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Act 3, page 4

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ACT 3, SCENE 4
Setting: The same. A hall in the palace.

[A banquet prepared. Enter MACBETH, LADY MACBETH, ROSS, LENNOX, Lords, and Attendants ]

MACBETH You know your own degrees; sit down: at first
And last the hearty welcome.
Lords Thanks to your majesty.
MACBETH Ourself will mingle with society,
And play the humble host.
Our hostess keeps her state, but in best time
We will require her welcome.
LADY MACBETH Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends;
For my heart speaks they are welcome.
[First Murderer appears at the door]
MACBETH See, they encounter thee with their hearts' thanks.
Both sides are even: here I'll sit i' the midst: 10
Be large in mirth; anon we'll drink a measure
The table round.
[Approaching the door]
There's blood on thy face.
First Murderer Tis Banquo's then.
MACBETH Tis better thee without than he within.
Is he dispatch'd?
First Murderer My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him.
MACBETH 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.
First Murderer Most royal sir,
Fleance is 'scaped. 20
MACBETH Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect,
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,
As broad and general as the casing air:
But now I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confined, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo's safe?
First Murderer Ay, my good lord: safe in a ditch he bides,
With twenty trenched gashes on his head;
The least a death to nature.
MACBETH Thanks for that:
There the grown serpent lies; the worm that's fled
Hath nature that in time will venom breed, 30
No teeth for the present. Get thee gone: to–morrow
First Witch 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 call'd to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?
And, which is worse, all you have done 10
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' the morning: thither he
Will come to know his destiny:
Your vessels and your spells provide,
Your charms and every thing beside.
I am for the air; this night I'll spend 20
Unto a dismal and a fatal end:
Great business must be wrought ere noon:
Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vaporous drop profound;
I'll catch it ere it come to ground:
And that distill'd 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 30
He hopes 'bove wisdom, grace and fear:
And you all know, security
Is mortals' chiefest enemy.
[ Music and a song within: 'Come away, come away,' &c ]
Hark! I am call'd; my little spirit, see,
Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me.
[Exit]
First Witch Come, let's make haste; she'll soon be back again.
[Exeunt]

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Act 3, page 6

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ACT 3, SCENE 6
Setting: Forres. The palace.

[Enter LENNOX and another Lord]

LENNOX My former speeches have but hit your thoughts,
Which can interpret further: only, I say,
Things have been strangely borne. The
gracious Duncan
Was pitied of Macbeth: marry, he was dead:
And the right–valiant Banquo walk'd too late;
Whom, you may say, if't please you, Fleance kill'd,
For Fleance fled: men must not walk too late.
Who cannot want the thought how monstrous
It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain
To kill their gracious father? damned fact! 10
How it did grieve Macbeth! did he not straight
In pious rage the two delinquents tear,
That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep?
Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too;
For 'twould have anger'd any heart alive
To hear the men deny't. So that, I say,
He has borne all things well: and I do think
That had he Duncan's sons under his key––
As, an't please heaven, he shall not––they
should find
What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance. 20
But, peace! for from broad words and 'cause he fail'd
His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear
Macduff lives in disgrace: sir, can you tell
Where he bestows himself?
Lord The son of Duncan,
From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth
Lives in the English court, and is received
Of the most pious Edward with such grace
That the malevolence of fortune nothing
Takes from his high respect: thither Macduff
Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid 30
To wake Northumberland and warlike Siward:
That, by the help of these––with Him above
To ratify the work––we may again
Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights,
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives,
Do faithful homage and receive free honours:
All which we pine for now: and this report
Hath so exasperate the king that he
Prepares for some attempt of war.
LENNOX Sent he to Macduff?
Lord He did: and with an absolute 'Sir, not I,' 40
The cloudy messenger turns me his back,
And hums, as who should say 'You'll rue the time
That clogs me with this answer.'
LENNOX And that well might
Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance
His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel
Fly to the court of England and unfold
His message ere he come, that a swift blessing
May soon return to this our suffering country
Under a hand accursed!
Lord I'll send my prayers with him.
[Exeunt]

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Act 4, page 0

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ACT 4, SCENE 1
Setting: A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron.

