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THE:SWAN EDITION
E

MACBETH
BY WILLIAM

**
*
SHAKESPEARE :

A tuti

Ri
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 THE “ SWAN ” SHAKESPEARE .
AN ENTIRELY NEW SERIES FOR USE IN SCHOOLS .

WITH INTRODUCTIONS, NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS .

Edited by Illustrated by
Julius Cæsar Dr. FORSYTH GRANVILLE MAnton .
Merchant of Venice John BiDGOOD, B.Sc., F.L.S. C. A. SheppERSON .
King John J. W. Young , B.A. PATTEN WILSON .
The Tempest G. W. STONE, M.A. ... S. G. Davies.
As You Like It W. Dyche , B.A. C. A. Shepperson .
Henry V. ... ... D. FERGUSON , M.A. R. WHEELWRIGHT .
Richard II . W. J. ABEL , B.A. , LL.D. H. M. BROCK.
Macbeth ... R. McWILLIAM , B.A. ... GORDON BROWNE.

LONGMANS, GREEN , AND CO. ,

LONDON , NEW YORK , AND BOMBAY .
 THE SWAN EDITION

M ACBETH
73317

BY

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Til si
WITH NOTES, ETC. , BY

Lii
R. McWILLIAM , B.A.
INSPECTOR TO THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD

AND TEN FULL- PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY

GORDON BROWNE

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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE .
 LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE .

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE was born on 22nd or 23rd April,

1564, in the pleasant old country town of Stratford-on-Avon.
The name Shakespeare is found pretty frequently in the
records of the towns and villages of Warwickshire during
the sixteenth century, but not in those of Stratford itself.
John Shakespeare, the father of the poet, was the first of
the name to settle in the town , and he came thither in 1550
or 1551, from Snitterfield , a village about four miles away
to the north-east, where his father Richard was a farmer.
John Shakespeare is said to have been a glover, but it
appears probable that he also traded in cattle and agri
cultural produce . He prospered in trade, and in 1557
married Mary Arden, the daughter and heiress of a wealthy
yeoman of Wilmecote, a village a few miles away to the
north -west. In 1556 he bought a house and garden in
Henley Street, and a house with a garden and croft in
Greenhill Street. In one of these the future poet was born.
Both houses are still standing, and are preserved as a

Shakespearian museum ,
Little is known of Shakespeare's childhood, but in 1568,
while John Shakespeare was bailiff of Stratford , the Queen's
Players came to the town and received a licence to play.
The same thing happened next year, and no doubt the child
of five was there with open eyes to see. At seven years of
age he was sent to the Free Grammar School of the Holy
Cross, a few streets away from his father's house, and it is
thought probable that in Love's Labour's Lost, his earliest
play, he has portrayed in the character of the pedantic but
vi MACBETH .

not unkindly Holofernes the schoolmaster of his own early

days.
John Shakespeare's fortunes, which were at their height
in 1568, when he was chief magistrate, began to decline
some few years later. In 1578-9 he was obliged to part
with his wife's property in Wilmecote and Snitterfield! ; and
in 1586, after being painfully pressed by creditors , he was
deprived of his alderman's gown. These troubles probably
cut short Shakespeare's school life, and at the age of about

ZVERSE
33

THE HOUSE IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE WAS BORN .

thirteen he joined his father in the support of the family,

there being four or five younger children.
A few years later, in 1582, William married Anne Hath
away, the daughter of a " husbandman " of Shottery, a
hamlet just outside Stratford , to the west. The marriage
was a hasty one, the bride was eight years older than the
youthful bridegroom , and there are grounds for thinking that
the match was repented of. A daughter, Susannah , was
born in 1583 , and a son and daughter , twins, Hamnet and
 MACBETH . vii

Judith , in 1585. At about this time, 1585, Shakespeare left

Stratford and came to London, and for eleven years his
family saw little or nothing of him. Tradition gives as the
reason for this hasty leaving, a poaching adventure in the
woods of Charlecote, a few miles up the Avon ; and there is
little doubt that in the character of Justice Shallow in King
Henry IV. and in the Merry Wives of Windsor, Shakespeare

ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE .

pokes fun at the pompous and not overwise Sir Thomas

Lucy of Charlecote .
When Shakespeare came to London there were two
theatres only, The Theatre and the Curtain , both without
the city walls, in Shoreditch . To one of these he appears to
have become speedily attached in some humble capacity,
but before long he rose to be an actor of repute, and at
Christmas, 1594 , he joined Burbage and Kemp, the Garrick
and Grimaldi of the time, in playing before the queen at
viii МАСВЕТН .

Greenwich Palace. In 1599 a larger theatre, the Globe,

was built at Bankside, in Southwark , and there Shakespeare
was both actor and part owner, and derived a large revenue
therefrom .
Shakespeare's earliest dramatic work was almost certainly
Love's Labour's Lost, and it is thought to have been written
about 1591. It gives a lively picture of the manners of the
fashionable gentlemen of the time, especially of their affecta
tion in speech, the “ Euphuism ” on which they so much
prided themselves. Side by side with this there are amusing
pictures of rustic life and manners, such as Shakespeare
remembered them at Stratford . The Comedy of Errors and
the Two Gentlemen of Verona were not much later ; and the
two beautiful plays , A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo
and Juliet, are also thought to belong to this early time.
At about the same time Shakespeare appears to have been
employed by theatrical managers in recasting old plays, and ,
working either alone or perhaps in conjunction with Mar
lowe, he produced what we now have as the three parts of
King Henry VI. The plays of Richard III. and Richard II.,
which followed soon after, bear many traces of the influence
of Marlowe . In 1593 Shakespeare published the poem Venus
and Adonis, dedicating it to the Earl of Southampton, a rich
young nobleman of Elizabeth's court, who was one of the
chief patrons of learning. In the following year he dedicated
to him the poem The Rape of Lucrece, with language of
extreme devotion. - The love I dedicate to your lordship is
without end. What I have done is yours, what I have to do
is yours.” The earl became his warm friend and patron ,
and is said to have given him a thousand pounds on one
occasion to enable him to complete a purchase.
In 1596 Shakespeare's son Hamnet died, and then, if
not before , the poet revisited his native town . From this
time his father's pecuniary troubles ceased . Application was
made to the Heralds' Court for a coat of arms, and this was
 MACBETH . ix

granted in 1599. In 1597 the poet bought New Place , the

largest house in Stratford ; a few years later he bought more
than a hundred acres of land near the town, and made also
a valuable investment in the town tithes . Meanwhile his
success in London as a dramatist was becoming ever more
secure . His early plays were like those of other men but
better, but now he produced plays of greater power and

TRINITY CHURCH , STRATFORD - ON -AVON , IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE

WAS BURIED .

greater originality. King John, with its indignant protests

against papal aggression , appeared about 1595 , and the two
parts of King Henry IV. a year or two later. In Henry IV.
appeared the inimitable Falstaff, who so delighted the queen
that she commanded Shakespeare to show the fat knight in
love , and to this command, we are told , we owe the play
of the Merry Wives of Windsor. King Henry V. appeared
about 1599, and with it Shakespeare closed his noble series
X MACBETH .

of plays from English History, for Henry VIII., which

appeared later, is only in part his work.
To this same period , the closing years of the century, belong
some of the most charming of Shakespeare's comedies : Much
Ado about Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night and All's
Well that Ends Well. The woodland scenery in As You
Like It seems to be an idealised picture of the Warwickshire
woods, through which the poet roved in his youth. Before
the close of the century, and perhaps as early as 1593 or 1594,
we must place all, or nearly all, of the Sonnets. It has been
thought that these beautiful little poems enshrine the secrets
of the poet's life ; that in them Shakespeare “ unlocked his
heart ” . But it seems probable that they are like the dramas
--works of the imagination , and that it is the genius of the
poet which has given them their intense reality. Many of
them are undoubtedly in praise of Shakespeare's patron -- the
young and unmarried Southampton — and it is possible that
in a few of them the poet may have given glimpses of himself.
With the new century Shakespeare put forth a series of
tragedies, the noblest creations of his genius, but also the
most sombre and terrible : Julius Cæsar, Hamlet, Othello ,
Macbeth , Lcar, Coriolanus , and others. Nowhere is the
cruel irony of fate and the vanity of human wishes more
vividly shown than in these plays, and it has been thought
that they reflect the poet's own feeling of life-weariness ,
and of man's inability to grapple with and solve the deep
problems of human life.
But this period of gloom passed , and the latest group of plays,
Cymbeline, The Tempest, and A Winter's Tale, are suffused
with a mild sunshine which is in strong contrast with the
darkness and terror of Lear and Hamlet and Macbeth . In
these latest plays the poet draws beautiful pictures of forgive
ness of cruel wrongs ; of reconciliations after long estrange
ments, and of reunions of scattered families. Imogen in
Cymbeline and Miranda in The Tempest are two of Shake
 МАСВЕТН . xi

speare's most perfect pictures of womanhood , and nothing

can excel the beauty of the scenes in The Winter's Tale, in
which Perdita with her flowers appears .
The Winter's Tale and The Tempest were written about
1610 or 1611, and by that date, if not earlier, Shakespeare
had retired from the stage and had settled in his native town
for the evening of his life . He had bought , some ten or
twelve years earlier, New Place, the ruined mansion of Sir
HIS
lung

66
THE SHAKESPEARE MEMORIAL AT STRATFORD - ON - AVON .

Hugh Clopton , one of the early benefactors of the town , and

had thoroughly restored the building, and planted in the
garden the famous mulberry tree which lived on into the
middle of the next century. The house no longer stands, but
its site and the garden have been acquired for the nation .
Within a few yards of New Place stood the Guild Chapel of
the Holy Cross and the Guild Grammar School, where forty
years earlier the poet had received his first lessons, while a
little further away the noble and spacious church of the
xii MACBETH .

Holy Trinity rose among the trees by the river's brink.

Outside the town and at no great distance were Wilmecote ,
where his mother had passed her young days, and Charlecote,
where a grandson of his old enemy was now the lord of the
manor .

After resting in this quiet place for some five or six years
with his wife and daughters and a little grand-daughter, the
poet passed away on his fifty -third birthday, 23rd April,
.

1616 .
Date of the Play of Macbeth . There is little doubt
that the date of the composition of this play lies somewhere
between 1603 and 1610, and probably nearer the latter date
than the former . The lines in iv. 1
Some I see
That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry,

fix the time as later than the union of the crowns under
James I. For the other limit we have the note - book of
the year 1610 of a Dr. Forman , who describes in such
detail a play which he saw in the Globe theatre that there
is no doubt it was Shakespeare's Macbeth . To the same
period of Shakespeare's life belong almost certainly three
other great dramas, Hamlet, Lear, Othello, which bear some
resemblance to Macbeth. In each of them is portrayed a
character essentially noble, yet so beguiled by malignant
influences, or mocked by a cruel destiny, or betrayed by
some fatal flaw of character , that the life which promised so
well sinks into hideous ruin, and is stripped of all noble
purpose and meaning.
Life's but a walking shadow ; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage ,
And then is heard no more : it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
It may be that in these years Shakespeare was brooding
over such dark problems of life , but he seems a little later to
 MACBETH . xiii

have attained a more serene and peaceful state. In the

Tempest, which is perhaps the very latest of his plays , the
problems of life and death are still deep mysteries, but they
are regarded with peaceful resignation.
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on , and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
The story of Macbeth is taken by Shakespeare from Hol
inshed's Chronicle, which was published in 1587, and
which is in its turn based on older Scottish histories and
legends . In some parts of the play Shakespeare follows
Holinshed very closely, notably so in the conference
between Malcolm and Macduff in iv. 3 ; but in other parts
he varies widely, and the incidents of Duncan's murder are
taken from Holinshed's story of the murder of King Duffe .
Witches who play so important a part in this drama were
in Shakespeare's day considered to be very real powers
of evil. King James himself in 1599 published a book ,
Demonologie, in which their powers were set forth, and in
1604 a statute for the suppression of witches was passed.
Macbeth was first published in the folio of 1623, seven
years after the poet's death. The text is in many parts very
inaccurate, and some portions are thought to be by somne
other hand than Shakespeare's . Some of the incantation
scenes have a resemblance to parts of the play entitled the
Witch, written by Thomas Middleton , who was a contem
porary of Shakespeare, though a younger man , and it may
be that Middleton assisted Shakespeare in the original cast
of the play, or he may have made additions to it after the
poet's death .
The Plot. Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as a valiant
and loyal Scottish noble, who, in company with Banquo,
defeats and slays Macdonwald, a fierce rebel, and later in the
same day overcomes the King of Norway, who is ravishing
Fife . The king, Duncan , who is gentle and unwarlike ,
xiv MACBETH .

rernains at Forres, and as the two victors are returning to

him they are met on a lonely heath by three witches who
foretell greatness to both : to Macbeth that he shall be king,
and to Banquo that he shall be the father of kings. A little
later, and while still on their way, messengers from the king
bring news which shows Macbeth that part of the witches'
prophecy is accomplished ,
From that moment his mind is in a tumult of conflicting
thoughts : he regards the murder of the king as something
that may be, and yet he shrinks from the thought of it with
horror. Unhappily his wife, to whom he sends news of the
witches ' greeting, becomes his evil angel, and urges him to
the crime while he is still hesitating. To do greater honour
to Macbeth the king pays him a visit in his castle of Inver
ness, and the poet describes the pleasantness of the place and
the joy of the king at entering to deepen our feeling of horror
at the murder which so quickly follows. Macbeth's scruples
are overcome ; he is urged and almost driven to the crime by
his wife , and the deed is done. But in a frenzy he heard a
voice cry :
Glamis hath murther'd sleep : and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more : Macbeth shall sleep no more !
For the moment the plot succeeds . Duncan's two sons fly,
and are therefore thought to have contrived the murder.
Macbeth is chosen king and is crowned at Scone. But
Banquo is not deceived, and while he lives neither Macbeth
nor his queen can be in peace, and even poor murdered
Duncan sleeping in his grave seems one to be envied. The
murder of Banquo is therefore contrived, but at the royal
banquet to which he has been invited as chief guest, his
ghost appears , showing his gory wounds, throwing Macbeth
into a frenzy of terror, and the feast breaks up in confusion .
Macbeth then visits the witches again, who bid him beware
of Macduff, and delude him with a promise that none born of
woman shall overcome him . Macbeth finds that Macduff
 MACBETH . XV

himself has escaped to England, and he thereupon ravages his

estates in Fife and slays his wife and children.
Meanwhile retribution is slowly but surely approaching.
Duncan's son Malcolm has been welcomed in England and
returns to Scotland aided by a strong English force under
Earl Siward . The guilty queen cannot rest ; her sickness is
such that doctors cannot help her, and she dies. For Macbeth
too the joy of life is gone .
I have liv'd long enough : my way of life
Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf :
And that which should accompany old age ,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have ; but , in their stead ,
Curses, not loud , but deep, mouth-honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.

His only relief is in fighting stubbornly but hopelessly to

the end, and in the final scene his head is borne by Macduff
before the triumphant Malcolm, who is hailed as the rightful
king.
ELIZABETHAN LANGUAGE .

The English language is a mighty stream that has rolled

down to us for more than fourteen hundred years, and in
many respects its course resembles that of one of our rivers.
The river receives many tributaries that add to the volume
of the main stream . From its mountain home , and from the
rocks that line its banks, it brings down fragments, which
sometimes it leaves stranded in its channel, or along its
edges, or carries rolled and rounded into the finest gravel or
sand to be deposited at its mouth . The observant traveller
sees in these fragments, large or small, the evidences of the
surfaces denuded by the river at its higher levels, and can
track them back to their original homes.
In the same way the main stream of our language is Eng
lish, but it has received many contributions -Latin , French,
 1

xvi MACBETH . 1

Greek-at various times in its progress. In our present

speech there are many words that have come to us rolled ,
rounded and clipt by frequent usage till they often differ
from their original form : and in the study backward of our
language we come on words, or forms of words, that indicate
more clearly the Old English fountainhead of our speech ,
and we note also that such words occur more frequently as 0

our study approaches nearer to the source of the language.

