SCENE III.
Thunder. Enter the three Witches.
1 Witch.
Where hast thou been, sister?
2 Witch.
Killing swine.
3 Witch.
Sister, where thou?
1 Witch.
A sailor's wife had chesnuts in her lap,
And mouncht, and mouncht, and mouncht:—Give me, quoth I.
6 note
Aroint thee, witch! the 7 note
rump-fed 8 note
ronyon cries.
-- 455 --
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o'the Tyger:
But in a sieve I'll thither sail9 note
,
1 note
And, like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.
2 Witch.
I'll give thee a wind2 note
.
-- 456 --
1 Witch.
Thou art kind.
3 Witch.
And I another.
1 Witch.
I myself have all the other;
3 note
And the very points they blow,
All the quarters that they know
I' the shipman's card4 note
.
I will drain him dry as hay5 note
:
Sleep shall, neither night nor day,
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
6 note
He shall live a man forbid:
-- 457 --
Weary seven-nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle7 note
, peak, and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost.
Look what I have.
2 Witch.
Shew me, shew me.
1 Witch.
Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wreck'd, as homeward he did come.
[Drum within.
3 Witch.
A drum, a drum;
Macbeth doth come.
All.
8 note
The weird sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
-- 458 --
Thus do go about, about;
Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,
And thrice again, to make up nine:
Peace!—the charm's wound up.
-- 459 --
Enter Macbeth and Banquo.
Mac.
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
-- 460 --
Ban.
How far is't call'd to Fores9 note?—What are these,
So wither'd, and so wild in their attire;
That look not like the inhabitants o'the earth,
And yet are on't?—Live you? or are you aught
1 noteThat man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her choppy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips:—You should be women,
-- 461 --
And yet your beards2 note
forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
Macb.
Speak, if you can;—What are you?
1 Witch.
All hail, Macbeth3 note
! hail to thee, thane of Glamis4 note!
-- 462 --
2 Witch.
All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor5 note!
3 Witch.
All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter.
Ban.
Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair?—I'the name of truth,
6 note
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
-- 463 --
Which outwardly ye shew? My noble partner
You greet with present grace, and great prediction
Of noble having7 note
, and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal; to me you speak not:
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say, which grain will grow, and which will not;
Speak then to me, who neither beg, nor fear,
Your favours, nor your hate.
1 Witch.
Hail!
2 Witch.
Hail!
3 Witch.
Hail!
1 Witch.
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
2 Witch.
Not so happy, yet much happier.
3 Witch.
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:
So, all hail, Macbeth, and Banquo!
1 Witch.
Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail!
Mac.
Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
8 noteBy Sinel's death, I know, I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and, to be king,
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence
-- 464 --
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetick greeting?—Speak, I charge you.
[Witches vanish.
Ban.
The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,
And these are of them:—Whither are they vanish'd?
Macb.
Into the air; and what seem'd corporal, melted
As breath into the wind.—'Would they had staid!
Ban.
Were such things here, as we do speak about?
Or have we 9 note
eaten of the insane root,
That takes the reason prisoner?
Macb.
Your children shall be kings.
Ban.
You shall be king.
Macb.
And thane of Cawdor too; went it not so?
Ban.
To the self-same tune, and words. Who's here?
Enter Rosse, and Angus.
Rosse.
The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth,
The news of thy success: and when he reads
Thy personal venture in the rebel's fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend,
Which should be thine, or his1 note
: Silenc'd with that 9Q0499,
-- 465 --
In viewing o'er the rest o' the self-same day,
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afraid of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. 2 note
As thick as tale,
Came post with post; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.
Ang.
We are sent,
To give thee, from our royal master, thanks;
Only to herald thee into his sight,
Not pay thee.
Rosse.
And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor:
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!
For it is thine.
Ban.
What, can the devil speak true?
Macb.
The thane of Cawdor lives; Why do you dress me
In borrow'd robes?
Ang.
Who was the thane, lives yet;
But under heavy judgment bears that life,
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was
-- 466 --
Combin'd 3 note
with Norway; or did line the rebel
With hidden help and vantage; or that with both
He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not;
But treasons capital, confess'd, and prov'd,
Have overthrown him.
Macb.
Glamis, and thane of Cawdor:
The greatest is behind.—Thanks for your pains.—
Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me,
Promis'd no less to them?
Ban.
