't please your highness sit.
MACBETH: So shall I, love; and so, I pray, be you:
that we may disguise what we are.
LADY MACBETH: You must leave this.
MACBETH: Full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
Thou know'st that Banquo and his son Fleance lives.
Second Murderer: We have failed half of our affair.
First Murderer: Well, let's away, and say how much
is done.
The GHOST OF BANQUO enters, and sits in
MACBETH's place
Exeunt
ROSS: Please't your highness to grace us with your
royal company.
SCENE IV. The same. Hall in the palace.
MACBETH: The table's full.
A banquet prepared. Enter MACBETH, LADY
MACBETH, ROSS, LENNOX, Lords, and Attendants
LENNOX: Here is a place reserved, sir.
LADY MACBETH: What's to be done?
MACBETH: Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest
chick, till thou applaud the deed. Prithee, go with me.
MACBETH: Which of you have done this?
Exeunt
MACBETH: You know your own ranks; sit down:
and welcome.
LENNOX: What, my good lord?
SCENE III. A park near the palace.
Guests: Thanks, your majesty.
MACBETH: Thou canst not say I did it: never shake
thy gory locks at me.
Enter Murderers
First Murderer appears at the door
First Murderer: The subject of our watch approaches.
MACBETH: Be large in mirth; soon we'll drink a
measure the table round.
ROSS: Gentlemen, rise: his highness is not well.
BANQUO: [Within] Give us a light there!
Approaching the door
7
LADY MACBETH: Sit, worthy friends: my lord is
often thus, the fit is momentary; he will be well: if
much you note him, you shall offend him: eat, and
regard him not. Are you a man? Why do you make
such faces?
MACBETH: It will have blood; they say, blood will
have blood. What say'st thou, that Macduff denies our
bidding?
GHOST OF BANQUO vanishes
LADY MACBETH: Did you send to him?
MACBETH: If I stand here, I saw him.
LADY MACBETH: Fie, for shame!
MACBETH: The times have been that a man would
die, and there an end; but now they rise again.
LADY MACBETH: My worthy lord, your friends
miss you.
MACBETH: I only hear of it; but I will send. I will tomorrow, to the weird sisters speak; I must know the
worst. Strange things I have in my head.
LADY MACBETH: You lack sleep.
MACBETH: Come, we'll to sleep.
Lords: To all!
Enter MACBETH
MACBETH: How now, you secret, black, and
midnight hags! I conjure you, howe'er you come to
know it, answer me what I ask you.
First Witch: Speak.
Second Witch: Demand.
Third Witch: We'll answer.
Exeunt
MACBETH: Do not muse at me, my most worthy
friends. Come, love and health to all. Give me some
wine; I drink to the whole table, and to our dear friend
Banquo, whom we miss; would he were here! To all!
Second Witch: By the pricking of my thumbs,
something wicked this way comes.
Thunder.
ACT IV
SCENE I. A cavern. In the middle, a boiling
cauldron.
First Witch: Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware
Macduff; beware the thane of Fife.
MACBETH: Thou hast hit my fear aright.
Re-enter GHOST OF BANQUO
MACBETH: Out! And quit my sight! Let the earth
hide thee!! Hence, horrible shadow! Hence!
GHOST OF BANQUO vanishes
Can such things be? You behold such sights, and keep
calm, while I am white with fear.
ROSS: What sights, my lord?
LADY MACBETH: I pray you, speak not; he grows
worse; at once, good night: stand not upon ceremony,
but go at once.
LENNOX: Good night; and better health attend his
majesty!
LADY MACBETH: A kind good night to all!
Thunder. Enter the three Witches
First Witch: Round about the cauldron go; In the
poison'd entrails throw. Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
ALL: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and
cauldron bubble.
Second Witch: 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,
Thunder.
Second Witch: Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Be
bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh at the power of man,
for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.
MACBETH: Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of
thee? Yet I'll make assurance: thou shalt not live; that I
may sleep in spite of thunder.
Thunder.
ALL: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and
cauldron bubble.
Third Witch: Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful
trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and
cauldron bubble.
Exeunt all but MACBETH and LADY MACBETH
8
Third Witch: Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!Be proud;
and take no care where conspirers are: Macbeth Thou
shall never be vanquish'd until Great Birnam wood
comes to high Dunsinane hill.
MACBETH: That will never be. Who can bid the tree--nay, the forest, unfix his root? Sweet prophecy!
Good! Yet my heart throbs to know one thing: tell me,
shall Banquo's issue ever reign over this kingdom?
ALL: Seek to know no more.