In Elizabethan times when the language was settling
down into its modern form there were many words that now TE
are deemed obsolete (out of general use) or archaic (old p
fashioned ), and many meanings different from what they have A
in the present day .
In the play the following are examples of —
( 1 ) Obsolete words : bi
“ Favour ” meaning “ countenance " (i. 5, 69) .
IN
• Owe ” meaning “ to possess” (i. 4 , 10) .
IN
“ Anon ” meaning “ presently ” (iii . 4, 11) .
“ Gouts ” meaning “ drops” (ii . 1 , 46) . a
66
• Clept ” meaning " named ” (iii , 1 , 93) . a.
Cling ” meaning “ wither ” (v. 5 , 40) . 0i

(2) Archaic words : W

66
“ An ” for “ if ” (iii . 6, 19) . DE
Ope ” for “ open ” (ii. 3 , 34) .
“ Moe ” for “ more " (v. 3 , 35) .
“ Sooth ” for “ truth ” (i . 2 , 35) . fri
>

Quoth ” for “ said ” (i. 3 , 5) .

“ Afeard ” for “ afraid ” (i . 3 , 96) .
The energy of the period showed itself in seizing on a
strong word and using it without much consideration as to
its ordinary grammatical usage . Thus in “ I should uproar
the universal peace " (iv . 3, 84), uproar is a verb ; in “ Of
noble having and of royal hope " (i . 3 , 56),) having is a noun.
In the same connection compare “ To make thee full of
growing ” (i. 4, 29), and “ My more having would be as to
a sauce ” (iv . 3 , 66) .
 MACBETH . xvii

The same love of energy is seen in the liking for compounds

»
such as “ who all- hail'd me ” (i . 5, 5) , “ the be-all and the
end -all here " (i. 7, 5), “ thy here-approach ” (iv. 3, 118),
“ my here-remain " (iv. 3, 133).
In connection with this brief notice of Shakespearean
language another confusion should be noted — the confusion
of times (anachronism ).
In this play dollars are paid as ransom (i. 2, 62), though
the dollar is aa coin belonging to a later age. Bearing in mind
the barbarous state of Scotland in Macbeth's time, we may
perhaps regard as anachronisms the references to Mark
Antony (iii. 1 , 56) and to the Russian bear (iii. 4, 100).
The exuberance of Elizabethan life found vent also in
play upon words, or the use of puns. A pun consists in
bringing together words that agree, or resemble each other,
in sound and yet differ in meaning. The unexpected change
in thought produced by these incongruous elements leads to
a sense of the ludicrous and provokes laughter. Such puns
are found even in the tragedies of Shakespeare. Examples
of this kind are seen in “ I'll gild the faces of the grooms
9

withal, for it must seem their guilt " (ii. 2, 56), and in “ The
near in blood , the nearer bloody "" (ii. 3 , 108).
A. Shakespeare often uses words, especially those derived
>

from the Latin and Greek, in senses true to their root

meaning, but not as we now use them.
Thus fantastical is used in the sense of unreal, imaginary.
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show ? (i. 3, 53).
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical (i. 3, 139) .
So metaphysical is used in the sense of supernatural.
Which fate and metaphysical aid, etc. (i. 5, 26) .
So convince is used in the general sense of to over power,
to conquer.
I will with wine and wassail so convince (i . 7, 59 ).
Their malady convinces the great assay of art (iv. 3 , 127) .
6
xviii MACBETH .

So speculation is used for the power of vision.

Thou hast no speculation in those eyes (iii. 4, 95).
B. Other words are used in senses or in forms which seem
strange to us, though we see that the primitive meaning has
been retained .
Thus careless and sightless are used in a passive sense
instead of active as with us .
To throw away the dearest thing he owed,
As 'twere a careless trifle (i. 4, 11 ).
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief (i. 5, 46).
Upon the sightless couriers of the air (i. 7, 23) .
So illness and harms are used in the sense of wickedness
or vice.
Thou art not without ambition , but without
The illness should attend it (i. 5, 17) .
Black Macbeth
Will seem as pure as snow, being compared
With my confineless harms (iv. 3 , 55).

So having is used in the sense of possession (i. 3 , 56) ;

knowing in that of knowledge (ii. 4, 4) ; and distance in that
of enmity (iii. 1 , 115) .
So gospel is used as a verb, and the same with uproar.
Are you so gospell’d to pray for this good man ? (iii . 1 , 87).
I should uproar the universal peace (iv. 3, 84) .

So undeeded is used to describe a sword as yet unstained

with slaughter (v. 7, 20), and forced in the sense of aided or
strengthened.
Were they not forc'd with those that should be ours (v. 5, 5) .
So rawness is used in the sense of haste or unprepared
ness, and portable in the sense of endurable.
>

Why in that rawness left you wife and child (iv. 3, 26) .
All these are portable, with other graces weigh'd (iv. 3, 74 ).
 MACBETH . xix

C. Verbs are often used transitively which with us require

a preposition.
Listening their fear, I could not say, “ Amen ” (ii. 2, 28).
'Cause he failed his presence at the tyrant's feast (iii. 6, 21) .
There are a crew of wretched souls that stay his cure (iv.
3, 126) .
The grief that does not speak
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break (iv. 3, 195).
As I did stand my watch upon the hill (v. 5, 33).
Despair thy charm (v. 8, 13) .
D. Prepositions are often used in senses different from
that which they have now .
On is used for of.
Or have we eaten on the insane root ? (i. 3, 84) .
So also in iii. 1 , 113 , and in v. 1, 60.
Of is used for by.
The gracious Duncan was pitied of Macbeth (iii. 6, 4) .
So also in iii. 27 .
To is used in the sense of in addition to in iii. 1 , 51 ; with
in the sense of by in iii. 1, 62 ; in with the sense of during
in iii. 1 , 106, 107 ; and upon in the sense of to in iii. 6, 30.
E. Adjectives are sometimes used as adverbs.
Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek (i. 7, 17).
Confused events, new hatched to the woful time (ii. 3 , 26) .
An office which the false man does easy (ii. 3, 105) .
As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air (v. 8, 9) .
I'll call upon you straight (iii. 1 , 139) .
F. Adverbs are sometimes used in a sense different from
what they have now.
So for as .
So well thy words become thee as thy wounds (i. 2, 42).
Still for ever.
Your good advice
Which still hath been both grave and prosperous (iii. 1 , 21 ).
XX MACBETH .

So also in i. 6 , 28.
While for until .
Till supper-time alone : while then, God be with you ! (iii. 1, 43).
G. If is omitted sometimes with the subjunctive.
Go not my horse the better (iii. 1, 25) .
As they would make war with mankind (ii . 4, 17) .
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands (ii. 2, 27) .
As life were in't (v. 5, 13) .
H. Pronouns are used sometimes in the nominative for
the accusative , and vice versâ.
Who for whom.
Who I myself struck down (iii. 1, 122) .
So in iii. 4 , 42, and iv. 3, 156.
Him for he.
And damn'd be him that first cries, “ Hold, enough " (v. 8, 31 ) .
I. The singular form of the verb is sometimes used for
the plural.
All is but toys ; renown and grace is dead (ii. 3 , 61 ).
There's daggers in men's smiles (ii. 3, 108).
Fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crown'd withal ( i. 5, 26).
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives (ii . 1 , 61) .
J. Should is sometimes used in the sense of ought, and
would in the sense of require.
You should be women and yet (i. 3 , 45).
So should he look that seems to speak things strange (i. 2, 45).
Golden opinions which would be worn now in their newest
gloss (i. 7 , 34) .
So in iii. 1 , 50 ; in iv . 3 , 179, and in v. 8, 62.
K. The past participle is sometimes used in a curtailed
form.
I have spoke with one that saw him die (i . 4, 3).
So in iv . 3 , 11 .
You have broke the good meeting (iii . 4 , 109 ).
This report hath so exasperate the king (iii. 6, 38) .
 МАСВЕТН . xxi

VERSIFICATION .

THE Greeks and Romans had an elaborate system of laws

for verse-making, based upon the length of the vowels in the
syllables — or quantity. Quantity is quite foreign to our
language, and it is needless to dwell on these laws. And all
the more is this the case , because our poets in their imitation
of Greek and Latin models have practically arrived at the
same forms of verse, by substituting for long syllables those
that have stress, emphasis or accent.
Shakespeare's plays are mainly written in blank verse .
Away | and mock | the time with fair | est show (i . 7, 76) .
Whom we | to gain | our peace have sent to peace (iii . 2, 20) .
As the repetition of such regular lines tends to produce
monotony, variety was obtained by various methods, such as
(1) By changing the accent.
False face must hide what the false heart | doth know (i. 7, 77) .
(2) By using an extra syllable.
Whereto į the ra | ther shall | his day's | hard journey (i. 7, 57) .
(3) By employing unaccented syllables.
I must |become l a bor | rower of the night (iii. 1 , 26).
Or (4) by slurring syllables in pronunciation ,
The which | no soon | er had | his prowess | confirmed (v. 8 , 38) .
(5) By lengthening a syllable so as to make it a foot.
Who can not want | the thought | how mon | st(e)rous (iii. 6, 8).
That croaks | the fa | tal en t(e)rance of Duncan (i. 5, 36).

Of the 2000 lines in Macbeth nearly 1600 are in five

measure blank verse, about 150 lines are prose, about 120
are in five -measure rhyme, and about 130 in short rhyme.
The short rhyming lines are in the incantation scenes.
Double, double, toil and trouble ;
Fire burn , and cauldron bubble (iv. 1, 20, 21 ) .
xxii MACBETH .

The five -measure rhyming lines are for the most part
couplets which end, and as it were clinch the scenes of the
>

play.
Banquo, thy soul's flight,
If it find heaven, must find it out to-night (iii. 1, 140, 141) .
It is remarkable that these rhyme tags are more frequent
in Macbeth than in any other play of Shakespeare. Of
twenty-eight scenes seven only are free from them, and the
tags are often so poor and bald that it has been thought they
are not the work of Shakespeare, but that they were thrown
in by the actors, or by Middleton if he revised the play.
The blank verse in Macbeth , as in Shakespeare's other later
plays , differs greatly from that of his early plays. In these
nearly all the lines are end stopped—that is, they have a pause
at the end.
A lover's eyes will gaze an eagle blind ;
A lover's ears will hear the lowest sound,
When the suspicious head of theft is stopp'd ;
Love's feeling is more soft and sensible,
Than are the tender horns of cockled snails ( Love's Labour's
Lost, iv. 3) .
In the later plays a freer measure is used, a far greater
number of lines are unstopped , the pause falling in the middle
of the next line.
The time has been
That when the brains were out, the man was dead
And there an end ; but now they rise again
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools. This is more strange
Than such a murder is (Macbeth , iii. 4) .
There are in Macbeth a few six - measure lines called
Alexandrines.
So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe (i. 2, 37).
So also iv, 1 , 149, and iv. 3 , 224.
These lines may, however, be incorrect, and emendations
have been suggested.
 МАСВЕТН . xxiii

In order to make the line rhythmical it is needful to make

four syllables of remembrance " in iii . 2 , 31 , and three of
“ monstrous ” in iii. 6, 8. In iv. 1, 6, the word “ cold ”
has the length of two syllables.
In a considerable number of lines the metre is imperfect,
arising probably from inaccurate copying .
See i. 2,5 ; i. 1,7 ; i. 6, 6 ; ii. 1, 51 ; iii. 4, 133 ; iii. 5 , 21 ;
>

iii. 6, 14 ; iv. 3, 122 ; v. 7, 22 .

.

In most of these cases ingenious emendations have been

suggested.
 MACBET H.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ .

DUNCAN, King of Scotland. A Scotch Doctor.

MALCOLM , A Sergeant.
DO NALBAIN,}his sons . A Porter.
MACBETH, 1generals of the King's An Old Man.
BANQUO, army.
MACDUFF, LADY MACBETH.
LENNOX, LADY MACDUFF.
Ross, Gentlewoman attending on Lady
MENTEITH, -noblemen of Scotland. Macbeth .
ANGUS, HECATE .
CAITHNESS , Three Witches.
FLEANCE, son to Banquo. Apparitions .
SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland ,
general of the English forces. Lords, Gentlemen, Officers,
YOUNG SIWARD, his son. Soldiers, Murderers, Attend
SEYTON, an officer attending on ants and Messengers.
Macbeth .
Boy, son to Macduff.
An English Doctor. SCENE : Scotland ; England.
 MACBETH .

ACT 1.
)

SCENE I. A desert place. Thunder and lightning.

Enter three WITCHES .

FIRST WITCH. When shall we three meet again

In thunder, lightning, or in rain ?
SECOND WITCH. When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.
THIRD WITCH. That will be ere the set of sun. 5
FIRST Witch . Where the place ?
SECOND WITCH . Upon the heath .
THIRD WITCH. There to meet with Macbeth.
FIRST WITCH. I come, Graymalkin .
ALL. Paddock calls :-anon .
Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
Hover through the fog and filthy air. [WITCHES vanish. 10
SCENE II. A camp near Forres. Alarum within .
Enter KING DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, with
Attendants, meeting a bleeding Soldier.
Dun. What bloody man is that ? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.
MAL. This is the sergeant
Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
1
2 MACBETH . [Act I , Sc . 2 .
'Gainst my captivity. Hail , brave friend ! 5
Say to the king the knowledge of the broil
As thou didst leave it.
SOLD . Doubtful it stood ;
As two spent swimmers, that do cling together
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that 10
The multiplying villainies of nature
Do swarm upon him—from the western isles
Of kernes and gallowglasses is supplied.
But all's too weak :
For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name 15
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave ;
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him , 20
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.
Dun. O valiant cousin ! worthy gentleman !
SOLD. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break , 25

So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come,

Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark :
No sooner justice had, with valour arm’d,
Compell’d these skipping kernes to trust their heels,
But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage, 30
With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men,
Began a fresh assault.
Dun . Dismay'd not this
Our captains , Macbeth and Banquo ?
SOLD. Yes ;
As sparrows, eagles, or the hare, the lion .
If I say sooth , I must report they were 35
Act I , Sc. 2.] MACBETH . 3

As cannons overcharged with double cracks ;

So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe :
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha,
I cannot tell— . 40
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
Dun. So well thy words become thee as thy wounds ;
They smack of honour both . Go get him surgeons.
[ Exit Soldier, attended.
Who comes here ?
Enter Ross.
Mar. The worthy thane of Ross.
LEN . What haste looks through his eyes ! So should he
look 45
That seems to speak things strange .
Ross. God save the king !
Dun. Whence camest thou, worthy thane ?
Ross. From Fife, great king ;
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
And fan our people cold.
Norway himself, with terrible numbers, 50
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict :
Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,
Confronted him with self-comparisons ,
Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm, 55
Curbing his lavish spirit : and, to conclude ,
The victory fell on us.
Dun. Great happiness !
Ross. That now
Sweno, the Norway's king, craves composition ;
Nor would we deign him burial of his men 60
Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme's inch,
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
Dun . No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
4 МАСВЕТН . [Act I , Sc. 3 .
Our bosom interest : go, pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth. 65
Ross . I'll see it done.
Dun. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won .
[ Exeunt
SCENE III. A heath. Thunder.
Enter the three WITCHES .
FIRST WITCH. Where hast thou been, sister ?
SECOND WITCH. Killing swine.
THIRD WITCH . Sister, where thou ?
FIRST Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch’d. “ Give me,”
quoth I : 5
“ Aroint thee, witch ! ” the rump-fed ronyon cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o’the Tiger :
But in a sieve I'll thither sail ,
And like a rat without a tail ,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do. 10
SECOND WITCH. I'll give thee a wind.
FIRST WITCH. Thou’rt kind.
THIRD WITCH. And I another.
FIRST WITCH. I myself have all the other ;
And the very ports they blow, 15
All the quarters that they know
I' the shipman's card .
I'll drain him dry as hay :
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid ; 20
He shall live a man forbid :
Weary se’nnights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle , peak, and pine :
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest -toss'd. 25
Look what I have.
Act I. Sc . 3.1 MACBETH . 5

SECOND WITCH. Show me, show me.