[Thunder. Enter the three Witches]

First Witch Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
Second Witch Thrice and once the hedge–pig whined.
Third Witch Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.
First Witch Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty–one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
ALL Double, double toil and trouble; 10
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,
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; 20
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Third Witch Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt–sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth–strangled babe 30
Ditch–deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
ALL Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

[Enter HECATE to the other three Witches]

HECATE O well done! I commend your pains;
And every one shall share i' the gains; 40
And now about the cauldron sing,
Live elves and fairies in a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in.

[Music and a song: 'Black spirits,' &c]
[HECATE retires]

Second Witch By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks!
[Enter MACBETH]
MACBETH How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!
What is't you do?
ALL A deed without a name.
MACBETH I conjure you, by that which you profess, 50
Howe'er you come to know it, answer me:
Though you untie the winds and let them fight
Against the churches; though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up;
Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down;
Though castles topple on their warders' heads;
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure
Of nature's germens tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken; answer me 60
To what I ask you.
First Witch Speak.
Second Witch Demand.
Third Witch We'll answer.
First Witch Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our mouths,
Or from our masters?
MACBETH Call 'em; let me see 'em.
First Witch Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten
Her nine farrow; grease that's 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,––
First Witch He knows thy thought:
Hear his speech, but say thou nought. 70
First Apparition Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff;
Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.
[Descends]
MACBETH Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks;
Thou hast harp'd my fear aright: but one
word more,––
First Witch He will not be commanded: here's another,
More potent than the first.

[Thunder. Second Apparition: A bloody Child]

Second Apparition Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!
MACBETH Had I three ears, I'ld hear thee.
Second Apparition Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born 80
Shall harm Macbeth.
[Descends]
MACBETH Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee?
But yet I'll make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live;
That I may tell pale–hearted fear it lies,
And sleep in spite of thunder.

[Thunder. Third Apparition: a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand ]

What is this
That rises like the issue of a king,
And wears upon his baby–brow the round
And top of sovereignty?
ALL Listen, but speak not to't.
Third Apparition Be lion–mettled, proud; and take no care 90
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.
[Descends]
MACBETH That will never be
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree
Unfix his earth–bound root? Sweet bodements! good!
Rebellion's head, rise never till the wood
Of Birnam rise, and our high–placed Macbeth
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath
To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart 100
Throbs to know one thing: tell me, if your art
Can tell so much: shall Banquo's issue ever
Reign in this kingdom?
ALL Seek to know no more.
MACBETH I will be satisfied: deny me this,
And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know.
Why sinks that cauldron? and what noise is this?
[Hautboys]
First Witch Show!
Second Witch Show!
Third Witch Show!
ALL Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; 110
Come like shadows, so depart!

[A show of Eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand; GHOST OF BANQUO following]

MACBETH Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down!
Thy crown does sear mine eye–balls. And thy hair,
Thou other gold–bound brow, is like the first.
A third is like the former. Filthy hags!
Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes!
What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?
Another yet! A seventh! I'll see no more:
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass
Which shows me many more; and some I see 120
That two–fold balls and treble scepters carry:
Horrible sight! Now, I see, 'tis true;
For the blood–bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his.
[Apparitions vanish]
What, is this so?
First Witch Ay, sir, all this is so: but why
Stands Macbeth thus amazedly?
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites,
And show the best of our delights:
I'll charm the air to give a sound,
While you perform your antic round: 130
That this great king may kindly say,
Our duties did his welcome pay.

[Music. The witches dance and then vanish, with HECATE]

MACBETH Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour
Stand aye accursed in the calendar!
Come in, without there!
[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.
MACBETH Infected be the air whereon they ride;
And damn'd all those that trust them! I did hear
The galloping of horse: who was't came by? 140
LENNOX Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word
Macduff is fled to England.
MACBETH Fled to England!
LENNOX Ay, my good lord.
MACBETH Time, thou anticipatest my dread exploits:
The flighty purpose never is o'ertook
Unless the deed go with it; from this moment
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand. And even now,
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:
The castle of Macduff I will surprise; 150
Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool;
This deed I'll do before this purpose cool.
But no more sights!––Where are these gentlemen?
Come, bring me where they are.
[Exeunt]

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Act 4, page 1

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ACT 4, SCENE 2
Setting: Fife. Macduff's castle.