That, trusted home4 note 9Q0500,
5 noteMight yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange:
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths;
Win us with honest trifles, to betray us
In deepest consequence.—Cousins, a word I pray you.
Macb.
Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the 6 note
swelling act
Of the imperial theme.—I thank you, gentlemen.—
7 note
This supernatural solliciting
Cannot be ill; cannot be good:—If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
-- 467 --
If good, 8 note
why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair,
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears9 note
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my 1 notesingle state of man, that 2 note
function
-- 468 --
Is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is,
But what is not.
Ban.
Look, how our partner's rapt.
Macb.
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,
Without my stir.
Ban.
New honours, come upon him
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould,
But with the aid of use.
Macb.
Come what come may;
3 note
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
-- 469 --
Ban.
Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.
Macb.
Give me your favour:—4 note
my dull brain was wrought
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains
Are register'd where every day I turn
The leaf to read them.—Let us toward the king.—
Think upon what hath chanc'd; and, at more time,
The interim having weigh'd it5 note, let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.
Ban.
Very gladly.
Macb.
'Till then, enough.—Come, friends.
[Exeunt.
SCENE IV.
Flourish. Enter King, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lenox, and Attendants.
King.
Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet return'd?
-- 470 --
Mal.
My liege,
They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
6 noteWith one that saw him die: who did report,
That very frankly he confess'd his treasons;
Implor'd your highness' pardon; and set forth
A deep repentance: nothing in his life
Became him, like the leaving it; he dy'd
As one that had been 7 notestudied in his death,
To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd,
As 'twere a careless trifle.
King.
There's no art,
8 noteTo find the mind's construction in the face 9Q0502;
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.—O worthiest cousin!
Enter Macbeth, Banquo, Rosse, and Angus.
The sin of my ingratitude even now
Was heavy on me: Thou art so far before,
That swiftest wing of recompence is slow
To overtake thee. 'Would thou hadst less deserv'd;
That the proportion both of thanks and payment
-- 471 --
Might have been mine! only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay 9Q0503.
Macb.
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;
9 note
Which do but what they should, by doing every thing9Q0504
Safe toward your love and honour 9Q0505.
-- 472 --
King.
Welcome hither:
I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing.—Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserv'd, nor must be known
No less to have done so, let me enfold thee,
And hold thee to my heart.
Ban.
There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.
King.
My plenteous joys,
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow 9Q0506.—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,
But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers.—From hence to Inverness1 note,
And bind us further to you 9Q0507.
Macb.
The rest is labour, which is not us'd for you:
I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful
-- 473 --
The hearing of my wife with your approach;
So, humbly take my leave.
King.
My worthy Cawdor!
Macb.
The prince of Cumberland2 note
!—That is a step,
On which I must fall down, or else o'er-leap,
[Aside.
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires!
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.
King.
True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant;
And in his commendations I am fed;
It is a banquet to me. Let us after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome:
It is a peerless kinsman.
[Flourish. Exeunt.
SCENE V.
Enter Macbeth's wife alone, with a letter.
Lady.
—They met me in the day of success; and I
-- 474 --
have learned 3 noteby the perfectest report, they have more in
them than mortal knowledge. When I burnt in desire to
question them further, they made themselves—air, into
which they vanish'd. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder
of it, came missives from the king, who all-hail'd me,
Thane of Cawdor; by which title, before, these weird
sisters saluted me, and referr'd me to the coming on of time,
with, Hail, king that shalt be! This have I thought
good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness; that
thou might'st not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant
of what greatness is promis'd thee. Lay it to thy heart,
and farewel.
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promis'd:—Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o'the milk of human kindness,
To catch the nearest way: Thou would'st be great;
Art not without ambition; but without
The illness should attend it. What thou would'st highly,
That would'st thou holily; would'st not play false,
And yet would'st wrongly win: 4 note
thou'd'st have, great Glamis,
That which cries, Thus thou must do, if thou have it;
5 note
And that which rather thou dost fear to do,
-- 475 --
Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear6 note
;
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
7 note
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crown'd withal.—What is your tidings?
Enter a Messenger.
Mes.
The king comes here to-night.
Lady.
Thou'rt mad to say it:
Is not thy master with him? who, wer't so,
Would have inform'd for preparation.
Mes.
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.
Give him tending,
-- 476 --
He brings great news. 8 note
The raven himself is hoarse,
[Exit Mes.