FIRST WITCH. Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wreck’d, as homeward he did come . [Drum within .
THIRD WITCH . A drum , a drum ! 30
Macbeth doth come.
ALL. The weird sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about ;
Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine , 35
And thrice again , to make up mine .
Peace ! the charm's wound up.
Enter MACBETH and BANQUO.
MACB . So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
Ban. How far is't call'd to Forres ? What are these
So wither'd, and so wild in their attire, 40
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't ? Live you ? or are you aught
That man may question ? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her choppy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips : you should be women , 45
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so .
MacB. Speak, if you can : what are you ?
FIRST WITch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of
Glamis !
SECOND WITCH. All hail , Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of
>

Cawdor !
THIRD WITCH. All hail, Macbeth ! that shalt be king
hereafter . 50
Ban. Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair ? I' the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show ? My noble partner
55

You greet with present grace and great prediction

Of noble having, and of royal hope,
Act I. Scene III.
FIRST WITCH. All hail, Macbeth !
Act I , Sc. 3. ] MACBETH . 7

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 60
Your favours nor your hate .
FIRST WITCH. Hail !
SECOND WITCH. Hail !
THIRD WITCH. Hail !
FIRST WITCH. Lesser than Macbeth , and greater. 65
SECOND WITCH, Not so happy, yet much happier.
THIRD WITCH . Thou shalt get kings, though thou be
none :
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo !
FIRST WITCH. Banquo, and Macbeth , all hail !
MACB. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more : 70
By 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 75
You owe this strange intelligence ? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic 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 ? 80
MACB. Into the air : and what seem'd corporal melted
As breath into the wind. 'Would they had stay'd !
BAN. Were such things here as we do speak about ?
Or have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner ? 85
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 ?
 8 МАСВЕТН. [Act I , Sc . 3 .
Enter Ross and ANGUS.
Ross. The king hath happily received, Macbeth,
The news of thy success : and when he reads 90
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend
Which should be thine, or his : silenced with that ,
In viewing o'er the rest o’the self-same day,

95
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks ,
Nothing afеard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as hail
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, 100
To give thee, from our royal master, thanks ;
Only to herald thee into his sight,
Not pay thee.
Ross. And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me , from him , call thee thane of Cawdor :
>
105
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 110
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined
With those of 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 proved, 115
Have overthrown him.
MacB. [ Aside.) Glamis , and thane of Cawdor :
The greatest is behind . —Thanks for your pains.
Do you not hope your children shall be kings ,
Act I , Sc . 3. ] MACBETH . 9

When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me,

Promised no less to them ?
Ban. That, trusted home , 120
Might 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 125
In deepest consequence .
Cousins , a word , I pray you.
MACB. [ Aside.] Two truths are told ,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme. - I thank you, gentlemen.
[ Aside.] This supernatural soliciting 130
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 :
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair 135
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature ? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings :
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
140
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise ; and nothing is
But what is not .
Ban. Look, how our partner's rapt.
Macb. [Aside.] 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 , 145
But with the aid of use.
MACB. [ Aside.] Come what come may ,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
10 MACBETH . (Act I , Sc. 4.

Ban. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.

MacB. Give me your favour : my dull brain was wrought
With things forgotten . Kind gentlemen , your pains 150
Are register'd where every day I turn
The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king.
Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time,
The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.
Ban . Very gladly. 155
Macb. Till then , enough. Come, friends.
[ Exeunt.
SCENE IV. Forres. A room in the Palace.
Flourish . Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX
and Attendants .
Dun . Is execution done on Cawdor ? Are not
Those in commission yet return'd ?
Mal. My liege,
They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
With one that saw him die , who did report
5
That very frankly he confess'd his treasons,
Implor'd your highness' pardon , and set forth
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.
Dun. 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 15
Was heavy on me : thou art so far before,
 11
Act I , Sc. 4. ] МАСВЕТН .

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.
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 ; 25
Which do but what they should , by doing everything
Safe toward your love and honour.
Dun. 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.
Ban. There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.
Dun. My plenteous joys,
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow . Sons, kinsmen, thanes, 35
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 deseryers . From hence to Inverness ,
And bind us further to you.
MacB. The rest is labour, which is not used for you ;
I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful 45
The hearing of my wife with your approach ;
So humbly take my leave .
Dun . My worthy Cawdor !
12 MACBETH . [Act I , Sc . 5 .

MacB. The Prince of Cumberland ! 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 ; 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.
Dun. True, worthy Banquo ; he is full so valiant,
And in his commendations I am fed ; 55
It is a banquet to me. Let’s after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome :
It is a peerless kinsmen . [ Flourish . Exeunt.

SCENE V. Inverness. A room in MACBETH's Castle .

Enter LADY MACBETH, reading a letter.

LADY M. " They met me in the day of success ; and I have learned
by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal know
ledge. When I burned in desire to question them further, they made
themselves air, into which they vanished . Whiles I stood rapt in the
6
wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all - hailed me, " Thane [5]
of Cawdor ” ; by which title, before , these weird sisters saluted me, and
C

referred 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 great
ness ; that thou mightest not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being
ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and [10]
farewell."

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 wouldst be great : 15
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it ; what thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily ; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win : thou’dst have, great Glamis,
That which cries, “ Thus thou must do, if thou have it, 20
And that which rather thou dost fear to do,
Act I , Sc. 5. ] МАСВЕТН . 13

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, 25
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crown'd withal.
Enter a MESSENGER.
What is your tidings ?
MESS. The king comes here to-night.
LADY M. Thou’rt mad to say it :
Is not thy master with him ? who, were't so,
Would have inform’d for preparation. 30
Mess. 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 M. Give him tending ;
He brings great news. [Exit Messenger.
The raven himself is hoarse 35
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me , from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty ! make thick my blood, 40
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, 45
Wherever in your sightless substances
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 !”
14 МАСВЕТН . [Act I , Sc. 6.
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.
МАСв . My dearest love, 55
Duncan comes here to-night.
LADY M. And when goes hence ?
MacB . To-morrow, as he purposes.
LADY M. 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, 60
Look like the time ; 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 ; 65
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom .
MacB . We will speak further.
LADY M. Only look up clear ;
To alter favour ever is to fear :
Leave all the rest to me . [Exeunt. 70

SCENE VI. The same. Before the Castle.

Hautboys. Servants of MACBETH attending.
Enter DUNCAN , MALCOLM, DONALBAIN , BANQUO, LENNOX,
MACDUFF, Ross , Angus and Attendants.
Dun. This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.
 Die

a
Act I. Scene V.
LADY MACBETH . Look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it.
16 MACBETH . [Act I , Sc . 6 .
Ban. This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
By his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath 5
Smells wooingly here : no jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coigne 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 .
Dun . See, see ! our honour'd 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 M. All our service
In every point twice done, and then done double, 15
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.
Dun. Where's the thane of Cawdor ? 20
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 M. Your servants ever 25
Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt ,
To make their audit at your highness' pleasure,
Still to return your own.
Dun . 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 I. Sc. 7.) MACBETH . 17

SCENE VII. The same. A room in the Castle.

í Hautboys and torches. Enter, and pass over the Stage, a

Sewer, and divers Servants with dishes and service.
Then enter MACBETH.

MACB. 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, 5
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come. 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 justice 10
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 murtherer shut the door , 15
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
20

The deep damnation of his taking off ;

And pity , like a naked new-born babe ,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin 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 25
To prick the sides of my intent , but only
Vaulting ambition , which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other .
Enter LADY MACBETH.
How now, what news ?
2
18 MACBETH . [Act I. Sc. 7.
LADY M. He has almost supp'd : why have you left the
chamber ?
MACB. Hath he ask'd for me ?
LADY M. Know you not he has ? 30
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 M. Was the hope drunk 35
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 ?
МАСв . Prithee, peace : 45
I dare do all that may become a man ;
Who dares do more, is none .
LADY M. 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 .
МАСв . If we should fail ?
LADY M. We fail !
But screw your courage to the sticking place, 55
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep
Act I , Sc. 7. ] MACBETH . 19

Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey

Soundly invite him—his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassel so convince,
That memory, the warder of the brain, 60
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 65
His spongy officers who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell ?
МАСв. 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 70
Of his own chamber, and used their very daggers,
That they have done't ?
LADY M. Who dares receive it other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death ?
МАСв . I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. 75
Away, and mock the time with fairest show :
False face must hide what the false heart doth know .
Exeunt.
 20

ACT II.

SCENE I. Inverness. Court within the Castle .

Enter BANQUO and FLEANCE, and a Servant with a torch

before them.

Ban. How goes the night, boy ?

FLE . The moon is down ; I have not heard the clock.
Ban. And she goes down at twelve.
FLE. I take't, 'tis later, sir .
Ban. Hold, take my sword. There's husbandry in heaven ,
Their candles are all out . Take thee that too. 5
Candles- stars
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
And yet II would not sleep. Merciful powers,
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature
Gives way to in repose ! Give me my sword.
Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch .
Who's there ? 10
MACB . A friend.
Ban. What, sir, not yet at rest ? The king's a -bed :
>

He hath been in unusual pleasure, and

Sent forth great largess to your offices :
This diamond he greets your wife withal, 15
By the name of most kind hostess ; and shut up
In measureless content .
МАСв . Being unprepar'd ,
Our will became the servant to defect,
Which else should free have wrought. (What)
Ban . All's well .
Act II. Sc . 1. ) МАСВЕТН . 21

I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters : 20

To you they have show'd some truth.
МАСв . I think not of them :
Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve ,
We would spend it in some words upon that business ,
If you would grant the time.
Ban . At your kind'st leisure.
MACB. If you shall cleave to iny consent, when ’tis 25
It shall make honour for you.
Ban . So I lose none
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsell’d.
МАСв . Good repose the while !
Ban. Thanks, sir ; the like to you ! 30
[Exit Banduo and FLEANCE.
MACB. Go, bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready,
She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed. [Exit Servant.
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand ? Come , let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. 35
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight ? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
2

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain ?

I see thee yet, in form as palpable 40
As this which now I draw .
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going ;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses ,
Or else worth all the rest : I see thee still ; 45
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing :
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one half- world
Act
S
.II
I.cene
MACBET
wwe
can et
hen H
entreat
an
hour
Yserve
,.,to
would
We
spend
it
some
in
words
upon
business
that
.
Act II . Sc. 2.] МАСВЕТН . 23

Nature seems dead , and wicked dreams abuse 50

The curtain’d sleep ; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings ; and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch , thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design 55
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm -set earth,
Hear not my steps , which way they walk, for fear
The very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it . Whiles I threat, he lives : 60
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives .
[A bell rings .
I go,and it is done ; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell Funeral bell
That summons thee to heaven, or to hell . [Exit.

SCENE II. The same.

Enter LADY MACBETH.

LADY M. That which hath made them drunk hath made

me bold ;
What hath quench'd them hath given me fire . Hark !
Peace !
It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman, Night watchman
Which gives the stern’st good night. He is about it :
The doors are open , and the surfeited grooms 5
Do mock their charge with snores : I have drugg'd their
possets,
That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they live or die.
MACB. [Within .] Who's there ? what, ho !
LADY M. Alack , I am afraid they have awaked,
And 'tis not done : the attempt and not the deed 10
Confounds us. Hark ! I laid their daggers ready ;
 24 МАСВЕТН . [Act II . Sc . 2 .
He could not miss ' em. Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done't .
Enter MACBETH .
My husband !
MacB . I have done the deed . Didst thou not hear a
noise ?
LADY M. I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry . 15
Did not you speak ?
МАСв. When ?
LADY M. Now.
МАСв . As I descended ?
LADY M. Ay.
MacB . Hark !
Who lies i' the second chamber ?
LADY M. Donalbain . Younger son of Duncan
MACB . This is a sorry sight. [ Looking on his hands. 20
LADY M. A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.
Macb . There's one did laugh in's sleep, and one cried
Murder ! ”
That they did wake each other ; I stood and heard them :
But they did say their prayers, and addressed them
Again to sleep.
LADY M. There are two lodged together. 25
MACB. One cried, “ God bless us !” and “ Amen,” the
other ,
As if As they had seen me with these hangman's hands ;
>
Listening their fear, I could not say , " Amen ,
When they did say, “ God bless us ” .
LADY M. Consider it not so deeply . 30
MACB . But wherefore could not I pronounce , “ Amen ” ?
I had most need of blessing, and “ Amen ’
Stuck in my throat.
LADY M. These deeds must not be thought
After these ways ; so, it will make us mad.
Macb . Methought, I heard a voice cry, “ Sleep no more ! .35
Act II . Sc. 2. ] МАСВЕТН . 25

Macbeth does murder sleep " —the innocent sleep,

Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast
LADY M. What do you mean ? 40
Macb . Still it cried , 66 Sleep no more ! ” to all the house :
“ Glamis hath murther'd sleep : and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more : Macbeth shall sleep no more ! ”
LADY M. Who was it that thus cried ? Why, worthy
thane,
You do unbend your noble strength , to think 45
So brainsickly of things : Go get some water,
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.
Why did you bring these daggers from the place ?
They must lie there : go carry them , and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.
МАСв . I'll go no more : 50
I am afraid to think what I have done ; He is almost like a child,
guilty and terrified
Look on't again I dare not .
LADY M. Infirm of purpose !
Give me the daggers : the sleeping , and the dead
Are but as pictures ; 'tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, 55
I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal ,
For it must seem their guilt. [Exit. Knocking within.
МАСв. Whence is that knocking ?
How is't with me, when every noise appals me ? .
What hands are here ? Ha ! they pluck out mine eyes !
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 60
Clean from my hand ? No ; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
Re- enter LADY MACBETH.
LADY M. My hands are of your colour, but I shame
 77
Act II . Scene II.
MACBETH . Still it cried , “ Sleep no more !” to all the house.
Act II . Sc. 3.1 МАСВЕТН . 27

To wear a heart so white, (Knocking within .] I hear a

knocking 65
At the south entry : retire we to our chamber :
A little water clears us of this deed :
How easy is it then ! Your constancy
Hath left you unattended. [Knocking within .] Hark !
more knocking :
Get on your nightgown , lest occasion call us 70
And show us to be watchers : be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.
MACB. To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself.
[ Knocking within .
Wake Duncan with thy knocking ! I would thou couldst !
Exeunt.
SCENE III . The same.

Enter a PORTER. Knocking within .

PORTER. Here's a knocking, indeed ! If a man were
porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key.
[ Knocking within.] Anon, anon ; I pray you, remember the
porter. [ Opens the gate.
Enter MACDUFF and LENNOX.
MacD. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, 5
That you do lie so late ?
Port. ’Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second cock.
MacD. Is thy master stirring ?
Our knocking has awak'd him ; here be comes.
Enter MACBETH.
LEN. Good morrow, noble sir.
МАСв. Good morrow, both. 10
MacD. Is the king stirring, worthy thane ?
МАСв. Not yet .
Macd . He did command me to call timely on him :
I have alınost slipp'd the hour .
MACB, I'll bring you to him.
28 MACBETH . [Act II . Sc . 3 .
Macd. I know this is a joyful trouble to you ;
But yet ’tis one. 15
MacB . The labour we delight in physics pain.
This is the door .
Macb . I'll make so bold to call ,
For ' tis my limited service . [ E.cit MACDUFF.
LEN . Goes the king hence to-day ?
MACB . He does : he did appoint so. 20
LEN . The night has been unruly : where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down, and, as they say ,
Lamentings heard i' the air, strange screams of death,
And prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire coinbustion and confused events 25
New hatch'd to the woful time ; the obscure bird
Clamour'd the live-long night : Some say the earth
Was feverous and did shake.
МАСв. 'Twas a rough night .
LEN. My young remembrance cannot parallel
A fellow to it. 30
Re-enter MACDUFF.
MacD. O horror ! horror ! horror ! Tongue, nor heart,
Cannot conceive , nor name thee !
MacB . , LEN . What's the matter ?
MacD. Confusion now hath made his master-piece.
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence 35
The life o' the building.
МАСв. What is't you say ? the life ?
LEN. Mean you his majesty ?
MACD . Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight
With a new Gorgon : do not bid me speak ;
See, and then speak yourselves.
[ Exeunt MACBETH and LENNOX.
Awake ! awake ! 40
Ring the alarum -bell. Murder and treason !
Act II . Sc. 3. ] МАСВЕТН . 29

Banquo and Donalbain ! Malcolm ! awake !

Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit,
And look on death itself ! up, up, and see
The great doom's image ! Malcolm ! Banquo ! 45
As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites ,
To countenance this horror ! Ring the bell. [Bell rings.
Enter LADY MACBETH .
LADY M. What's the business,
That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
The sleepers of the house ? speak, speak !
MACD . O, gentle lady, 50
' Tis not for you to hear what I can speak :
The repetition , in a woman's ear,
Would murder it fell.
Enter BANQUO .
O Banquo ! Banquo !
Our royal master's murder’d.
LADY M. Woe , alas !
What , in our house ?
Ban. Too cruel anywhere. 55
Dear Duff, I prithee contradict thyself,
And say it is not so.
Re-enter MACBETH and LENNOX.
MacB. Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time ; for from this instant
There's nothing serious in mortality ; 60
All is but toys : renown and grace is dead ;
The wine of life is drawn , and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.
Enter MALCOLM and DONALBAIN .
Don. What is amiss ?
МАСв. You are , and do not know't :
The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood 65
Is stopp'd ; the very source of it is stopp'd.
MACD. Your royal father's murder'd.
30 МАСВЕТН . [ Act II . Sc. 3 .
MAL. O, by whom ?
LEN. Those of his chamber, as it seemed, had done't ;
Their hands and faces were all badged with blood ;
So were their daggers, which , unwiped , we found 70
Upon their pillows:
They star'd, and were distracted ; no man's life
Was to be trusted with them .
MACB. O, yet I do repent me of my fury,
That I did kill them .
Macd . Wherefore did you so ? 75
MacB . Who can be wise , amazed , temperate , and furious,
Loyal , and neutral , in a moment ? No man :
The expedition of my violent love
Outrun the pauser reason. Here lay Duncan ,
His silver skin laced with his golden blood, 80
And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature
For ruin's wasteful entrance : there, the murderers,
Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers
Unmannerly breech'd with gore : who could refrain
That had a heart to love, and in that heart 85
Courage to make's love known ?
LADY M. Help me hence, ho !
Macs. Look to the lady .
MAL. (Aside to Don.] Why do we hold our tongues,
That most may claim this argument for ours ?
Don. [Aside to Mal.] What should be spoken here, where
our fate,
Hid in an auger- hole, may rush, and seize us ? 90
Let's away ;
Our tears are not yet brew'd.
MAL. [Aside to Don . Nor our strong sorrow
Upon the foot of motion .
Ban. Look to the lady :
[LADY MACBETH is carried out.
And when we have our naked frailties hid,
Act II , Sc. 4. ] MACBETH . 31

That suffer in exposure, let us meet, 95

W
And question this most bloody piece of work,
To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us :
In the great hand of God I stand, and thence
Against the undivulged pretence I fight
Of treasonous malice.
MACD. And so do I.
ALL. So all. 100

MacB . Let's briefly put on manly readiness ,

And meet i’ the hall together.
ALL . Well contented. [ Exeunt all but MAL. and Don .
Mal. What will you do ? Let's not consort with them :
To show an unfelt sorrow is an office
Which the false man does easy. I'll to England. 105
Don. To Ireland, I ; our separated fortune
Shall keep us both the safer : where we are,
There's daggers in men's smiles : the near in blood,
The nearer bloody.
MAL . This murderous shaft that's shot
Hath not yet lighted, and our safest way 110
Is to avoid the aim . Therefore to horse ;
And let us not be dainty of leave-taking,
But shift away : there's warrant in that theft
Which steals itself, when there's no mercy left. [Exeunt .

SCENE IV. Outside MACBETH's Castle.

Enter Ross and an OLD MAN .

OLD M. Threescore and ten I can remember well :
Within the volume of which time I have seen
Hours dreadful and things strange ; but this sore night
Hath trifled former knowings.
Ross. Ah, good father,
Thou see'st, the heavens, as troubled with man's act, 5
Threaten his bloody stage : by the clock, 'tis day,
32 MACBETH . [Act II , Sc. 4.
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp :
Is’t night's predominance, or the day's shame,
That darkness does the face of earth entomb,
When living light should kiss it ?
OLD M. 'Tis unnatural, 10
Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last
A falcon tow'ring in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd.
Ross. And Duncan's horses—a thing most strange and
certain
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, 15
Turn’d wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,
Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make
War with mankind.
OLD M. 'Tis said they eat each other .
Ross . They did so, to the amazement of mine eyes,
That look'd upon't.
Enter MacDUFF. .

Here comes the good Macduff. 20

How goes the world, sir, now ?
MacD . Why, see you not ?
Ross. Is't known who did this more than bloody deed ?
MACD . Those that Macbeth hath slain .
Ross . Alas, the day !
What good could they pretend ?
MacD. They were suborn'd :
Malcolm , and Donalbain , the king's two sons, 25
Are stol'n away and fled , which puts upon them
Suspicion of the deed .
Ross . ' Gainst nature still :
Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up
Thine own life's means ! Then 'tis most like
The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth, 30
MACD. He is already nam'd , and gone to Scone
To be invested .
Act II . Sc. 4. ] MACBETH . 33

Ross . Where is Duncan's body ?

MACD . Carried to Colme -kill ,
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,
And guardian of their bones.
Ross . Will you to Scone ? 35
MacD. No, cousin , I'll to Fife.
Ross. Well, I will thither.
Macd. Well, you may see things well done there : adieu !
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new !
Ross . Farewell, father .
OLD M. God's benison go with you, and with those 40
That would make good of bad and friends of foes ! [Exeunt.

3
 34

ACT III.

SCENE I. Forres, A room in the Palace.

Enter BANQUO.

Ban. Thou hast it now : king, Cawdor, Glamis, all,

As the weird women promised ; and I fear
Thou play’dst most foully for't : yet it was said
It should not stand in thy posterity,

5
But that myself should be the root and father
Of many kings. If there come truth from them
As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine
Why, by the verities on thee made good ,
May they not be my oracles as well
And set me up in hope ? But hush, no more. 10
Senet sounded. Enter MACBETH , as King ; LADY MACBETH ,
as Queen ; LENNOX , Ross, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants.
MACB. Here's our chief guest .
LADY M. If he had been forgotten
It had been as a gap in our great feast,
And all-thing unbecoming.
MACB. To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir,
And I'll request your presence .
Ban. Let your highness 15
Command upon me, to the which my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie
For ever knit.
MacB . Ride you this afternoon ?
BAN. Ay, my good lord.
Act III . Sc. 1.) MACBETH . 35

Macb. We should have else desired your good advice 20

Which still hath been both grave and prosperous
In this day's council ; but we'll take to -morrow .
Is’t far you ride ?
Ban. As far, my lord , as will fill up the time
'Twixt this and supper : go not my horse the better, 25
I must become a borrower of the night,
For a dark hour or twain.
МАСв. Fail not our feast.
Ban. My lord, I will not.
MACB. We hear, our bloody cousins are bestow'd
In England and in Ireland, not confessing 30
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
With strange invention : but of that to-morrow,
When therewithal we shall have cause of state
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse : adieu,
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you ? 35
BAN. Ay, my good lord : our time does call upon us.
MACB. I wish your horses swift and sure of foot,
And so I do commend you to their backs.
Farewell. [Exit BANQUO.
Let every man be master of his time 40
Till seven at night ; to make society
The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself
Till supper-time alone : while then, God be with you !
[Exeunt all but MACBETH and an Attendant .
Sirrah, a word with you : attend those men
Our pleasure ? 45

ATTEND. They are , my lord , without the palace-gate .

MACB. Bring them before us. [ Exit Atten .
To be thus, is nothing ;
But to be safely thus : our fears in Banquo
Stick deep ; and in his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be fear'd : 'tis much he dares, 50
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind ,
36 MACBETH . [Act III . Sc. 1 .
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety. There is none but he
Whose being I do fear : and under him
My genius is rebuked, as it is said 55
Mark Antony's was by Cæsar. He chid the sisters ,
When first they put the name of king upon me,
And bade them speak to him ; then prophet-like
They hail'd him father to a line of kings :
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, 60
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If't be so,
For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind ;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd ; 65
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them ; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man ,
To make them kings , the seed of Banquo kings !
Rather than so, come, fate, into the list, 70
And champion me to the utterance ! Who's there ?
Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers.
Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.
[ Exit Attendant.
Was it not yesterday we spoke together ?
First Mur. It was, so please your highness.
МАСв . Well then , now
Have you consider'd of my speeches ? Know 75
That it was he in the times past which held you
So under fortune, which you thought had been
Our innocent self : this I made good to you
In our last conference ; pass'd in probation with you,
How you were borne in hand, how cross'd, the instruments, 80
Who wrought with them ; and all things else that might
To half a soul and to a notion craz'd
Say, “ Thus did Banquo ".
Act III . Sc . 1. ] MACBETH . 37

FIRST MUR . You made it known to us.

MACB. I did so ; and went further, which is now
Our point of second meeting. Do you find 85
Your patience so predominant in your nature,
That you can let this go ? Are you so gospell’d,
To pray for this good man and for his issue ,
Whose heavy hand hath bow'd you to the grave
And beggar'd yours for ever ?
FIRST MUR . We are men , my liège . 90
MACB . Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men ;
As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are cleped
All by the name of dogs : the valued file
Distinguishes the swift, the slow , the subtle , 95
The housekeeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous nature
Hath in him clos’d, whereby he does receive
Particular addition, from the bill
That writes them all alike ; and so of men . 100
Now if you have a station in the file,
a

Not in the worst rank of manhood , say it,

And I will put that business in your bosoms
Whose execution takes your enemy off,
Grapples you to the heart and love of us, 105
Who wear our health but sickly in his life ,
Which in his death were perfect.
SECOND MUR. I am one, my liege ,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incensed , that I am reckless what
>

I do to spite the world.

FIRST MUR. And I another 110
So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune ,
That I would set my life on any chance,
To mend it or be rid on’t.
SIII
.Act
I. cene catalogue
.A
,MACBETH
iny
the
men
for
go
ye
Act III . Sc. 1. ] МАСВЕТН . 39

МАСв. Both of you

Know Banquo was your enemy .
SECOND MUR. True , my lord .
Macb. So is he mine, and in such bloody distance , 115
That every minute of his being thrusts
Against my near’st of life : and though I could
With barefaced power sweep him from my sight
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not ,
For certain friends that are both his and mine, 120
Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
Who I myself struck down : and thence it is
That I to your assistance do make love
Masking the business from the common eye
For sundry weighty reasons.
SECOND MUR . We shall, my lord, 125
Perform what you command us.
FIRST MUR. Though our lives
MACB. Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour
at most
I will advise you where to plant yourselves,
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time ,
The moment on't ; for’t must be done to-night, 130
And something from the palace ; always thought
That I require a clearness : And with him
To leave no rubs nor botches in the work
Fleance his son, that keeps him company ,
Whose absence is no less material to me 135
Than is his father's, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart ;
I'll come to you anon .
SECOND MUR . We are resolved, my lord.
MACB. I'll call upon you straight; abide within.
[ E.ceunt Murderers.
It is concluded : Banquo, thy soul's flight, 140
If it find heaven , must find it out to -night. Exeunt.
 40 МАСВЕТН . [Act III . Sc. 2.
SCENE II . The Palace.

Enter LADY MACBETH and a SERVANT .

LADY M. Is Banquo gone from court ?
SERV. Ay, madam , but returns again to-night.
! LADY M. Say to the king, I would attend his leisure
For aa few words .
SERV. Madam , I will. [ Exit.
LADY M. Nought's had, all's spent,
Where our desire is got without content : 5
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy
Than, by destruction , dwell in doubtful joy.
Enter MACBETH.
How now, my lord ? why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest fancies your companions making ;
Using those thoughts which should indeed have died 10
With them they think on ? Things without all remedy
Should be without regard : what's done is done .
MACB . We have scotch'd the snake , not kill'd it ;
She'll close and be herself, whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth. 15
But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreams
That shake us nightly : better be with the dead ,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, 20
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave ;
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well ,
Treason has done his worst : nor steel , nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, 25
Can touch him further !
LADY M. Come on ;
Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks ;
Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night.
Act III . Sc. 3. ) MACBETH . 41

MACB. So shall I, love ; and SO , I pray, be you : 30

Let your remembrance apply to Banquo ;
Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue :
. e
Unsafe the while, that .w
Must lave our honours in these flattering streams,
And make our faces vizards to our hearts, 35
Disguising what they are.
LADY M. You must leave this.
MACB. O, full of scorpions is my mind , dear wife !
Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.
LADY M. But in them nature's copy's not eterne.
MacB. There's comfort yet ; they are assailable ; 40
Then be thou jocund : ere the bat hath flown
His cloister'd flight; ere to black Hecate's summons
The shard-borne beetle , with his drowsy hums,
Hath rung night's yawning peal , there shall be done
A deed of dreadful note.
LADY M. What's to be done ? 45
MACB . Be innocent of the knowledge , dearest chuck ,
Till thou applaud the deed. Come , seeling night ,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day,
And with thy bloody and invisible hand,
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond 50
Which keeps me pale ! Light thickens, and the crow
Makes wing to the rooky wood ;
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse ,
Whiles night's black agents to their preys do rouse.
Thou marvellist at my words : but hold thee still ; 55
Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill :
So, prithee, go with me. [Exeunt.
SCENE III . A park or lawn , with a gate leading to
the Palace.

Enter three MURDERERS.

FIRST MUR. But who did bid thee join with us !
42 МАСВЕТН . [Act III . Sc. 3 .
THIRD MUR. Macbeth.
SECOND MUR. He needs not our mistrust ; since he
delivers
Our offices, and what we have to do,
To the direction just.
FIRST MUR. Then stand with us.
The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day : 5
Now spurs the 'lated traveller apace
To gain the timely inn ; and near approaches
The subject of our watch.
THIRD MUR. Hark ! I hear horses .
BAN . [Within .] Give us a light there, ho !
SECOND MUR. Then ' tis he ; the rest
That are within the note of expectation 10
Already are i ' the court.
FIRST MUR. His horses go about .
THIRD MUR. Almost aa mile ; but he does usually
So all men do—from hence to the palace gate
Make it their walk.
SECOND MUR . A light, a light !
Enter Banguo, and FLEANCE with a torch .
THIRD MUR. 'Tis he.
FIRST MUR . Stand to't. 15
Ban . It will be rain to -night.
FIRST MUR . Let it come down.
[Assaults BANQUO.
BAN. O, treachery ! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly !
7

Thou mayst revenge . O slave ! [Dies. FLEANCE escapes.

THIRD MUR. Who did strike out the light ?
FIRST MUR . Was't not the way ?
THIRD MUR. There's but one down ; the son is fled .
SECOND MUR . We have lost 20
Best half of our affair.
FIRST MUR. Well, let's away, and say how much is done .
[Exeunt.
Act III . Sc. 4.] MACBETH . 43

SCENE IV. A room of state in the Palace .

A Banquet prepared .
Enter MACBETH, LADY MACBETH, Ross, LENNOX, Lords,
and Attendants .