[Enter LADY MACDUFF, her Son, and ROSS]

LADY MACDUFF What had he done, to make him fly the land?
ROSS You must have patience, madam.
LADY MACDUFF He had none:
His flight was madness: when our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.
ROSS You know not
Whether it was his wisdom or his fear.
LADY MACDUFF Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave his babes,
His mansion and his titles in a place
From whence himself does fly? He loves us not;
He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight, 10
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love;
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason.
ROSS My dearest coz,
I pray you, school yourself: but for your husband,
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
The fits o' the season. I dare not speak
much further;
But cruel are the times, when we are traitors
And do not know ourselves, when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear, 20
But float upon a wild and violent sea
Each way and move. I take my leave of you:
Shall not be long but I'll be here again:
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
To what they were before. My pretty cousin,
Blessing upon you!
LADY MACDUFF Father'd he is, and yet he's fatherless.
ROSS I am so much a fool, should I stay longer,
It would be my disgrace and your discomfort:
I take my leave at once.
[Exit]
LADY MACDUFF Sirrah, your father's dead; 30
And what will you do now? How will you live?
Son As birds do, mother.
LADY MACDUFF What, with worms and flies?
Son With what I get, I mean; and so do they.
LADY MACDUFF Poor bird! thou'ldst never fear the net nor lime,
The pitfall nor the gin.
Son Why should I, mother? Poor birds they are not set for.
My father is not dead, for all your saying.
LADY MACDUFF Yes, he is dead; how wilt thou do for a father?
Son Nay, how will you do for a husband?
LADY MACDUFF Why, I can buy me twenty at any market. 40
Son Then you'll buy 'em to sell again.
LADY MACDUFF Thou speak'st with all thy wit: and yet, i' faith,
With wit enough for thee.
Son Was my father a traitor, mother?
LADY MACDUFF Ay, that he was.
Son What is a traitor?
LADY MACDUFF Why, one that swears and lies.
Son And be all traitors that do so?
LADY MACDUFF Every one that does so is a traitor, and must be hanged. 50
Son And must they all be hanged that swear and lie?
LADY MACDUFF Every one.
Son Who must hang them?
LADY MACDUFF Why, the honest men.
Son Then the liars and swearers are fools,
for there are liars and swearers enow to beat
the honest men and hang up them.
LADY MACDUFF Now, God help thee, poor monkey!
But how wilt thou do for a father? 60
Son If he were dead, you'ld weep for
him: if you would not, it were a good sign
that I should quickly have a new father.
LADY MACDUFF Poor prattler, how thou talk'st!
[Enter a Messenger]
Messenger Bless you, fair dame! I am not to you known,
Though in your state of honour I am perfect.
I doubt some danger does approach you nearly:
If you will take a homely man's advice,
Be not found here; hence, with your little ones.
To fright you thus, methinks, I am too savage; 70
To do worse to you were fell cruelty,
Which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you!
I dare abide no longer.
[Exit]
LADY MACDUFF Whither should I fly?
I have done no harm. But I remember now
I am in this earthly world; where to do harm
Is often laudable, to do good sometime
Accounted dangerous folly: why then, alas,
Do I put up that womanly defence,
To say I have done no harm?
[Enter Murderers]
What are these faces?
First Murderer Where is your husband? 80
LADY MACDUFF I hope, in no place so unsanctified
Where such as thou mayst find him.
First Murderer He's a traitor.
Son Thou liest, thou shag–hair'd villain!
First Murderer What, you egg!
[Stabbing him]
Young fry of treachery!
Son He has kill'd me, mother:
Run away, I pray you!
[Dies]

[Exit LADY MACDUFF, crying 'Murder!' Exeunt Murderers, following her ]

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Act 4, page 2

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ACT 4, SCENE 3
Setting: England. Before the King's palace.

