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ACT I, SCENE I.

A desert place.

Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches

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

Second Witch
003: When the hurlyburly's done,
004: When the battle's lost and won.

Third Witch
005: That will be ere the set of sun.

First Witch
006: Where the place?

Second Witch
007: Upon the heath.

Third Witch
008: There to meet with Macbeth.

First Witch
009: I come, Graymalkin!

Second Witch
010: Paddock calls.

Third Witch
011: Anon.

ALL
012: Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
013: Hover through the fog and filthy air.

Exeunt

ACT I, SCENE II.

A camp near Forres.

Alarum within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant

DUNCAN
001: What bloody man is that? He can report,
002: As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
003: The newest state.

MALCOLM
004: This is the sergeant
005: Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
006: 'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
007: Say to the king the knowledge of the broil
008: As thou didst leave it.

Sergeant
009: Doubtful it stood;
010: As two spent swimmers, that do cling together
011: And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald--
012: Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
013: The multiplying villanies of nature
014: Do swarm upon him--from the western isles
015: Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;
016: And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
017: Show'd like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak:
018: For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--
019: Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
020: Which smoked with bloody execution,
021: Like valour's minion carved out his passage
022: Till he faced the slave;
023: Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
024: Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
025: And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

DUNCAN
026: O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!

Sergeant
027: As whence the sun 'gins his reflection
028: Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,
029: So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come
030: Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark:
031: No sooner justice had with valour arm'd
032: Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
033: But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage,
034: With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men
035: Began a fresh assault.

DUNCAN
036: Dismay'd not this
037: Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

Sergeant
038: Yes;
039: As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
040: If I say sooth, I must report they were
041: As cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they
042: Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
043: Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
044: Or memorise another Golgotha,
045: I cannot tell.
046: But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.

DUNCAN
047: So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;
048: They smack of honour both. Go get him surgeons.
[Exit Sergeant, attended]
049: Who comes here?

Enter ROSS

MALCOLM
050: The worthy thane of Ross.

LENNOX
051: What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look
052: That seems to speak things strange.

ROSS
053: God save the king!

DUNCAN
054: Whence camest thou, worthy thane?

ROSS
055: From Fife, great king;
056: Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
057: And fan our people cold. Norway himself,
058: With terrible numbers,
059: Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
060: The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;
061: Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,
062: Confronted him with self-comparisons,
063: Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm.
064: Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude,
065: The victory fell on us.

DUNCAN
066: Great happiness!

ROSS
067: That now
068: Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition:
069: Nor would we deign him burial of his men
070: Till he disbursed at Saint Colme's inch
071: Ten thousand dollars to our general use.

DUNCAN
072: No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
073: Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,
074: And with his former title greet Macbeth.

ROSS
075: I'll see it done.

DUNCAN
076: What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.

Exeunt

ACT I, SCENE III.

A heath near Forres.

Thunder. Enter the three Witches

First Witch
001: Where hast thou been, sister?

Second Witch
002: Killing swine.

Third Witch
003: Sister, where thou?

First Witch
004: A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
005: And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd:--
006: 'Give me,' quoth I:
007: 'Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries.
008: Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger:
009: But in a sieve I'll thither sail,
010: And, like a rat without a tail,
011: I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

Second Witch
012: I'll give thee a wind.

First Witch
013: Thou'rt kind.

Third Witch
014: And I another.

First Witch
015: I myself have all the other,
016: And the very ports they blow,
017: All the quarters that they know
018: I' the shipman's card.
019: I will drain him dry as hay:
020: Sleep shall neither night nor day
021: Hang upon his pent-house lid;
022: He shall live a man forbid:
023: Weary se'nnights nine times nine
024: Shall he dwindle, peak and pine:
025: Though his bark cannot be lost,
026: Yet it shall be tempest-tost.
027: Look what I have.

Second Witch
028: Show me, show me.

First Witch
029: Here I have a pilot's thumb,
030: Wreck'd as homeward he did come.

Drum within

Third Witch
031: A drum, a drum!
032: Macbeth doth come.