Macb. You know your own degrees ; sit down : at first

And last the hearty welcome.
LORDS . Thanks to your majesty.
Macb. Ourself will mingle with society
And play the humble host.
Our hostess keeps her state, but in best time 5
We will require her welcome.
LADY M. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends,
>

For my heart speaks they are welcome.

Enter first Murderer to the door.
MacB . 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
upon thy face.
MUR. 'Tis Banquo's then.
MACB. 'Tis better thee without, than he within .
Is he despatch'd ? 15
MUR. My lord, his throat is cut ; that I did for him .
MACB. 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.
MUR . Most royal sir,
Fleance is 'scap'd. 20

Macb. [Aside .] 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
25

To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo's safe ?

44 MACBETH . [Act III . Sc. 4.
MUR. Ay , my good lord : safe in a ditch he bides,
With twenty trenched gashes on his head ;
The least a death to nature .
МАСв . Thanks for that.
[Aside.] 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
We'll hear ourselves again . .
[ Exit Murderer.
LADY M. My royal lord,
You do not give the cheer : the feast is sold
That is not often vouch'd, while ' tis a making,
' Tis given with welcome : to feed were best at home ; 35
From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony ;
Meeting were bare without it.
МАСв . Sweet remembrancer !
Now good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both !
LEN . May it please your highness, sit ?
Enter the Ghost of BANQUO and sits in MACBETH's place .
MACB. Here had we now our country's honour roofd , 40
Were the graced person of our Banquo present ;
Who may I rather challenge for unkindness
Than pity for mischance !
Ross. His absence , sir,
Lays blame upon his promise. Please't your highness
To grace us with your royal company. 45
Mack . The table's full
LEN. Here is a place reserved, sir.
MacB. Where ?
LEN. Here , my good lord. What is't that moves your
highness ?
Macb. Which of you have done this ?
LORDS. What, my good lord ?
MACB. Thou canst not say I did it : never shake 50
Thy gory locks at me.
Act III . Sc . 4. ] MACBETH . 45

Ross. Gentlemen , rise ; his highness is not well.

LADY M. Sit, worthy friends : my lord is often thus,
And hath been from his youth : 'pray you, keep seat ;
The fit is momentary ; upon a thought 55
He will again be well : If much you note him,
You shall offend him , and extend his passion ;
Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man ?
Macb . Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appal the devil.
LADY M. O proper stuff ! 60
This is the very painting of your fear :
This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said,
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts,
Impostors to true fear, would well become
A woman's story at a winter's fire, 65
Authorised by her grandam . Shame itself !
Why do you make such faces ? When all's done ,
You look but on a stool .
MacB. Prithee, see there ! behold ! look ! lo ! how say you ?
Why, what care I ? If thou canst nod, speak too. 70
If charnel-houses and our graves must send
Those that we bury back, our monuments
Shall be the maws of kites. [ Exit Ghost.
LADY M. What ? quite unmann'd in folly ?
MacB . If I stand here, I saw him .
LADY M. Fie , for shame !
MacB. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time, 75
Ere human statute purged the gentle weal ;
Ay, and since too, murders have been performed
Too terrible for the ear : the time has been,
That when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end : but now, they rise again , 80
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools : this is more strange
Than such a murder is.
46 MACBETH . [Act III . Sc. 4.
LADY M. My worthy lord,
Your noble friends do lack you.
МАСв . I do forget.
Do not muse at me , my most worthy friends ; 85
I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing
To those that know me. Come , love and health to all :
Then I'll sit down. Give me some wine, fill full.
I drink to the general joy of the whole table,
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss : 90
Would he were here ! to all and him we thirst,
And all to all.
LORDS. Our duties, and the pledge.
Re-enter Ghost.
MACB. Avaunt ! and quit my sight ! Let the earth hide
thee !
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold ;
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 95
Which thou dost glare with .
LADY M. Think of this, good peers,
But as a thing of custom : 'tis no other ;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.
Macb. What man may dare , I dare :
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, 100
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger ;
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble : or be alive again ,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword ;
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me 105
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow !
Unreal mockery, hence !
[Ghost disappears.
Why, so ; being gone,
I am a man again. Pray you , sit still.
LADY M. You have displaced the mirth, broke the good
meeting,
Act III . Sc. 4. ) MACBETH . 47

With most admired disorder.

МАСв. Can such things be, 110
And overcome us like a summer's cloud,
Without our special wonder ? You make me strange
Even to the disposition that I owe,
When now I think you can behold such sights ,
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, 115
When mine are blanch'd with fear.
Ross. What sights, my lord ?
LADY M. I pray you, speak not ; he grows worse and
worse ;
Question enrages him : at once, good night :
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once.
LEN . Good night, and better health 120
Attend his majesty !
LADY M. A kind good night to all !
[Exeunt all but MACBETH and LADY MACBETH.
MACB. It will have blood ; they say blood will have blood .
Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak ;
Augures and understood relations have
By magot-pies and choughs and rooks brought forth 125
The secret'st man of blood. What is the night ?
LADY M. Almost at odds with morning, which is which.
Macb. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person
At our great bidding ?
LADY M. Did you send to him , sir ?
MacB . I hear it by the way, but I will send : 130
There's not a one of them but in his house
I keep a servant fee'd . I will to-morrow
And betimes I will to the weird sisters :
More shall they speak, for now I am bent to know ,
By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good 135
All causes shall give way ; I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more,
>
48 MACBETH . [Act III . Sc. 5.

Returning were as tedious as go o’er :

Strange things I have in head that will to hand,
Which must be acted ere they may be scann’d. 140
LADY M. You lack the season of all natures, sleep.
MACB. Come, we'll to sleep. My strange and self -abuse
Is the initiate fear, that wants hard use :
We are yet but young in deed. Exeunt.
SCENE V. A heath . Thunder.
Enter HECATE, meeting the three Witches.
Witch Why, how now,, Hecate ? you look angerly.
FIRST WITCH.
HEC. Have I not reason , beldams as you are ,
Saucy, and over-bold ? How did you dare
To trade and traffic with Macbeth
In riddles and affairs of death ; 5
And I, the mistress of your charms,
Theclose contriver of all harms,
Was never call’d to bear my part ,
Or show the glory of our art ?

10
And, which is worse, all you have done
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 15
Meet me i' the morning ; thither he
Will come to know his destiny.
Your vessels and your spells provide ,
Your charms and everything 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 : 25
Act III . Sc. 6.1 MACBETH . 49

And that, distilld 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
His hopes 'bove wisdom , grace , and fear :
And you all know security
Is mortals ' chiefest enemy.
[Music and a Song within, “ Come away, come away,” etc. ]
Hark, I am call’d ; my little spirit, see, 35
Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me. [Exit .
FIRST WITCH . Come , let's make haste : she'll soon be back
again. [Exeunt.
SCENE VI. Forres. A room in the Palace.
Enter LENNOX and another Lord .
LEN. My former speeches have but hit your thoughts,
Which can interpret farther : 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 : 5
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 15
To hear the men deny it. 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
4
 50 MACBETH . [Act III . Sc. 6 .
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 ?
The owner of
a piece of LORD . The son of Duncan ,
land From whoin this tyrant holds the due of birth, 25
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 theNorth
holy king,, upon his aid
of England
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 ; 35
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.
LEN . 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 would say, “ You'll rue the time
That clogs me with this answer ” .
LEN. And that well might
Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance
His wisdom can provide . Some holy angel 45
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 accurs'd !
LORD . I'll send my prayers with him ! [Exeunt.
 51

ACT IV .

SCENE I. A dark Cave. In the middle , a Cauldron

boiling. 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 , 5
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got ,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot !
Second use of this
ALL. Double , double, toil and trouble ; phrase. Double trouble 10
Fire burn , and cauldron bubble. for Macbeth
>

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, 15
Snake Adder's fork , and blind -worm's sting, Glow-worm
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble ,
Like aa 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 ,
 52 MACBETH . [Act IV. Sc. 1 .
Very poisonous
kills from the legs Root of hemlock digg’d i' the dark, 25
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat , and slips of yew,
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips,
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron , 30
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. 35
Enter HECATE, to the other three Witches.
HEC. O, well done ! I commend your pains ;
And every one shall share i' the gains,
And now about the cauldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in . 40
[Music and a Song, Black Spirits, etc.
SECOND WITCH. By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes :
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
Enter MACBETH.
MACB. How now , you secret, black, and midnight hags ! 45
What is't you do ?
ALL . A deed without a name .
MACB. I conjure you, by that which you profess,
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 50
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 55
AP

46

ab 77
Act IV . Scene I.
MACBETH . How now ,you secret, black, and midnight hags !
What is't you do ?
54 MACBETH . [Act IV. Sc. 1 .
Of nature's germins tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken ; answer me
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 ' ?
МАСв. 60
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 doftly show . 65
Thunder. First apparition : an armed Head.
MacB. Tell me , thou unknown power, -
FIRST WITCH . He knows thy thought :
Hear his speech, but say thou nought.
APP. Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth ! beware Macduff ;
Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me : enough.
[Descends.
MACB. Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution , thanks ; 70
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.
APP. Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth !
Macb . Had I three ears, I'd hear thee.
APP. Be bloody, bold, and resolute ; laugh to scorn 75
The power of man , for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth . [ Descends.
MACB . Then live , Macduff : what need I fear of thee ?
But yet I'll make assurance double sure,
Act IV. Sc. 1. ] MACBETH . 55

And take a bond of fate : thou shalt not live ; 80

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. 85
APP. Be lion -mettled , proud, and take no care
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.
МАСв . That will never be : 90
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree
Upfix 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 95
To time, and mortal custom. Yet my heart
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.
Macb. I will be satisfied : deny me this, 100
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 ! 105
ALL. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart ;
Come like shadows, so depart.
 56 MACBETH . [Act IV . Sc . 1 .
Eight Kings appear, and pass over the Stage in order ; the last
with a Glass in his hand ; Banquo's Ghost following.
MACB. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo ; down !
Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs. And thy hair,
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first . 110
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 115
Which shows me many more ; and some I see
That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry :
Horrible sight ! Now I see 'tis true ;
For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his . What, is this so ? 120
FIRST WITCH . Ay, sir, all this is so : but why
Stands Macbeth thus amazedly ?
The play is
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites,
And show the best of our delights :
now pacey,
I'll charm the air to give a sound, 125
the events
happen at a While you perform your antic round,
That this great king may kindly say
faster pace.
Our duties did his welcome pay.
[Music. The Witches dance, and vanish .
Macb. Where are they ? Gone ? Let this pernicious
hour
Stand aye accursed in the calendar ! 130
Come in , without there !
Enter LENNOX .
LEN. What's your grace's will ?
MACB. Saw you the weird sisters ?
LEN . No, my lord.
Macb. Came they not by you ?
LEN. No indeed, my lord ..
MACB. Infected be the air whereon they ride,
.Scene
IV
Act
I. .Will
?,wMACBETH
doom
of
crack
to
out
stretch
line
the
hat
58 MACBETH . (Act IV. Sc. 2 .
And damn'd all those that trust them ! I did hear 135
The galloping of horse : who was't came by ?
LEN . 'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word
Macduff is fled to England.
МАСв. Fled to England !
LEN. Ay, my good lord.
MACB. [Aside . ] Time, thou anticipatest my dread ex
ploits :
The flighty purpose never is o’ertook 140
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 ; 145
The castle of Macduff I will surprise ;
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 аa fool ;
This deed I'll do before this purpose cool : 150
But no more sights !—Where are these gentlemen ?
Come, bring me where they are . [Exeunt.
SCENE II . Fife. A room in Macduff's Castle .
Enter LADY MACDUFF , her Son, and Ross.
LADY Macd. What had he done, to make him fly the land ?
Ross. You must have patience, madam.
LADY MACD . 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. 5
LADY MacD. 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 ,
Act IV . Sc. 2.1 MACBETH . 59

The most diminutive of birds, will fight, 10

Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fearand 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, 15
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, 25
Blessing upon you !
LADY Macb . 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 Ross
LADY MacD . Sirrah, your father's dead ; 30
And what will you do now ? How will you live ?
Son. As birds do, mother.
LADY MacD. What, with worms and flies ?
Son . With what I get, I mean ; and so do they.
LADY MAcd. Poor bird ! thou’dst never fear the net
nor lime,
The pitfall nor the gin . 35

Son. Why should I , mother ? Poor birds they are not

set for .
My father is not dead, for all your saying.
Lady Macb. Yes, he is dead : how wilt thou do for a
father ?
60 MACBETH . [Act IV. Sc. 2 .

Son . Nay, how will you do for a husband ?

LADY MacD
MAcd. Why, I can buy me twenty at any market. 40
Son . Then you'll buy ' em to sell again.
LADY MACD. Thou speak’st with all thy wit, and yet, i'
faith,
With wit enough for thee.
Son. Was my father a traitor , mother ?
LADY MacD. Ay, that he was. 45
Son . What is a traitor ?
Lady Macd. Why, one that swears and lies.
Son . ' And be all traitors that do so ?
Lady Macd. 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 MacD. Every one.
Son. Who must hang them ?
LADY MacD . Why, the honest men.
Son. Then the liars and swearers are fools : for there are [55]
liars and swearers enough to beat the honest men and hang
up them .
LADY MACD . Now, God help thee, poor monkey !
how wilt thou do for a father ?
Son. If he were dead, you'd weep for him : if you would [60]
:

not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have a new

father .
LADY MACD. Poor prattler ! how thou talk'st !
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. Bless you, fair dame ! I am not to you known ,
Though in your state of honour I am perfect. 65
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 ;
To do worse to you were fell cruelty, 70
Which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you !
I dare abide no longer. [ Exit Messenger.
Act IV . Sc. 3.) MACBETH . 61

LADY MACD . 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 75
Accounted dangerous folly : why then , alas,
Do ΙI put up that womanly defence,
To say , I have done no harm ?–What are these faces ?
Enter Murderers.
MUR. Where is your husband ?
LADY MACD. I hope, in no place so unsanctified 80
Where such as thou mayst find him .
MUR. He's a traitor.
Son. Thou liest, thou shag-ear'd villain.
MUR. 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 , " and pursued by the
Murderers .

SCENE III. England.. Before the King's Palace.

Enter MALCOLM and MacDUFF .
MAL . Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there
Weep our sad bosoms empty.
MACD. 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 5
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out
Like syllable of dolour.
MAL. 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.
 VA

Act IV . Scene Il,

MURDERER. Where is your husband ?
Act IV . Sc. 3. ] MACBETH . 63

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 15
To offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb
To appease an angry god.
MacD. I am not treacherous.
MAL. 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.
MacD. I have lost my hopes.
MAL . Perchance even there where I did find my doubts. 25
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.
MacD. Bleed , bleed , poor country :
Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure,
For goodness dares not check thee : wear thou thy wrongs ;
The title is affeer'd . Fare thee well, lord :
I would not be the villain that thou think'st 35
For the whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp
And the rich East to boot.
Mal . 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;
64 MACBETH . [Act IV. Sc. 3 .

And here, from gracious England , have I offer

Of goodly thousands : but for all this,
When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head , 45
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 .
MACD . What should he be ?
MAL. 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.
MacD . Not in the legions 55
Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd
In evils to top Macbeth.
Mal . I grant him bloody,
Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful,
Sudden , malicious, smacking of every sin
That has a name. 60
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 : 65
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.
MacD . This avarice
70

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
Act IV. Sc. 3. ) MACBETH . 65

Of your mere own : all these are portable ,

With other graces weigh'd . 75
MAL. 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 80
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.