[Enter MALCOLM and MACDUFF]

MALCOLM Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there
Weep our sad bosoms empty.
MACDUFF Let us rather
Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men
Bestride our down–fall'n birthdom: each new morn
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
As if it felt with Scotland and yell'd out
Like syllable of dolour.
MALCOLM What I believe I'll wail,
What know believe, and what I can redress,
As I shall find the time to friend, I will. 10
What you have spoke, it may be so perchance.
This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,
Was once thought honest: you have loved him well.
He hath not touch'd you yet. I am young;
but something
You may deserve of him through me, and wisdom
To offer up a weak poor innocent lamb
To appease an angry god.
MACDUFF I am not treacherous.
MALCOLM But Macbeth is.
A good and virtuous nature may recoil
In an imperial charge. But I shall crave
your pardon; 20
That which you are my thoughts cannot transpose:
Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell;
Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace,
Yet grace must still look so.
MACDUFF I have lost my hopes.
MALCOLM Perchance even there where I did find my doubts.
Why in that rawness left you wife and child,
Those precious motives, those strong knots of love,
Without leave–taking? I pray you,
Let not my jealousies be your dishonours,
But mine own safeties. You may be rightly just, 30
Whatever I shall think.
MACDUFF Bleed, bleed, poor country!
Great tyranny! lay thou thy basis sure,
For goodness dare not cheque thee: wear thou
thy wrongs;
The title is affeer'd! Fare thee well, lord:
I would not be the villain that thou think'st
For the whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp,
And the rich East to boot.
MALCOLM 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 40
Is added to her wounds: I think withal
There would be hands uplifted in my right;
And here from gracious England have I offer
Of goodly thousands: but, for all this,
When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head,
Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country
Shall have more vices than it had before,
More suffer and more sundry ways than ever,
By him that shall succeed.
MACDUFF What should he be?
MALCOLM It is myself I mean: in whom I know 50
All the particulars of vice so grafted
That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth
Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state
Esteem him as a lamb, being compared
With my confineless harms.
MACDUFF Not in the legions
Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd
In evils to top Macbeth.
MALCOLM I grant him bloody,
Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful,
Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin
That has a name: but there's no bottom, none, 60
In my voluptuousness: your wives, your daughters,
Your matrons and your maids, could not fill up
The cistern of my lust, and my desire
All continent impediments would o'erbear
That did oppose my will: better Macbeth
Than such an one to reign.
MACDUFF Boundless intemperance
In nature is a tyranny; it hath been
The untimely emptying of the happy throne
And fall of many kings. But fear not yet
To take upon you what is yours: you may 70
Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty,
And yet seem cold, the time you may so hoodwink.
We have willing dames enough: there cannot be
That vulture in you, to devour so many
As will to greatness dedicate themselves,
Finding it so inclined.
MALCOLM With this there grows
In my most ill–composed affection such
A stanchless avarice that, were I king,
I should cut off the nobles for their lands,
Desire his jewels and this other's house: 80
And my more–having would be as a sauce
To make me hunger more; that I should forge
Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal,
Destroying them for wealth.
MACDUFF This avarice
Sticks deeper, grows with more pernicious root
Than summer–seeming lust, and it hath been
The sword of our slain kings: yet do not fear;
Scotland hath foisons to fill up your will.
Of your mere own: all these are portable,
With other graces weigh'd. 90
MALCOLM But I have none: the king–becoming graces,
As justice, verity, temperance, stableness,
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness,
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,
I have no relish of them, but abound
In the division of each several crime,
Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,
Uproar the universal peace, confound
All unity on earth.
MACDUFF O Scotland, Scotland! 100
MALCOLM If such a one be fit to govern, speak:
I am as I have spoken.
MACDUFF Fit to govern!
No, not to live. O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody–scepter'd,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again,
Since that the truest issue of thy throne
By his own interdiction stands accursed,
And does blaspheme his breed? Thy royal father
Was a most sainted king: the queen that bore thee,
Oftener upon her knees than on her feet, 110
Died every day she lived. Fare thee well!
These evils thou repeat'st upon thyself
Have banish'd me from Scotland. O my breast,
Thy hope ends here!
MALCOLM Macduff, this noble passion,
Child of integrity, hath from my soul
Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my thoughts
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth
By many of these trains hath sought to win me
Into his power, and modest wisdom plucks me
From over–credulous haste: but God above 120
Deal between thee and me! for even now
I put myself to thy direction, and
Unspeak mine own detraction, here abjure
The taints and blames I laid upon myself,
For strangers to my nature. I am yet
Unknown to woman, never was forsworn,
Scarcely have coveted what was mine own,
At no time broke my faith, would not betray
The devil to his fellow and delight
No less in truth than life: my first false speaking 130
Was this upon myself: what I am truly,
Is 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! Why are you silent?
MACDUFF Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
Tis hard to reconcile.
[Enter a Doctor]
MALCOLM Well; more anon.––Comes the king forth, I pray you? 140
Doctor Ay, sir; there are a crew of wretched souls
That stay his cure: their malady convinces
The great assay of art; but at his touch––
Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand––
They presently amend.
MALCOLM I thank you, doctor.
[Exit Doctor]
MACDUFF What's the disease he means?
MALCOLM Tis call'd the evil:
A most miraculous work in this good king;
Which often, since my here–remain in England,
I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven,
Himself best knows: but strangely–visited people, 150
All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,
The mere despair of surgery, he cures,
Hanging a golden stamp about their necks,
Put on with holy prayers: and 'tis spoken,
To the succeeding royalty he leaves
The healing benediction. With this strange virtue,
He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy,
And sundry blessings hang about his throne,
That speak him full of grace.
[Enter ROSS]
MACDUFF See, who comes here?
MALCOLM My countryman; but yet I know him not. 160
MACDUFF My ever–gentle cousin, welcome hither.
MALCOLM I know him now. Good God, betimes remove
The means that makes us strangers!
ROSS Sir, amen.
MACDUFF Stands Scotland where it did?
ROSS Alas, poor country!
Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot
Be call'd our mother, but our grave; where nothing,
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile;
Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air
Are made, not mark'd; where violent sorrow seems
A modern ecstasy; the dead man's knell 170
Is there scarce ask'd for who; and good men's lives
Expire before the flowers in their caps,
Dying or ere they sicken.
MACDUFF O, relation
Too nice, and yet too true!
MALCOLM What's the newest grief?
ROSS That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker:
Each minute teems a new one.
MACDUFF How does my wife?
ROSS Why, well.
MACDUFF And all my children?
ROSS Well too.
MACDUFF The tyrant has not batter'd at their peace?
ROSS No; they were well at peace when I did leave 'em.
MACDUFF But not a niggard of your speech: how goes't? 180
ROSS When I came hither to transport the tidings,
Which I have heavily borne, there ran a rumour
Of many worthy fellows that were out;
Which was to my belief witness'd the rather,
For that I saw the tyrant's power a–foot:
Now is the time of help; your eye in Scotland
Would create soldiers, make our women fight,
To doff their dire distresses.
MALCOLM Be't their comfort
We are coming thither: gracious England hath
Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men; 190
An older and a better soldier none
That Christendom gives out.
ROSS Would I could answer
This comfort with the like! But I have words
That would be howl'd out in the desert air,
Where hearing should not latch them.
MACDUFF What concern they?
The general cause? or is it a fee–grief
Due to some single breast?
ROSS No mind that's honest
But in it shares some woe; though the main part
Pertains to you alone.
MACDUFF If it be mine,
Keep it not from me, quickly let me have it. 200
ROSS Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever,
Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound
That ever yet they heard.
MACDUFF Hum! I guess at it.
ROSS Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes
Savagely slaughter'd: to relate the manner,
Were, on the quarry of these murder'd deer,
To add the death of you.
MALCOLM Merciful heaven!
What, man! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows;
Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o'er–fraught heart and bids it break. 210
MACDUFF My children too?
ROSS Wife, children, servants, all
That could be found.
MACDUFF And I must be from thence!
My wife kill'd too?
ROSS I have said.
MALCOLM Be comforted:
Let's make us medicines of our great revenge,
To cure this deadly grief.
MACDUFF 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 Dispute it like a man.
MACDUFF I shall do so; 220
But I must also feel it as a man:
I cannot but remember such things were,
That were most precious to me. Did heaven look on,
And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff,
They were all struck for thee! naught that I am,
Not for their own demerits, but for mine,
Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now!
MALCOLM Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief
Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it.
MACDUFF O, I could play the woman with mine eyes 230
And braggart with my tongue! But, gentle heavens,
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!
MALCOLM This tune goes manly.
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. 240
[Exeunt]