ALL
033: The weird sisters, hand in hand,
034: Posters of the sea and land,
035: Thus do go about, about:
036: Thrice to thine and thrice to mine
037: And thrice again, to make up nine.
038: Peace! the charm's wound up.

Enter MACBETH and BANQUO

MACBETH
039: So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

BANQUO
040: How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these
041: So wither'd and so wild in their attire,
042: That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
043: And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught
044: That man may question? You seem to understand me,
045: By each at once her chappy finger laying
046: Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,
047: And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
048: That you are so.

MACBETH
049: Speak, if you can: what are you?

First Witch
050: All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!

Second Witch
051: All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!

Third Witch
052: All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!

BANQUO
053: Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
054: Things that do sound so fair? I' the name of truth,
055: Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
056: Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
057: You greet with present grace and great prediction
058: Of noble having and of royal hope,
059: That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not.
060: If you can look into the seeds of time,
061: And say which grain will grow and which will not,
062: Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
063: Your favours nor your hate.

First Witch
064: Hail!

Second Witch
065: Hail!

Third Witch
066: Hail!

First Witch
067: Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

Second Witch
068: Not so happy, yet much happier.

Third Witch
069: Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:
070: So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

First Witch
071: Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!

MACBETH
072: Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
073: By Sinel's death I know I am thane of Glamis;
074: But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
075: A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
076: Stands not within the prospect of belief,
077: No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
078: You owe this strange intelligence? or why
079: Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
080: With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.

Witches vanish

BANQUO
081: The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,
082: And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd?

MACBETH
083: Into the air; and what seem'd corporal melted
084: As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd!

BANQUO
085: Were such things here as we do speak about?
086: Or have we eaten on the insane root
087: That takes the reason prisoner?

MACBETH
088: Your children shall be kings.

BANQUO
089: You shall be king.

MACBETH
090: And thane of Cawdor too: went it not so?

BANQUO
091: To the selfsame tune and words. Who's here?

Enter ROSS and ANGUS

ROSS
092: The king hath happily received, Macbeth,
093: The news of thy success; and when he reads
094: Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
095: His wonders and his praises do contend
096: Which should be thine or his: silenced with that,
097: In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day,
098: He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
099: Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
100: Strange images of death. As thick as hail
101: Came post with post; and every one did bear
102: Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
103: And pour'd them down before him.

ANGUS
104: We are sent
105: To give thee from our royal master thanks;
106: Only to herald thee into his sight,
107: Not pay thee.

ROSS
108: And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
109: He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor:
110: In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!
111: For it is thine.

BANQUO
112: What, can the devil speak true?

MACBETH
113: The thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me
114: In borrow'd robes?

ANGUS
115: Who was the thane lives yet;
116: But under heavy judgment bears that life
117: Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined
118: With those of Norway, or did line the rebel
119: With hidden help and vantage, or that with both
120: He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not;
121: But treasons capital, confess'd and proved,
122: Have overthrown him.

MACBETH
123: [Aside] Glamis, and thane of Cawdor!
124: The greatest is behind.
[To ROSS and ANGUS]
125: Thanks for your pains.
[To BANQUO]
126: Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
127: When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me
128: Promised no less to them?

BANQUO
129: That trusted home
130: Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
131: Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange:
132: And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
133: The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
134: Win us with honest trifles, to betray's
135: In deepest consequence.
136: Cousins, a word, I pray you.

MACBETH
137: [Aside] Two truths are told,
138: As happy prologues to the swelling act
139: Of the imperial theme.--I thank you, gentlemen.
140: [Aside] This supernatural soliciting
141: Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,
142: Why hath it given me earnest of success,
143: Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
144: If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
145: Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
146: And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
147: Against the use of nature? Present fears
148: Are less than horrible imaginings:
149: My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
150: Shakes so my single state of man that function
151: Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
152: But what is not.

BANQUO
153: Look, how our partner's rapt.

MACBETH [Aside]
154: If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,
155: Without my stir.

BANQUO
156: New horrors come upon him,
157: Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould
158: But with the aid of use.

MACBETH [Aside]
159: Come what come may,
160: Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.

BANQUO
161: Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.

MACBETH
162: Give me your favour: my dull brain was wrought
163: With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains
164: Are register'd where every day I turn
165: The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king.
166: Think upon what hath chanced, and, at more time,
167: The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak
168: Our free hearts each to other.