85
MACD . O Scotland, Scotland !
MAL. If such a one be fit to govern, speak :
I am as I have spoken .
Macd. Fit to govern !
No, not to live. O nation miserable !
With an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptred,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again, 90
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, 95 .
Died ever day she lived . Fare thee well !
These evils thou repeat'st upon thyself
Have banished me from Scotland . O my breast ,
Thy hope ends here !
Mal. Macduff, this noble passion,
Child of integrity, hath from my soul 100
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 105
5
66 MACBETH . ( Act IV. Sc. 3 .
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 . 110
I 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 115
Was this upon myself : what I am truly,
Is thine and my poor country's to command :
Whither indeed, beforethy here -approach ,
Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men,
Already at a point , was setting forth. 120
Success
Now we'll together, and the chance of goodness
Be like our warranted quarrel ! Why are you silent ?
MacD. Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
' Tis hard to reconcile.
Enter a Doctor.
MAL. Well, more anon. Comes the king forth, I pray
you ? 125

Doct. 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 .
Mal. I thank you, doctor. [Exit Doctor. 130
MacD . What's the disease he means ?
Mal. ' 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, 135
All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,
Act IV . Sc. 3. ] MACBETH . 67

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 140
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.
MacD . See, who comes here ?
MAL. My countryman ; but yet I know him not . 145
MacD . My ever - gentle cousin, welcome hither.
MAL. I know him now : good God , betimes remove
The means that makes us strangers !
Ross. Sir, amen .
>

MACD. Stands Scotland where it did ?

Ross . Alas, poor country !
Almost afraid to know itself ! It cannot 150
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 155
Is there scarce ask'd for who ; and good men's lives
Expire before the flowers in their caps,
Dying or ere they sicken .
MACD . O , relation
Too nice, and yet too true !
Mal . What's the newest grief ?
Ross. That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker ; 160
Each minute teems a new one .
MacD . How does my wife ?
Ross. Why, well.
MacD. And all my children ?
Ross. Well too.
 68 MACBETH . [Act IV. Sc. 3 .

Macd. The tyrant has not batter'd at their peace ?

Ross. No ; they were well at peace when I did leave
them .
MACD . Be not a niggard of your speech : how goes it ? 165
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 : 170
Now is the time of help ; your eye in Scotland
Would create soldiers, make our women fight
To doff their dire distresses .
MAL. Be't their comfort
We are coming thither : gracious England hath
Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men ; 175
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 .
MacD . What concern they ? 180
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.
MacD . If it be mine,
Keep it not from me , quickly let me have it. 185
Ross. Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever,
Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound
That ever yet they heard.
MacD . Hum ! I guess at it.
Ross. Your castle is surpris'd ; your wife , and babes
Savagely slaughter'd : to relate the manner , 190
Act IV . Sc. 3. ) MACBETH . 69

Were, on the quarry of these murder'd deer,

To add the death of you.
MAL . 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. 195
MACD. My children too ?
Ross. Wife, children , servants, all
That could be found .
MacD . And I must be from thence !
My wife kill'd too ?
Ross . I have said .
Mal . Be comforted :
Let's make us medicines of our great revenge,
To cure this deadly grief. 200
MacD. 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 ?
Mal. Dispute it like a man.
MACD . I shall do so ; 205
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, 210
Not for their own demerits, but for mine,
Fell slaughter on theirStone
souls : heaven
to sharpen rest them now.
your sword
MAL. Be this the whetstone of your sword : let grief
Convert to anger ; blunt not the heart, enrage it.
MacD. O , I could play the woman with mine eyes, 215
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,
70 MACBETH . [Act IV . Sc . 3 .
Heaven forgive him too !
Mal. This tune goes manly. 220
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. (Exeunt. 225
 71

ACT Y.

SCENE I. Dunsinane. A room in the Castle.

Enter a Doctor of Physic, and a waiting Gentlewoman.

Doct. I have two nights watched with you, but can per
ceive no truth in your report. When was it she last walked ?
GENT. Since his majesty went into the field , I have seen
her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock
her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon't, read it, [5]
afterwards seal it, and again return to bed ; yet all this
while in a most fast sleep.
Doct. A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once
the benefit of sleep and do the effects of watching ! In this
slumbery agitation, besides her walking and other actual [10]
performances, what, at any time, have you heard her say ?
GENT. That, sir, which I will not report after her.
Doct. You may to me, and 'tis most meet you should.
GENT. Neither to you nor any one, having no witness to
confirm my speech . 15
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.
Doct. How came she by that light ?
GENT. Why, it stood by her : she has light by her con
tinually ; 'tis her command. 20
Doct. You see, her eyes are open .
GENT. Ay, but their sense is shut.
72 МАСВЕТН. [Act V. Sc . 1 .

Doct. What is it she does now ? Look , how she rubs her
hands .
Gent. It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus [25]
washing her hands : I have known her continue in this a
quarter of an hour.
LADY M. Yet here's a spot.
Doct . Hark ! she speaks : I will set down what comes
from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly. 30
LADY M. Out, damned spot ! out, I say ! One ; two :
why, then 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord,
fie ! a soldier and afеard ?. 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 [35 ]
blood in him !
Doct . Do you mark that ?
LADY M. 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 [40]
this starting.
Doct. Go to, go to ; you have known what you should
not .

GENT . She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of

hat : heaven knows what has known. 45
LADY M. Here's the smell of the blood still : all the
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh,
oh , oh !
Doct. What a sigh is there ! The heart is sorely
charged. 50
GENT. I would not have such a heart in my bosom, for
the dignity of the whole body.
Doct. Well , well, well,
GENT. Pray God it be, sir.
Doct. This disease is beyond my practice : yet I [55]
have known those which have walked in their sleep who
have died holily in their beds.
Act V. Scene I.
LADY MACBETH . Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes
of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand . Oh , oh, oh !
74 MACBETH . [Act V. Sc . 2 .
LADY M. Wash your hands, put on your night-gown ;
look not so pale : I tell you yet again , Banquo's buried ; he
cannot come out on's grave. 60
Doct. Even so ?
LADY M. To bed , to bed ; there's knocking at the gate ;
come, come, come, come, give me your hand : what's ne
cannot be undone ; to bed, to bed, to bed .
[Exit Lady MACBETH .
Doct. Will she go now to bed ? 65
GENT. Directly .
Doct. Foul whisperings are abroad : unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles : infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets :
More needs she the divine than the physician . 70
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.
GENT. Good night, good doctor. 75
[Exeunt.
SCENE II. The country near Dunsinane .
Enter, with drum and colours, MENTEITH , CAITHNESS , ANGUS,
LENNOX, and Soldiers.
MENT. 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.
Ang. Near Birnam wood 5
Shall we well meet them ; that way are they coming.
Caith. Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother ?
LEN. For certain, sir, he is not : I have a file
Of all the gentry : there is Siward's son,
Act V. Sc. 3. ) МАСВЕТН . 75

And many unrough youths, that even now 10

Protest their first of manhood.
MENT. What does the tyrant ?
Caith. 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 15
Within the belt of rule .
Ang . 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.
MENT. Who then shall blame
His pester'd senses to recoil, and start,
When all that is within him does condemn
Itself for being there ?
Caith . Well, march we on, 25
To give obedience where 'tis truly ow'd :
Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal,
And with him pour we, in our country's purge,
Each drop of us.
LEN. Or so much as it needs,
To dew the sovereign flower, and drown the weeds. 30
Make we our march towards Birnam. [Exeunt, marching.

SCENE III . Dunsinane. A room in the Castle.

Enter MACBETH, Doctor, and Attendants .

Macb . Bring me no more reports ; let them fly all ;
Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane
I cannot taint with fear. What's the boy Malcolm ?
Was he not born of woman ? The spirits that know
76 MACBETH . [Act V. Sc . 3 .
All mortal consequences have pronounced me thus : 5
“ Fear not, Macbeth ; no man that's born of woman
Shall e'er have power upon thee ” . Then fly, false thanes,
And mingle with the English epicures :
The mind I sway by and the heart I bear
Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear. 10
Enter a Servant.
The devil damn thee black , thou cream-faced loon !
Where gott'st thou that goose look ??
SERV. There is ten thousand
МАСв . Geese, villain ?
SERV. Soldiers, sir.
MACB. Go, prick thy face, and over -red thy fear,
Thou lily-liver'd boy. What soldiers, patch ? 15
Death of thy soul ! those linen cheeks of thine
Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey -face ?
SERV. The English force, so please you .
MACB. Take thy face hence. [E.cit Servant.
Seyton ! I am sick at heart,
When I behold - Seyton, I say ! This push 20
Will cheer me ever, or dis-seat me now.
I have lived long enough : my way of life
Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf,
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, 25
I must not look to have ; but, in their stead,
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth -honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.
Seyton !
Enter SEYTON.
SEY. What's your gracious pleasure ?
МАСв. What news more ? 30
Sey. All is confirm’d , my lord, which was reported .
MACB. I'll fight, till from my bones my flesh be hack'd .
Give me my armour.
Act V. Sc. 3.] МАСВЕТН . 77

SEY. 'Tis not needed yet.

MacB. I'll put it on.
Send out more horses, skirr the country round ; 35
Hang those that talk of fear. Give me mine armour.
How does your patient, doctor ?
Doct. Not so sick, my lord,
As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies,
That keep her from her rest.
МАСв. Cure her of that.
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, 40
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain ,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart ?
Doct. Therein the patient 45
Must minister to himself .
MACB. Throw physic to the dogs, I'll none of it.
Come, put mine armour on ; give me my staff.
Seyton, send out. Doctor, the thanes fly from me.
Come, sir, dispatch. If thou couldst, doctor, cast 50
The water of my land, find her disease
And purge it to a sound and pristine health,
I would applaud thee to the very echo,
That should applaud again. Pull't off, I say.
What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug, 55
Would scour these English hence ? Hearest thou of them ?
Doct. Ay, my good lord ; your royal preparation
Makes us hear something.
МАСв . Bring it after me.
I will not be afraid of death and bane ,
Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane . [ Exit. 60
Doct. [Aside.] Were I from Dunsinane away and clear,
Profit again should hardly draw me here.
78 MACBETH . [Act V. Sc . 4.
SCENE IV . Country near Birnam Wood.
Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM , old SIWARD and
his Son , MACDUFF, MENTEITH, CAITHNESS , ANGUS ,
LENNOX, Ross, and Soldiers , marching.

Mal. Cousins, I hope the days are near at hand

That chambers will be safe .
MENT. We doubt it nothing.
Siw . What wood is this before us ?
MENT. The wood of Birnam .
Mal . Let every soldier hew him down a bough,
And bear't before him ; thereby shall we shadow 5
The numbers of our host, and make discovery
Err in report of us.
SOLD . It shall be done .
Siw. We learn no other but the confident tyrant
Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure
Our setting down before't.
MAL. ' Tis his main hope : 10
For where there is advantage to be given ,
Both more and less have given him the revolt,
And none serve with him but constrained things,
Whose hearts are absent too.
MacD. Let our just censures
Attend the true event, and put we on 15
Industrious soldiership.
Siw . The time approaches,
That will with due decision make us know
What we shall say we have and what we owe.
Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate,
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate : 20
Towards which advance the war.
[Exeunt , marching.
 79
Act V. Sc. 5. ) MACBETH.

SCENE V. Dunsinane. Within the Castle ,

Enter, with drums and colours, MACBETH, SEYTON, and

Soldiers .

MacB. Hang out our banners on the outward walls ;

The cry is still , “ They come ” : our castle's strength
Will laugh a siege to scorn : here let them lie
Till famine and the ague eat them up :
Were they not forc'd with those that should be ours, 5
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard,
And beat them backward home.
[A cry within, of women.
What is that noise ?
Sey. It is the cry of women, my good lord. [Exit.
MacB. I have almost forgot the taste of fears :
The time has been , my senses would have cool'd 10
To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse , and stir
As life were in’t : I have supp'd full with horrors ;
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
Cannot once start me. [Re-enter SEYTON.
Wherefore was that cry ? 15

Sey. The queen , my lord , is dead.

MacB . She should have died hereafter ;
There would have been a time for such a word .
To-morrow, and to- morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day , 20
To the last syllable of recorded time ;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out , brief candle !
Life's but a walking shadow , a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage 25
And then is heard no more : it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, >

Signifying nothing.
80 MACBETH . (Act V. Sc. 6 .
Enter a Messenger .
Thou comest to use thy tongue ; thy story quickly.
MESS. Gracious my Lord, 30
I should report that which I say I saw,
But know not how to do it.
МАСв. Weil, say, sir.
Mess. As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
I look'd toward Birnam , and, anon, methought,
The wood began to move.
МАСв . Liar, and slave ! [ Striking him . 35
Mess. Let me endure your wrath if't be not so ;
Within this three mile may you see it coming ;
I say, a moving grove.
МАСв. If thou speak’st false,
Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive,
Till famine cling thee : if thy speech be sooth , 40
I care not if thou dost for me as much.
I pull in resolution, and begin
To doubt the equivocation of the fiend
That lies like truth : “ Fear not, till Birnam wood
Do come to Dunsinane ” ; and now a wood 45
Comes toward Dunsinane . Arm , arm , and out !
If this which he avouches does appear,
There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here.
I’gin to be a-weary of the sun ,
And wish the estate o ' the world were now undone. 50
Ring the alarum-bell ! Blow wind ! come wrack !
At least we'll die with harness on our back. [Exeunt .
SCENE VI. Dunsinane. A plain before the Castle.
Enter, with drums and colours, MALCOLM, old SIWARD, MAC
DUFF, and their army, with boughs .
MAL. Now near enough ; your leafy screens throw down,
And show like those you are. You , worthy uncle,
Shall, with my cousin, your right noble son ,
Act V. Sc. 7. ] MACBETH . 81

Lead our first battle : worthy Macduff and we

Shall take upon us what else remains to do, 5
According to our order .
Siw. Fare you well.
Do we but find the tyrant's power to -night,
Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight.
MacD. Make all our trumpets speak ; give them all
breath,
Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death . 10
[Exeunt. Alarums continued .
SCENE VII. Another part of the Plain.
Enter MACBETH .
MACB . They have tied me to a stake ; I cannot fly,
But bear- like I must fight the course. What's he
That was not born of woman ? Such a one
Am I to fear, or none.
Enter young SIWARD .
Yo. Siw. What is thy name ?
МАСв. Thou'lt be afraid to hear it. 5
Yo . Siw . No ; though thou call'st thyself a hotter name
Than any is in hell .
МАСв . My name's Macbeth.
Yo. Siw. The devil himself could not pronounce a title
More hateful to mine ear.
МАСв. No, nor more fearful.
Yo. Siw. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with my sword [10]
I'll prove the lie thou speak’st.
[ They fight, and young SIWARD is slain .
МАСв . Thou wast born of woman.
But swords I smile at , weapons laugh to scorn,
Brandish'd by man that's of a wonian born. [ Exit.
Alarums. Enter MACDUFF.
MACD. That way the noise is. Tyrant, show thy face !
If thou be’st slain and with no stroke of mine, 15
6
82 MACBETH . [Act V. Sc . 8 .
My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still.
I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms
Are hired to bear their staves ; either thou , Macbeth,
Or else my sword , with an unbatter'd edge ,

20
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be ;
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited : let me find him , fortune !
And more I beg not. [ Exit. Alarums.
Enter MALCOLM and old SIWARD.
Siw. This way , my lord ; the castle's gently render'd :
The tyrant's people on both sides do fight; 25
The noble thanes do bravely in the war ;
The day almost itself professes yours ,
And little is to do.
MAL . We have met with foes
That strike beside us .
Siw . Enter, sir, the castle.
[Exeunt. Alarum .
SCENE VIII . Another part of the field .
Enter MACBETH .
MacB. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
On mine own sword ? whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better upon them .
Re- enter MACDUFF.
Macs. Turn , hell-hound, turn !
Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee :
But get thee back ; my soul is too much charged 5
With blood of thine already.
MacD . I have no words :
My voice is in my sword, thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out ! [They fight.
МАСв. Thou losest labour :
As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed ; 10
Scene
V.
VIII
.Act
M
·. ACDUFF Ihave
no
:words
,tbloodier
sword
my
in
is
voice
My
villain
hou
terms
Than
give
can
out
!thee
84 MACBETH . [Act V. Sc. 8 .
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests ;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield
To one of woman born .
MacD. Despair thy charm .
MACB . Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,
For it bath cow'd my better part of man ! 15
And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double sense ;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope. I'll not fight with thee.
MACD. Then yield thee, coward , 20
And live to be the show and gaze o' the time :
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted upon a pole, and underwrit,
“ Here may you see the tyrant ”.
МАСв . I will not yield,
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, 25

And to be baited with the rabble's curse.

Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou opposed, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last : before my body
I throw my warlike shield : lay on, Macduff ; 30
And damn'd be him that first cries, “ Hold , enough ”.
[ Exeunt, fighting .
Retreat. Flourish . Re-enter, with drum and colours, MAL
COLM, old SIWARD, Ross, LENNOX, ANGUS, CAITHNESS ,
MENTEITH , and Soldiers.
MAL . I would the friends we miss were safe arriv'd.
Siw . Some must go off ; and yet , by these I see,
So great a day as this is cheaply bought .
MAL. Macduff is missing, and your noble son. 35
Ross. Your son, my lord , has paid a soldier's debt :
He only liv'd but till he was a man ;
The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd ,
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
Act V. Sc. 8.) MACBETH . 85

But like a man he died.

Siw. Then he is dead ? 40
Ross. Ay, and brought off the field : your cause of sorrow
Must not be measured by his worth , for then
It hath no end .
Siw . Had he his hurts before ?
Ross . Ay, on the front.
Siw. Why, then, God's soldier be he !
Had I as many sons as I have hairs, 45
I would not wish them to a fairer death :
And so his knell is knoll’d.
Mal. He's worth more sorrow ,
And that I'll spend for him .
Siw . He's worth no more ;
They say, he parted well, and paid his score :
And so, God be with him ! Here comes newer comfort. 50
Re -enter MACDUFF , with MACBETH's head.
Macd. Hail, king ! for so thou art : behold, where stands
The usurper's cursed head : the time is free :
I see thee compass’d with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds ;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine : 55
Hail, king of Scotland !
ALL . Hail , king of Scotland ! [Flourish .
Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time
Before we reckon with your several loves,
And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland 60
In such an honour named. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,
As calling home our exiled friends abroad
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny,
Producing forth the cruel ministers 65
Of this dead butcher, and his fiend -like queen,
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
86 MACBETH . [Act V. Sc. 8 .
Took off her life ; this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place : 70
So thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.
( Flourish. Exeunt.
 87

NOTES .

Act I. , SCENE 1.
3. Hurly burly . The confused noise and tumult of the battle.
A word of uncertain origin . Perhaps from French hurler, to howl.
6
Shakespeare uses also theword “ hurly ” with much the same meaning.
8. Graymalkin , a cat. Paddock , a toad. The familiar
spirits of the witches were believed to appear disguised in these forms
of animals.
9. Fair is foul , etc. To these malignant beings the ugly was
beautiful, the beautiful ugly. So Milton's Satan says—
“Evil be thou my good ” .
Act I. , SCENE 2.
This scene is thought by some not to be Shakespeare's work . The
language is in parts bombastic, the narrative is somewhat confused ,
and what is said of Cawdor in lines 53, 54 cannot easily be reconciled
with what is said of him in Scene 3, lines 72, 73.
5. Fought 'gainst my captivity . Malcolm recognises the
sergeant as one who on some previous occasion had saved his life and
liberty. Carrying off princes and holding them to ransom was no
uncommon crime.
9. Choke their art . No longer struggling for victory but for
life, and each killing the other in the effort.
10. To that . To that end. With so villainous a nature he could
not but be a rebel .
13. Kernes and gallowglasses . Celtic terms for foot
soldiers — frequent mention of them in the Irish wars of Elizabeth's
time. The kernes were very rudely armed . " Of ” in this line is
used for “ with ” .
18. Minion . The darling or favourite . From French mignon .
20. Which ne'er shook hands . Some preceding words have
probably been lost. The “ which " should refer to Macbeth, and the
shaking of hands is mentioned in bitter scorn of Macdonwald.
24. As whence the sun , etc. From the east there break
sometimes terrible storm and thunder instead of the expected comfort
ing sunlight. So now Macbeth's victory over Macdonwald gave
opportunity for the onset of the King of Norway.
39. Memorize Render famous. The battlefield with its heaps
of slain is called a Golgotha, a place of skulls.
88 МАСВЕТН .

48, 49. It has been proposed to read

“ Where the Norweyan banners
Did flout the sky and fan our people cold ,”
and the past tense gives a more intelligible sense. While Macbeth
pursued the rebels, Fife was left unguarded , and the sudden inroad
of the Norsemen spread dismay among the people, until Macbeth,
hastening to the rescue, proved himself a match for the King of
Norway:
52. A dismal conflict . The Scots could make but a miserable
show of resistance till Macbeth arrived to " curb the lavish spirit
of the Norsemen .
52. The thane of Cawdor . From Scene 3, lines 72, 73, and
111-113, it would seem that Cawdor did not openly assist the Norse
men in the battlefield , but gave them secret aid.
53. Bellona's bridegroom like “ Valour's minion are titles
expressive of Macbeth's bravery. Bellona was goddess of war and
sister of Mars .
53. Lapped in proof . Clad in armour of proof.
59. Sweno the Norway's king . About aa mile outside Forres
stands an ancient pillar covered with runes and figures of warriors, and
which is called Sweno's Stone.
61. Saint Colme's inch . The isle of Inchcolm in the Firth
of Forth, near the Fife shore. Saint Colme is the famous Saint
Columba.
64. Our bosom interest , The welfare of Scotland which lies
near the king's heart.
Act I. , SCENE 3.
2. Killing swine . Casting an evil spell upon the pigs or cows
of their neighbours was believed to be a common practice of witches .
6. Aroint thee . The same expression is found in King Lear
and nowhere else. The origin of “ aroint ” is very doubtful. • Rynt
thee is said to be an expression used by milkmaids in Cheshire to a
cow that will not stand still, as though it had been bewitched.
6. Rump-fed . Pampered. Ronyon . A term of abuse of
doubtful origin . Supposed to be derived from French rogne, scurvy.
8. As witches were thought to be able to fly through the air on
broomsticks, so they could sail over the sea in sieves.
9. The absence of a tail it was thought was the mark of a witch who
had assumed the form of some animal.
21. A man forbid . Under a curse ; forbidden to mix with his
fellows.
32. The weird sisters. The witches are so called because they
Weird is from Anglo- Saxon wyrda,
are the foretellers of destiny.
fate .
70. Imperfect speakers . They left unfinished that which
Macbeth wished to hear.
71. Sinel is named by Holinshed as the father of Macbeth, but
Sinane has been suggested as the more correct spelling. Glamis
 NOTES. 89

Castle is about five miles from Forfar, and lies between the Dunsinane
Hills and Birnam Hill .
76. Owe . This word has the meaning of " own or possess ,” in
this place and also in i . , 4, 10 and in iii . , 4, 113. In i. , 4, 22 and in v. ,
4, 18 the word is used with its modern meaning .
84. The insane root . A writer of Shakespeare's day says :
“ You have eaten of the roots of hemlock, that makes men's eyes
conceit unseen objects ” .
92, 93. His wonders and his praises , etc. The king's
wonder at Macbeth's bravery is so great that he cannot render him
the praise which is his due.
106. Addition . Used here and in iii . , 1 , 99 in the sense of
" title " . So called because it is added to a person's name.
112. Line . Support , especially with secret help — a metaphorical
expression taken from the lining of a garment.
140. Single state of man appears to signify the powers of body
and mind working in harmony. Horrible imaginings have destroyed
this harmony, the natural faculties have been as it were suspended ,
and Macbeth appears for the moment to live only in a dream.
Act I. , SCENE 4 .
18, 19. If thou hadst less deserved, my thanks and payment might
have been in more just proportion to thy merits.
39. Cumberland . A district including our present Cumberland
and Westmoreland and with part of the south -west of Scotland . It was
then held by the Scottish kings as a fief from England.
44. “ The rest which is not devoted to your service is irksome as
labour.” An overstrained profession of loyalty. Macbeth will not
remain with the king's party but hastens on before him .
55. Your praises of Macbeth give me delight.
ACT I. , SCENE 5.
2. Mortal. Used here and in iv. , 1 , 96, and in v. , 3, 5, in the
sense of “ human ” . In i . , 5 , 38 and in iv. , 3, 3 it has the sense of“ deadly ” .
.

20-22. These lines are somewhat obscure. It seems best to repeat

in line 21 the words , “ thou must do ” from line 20. " That thou must
do which rather thou does fear to do ” . Johnson proposed to read
“ me " for 69" it " in line 20.
35. The messenger “ almost dead for breath ” gasping out the news
of the king's coming is compared to the raven , the bird of evil omen.
42-44 . That no pleadings of nature may shake my cruel purpose nor
come between it and the deed which I neditate.
ACT I. , SCENE 6.
7. Coigne of vantage . An angle ( French coin ) of the wall
where a nest might most securely be built .
11-14 . The king pays Lady Macbeth a graceful compliment. The
tokens of love of subjects to their king are sometimes wearisome to him ,
90 МАСВЕТН .

yet he is thankful to receive them. So Duncan will teach her as his

queen to thank him for his love though it causes her trouble.
13. God yield us . God reward us .
20. Your hermits . Those whose duty it will be to pray for you.
In this scene the pleasant surroundings of the castle , the courtesy
and trustfulness of the king and the protestations of Lady Macbeth are
intended to be in strong contrast with the grim horror of the approach
ing murder.
22. To be his purveyor . A purveyor was one sent on before
to provide food for the king. Duncan still in graceful compliment
would treat Macbeth as king and his wife as queen.
ACT I. , SCENE 7 .
2, 3. Trammel , To catch as in a net, from French tramail, a net
in which birds are caught. The killing of Duncan would surely be
followed by ill consequences, which could not be prevented nor fore
seen .

4. “ His ” probably refers to “ consequence,” but it may refer to

Duncan .
6, 7. The present life is compared to a shoal with its shallow water,
the life to come is the deep, unfathomable ocean.
28. The word " side " is to be understood after “ other ” ; the
sentence is perhaps interrupted by the entrance of Lady Macbeth .
44, 45. In Heywood's Proverbs, published in 1562,we read :: “ The cat
would eate fyshe, and would not wet her feete " .
55. It has been thought this metaphor has been derived “ from the
screwing up the chords of string instruments to their proper degree of
tension
60. Memory the warder of the brain . The old anato
mists placed the imagination and cogitation, that is, the reasoning
powers, in the cerebrum , and the memory in a creek or cavity between
the cerebrum and cerebellum and at the top of the spinal cord. The
memory might therefore be called the warder occupying the outer
guard of thebrain .
61. The receipt of reason . The brain , the seat of the intel
lect . When the memory is drowned in drunkenness the brain is like
a still (limbeck) filled with fumes, that is, with vague and undefined
impressions.
Act II . , SCENE 1 .
8. The cursed thoughts . The witches have infected Banquo
also , but he struggles to repress all guilty ambitious longings.
16. Shut up in measureless content . These words are
to be understood in connection with “ The king's a -bed ” in line 12 .
25. For “ consent” it has been proposed to read “ ascent ” or " con .
tent " . The line seems to mean “ if you will join with me ” .
46. Dudgeon . Handle of the dagger. The name is given in old
books to the root of the box tree.
46. Gouts . Drops. From French goutte , Latin, gutta.
 NOTES. 91

52. Hecate , a mysterious divinity, identified sometimes with

Diana, the moon goddess, and sometimes with Proserpine, the goddess
66
of the infernal regions. Hence in iii., 2, 41 she is called Black
Hecate " . Witches and sorcerers regarded her as a patroness.
55. Tarquin . The last king of Rome, whose outrage on Lucretia
led to the expulsion of the kings.
59. The present horror . The dead silence of midnight.
ACT II. , SCENE 2.
>

37. Ravellºd sleave of care . “ Sleave ," a name given to raw

9
or floss silk. “ Ravelled " means tangled. 66Sleep ” smoothes out the
entanglements and perplexities of care.
39. Great nature's second course . In the banquet of
life, day with its actions is the first course , night with its rest the
second .
62. The multitudinous seas . The sea with its countless
waves .

62. Incarnadine . To turn blood red. Shakespeare seems to

have been the first to form and use the word , taking it from the
Italian incarnadino .
73. Themeaning of the line is obscure. Perhaps it may be : “ Would
I were dead, rather than know what I know of myself ".
Act II . , SCENE 3.

2. Old turning the key . “ Old ” is used colloquially, perhaps

with the sense plenty of it " .
39. Gorgon , the goddess Medusa, whose head was so frightful
that whoever looked on it was turned to stone with fear.
58-63. These expressions of simulated grief are in strong contrast
with Macduff's outcries of horror, and with Macbeth's frenzy in the
previous scene.
84. Breech'd with gore . Clothed or covered with blood .
“ Drenched ” has been suggested in place of “ breeched” .
88. Argument. Subject-matter of a discourse.
90. Auger -hole , Danger may be lurking in some hole where
we least suspect it.
91. Our tears are not yet brew'd , etc. This is no time for
weeping. Nor can our sorrow have free course here.
94. Naked frailties . The half-clothed bodies of the hastily
aroused sleepers.
108-9. The near in blood , the nearer bloody . “ Our
nearest kinsman may be our most deadly enemy." Macbeth was closely
related to the royal house.
Act II. , SCENE 4.
8. Has night conquered the day, or is the day hiding itself for
shame ?
92 MACBETH .

11-20. The portents which are here described are enumerated with
others by Holinshed in his account of the murder of King Duffe .
28. Ravin up . Devour voraciously, without thought, like a
beast.
31. Scone . The ancient town where the early Scottish kings were
crowned.
33. Colme- kill . Iona, where in the churchyard of the ruined
abbey the graves of many of the ancient kings are shown. The natives
call the island Icolmkill , “ the cell of St. Columba ” .

Act III . , SCENE 1 .

16. Command upon me . An unusual expression. It has
been proposed to read “ lay ” or “ set” in the preceding line instead of
< let."
21. Advice both grave and prosperous . Weighty and
followed by success.
25. Go not my horse the better . If my horse go not better
than I fear he may, I must borrow an hour from the night, for the way
is long.
47. To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus . To be
king is nothing except one reign in safety.
66. Rancours . Virulence, corruption. My peace of mind is
poisoned .
71. Champion me . Challenge me to combat.
71. To the utterance . A oultrance, to the uttermost, to the
bitter end .
80. Borne in hand . Trifled with .
93. Shoughs , or shocks. Shaggy dogs.
93. Clept . Named . From Anglo-Saxon cleopian.
94. The valued file . The list which distinguishes and estimates
the various items .
99. Particular addition . Special description.
115. Distance . Here used in the sense of enmity or opposition .
117. My near'st of life . My heart, my life itself.
129. The perfect spy o' the time is supposed to be the third
murderer who appears in Scene 3 and delivers to the others “ their
offices and what they have to do ” .
133. Rubs . Difficulties, obstructions ; often so used by Shake.
speare .
Act III . , SCENE 2 .

7. Doubtful joy . The samehaunting fear which pursues Macbeth

troubles his wife also , though she conceals it more than he does .
13. Scotch . To slash and cut , but not deeply.
16. Let the whole universe fall asunder, let heaven and earth suffer.
Macbeth in his frenzy uses language of extravagant violence .
 NOTES. 93

22. Restless ecstasy . Here used of the exquisite torment of

sleeplessness combined with the stings of conscience.
31-32. Forget not Banquo during the feast, by look and word honour
him chiefly.
33-34 . But we are not secure while we have to use such streams of
flattery to maintain the brightness of our royal dignity.
39. They will not always live. “ Nature's copy " seems to mean the
life with which Nature has endowed them .
43. The shard is the hard and smooth wing-case of the beetle.
66

47 . Seeling.” A term borrowed from falconry , meaning to sew or

close up the eyes.
Act III . , SCENE 4 .

