"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 th' access and passage to remorse,"
ACT 1, SCENE 4
Setting: Forres. The palace.
Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, and Attendants.
| DUNCAN | Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not | |
| Those in commission yet return'd? | ||
| MALCOLM | My liege, | |
| They are not yet come back. But I have spoke | ||
| With one that saw him die: who did report | ||
| That very frankly he confess'd his treasons, | ||
| Implored your highness' pardon and set forth | ||
| A deep repentance: nothing in his life | ||
| Became him like the leaving it; he died | ||
| As one that had been studied in his death | ||
| To throw away the dearest thing he owed, | 10 | |
| As 'twere a careless trifle. | ||
| DUNCAN | There's no art | |
| To find the mind's construction in the face: | ||
| He was a gentleman on whom I built | ||
| An absolute trust. | ||
| Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSS, and ANGUS. | ||
| O worthiest cousin! | ||
| The sin of my ingratitude even now | ||
| Was heavy on me: thou art so far before | ||
| That swiftest wing of recompense is slow | ||
| To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved, | ||
| That the proportion both of thanks and payment | ||
| Might have been mine! Only I have left to say, | 20 | |
| More is thy due than more than all can pay. | ||
| MACBETH | The service and the loyalty I owe, | |
| In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part | ||
| Is to receive our duties; and our duties | ||
| Are to your throne and state children and servants, | ||
| Which do but what they should, by doing every thing | ||
| Safe toward your love and honour. | ||
| DUNCAN | Welcome hither: | |
| I have begun to plant thee, and will labour | ||
| To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo, | ||
| That hast no less deserved, nor must be known | 30 | |
| No less to have done so, let me enfold thee | ||
| And hold thee to my heart. | ||
| BANQUO | There if I grow, | |
| The harvest is your own. | ||
| DUNCAN | My plenteous joys, | |
| Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves | ||
| In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes, | ||
| And you whose places are the nearest, know | ||
| We will establish our estate upon | ||
| Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter | ||
| The Prince of Cumberland; which honour must | ||
| Not unaccompanied invest him only, | 40 | |
| But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine | ||
| On all deservers. From hence to Inverness, | ||
| And bind us further to you. | ||
| MACBETH | The rest is labour, which is not used for you: | |
| I'll be myself the harbinger and make joyful | ||
| The hearing of my wife with your approach; | ||
| So humbly take my leave. | ||
| DUNCAN | My worthy Cawdor! | |
| MACBETH | Aside. | |
| The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step | ||
| On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, | ||
| For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; | 50 | |
| Let not light see my black and deep desires: | ||
| The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, | ||
| Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. | ||
| Exit | ||
| DUNCAN | True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant, | |
| And in his commendations I am fed; | ||
| It is a banquet to me. Let's after him, | ||
| Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome: | ||
| It is a peerless kinsman. | ||
| [Flourish. Exeunt.] | ||
What does "golden opinions" mean?
ACT 1, SCENE 5
Setting: Inverness. Macbeth's castle.
Enter LADY MACBETH, reading a letter (Why the letter is in prose…)
| LADY MACBETH | They met me in the day of success: and I have | |
| learned by the perfectest report, they have more in | ||
| them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire | ||
| to question them further, they made themselves air, | ||
| into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in | ||
| the wonder of it, came missivesfrom the king, who | ||
| all–hailed me 'Thane of Cawdor;' by which title, | ||
| before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred | ||
| me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, king that | 10 | |
| shalt be!' This have I thought good to deliver | ||
| thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou | ||
| mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being | ||
| ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it | ||
| to thy heart, and farewell.' | ||
| Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be | ||
| What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; | ||
| It is too full o' the milk of human kindness | ||
| To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; | ||
| Art not without ambition, but without | 20 | |
| The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly, | ||
| That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, | ||
| And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'ldst have, great Glamis, | ||
| That which cries 'Thus thou must do, if thou have it; | ||
| And that which rather thou dost fear to do | ||
| Than wishest should be undone.' Hie thee hither, | ||
| That I may pour my spirits in thine ear; | ||
| And chastise with the valour of my tongue | ||
| All that impedes thee from the golden round, | ||
| Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem | 30 | |
| To have thee crown'd withal. | ||
| Enter a Messenger. | ||
| What is your tidings? | ||
| Messenger | The king comes here to–night. | |
| LADY MACBETH | Thou'rt mad to say it: | |
| Is not thy master with him? who, were't so, | ||
| Would have inform'd for preparation. | ||
| Messenger | So please you, it is true: our thane is coming: | |
| One of my fellows had the speed of him, | ||
| Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more | ||
| Than would make up his message. | ||
| LADY MACBETH | Give him tending; | |
| He brings great news. | ||
| Exit Messenger. | ||
| The raven himself is hoarse | ||
| That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan | 40 | |
| 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, you murdering ministers, | ||
| Wherever in your sightless substances | 50 | |
| You wait on nature's mischief! 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. | ||
| Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor! | ||
| Greater than both, by the all–hail hereafter! | ||
| Thy letters have transported me beyond | ||
| This ignorant present, and I feel now | ||
| The future in the instant. | ||
| MACBETH | My dearest love, | |
| Duncan comes here to–night. | ||
| LADY MACBETH | And when goes hence? | 60 |
| 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. 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't. He that's coming | ||
| Must be provided for: and you shall put | ||
| This night's great business into my dispatch; | ||
| Which shall to all our nights and days to come | 70 | |
| Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. | ||
| MACBETH | We will speak further. | |
| LADY MACBETH | Only look up clear; | |
| To alter favour ever is to fear: | ||
| Leave all the rest to me. | ||
| Exeunt |
ACT 1, SCENE 6
Setting: Before Macbeth's castle.