BANQUO
169: Very gladly.

MACBETH
170: Till then, enough. Come, friends.

Exeunt

ACT I, SCENE IV.

Forres. The palace.

Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, and Attendants

DUNCAN
001: Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
002: Those in commission yet return'd?

MALCOLM
003: My liege,
004: They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
005: With one that saw him die: who did report
006: That very frankly he confess'd his treasons,
007: Implored your highness' pardon and set forth
008: A deep repentance: nothing in his life
009: Became him like the leaving it; he died
010: As one that had been studied in his death
011: To throw away the dearest thing he owed,
012: As 'twere a careless trifle.

DUNCAN
013: There's no art
014: To find the mind's construction in the face:
015: He was a gentleman on whom I built
016: An absolute trust.
[Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSS, and ANGUS]
017: O worthiest cousin!
018: The sin of my ingratitude even now
019: Was heavy on me: thou art so far before
020: That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
021: To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,
022: That the proportion both of thanks and payment
023: Might have been mine! only I have left to say,
024: More is thy due than more than all can pay.

MACBETH
025: The service and the loyalty I owe,
026: In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part
027: Is to receive our duties; and our duties
028: Are to your throne and state children and servants,
029: Which do but what they should, by doing every thing
030: Safe toward your love and honour.

DUNCAN
031: Welcome hither:
032: I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
033: To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,
034: That hast no less deserved, nor must be known
035: No less to have done so, let me enfold thee
036: And hold thee to my heart.

BANQUO
037: There if I grow,
038: The harvest is your own.

DUNCAN
039: My plenteous joys,
040: Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
041: In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
042: And you whose places are the nearest, know
043: We will establish our estate upon
044: Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
045: The Prince of Cumberland; which honour must
046: Not unaccompanied invest him only,
047: But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
048: On all deservers. From hence to Inverness,
049: And bind us further to you.

MACBETH
050: The rest is labour, which is not used for you:
051: I'll be myself the harbinger and make joyful
052: The hearing of my wife with your approach;
053: So humbly take my leave.

DUNCAN
054: My worthy Cawdor!

Aside
055: The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step
056: On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
057: For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
058: Let not light see my black and deep desires:
059: The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be,
060: Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.

Exit

DUNCAN
061: True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant,
062: And in his commendations I am fed;
063: It is a banquet to me. Let's after him,
064: Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome:
065: It is a peerless kinsman.

Flourish. Exeunt

ACT I, SCENE V.

Inverness. Macbeth's castle.

Enter LADY MACBETH, reading a letter

LADY MACBETH
001: 'They met me in the day of success: and I have
002: learned by the perfectest report, they have more in
003: them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire
004: to question them further, they made themselves air,
005: into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in
006: the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who
007: all-hailed me 'Thane of Cawdor;' by which title,
008: before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred
009: me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, king that
010: shalt be!' This have I thought good to deliver
011: thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou
012: mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being
013: ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it
014: to thy heart, and farewell.'
015: Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
016: What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature;
017: It is too full o' the milk of human kindness
018: To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great;
019: Art not without ambition, but without
020: The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly,
021: That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
022: And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'ldst have, great Glamis,
023: That which cries 'Thus thou must do, if thou have it;
024: And that which rather thou dost fear to do
025: Than wishest should be undone.' Hie thee hither,
026: That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
027: And chastise with the valour of my tongue
028: All that impedes thee from the golden round,
029: Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
030: To have thee crown'd withal.
[Enter a Messenger]
031: What is your tidings?

Messenger
032: The king comes here to-night.

LADY MACBETH
033: Thou'rt mad to say it:
034: Is not thy master with him? who, were't so,
035: Would have inform'd for preparation.

Messenger
036: So please you, it is true: our thane is coming:
037: One of my fellows had the speed of him,
038: Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more
039: Than would make up his message.