1. At first and last . Once for all. It has been proposed to

read “ To first and last,” that is, “ to one and all ” .
5. Our hostess keeps her state . The queen sits in the
royal chair, while Macbeth mingles freely with the guests.
14. “ ' Tis better that Banquo's blood should be outside thee than
inside him ." Other instances occur in Shakespeare of “ he " for
“ him ” . “ He within ” has been explained to mean Banquo within
66

this room ,” but the point of the antithesis is lost.

36. From thence Away from home .
66. Authorized by her grandam . The woman telling a
tale at the fireside calls upon her grandmother to vouch for its truth .
76. The gentle weal . Society no longer savage , but refined
and purified by human law .
92. * All to all . ” Every good wish to each of you .
101. Hyrcan tiger . Holland's translation of Pliny's Natural
History was published in and in it there is an account of Hyrcania
(a country bordering on the Caspian) and its many savage beasts.
105. Inhabit . Remain behind, not responding to the challenge.
This is a very unusual use of the word “ inhabit," and several editors
9
have proposed to read “ inhibit,” without, however, giving any very
satisfactory sense.
111. " Overcome us like a summer's cloud . " Over
shadow us, changing brightness into a sudden gloom.
112. You make me strange , etc. My own nature becomes
a mystery to me since you are unmoved while I am struck with terror.
124. Augures and understood relations . Auguries and
the hidden mysterious connections of things. Some editors have
understood “ augures ” as 66 augurers,” and have proposed to read
Augures that understood relations " .
128. How say'st thou . What do you say to this ?
131. In Holinshed we read : “ Makbeth had in every noble man's
house , one slie fellow or other in fee with him, to reveale all that was
sayd or done within the same " .
94 MACBETH .
6

140. “ My deeds shall be swift and shall not wait for deliberation.”
Compare iv. , 1 :
“The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand”.
Act III., SCENE 5.
The whole of this scene is thought by some editors to be the work
of Middleton . In his play of the Witch there is a passage of some
forty lines of dialogue between Hecate and other spirits, and beginning
with the words of the song
“Come away , come away ” .
ACT III., SCENE 6.
The speech of Lennox is in bitter irony, which breaks out into open
wrath in lines 19, 20 .
8. Who cannot want the thought . This is a kind of
double negative , of which other instances are to be found in Shake
speare. The meaning clearly is, “ Who can want the thought ? ”
35. “ Free ” is used in this line in the sense of “ banish ” . It has
been proposed to transpose the line thus :
“ Our feasts and banquets free from bloody knives ” .
Act IV. , SCENE 1 .
3. Harpier is thought to be a corruption of harpy. The barpies
were foul creatures in the Grecian mythology, and they might well
be introduced in this scene where the most loathsome objects are
collected.
66
24. Ravin'd is used here in the sense of gorged . Raven ,' to devour
voraciously, is used elsewhere in Shakespeare, and it has been proposed
in this place to read “ ravin ” which Shakespeare uses elsewhere in the
sense of voracious.
40. “Black' spirits and white,
Red spirits and gray ,”.
are the first lines of a song in Middleton's play of the Witch .
52. Lodged . Laid flat. Used in the same sense by Shakespeare
in other plays.
56. Nature's germins signifies the seeds of living things with
which the earth is filled . In Winter's Tale the same idea is expressed.
“ Let Nature crush the sides of the earth together,
And mar the seeds within ."
66. The first apparition, “ An armed head,” represents Macbeth
himself, whose head was cut off on the battlefield ; the “ bloody child ”
is Macduff ; and the child crowned with a tree in his hand is Malcolm,
who bade his soldiers bear boughs in their hands.
92. Bodements . Omens, foretellings.
94. Birnam Hill is about a mile from Dunkeld, and the Dunsinane
Hills are about twelve miles away to the south-east . Between the
ranges lies the fertile valley of the Tay.
115. Holinshed tells us in his Chronicle that Fleance escaped to
 NOTES. 95

Wales when Banquo was murdered. There he married a princess, and

his son Walter returned to Scotland, became Lord Steward and the
ancestor of the Stuart family. The eighth king in the procession is our
James I.
119. Blood - bolter'd . With hair matted and clotted with blood.
“ Baltered ” is still used in Northamptonshire in the sense of clotted.
139. Anticipate in its primary meaning is to seize beforehand, take
first possession, and so prevent one who comes afterwards. Here time
prevents the deed which Macbeth contemplated.
140. Flighty . Swift , quickly passing.
149. Trace . The primary meaning is to follow in the footsteps of
another.
Act IV . , SCENE 2 .
17. The fits o' the season . The sudden changes and dangers
of that unsettled time .
18. When we are traitors and do not know ourselves .
When we are declared traitors as Macduff was, and yet are conscious of
innocence .
19. When we hold rumour from what we fear , etc.
These words seem to refer to Macbeth who feared treason , and there
fore suspected it on the evidence of even vague rumour, and who com
mitted acts of wild and savage tyranny to prevent it.
Or the whole passage ( lines 18-22) may perhaps mean , in these cruel
times we become strangers and traitors to ourselves, we fear we know
not what, and all things seem insecure and full of danger as if we
were tossing on a stormy sea.
65. I am perfect. Shakespeare in several places uses “ perfect?
in the sense of being well acquainted with .
82. Shag -ear'd . It has been suggested with much reason that
the reading should be “ shag -hair'd ”.
Act IV. , SCENE 3.
4. Birthdom . A very unusual word here used for birthplace ;
poor Scotland fallen beneath the tyrant .
10. To friend . To be a friend . Compare the Biblical expression ,
“ Had her to wife " .
15. After “ wisdom ” some word is required, and " 'tis " and 6
bids "
have been suggested.
19. Recoil . The image is that of a cannon recoiling. Malcolm
fears that under Macbeth's influence the natural straightforward
honesty of Macduff has been perverted.
34. Affeer'd . A legal term signifying “ assured ” or " confirmed ” .
Macbeth may keep his title in security, since Malcolm holds back.
37. To boot . In addition. From Anglo-Saxon bot, profit.
73. Foisons. Plenty, used especially of rich vegetation . “ Foison ”
is still used in some parts of England for the price of grass.
107. I put myself to thy direction . I am ready to follow
and execute your plans.
96 MACBETH .

118. Here approach and here remain in line 133 are very
unusual compounds .
120. At a point . Prepared, in readiness. The words are SO
used by other writers.
127. Convinces the great assay of art . Withstands and
overcomes the utmost efforts of the doctors .
129. Presently . Immediately.
131. The evil. Touching for the cure of the king's evil was
practised in Shakespeare's day by Elizabeth and James I. Queen
Anne was the last sovereign who did so, and Dr. Johnson remembered
having been taken as a child to be so touched.
155. A modern ecstasy . “ Modern ” is used by Shakespeare in
several places in the sense of “ common," " ordinary ”. A modern
ecstasy is therefore a mere ordinary grief.
180. Latch . An obsolete word signifying “ catch ” . In Suffolk a
dripping-pan is called a latch -pan.
181. Fee -grief . A grief belonging to one only. A term borrowed
from the ownership of land .
191. Quarry . A term borrowed from hunting . A heap of
slaughtered creatures.
201. He has no children . By some editors these words are
made to refer to Malcolm . He has no children and cannot therefore
understand my grief. Compare
“ He talks to me that never had a son .” — King John , iii . , 1 , 91 .
3

By others they are made to refer to Macbeth. He has no children

or he could not have had the heart to deal so cruelly with mine .
217. Intermission . Delay.
224. Put on their instruments . Set on their agents to the
work .
Act V. , SCENE 1 .
38. The thane of Fife had a wife . The pictures that pass
through Lady Macbeth's mind are like those of a wild and troubled
dream . The murders of Duncan, of Banquo and of Lady Macduff are
mingled confusedly in her memory.
Act V. , SCENE 2 .
5. The mortified man . This is generally taken to mean an
ascetic , a man retired from and dead to the world . Even such a one
would now be roused to fight against Macbeth . It has also been
thought to mean a dead man . The very dead would rise and fight
against such a tyrant.
10. Unrough . Unbearded .
11. Protest . Proclaim , display.
15. His distempered cause . Macbeth's kingdom has become
disorganised under his rule , and tyranny has taken the place of just
government.
18. Minutely . Used here as an adjective. Happening every
moment.
 NOTES. 97

27. The medicine of the sickly weal . Prince Malcolm ,

whom these Scottish nobles are marching to meet . The word “ medi
cine " is used elsewhere by Shakespeare, and probably also here in the
sense of “ physician ” .
Act V. , SCENE 3.
10. Sag . To bend or give way. The word is still used of rafters
bending from some imperfection, or from being overweighted.
22. Compare with these lines sonnet lxxiii. :
" That time of life thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold ,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang."
But there the thought is one of pensive melancholy, here of gloomy
despair,
43. Oblivious . Causing forgetfulness.
44. Stuff'd . Pope suggested “ full,” because of “ stuff ” coming
at the end of the line.
50. Come , sir , despatch . These words, and also “ Pull't off I
say ” in line 54, and “ Bring it after me ” in line 58, are addressed by
Macbeth to his armourer, and they mark his impatience and excite
ment.
Act V. , SCENE 4.
11. For “ given " in this line a reading “ gotten ” has been suggested.
12. More and less . Both high and low.
14. Let us postpone our judgments till the event shall justify them,
and meanwhile let us prepare to fight manfully:
19. Our thoughts are unrestrained and give us hopes which may not
be realised .
Act V., SCENE 5.
12. Treatise . A story.
24. A poor player . A good player moves and speaks with dignity,
the poor player struts and overdoes his part.
40. Cling . To shrivel. In Suffolk “ cling ” is stillused to describe
shrivelled apples.
42. For “ pull in resolution ” it has been proposed to read “ pale in
resolution ," or pall in resolution ,” meaning “ my heart begins to fail
me ” .

ACT V. , SCENE 7.
2. The course . A term borrowed from the pastime of bear
baiting. An onset or attack of the dogs.
22. Bruited . Noised abroad , announced .
24. Gently . Without resistance.
28. We have met with foes that strike beside us .
Some of Macbeth's people made only a show of fighting, and avoided
striking Malcolm.
7
98 MACBETH .

ACT V. , SCENE 8.
9. Intrenchant . That cannot be wounded. The participle is
active in form, but is used here with passive signification .
33. Go off . Die. In an earlier part of the play “ take off ” is used
in the sense of “ to kill” .
53. Thy kingdom's pearl . Thy kingdom's excellence ; the
great pobles of Scotland.
66. His fiend - like queen . It has been thought that the last
fortylines of the play are not thework of Shakespeare . The feeling of
pity for Lady Macbeth which he has raised in our minds is marred by
the lines 69-71. The whole narrative too of the death of Siward's son
is takenfrom Holinshed's History of England, not from the History of
Scotland, which is the source of the rest of the play.

QUESTIONS ON MACBETH .

Аст І.

1. From whence did Shakespeare derive the story of Macbeth ? In

what part of the story did he make an important alteration ?
2. What nature and powers were ascribed to witches in Shake
speare's time ? Illustrate your answer from the play.
3. Quote any lines that show that Macbeth was a valiant warrior.
4. How were the minds of Banquo and Macbeth differently affected
by the prophecies of the witches ? Illustrate your answers by quota
tions .
5. What kind of disposition does Shakespeare ascribe to Duncan ?
Illustrate your answer with quotations .
6. The language of the sergeant in the second scene has been
described as bombastic. Quote any lines which seem to merit that
description .
7. Mention some of the minor characters who appear in the first
act, and state what part they play.
8. How does Lady Macbeth differ in disposition from her husband ?
Illustrate your answer with quotations.
9. Are ye fantastical, or that indeed which outwardly ye show ?
Explain these words and say how they occur in the play.
10. Explain the following expressions, and say how they occur:
(a) The rest is labour which is not for you .
(b) Here upon this bank and shoal of time.
(C) Like the poor cat i' the adage.
ACT II.
1. Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done't.
Explain these words . Who uttered them ?
 QUESTIONS ON MACBETH , 99

2. How is the frenzy of Macbeth after the murder described ?

Illustrate your answer with quotations.
3. My hands are of your colour ; but I shame
To wear a heart so white .
Explain these words. How do they occur in the play ?
4. Confusion now hath made his masterpiece.
Explain these words and state how they occur.
5. What strange portents are said to have accompanied the murder
of Duncan ?
6. Scone, Colme-kill. What are these places ? How are they spoken
of in the play ?
7. Paraphrase - that is, write in your own words, the sense of the
following passage :
Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived aa blessed time ; for, from this instant,
There's nothing serious in mortality :
All is but toys : renown , and grace, is dead ;
The wine of life is drawn , and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.
8. Mention any words which are used by Shakespeare in Macbeth in
senses different from that which they have now.
9. How do most of the rhyming lines occur in Macbeth ? Give some
examples in illustration.
10. Divide into feet and mark the accented syllables in the following
passage :
Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done't :
Their hands and faces were all badg'd with blood,
So were their daggers, which , unwip'd, we found
Upon their pillows.
ACT III .

1. How is the mutual distrust of Banquo and Macbeth after the

latter has become king described by Shakespeare ? Illustrate your
answer by quotations.
2. For Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind.
Explain this line and state how it is used.
3. Explain the words in italics in the following expressions and state
how they occur :
Are you so gospellid ?
He does receive particular addition .
Whose execution takes your enemy off.
4. Quote any lines which show that neither Macbeth nor Lady
Macbeth find the joy which they expected in the kingship.
5. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
Till thou appland the deed.
Who speaks these words and on what occasion ?
6. 'Tis better thee without, than he within.
Explain these words and state when they were uttered.
100 MAcBETH .

7. Show from the language of the play that Shakespeare represented

the ghost of Banquo as being visible only to Macbeth.
8. Mention, giving examples, any different senses in which the word
“ mortal” is used in Macbeth .
9. Write out in your own words the sense of the following passage :
In his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be fear'd : 'tis much he dares ;
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind ,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety. There is none but he
Whose being I do fear.
10. Mention , with examples, any instances in Macbeth of prepositions
used in a sense different from what they have at present.
ACT IV.

1. What do the three figures signify which rise from the witches '
cauldron to speak to Macbeth ?
2. Some I see
That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry .
Explain these words and state how they occur in the play.
3. He loves us not ; he wants the natural touch.
What do these words mean ? Who uses them ?
4. Give some account of the dialogue between Lady Macduff and her
little son.
5. Write in your own words the sense of the following passage :
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.
6. How and for what purpose does Malcolm defame himself in his
conversation with Macduff ?
7. Point out any unusual use of words in the following expres
sions :
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes,
Their malady convinces the great assay of art.
I should uproar the universal peace .
8. The grief that does not speak,
Whispers the o'erfraught heart, and bids it break.
Explain this passage and state how it occurs in the play.
9. He hasno children.
What different explanations have been given of this passage ?
10. What features are there in the play of Macbeth which would
make it specially interesting to King JamesI. ?
Act V.
1. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little
hand !
Who uses these words ? Explain them.
 QUESTIONS ON MACBETH . 101

2. In what different ways does remorse affect Macbeth and Lady

Macbeth ? Illustrate your answer with quotations.
3. Write in your own words the sense of the following passage : --
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased :
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow ;
Raze out the written troubles of the brain ;
And , with some sweet oblivious antidote,
Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff,
Which weighs upon the heart ?
4. Doctor, the thanes fly from me.
Who uses these words ? What do they mean ?
5. In what different senses is the word “ owe ” used in Macbeth ?
Give examples.
6. Quote Macbeth's despairing description of the vanity of human
life.
7. Explain any terms in the following expressions which are
employed in an unusual sense :
My sword I sheathe again undeeded .
The castle's gently rendered.
He parted well and paid his score.
8. Live to be the show and gaze o' the time.
Explain these words and state how they occur in the play.
9. How did Siward express himself on hearing of the death of his
son ?

10. What other great plays belong to the same period of Shake
speare's life with Macbeth ? What resemblance do they bear to it ?

ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS

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