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits9 note
That tend on 1 note
mortal thoughts,9Q0510 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, 2 note
nor keep peace between
-- 477 --
The effect, 3 note
and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And 4 notetake my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
5 noteYou wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night6 note
,
-- 478 --
7 note
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell!
That my keen knife 8 note
9Q0512 see not the wound it makes;
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark9 note
,
1 note
To cry, Hold, hold!—Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor2 note
!
-- 479 --
Enter Macbeth.
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!
Thy letters have transported me beyond
3 note
This ignorant present time4 note
, and I feel now
-- 480 --
The future in the instant.
Macb.
My dearest love,
Duncan comes here to-night.
Lady.
And when goes hence?
Macb.
To-morrow, as he purposes.
Lady.
Oh, never
Shall sun that morrow see!
Your face, my thane, is as a book5 note
, where men
May read strange matters:—To beguile the time,
Look like the time6 note
9Q0515; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it. He that's coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night's great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
Macb.
We will speak further.
Lady.
Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear:
Leave all the rest to me.
[Exeunt.
-- 481 --
SCENE VI.
Hautboys and Torches. Enter King, Malcolm, Donalbain, Banquo, Lenox, Macduff, Rosse, Angus, and Attendants.
King.
This castle hath a pleasant seat 9Q0516; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
7 note
Unto out gentle senses.
Ban.
This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting 8 note
martlet, does approve,
By his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath
Smells wooingly here: no jutty frieze,
Buttress, nor coigne of vantage9 note, but this bird
-- 482 --
Hath made his pendant bed, and procreant cradle:
Where they 1 notemost breed and haunt, I have observ'd,
The air is delicate.
Enter Lady Macbeth.
King.
See, see! our honour'd hostess!—
The love that follows us, sometime is our trouble,
Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you,
2 note
How you shall bid God yield us for your pains,
And thank us for your trouble.
Lady.
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,
3 note
We rest your hermits.
-- 483 --
King.
Where's the thane of Cawdor?
We cours'd him at the heels, and had a purpose
To be his purveyor: but he rides well;
And his great love, sharp as his spur4 note
, hath holp him
To his home before us: Fair and noble hostess,
We are your guest to-night.
Lady.
5 note
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.
King.
Give me your hand:
Conduct me to mine host; we love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him.
By your leave, hostess.
[Exeunt.
-- 484 --
SCENE VII.
Hautboys and torches. Enter a sewer6 note, and divers servants
with dishes and service over the stage. Then enter Macbeth.
Macb.
7 note
If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: 8 note
If the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
-- 485 --
9 note
With his surcease, success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and 1 note
shoal of time,—
We'd jump the life to come2 note
.—But, in these cases,
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: This even-handed justice3 note
Commends the ingredients 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
4 note
Hath borne his faculties so meek,9Q0517 hath been
-- 486 --
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongu'd, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off:
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, 5 note
or heavens cherubin, hors'd
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
6 noteThat tears shall drown the wind.—I have no spur7 note
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition 9Q0518, which o'er-leaps itself,
And falls on the other8 note
—How now! what news?
-- 487 --
Enter Lady9 note
.
Lady.
He has almost supp'd; Why have you left the chamber?
Macb.
Hath he ask'd for me?
Lady.
Know you not, he has?
Macb.
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.
Was the hope drunk 9Q0519,
Wherein you drest 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 afraid
-- 488 --
To be the same in thine own act and valour,
As thou art in desire? 1 note
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,
2 note
Like the poor cat i' the adage?
Macb.
Pr'ythee, peace3 note
:
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more, is none.
Lady.
What beast was it then,
That made you break this enterprize to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time, nor place,
-- 489 --
4 noteDid 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 but so sworn
As you have done to this.
Macb.
If we should fail,—
Lady.
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking place5 note
,
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep,
(Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him) his two chamberlains
6 note
Will I with wine and wassel so convince,
-- 490 --
That memory, the warder of the brain7 note
,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason8 note
-- 491 --
9 noteA 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
His spungy officers; 1 note
who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
Macb.
Bring forth men-children only!
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be receiv'd,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two
Of his own chamber, and us'd their very daggers,
That they have don't?
Lady.
Who dares receive it other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?
Macb.
I am settled, and bend up2 note
-- 492 --
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
[Exeunt.
Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].