LADY MACBETH
040: Give him tending;
041: He brings great news.
[Exit Messenger]
042: The raven himself is hoarse
043: That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
044: Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
045: That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
046: And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
047: Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
048: Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
049: That no compunctious visitings of nature
050: Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
051: The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
052: And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
053: Wherever in your sightless substances
054: You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
055: And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
056: That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
057: Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
058: To cry 'Hold, hold!'
[Enter MACBETH]
059: Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor!
060: Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!
061: Thy letters have transported me beyond
062: This ignorant present, and I feel now
063: The future in the instant.

MACBETH
064: My dearest love,
065: Duncan comes here to-night.

LADY MACBETH
066: And when goes hence?

MACBETH
067: To-morrow, as he purposes.

LADY MACBETH
068: O, never
069: Shall sun that morrow see!
070: Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
071: May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
072: Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
073: Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
074: But be the serpent under't. He that's coming
075: Must be provided for: and you shall put
076: This night's great business into my dispatch;
077: Which shall to all our nights and days to come
078: Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

MACBETH
079: We will speak further.

LADY MACBETH
080: Only look up clear;
081: To alter favour ever is to fear:
082: Leave all the rest to me.

Exeunt

ACT I, SCENE VI.

Before Macbeth's castle.

Hautboys and torches. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, BANQUO, LENNOX, MACDUFF, ROSS, ANGUS, and Attendants

DUNCAN
001: This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air
002: Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
003: Unto our gentle senses.

BANQUO
004: This guest of summer,
005: The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
006: By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath
007: Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze,
008: Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
009: Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle:
010: Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed,
011: The air is delicate.

Enter LADY MACBETH

DUNCAN
012: See, see, our honour'd hostess!
013: The love that follows us sometime is our trouble,
014: Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you
015: How you shall bid God 'ild us for your pains,
016: And thank us for your trouble.

LADY MACBETH
017: All our service
018: In every point twice done and then done double
019: Were poor and single business to contend
020: Against those honours deep and broad wherewith
021: Your majesty loads our house: for those of old,
022: And the late dignities heap'd up to them,
023: We rest your hermits.

DUNCAN
024: Where's the thane of Cawdor?
025: We coursed him at the heels, and had a purpose
026: To be his purveyor: but he rides well;
027: And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him
028: To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess,
029: We are your guest to-night.

LADY MACBETH
030: Your servants ever
031: Have theirs, themselves and what is theirs, in compt,
032: To make their audit at your highness' pleasure,
033: Still to return your own.

DUNCAN
034: Give me your hand;
035: Conduct me to mine host: we love him highly,
036: And shall continue our graces towards him.
037: By your leave, hostess.

Exeunt

ACT I, SCENE VII.

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
001: If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
002: It were done quickly: if the assassination
003: Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
004: With his surcease success; that but this blow
005: Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
006: But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
007: We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
008: We still have judgment here; that we but teach
009: Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
010: To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
011: Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
012: To our own lips. He's here in double trust;
013: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
014: Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
015: Who should against his murderer shut the door,
016: Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
017: Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
018: So clear in his great office, that his virtues
019: Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
020: The deep damnation of his taking-off;
021: And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
022: Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed
023: Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
024: Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
025: That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
026: To prick the sides of my intent, but only
027: Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
028: And falls on the other.
[Enter LADY MACBETH]
029: How now! what news?

LADY MACBETH
030: He has almost supp'd: why have you left the chamber?

MACBETH
031: Hath he ask'd for me?

LADY MACBETH
032: Know you not he has?

MACBETH
033: We will proceed no further in this business:
034: He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought
035: Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
036: Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
037: Not cast aside so soon.

LADY MACBETH
038: Was the hope drunk
039: Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since?
040: And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
041: At what it did so freely? From this time
042: Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
043: To be the same in thine own act and valour
044: As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
045: Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
046: And live a coward in thine own esteem,
047: Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
048: Like the poor cat i' the adage?

MACBETH
049: Prithee, peace:
050: I dare do all that may become a man;
051: Who dares do more is none.

LADY MACBETH
052: What beast was't, then,
053: That made you break this enterprise to me?
054: When you durst do it, then you were a man;
055: And, to be more than what you were, you would
056: Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place
057: Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
058: They have made themselves, and that their fitness now
059: Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
060: How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
061: I would, while it was smiling in my face,
062: Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
063: And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
064: Have done to this.