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Act 5, page 0

Table of Contents

ACT 5, SCENE 1
Setting: Dunsinane. Ante–room in the castle.

[Enter a Doctor of Physic and a Waiting–Gentlewoman]

Doctor I have two nights watched with you, but can perceive
no truth in your report. When was it she last walked?
Gentlewoman Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen
her rise from her bed, throw her night–gown upon
her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it,
write upon't, read it, afterwards seal it, and again
return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep.
Doctor A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once 10
the benefit of sleep, and do the effects of
watching! In this slumbery agitation, besides her
walking and other actual performances, what, at any
time, have you heard her say?
Gentlewoman That, sir, which I will not report after her.
Doctor You may to me: and 'tis most meet you should.
Gentlewoman Neither to you nor any one; having no witness to 20
confirm my speech.
[Enter LADY MACBETH, with a taper]
Lo you, here she comes! This is her very guise;
and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her; stand close.
Doctor How came she by that light?
Gentlewoman Why, it stood by her: she has light by her
continually; 'tis her command.
Doctor You see, her eyes are open.
Gentlewoman Ay, but their sense is shut.
Doctor What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands. 30
Gentlewoman It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus
washing her hands: I have known her continue in
this a quarter of an hour.
LADY MACBETH Yet here's a spot.
Doctor Hark! she speaks: I will set down what comes from
her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.
LADY MACBETH Out, damned spot! out, I say!––One: two: why,
then, 'tis time to do't.––Hell is murky!––Fie, my 40
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.
Doctor Do you mark that?
LADY MACBETH 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. 50
Doctor Go to, go to; you have known what you should not.
Gentlewoman She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of
that: heaven knows what she has known.
LADY MACBETH Here's the smell of the blood still: all the
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little
hand. Oh, oh, oh!
Doctor What a sigh is there! The heart is sorely charged. 60
Gentlewoman I would not have such a heart in my bosom for the
dignity of the whole body.
Doctor Well, well, well,––
Gentlewoman Pray God it be, sir.
Doctor This disease is beyond my practise: yet I have known
those which have walked in their sleep who have died
holily in their beds.
LADY MACBETH Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not so
pale.––I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he 70
cannot come out on's grave.
Doctor Even so?
LADY MACBETH 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]
Doctor Will she go now to bed?
Gentlewoman Directly.
Doctor Foul whisperings are abroad: unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds 80
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets:
More needs she the divine than the physician.
God, God forgive us all! Look after her;
Remove from her the means of all annoyance,
And still keep eyes upon her. So, good night:
My mind she has mated, and amazed my sight.
I think, but dare not speak.
Gentlewoman Good night, good doctor.
[Exeunt]

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Act 5, page 1

Table of Contents

ACT 5, SCENE 2
Setting: The country near Dunsinane.

[Drum and colours. Enter MENTEITH, CAITHNESS, ANGUS, LENNOX, and Soldiers ]

MENTEITH The English power is near, led on by Malcolm,
His uncle Siward and the good Macduff:
Revenges burn in them; for their dear causes
Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm
Excite the mortified man.
ANGUS Near Birnam wood
Shall we well meet them; that way are they coming.
CAITHNESS Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother?
LENNOX For certain, sir, he is not: I have a file
Of all the gentry: there is Siward's son,
And many unrough youths that even now 10
Protest their first of manhood.
MENTEITH What does the tyrant?
CAITHNESS Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies:
Some say he's mad; others that lesser hate him
Do call it valiant fury: but, for certain,
He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause
Within the belt of rule.
ANGUS Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands;
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith–breach;
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love: now does he feel his title 20
Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.
MENTEITH Who then shall blame
His pester'd senses to recoil and start,
When all that is within him does condemn
Itself for being there?
CAITHNESS Well, march we on,
To give obedience where 'tis truly owed:
Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal,
And with him pour we in our country's purge
Each drop of us.
LENNOX Or so much as it needs,
To dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds. 30
Make we our march towards Birnam.
[Exeunt, marching]

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Act 1, page 7

Table of Contents

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.