[Hautboys and torches. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, BANQUO, LENNOX, MACDUFF, ROSS, ANGUS, and Attendants ]
| DUNCAN | This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air | |
| Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself | ||
| Unto our gentle senses. | ||
| BANQUO | This guest of summer, | |
| The temple–haunting martlet does approve, | ||
| By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath | ||
| Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, | ||
| Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird | ||
| Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle: | ||
| Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed, | ||
| The air is delicate. | ||
| [Enter LADY MACBETH] | ||
| DUNCAN | See, see our honoured hostess! | 10 |
| The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, | ||
| Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you | ||
| How you shall bid God 'ild us for your pains, | ||
| And thank us for your trouble. | ||
| LADY MACBETH | All our service | |
| In every point twice done and then done double | ||
| Were poor and single business to contend | ||
| Against those honours deep and broad wherewith | ||
| Your majesty loads our house: for those of old, | ||
| And the late dignities heap'd up to them, | ||
| We rest your hermits. | 20 | |
| DUNCAN | Where's the thane of Cawdor? | |
| We coursed him at the heels, and had a purpose | ||
| To be his purveyor: but he rides well; | ||
| And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him | ||
| To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, | ||
| We are your guest to–night. | ||
| LADY MACBETH | Your servants ever | |
| Have theirs, themselves and what is theirs, in compt, | ||
| To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, | ||
| Still to return your own. | ||
| DUNCAN | Give me your hand; | |
| Conduct me to mine host: we love him highly, | ||
| And shall continue our graces towards him. | 30 | |
| By your leave, hostess. | ||
| [Exeunt] |
ACT 1, SCENE 7
Setting: The same. A room in Macbeth's castle.
Hautboys and torches. Enter a Sewer, and divers Servants with dishes and service, and pass over the stage. Then enter MACBETH.
| MACBETH | 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 here, | ||
| But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, | ||
| We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases | ||
| We still have judgment here; | 10 | |
| that we but teach | ||
| Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return | ||
| To plague the inventor: | ||
| this even–handed justice | ||
| Commends the ingredience of our poison'd chalice | ||
| To our own lips. He's here in double trust; | ||
| First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, | ||
| Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, | ||
| Who should against his murderer shut the door, | ||
| Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan | ||
| Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been | ||
| So clear in his great office, that his virtues | ||
| Will plead like angels, trumpet–tongued, against | ||
| The deep damnation of his taking–off; | 20 | |
| And pity, like a naked new–born babe, | ||
| Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed | ||
| Upon the sightless couriers of the air, | ||
| Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, | ||
| That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur | ||
| To prick the sides of my intent, but only | ||
| Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself | ||
| And falls on th'other. | ||
| Enter LADY MACBETH. | ||
| How now! what news? | ||
| LADY MACBETH | He has almost supp'd: why have you left the chamber? | |
| MACBETH | Hath he ask'd for me? | |
| LADY MACBETH | Know you not he has? | 30 |
| MACBETH | We will proceed no further in this business: | |
| He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought | ||
| Golden opinions from all sorts of people, | ||
| Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, | ||
| Not cast aside so soon. | ||
| LADY MACBETH | 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 | ||
| To be the same in thine own act and valour | 40 | |
| As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that | ||
| Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, | ||
| And live a coward in thine own esteem, | ||
| Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,' | ||
| Like the poor cat i' the adage? | ||
| MACBETH | Prithee, peace: | |
| I dare do all that may become a man; | ||
| Who dares do more is none. | ||
| LADY MACBETH | What beast was't, then, | |
| That made you break this enterprise to me? | ||
| When you durst do it, then you were a man; | ||
| And, to be more than what you were, you would | 50 | |
| Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place | ||
| Did then adhere, and yet you would make both: | ||
| They have made themselves, and that their fitness now | ||
| Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know | ||
| How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: | ||
| I would, while it was smiling in my face, | ||
| Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, | ||
| And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you | ||
| Have done to this. | ||
| MACBETH | If we should fail? | |
| LADY MACBETH | We fail! | |
| But screw your courage to the sticking–place, | 60 | |
| And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep–– | ||
| Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey | ||
| Soundly invite him––his two chamberlains | ||
| Will I with wine and wassail so convince | ||
| That memory, the warder of the brain, | ||
| Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason | ||
| A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep | ||
| Their drenched natures lie as in a death, | ||
| What cannot you and I perform upon | ||
| The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon | 70 | |
| His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt | ||
| Of our great quell? | ||
| MACBETH | Bring forth men–children only; | |
| For thy undaunted mettle should compose | ||
| Nothing but males. 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 | Who dares receive it other, | |
| As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar | ||
| Upon his death? | ||
| MACBETH | I am settled, and bend up | |
| Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. | 80 | |
| Away, and mock the time with fairest show: | ||
| False face must hide what the false heart doth know. | ||
| Exeunt. |