MACBETH
065: If we should fail?

LADY MACBETH
066: We fail!
067: But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
068: And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep--
069: Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
070: Soundly invite him--his two chamberlains
071: Will I with wine and wassail so convince
072: That memory, the warder of the brain,
073: Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
074: A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep
075: Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
076: What cannot you and I perform upon
077: The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
078: His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
079: Of our great quell?

MACBETH
080: Bring forth men-children only;
081: For thy undaunted mettle should compose
082: Nothing but males. Will it not be received,
083: When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two
084: Of his own chamber and used their very daggers,
085: That they have done't?

LADY MACBETH
086: Who dares receive it other,
087: As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
088: Upon his death?

MACBETH
089: I am settled, and bend up
090: Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
091: Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
092: False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

Exeunt

ACT II, SCENE I.

Court of Macbeth's castle.

Enter BANQUO, and FLEANCE bearing a torch before him

BANQUO
001: How goes the night, boy?

FLEANCE
002: The moon is down; I have not heard the clock.

BANQUO
003: And she goes down at twelve.

FLEANCE
004: I take't, 'tis later, sir.

BANQUO
005: Hold, take my sword. There's husbandry in heaven;
006: Their candles are all out. Take thee that too.
007: A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
008: And yet I would not sleep: merciful powers,
009: Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature
010: Gives way to in repose!
[Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch]
011: Give me my sword.
012: Who's there?

MACBETH
013: A friend.

BANQUO
014: What, sir, not yet at rest? The king's a-bed:
015: He hath been in unusual pleasure, and
016: Sent forth great largess to your offices.
017: This diamond he greets your wife withal,
018: By the name of most kind hostess; and shut up
019: In measureless content.

MACBETH
020: Being unprepared,
021: Our will became the servant to defect;
022: Which else should free have wrought.

BANQUO
023: All's well.
024: I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters:
025: To you they have show'd some truth.

MACBETH
026: I think not of them:
027: Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,
028: We would spend it in some words upon that business,
029: If you would grant the time.

BANQUO
030: At your kind'st leisure.

MACBETH
031: If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis,
032: It shall make honour for you.

BANQUO
033: So I lose none
034: In seeking to augment it, but still keep
035: My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
036: I shall be counsell'd.

MACBETH
037: Good repose the while!

BANQUO
038: Thanks, sir: the like to you!

Exeunt BANQUO and FLEANCE

MACBETH
039: Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready,
040: She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed.
[Exit Servant]
041: Is this a dagger which I see before me,
042: The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
043: I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
044: Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
045: To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
046: A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
047: Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
048: I see thee yet, in form as palpable
049: As this which now I draw.
050: Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;
051: And such an instrument I was to use.
052: Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
053: Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
054: And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
055: Which was not so before. There's no such thing:
056: It is the bloody business which informs
057: Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld
058: Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
059: The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
060: Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,
061: Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
062: Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.
063: With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
064: Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
065: Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
066: Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
067: And take the present horror from the time,
068: Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
069: Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
[A bell rings]
070: I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
071: Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
072: That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

Exit

ACT II, SCENE II.

The same.

Enter LADY MACBETH

LADY MACBETH
001: That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold;
002: What hath quench'd them hath given me fire.
003: Hark! Peace!
004: It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman,
005: Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it:
006: The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms
007: Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg'd
008: their possets,
009: That death and nature do contend about them,
010: Whether they live or die.

MACBETH [Within]
011: Who's there? what, ho!

LADY MACBETH
012: Alack, I am afraid they have awaked,
013: And 'tis not done. The attempt and not the deed
014: Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready;
015: He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled
016: My father as he slept, I had done't.
[Enter MACBETH]
017: My husband!

MACBETH
018: I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?

LADY MACBETH
019: I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.
020: Did not you speak?

MACBETH
021: When?

LADY MACBETH
022: Now.

MACBETH
023: As I descended?

LADY MACBETH
024: Ay.

MACBETH
025: Hark!
026: Who lies i' the second chamber?

LADY MACBETH
027: Donalbain.

MACBETH
028: This is a sorry sight.

Looking on his hands

LADY MACBETH
029: A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.