Enter MALCOLM and MACDUFF
ROSS: You know not whether it was wisdom or fear.
MACBETH: I will be satisfied: deny me this, and an
eternal curse fall on you! Let me know.
LADY MACDUFF: Wisdom! To leave his wife, his
babes, his mansion and his titles? He loves us not.
MALCOLM: Our country sinks beneath the yoke; it
weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash is added to
her wounds. This tyrant was once thought honest.
First Witch: Ay, sir, all this is so.
MACBETH: Where are they? Gone?
Enter LENNOX
LENNOX: What's your grace's will?
MACBETH: Saw you the weird sisters?
LENNOX: No, my lord.
MACBETH: Came they not by you?
LENNOX: No, indeed, my lord. My lord, Macduff is
fled to England.
ROSS: I pray you, your husband is noble, wise,
judicious. I dare not speak much further; but cruel are
the times. I take my leave of you. Blessing upon you!
LADY MACDUFF: Father'd he is, and yet he's
fatherless.
Son: Was my father a traitor, mother?
ROSS: If you will take my advice, be not found here;
go, with your little ones. I cannot stay longer. Heaven
preserve you! I take my leave at once.
Enter ROSS
MACDUFF: My cousin, welcome.
ROSS: Sir.
MALCOLM: What's the newest grief?
ROSS: I have words that pertain to you alone,
Macduff.
Exit
MACDUFF: Quickly let me have it.
MACBETH: Fled to England!
LADY MACDUFF: Whither should I fly? I have done
no harm.
LENNOX: Ay, my good lord.
Enter Murderers
MACBETH: Time has anticipated my dread plans.
The castle of Macduff I will surprise; seize upon Fife;
give the edge o' the sword to his wife, his children, and
all his line. Where are these gentlemen? Come, bring
me where they are.
MACDUFF: Your father was a saintly king, fear not
to take what is yours.
ROSS: Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes
savagely slaughter'd.
MACDUFF: My children?
First Murderer: Where is your husband?
LADY MACDUFF: I hope no place where you may
find him.
First Murderer: He's a traitor.
ROSS: Wife, children, servants, all that could be
found.
MACDUFF: My wife kill'd too? All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? At one fell swoop?
Exeunt
MALCOLM: Dispute it like a man. Revenge will cure
this deadly grief.
Son: You lie, villain!
SCENE II. Fife. Macduff's castle.
Stabbing him
Enter LADY MACDUFF, her Son, and ROSS
Dies
LADY MACDUFF: What had he done, to make him
flee the land?
ROSS: You must have patience, madam.
LADY MACDUFF: He had none: his flight was
madness: our fears do make us traitors.
Exit LADY MACDUFF, crying 'Murder!' Exeunt
Murderers, following her
SCENE III. England. Before the King's palace.
9
MACDUFF: I shall do so; but I must also feel it as a
man. They were most precious to me. Did heaven look
on, and would not take their part? They were all struck
for me! Heaven rest them now! Bring this fiend of
Scotland to me; within my sword's length set him!
MALCOLM: Come, go we to Macbeth; our power is
ready. You, worthy Macduff, shall lead our battle.
Exeunt
SCENE III. Dunsinane. A room in the castle.
ACT V
Enter MACBETH and Attendant
SCENE I. Dunsinane. Ante-room in the castle.
MACBETH: Bring me no more reports; fly all! Till
Birnam forest moves here to Dunsinane, I shall not
fear. The sisters have pronounced thus: 'Fear not,
Macbeth; no man that's born of woman shall e'er have
power upon thee.' Was Malcolm not born of woman?
Enter LADY MACBETH, with a taper
LADY MACBETH: Yet here's a spot. Out, damned
spot! Out, I say!--One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't.
Fie, my lord! A soldier, and afraid? 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? Wash your
hands, put on your nightgown; look not so pale.--I tell
you yet again, Banquo's buried. To bed, to bed! There's
knocking at the gate: come, come, give me your hand.
What's done cannot be undone.
Drum and colours. Enter MALCOLM, MACDUFF,
ANGUS, LENNOX, ROSS, and Soldiers, marching
MACDUFF: The forest of Birnam. Let every soldier
cut him down a branch and carry it before him: thereby
shall we hide our numbers from Macbeth.
Soldiers: It shall be done.
Exeunt, marching
Enter a Servant
SCENE V. Dunsinane. Within the castle.
Why dost thou have that pale look?
Enter MACBETH, ATTENDANT, and Soldiers, with
drum and colours
Servant: There is ten thousand--soldiers, sir.
MACBETH: Lily-liver'd boy. What soldiers, coward?
MACBETH: Hang out our banners on the outward
walls; let them come: our castle's strength will not be
breached.
Servant: The English force, sir.
Exit
SCENE II. The country near Dunsinane.
Drum and colours. Enter ROSS, ANGUS, LENNOX,
and Soldiers
A cry of women within
MACBETH: Take thy face hence.
What is that noise?
Exit Servant
ATTENDANT: It is the cry of women, my good lord.
Enter Attendant
Enter Servant
ROSS: The English power is near, led on by Malcolm
and the good Macduff: revenge burns in them.
ANGUS: Near Birnam wood shall we meet them.
MACBETH: What news more?
MACBETH: Wherefore was that cry?
ATTENDANT: All is confirm'd, my lord, which was
reported.
ROSS: What does Macbeth?
MACBETH: I'll fight till my flesh be hack'd from my
bones. Give me my armour.
LENNOX: Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies:
some say he's mad.
ATTENDANT: 'Tis not needed yet.
ANGUS: Those he commands move only in command,
nothing in love.
LENNOX: We shall give obedience where 'tis truly
owed: to Malcolm. We march towards Birnam.
MACBETH: I'll put it on. Send out more horses; scour
the country round; hang those that talk of fear. I will
not be afraid of death till Birnam Forest come to
Dunsinane.
Servant: The queen, my lord, is dead.
MACBETH: She should have died hereafter; there
would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow,
and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 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.
Exeunt
Enter a Messenger
Exeunt, marching
SCENE IV. Country near Birnam wood.
10
Messenger: Gracious my lord, I must report that which
I saw, but know not how to do it.
MACBETH: I cannot fly, I must fight the course.
What's he that was not born of woman? I am to fear no
one.
MACBETH: Accursed be that tongue that tells me so!
These fiends be no more believed, that palter with us in
a double sense; I'll not fight with thee.
Enter ROSS and ANGUS
MACDUFF: Then yield, coward, and live to be the
show and gaze o' the time: we'll have thee, as our rarer
monsters are, painted on a pole, and underwrit, 'Here
may you see the tyrant.'
MACBETH: Well, say, sir.
Messenger: As I look'd toward Birnam forest,
methought, the trees began to move.
MACBETH: Liar and slave!
Messenger: Yourself may you see it coming; I say, a
moving forest.
MACBETH: If thou speak'st false, upon the next tree
shalt thou hang. 'Fear not, till Birnam wood do come to
Dunsinane:' Ring the alarum-bell! Blow, wind! Come,
wrack! At least we'll die with honor.
ROSS: The devil himself.
They fight and ROSS and ANGUS are slain
MACBETH: Thou wast born of woman.
Alarums. Enter MACDUFF
MACDUFF: Tyrant, show thy face! My wife and
children's ghosts haunt me still.
Exeunt
SCENE VIII. Another part of the field.
SCENE VI. Dunsinane. Before the castle.
Turn, hell-hound, turn!
Drum and colours. Enter MALCOLM, MACDUFF,
and their Army, with boughs
MACBETH: Of all men else I have avoided thee: but
get thee back; my soul is too much charged with blood
of thine already.
MALCOLM: Now throw down your branches. You,
worthy Macduff, shall lead our battle.
MACDUFF: Make all our trumpets speak, those
harbingers of blood and death.
MACDUFF: I have no words: my voice is in my
sword: thou bloodier villain than terms can give thee
out!
Flourish. Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM,
LENNOX, the other Thanes, and Soldiers
Enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head
MACDUFF: Hail, king! For so thou art: behold the
usurper's cursed head: the time is free: Hail, King of
Scotland!
ALL: Hail, King of Scotland!
Flourish
Exeunt
Alarums. Enter MACBETH
Fighting. Macbeth is slain.
LENNOX: So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
They fight
SCENE VII. Another part of the field.
MACBETH: I will not yield, to kiss the ground before
young Malcolm's feet, though Birnam wood be come to
Dunsinane, and thou being of no woman born, yet I
will try the last. Lay on, Macduff, and damn'd be him
that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'
MACBETH: Let fall thy blade on some other man. I
bear a charmed life, which must not yield, to one of
woman born.
MACDUFF: Despair thy charm; And let the devil
whom thou serve know, Macduff was from his
mother's womb untimely ripp'd.
11
MALCOLM: My thanes and kinsmen, henceforth be
earls, the first that ever Scotland in such an honour
named. By the grace of Grace, so ends the reign of this
dead butcher and his fiend-like queen.
Flourish. Drum. Exeunt