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ACT 1

Scene 1

Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches.

FIRST WITCH When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain? SECOND WITCH When the hurly-burly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won. THIRD WITCH That will be ere the set of sun. FIRST WITCH Where the place? SECOND WITCH Upon the heath. THIRD WITCH There to meet with Macbeth. FIRST WITCH I come, Graymalkin. SECOND WITCH Paddock calls. THIRD WITCH Anon. ALL Fair is foul, and foul is fair;

Hover through the fog and filthy air. They exit.

Scene 2Alarum within. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.

DUNCAN What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state. MALCOLM This is the sergeant Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought ’Gainst my captivity.—Hail, brave friend! Say to the King the knowledge of the broil As thou didst leave it. CAPTAIN 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 The multiplying villainies of nature Do swarm upon him) from the Western Isles Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied; And Fortune, on his damnèd quarrel smiling, Showed like a rebel’s whore. But all’s too weak; For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name), Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, Which smoked with bloody execution, Like Valor’s minion, carved out his passage Till he faced the slave; Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements. DUNCAN O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman! CAPTAIN As whence the sun ’gins his reflection Shipwracking storms and direful thunders break, So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark: No sooner justice had, with valor armed, Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels, But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage, With furbished arms and new supplies of men, Began a fresh assault. DUNCAN Dismayed not this our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? CAPTAIN Yes, as sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. If I say sooth, I must report they were 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— But I am faint. My gashes cry for help. DUNCAN So well thy words become thee as thy wounds: They smack of honor both.—Go, get him surgeons. The Captain is led off by Attendants.

Enter Ross and Angus.

Who comes here? MALCOLM The worthy Thane of Ross. LENNOX What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look that seems to speak things strange. ROSS God save the King. DUNCAN Whence cam’st 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, Assisted by that most disloyal traitor, The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict, Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapped in proof, Confronted him with self-comparisons, Point against point, rebellious arm ’gainst arm, Curbing his lavish spirit. And to conclude, The victory fell on us. DUNCAN Great happiness! ROSS That now Sweno, The Norways’ king, craves composition. Nor would we deign him burial of his men Till he disbursèd at Saint Colme’s Inch Ten thousand dollars to our general use. DUNCAN No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive Our bosom interest. Go, pronounce his present death, And with his former title greet Macbeth. ROSS I’ll see it done. DUNCAN

What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won. They exit.

Scene 3

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 munched and munched and munched. “Give me,” quoth I. “Aroint thee, witch,” the rump-fed runnion cries. Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o’ th’ 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. SECOND WITCH I’ll give thee a wind. FIRST WITCH Th’ art kind. THIRD WITCH And I another. FIRST WITCH I myself have all the other, And the very ports they blow; All the quarters that they know I’ th’ shipman’s card. I’ll drain him dry as hay. Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his penthouse lid. He shall live a man forbid. Weary sev’nnights, nine times nine, Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine. Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tossed. Look what I have. SECOND WITCH Show me, show me. FIRST WITCH Here I have a pilot’s thumb, Wracked as homeward he did come.Drum within. THIRD WITCH A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come. ALL, dancing in a circle The Weïrd Sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about, Thrice to thine and thrice to mine And thrice again, to make up nine. Peace, the charm’s wound up.

Enter Macbeth and Banquo.

MACBETH So foul and fair a day I have not seen. BANQUO How far is ’t called to Forres?—What are these, So withered, and so wild in their attire, That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ 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, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so. MACBETH 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! BANQUO Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair?—I’ th’ name of truth, Are you fantastical, or that indeed Which outwardly you show? My noble partner You greet with present grace and great prediction Of noble having and of royal hope, That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not. If you can look into the seeds of time And say which grain will grow and which will not, Speak, then, to me, who neither beg nor fear Your favors nor your hate. FIRST WITCH Hail! SECOND WITCH Hail! THIRD WITCH Hail! FIRST WITCH Lesser than Macbeth and greater. 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! MACBETH Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more. 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 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. BANQUO The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them. Whither are they vanished? MACBETH Into the air, and what seemed corporal melted, As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed! BANQUO Were such things here as we do speak about? Or have we eaten on the insane root That takes the reason prisoner? MACBETH Your children shall be kings. BANQUO You shall be king. MACBETH And Thane of Cawdor too. Went it not so? BANQUO To th’ selfsame tune and words.—Who’s here?

Enter Ross and Angus.

ROSS The King hath happily received, Macbeth, The news of thy success, and, when he reads 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’ th’ selfsame day He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, Strange images of death. As thick as tale Came post with post, and every one did bear Thy praises in his kingdom’s great defense, And poured them down before him. ANGUS We are sent 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 honor, He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor, In which addition, hail, most worthy thane, For it is thine. BANQUO What, can the devil speak true? MACBETH The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me In borrowed robes? ANGUS Who was the Thane lives yet, But under heavy judgment bears that life 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 labored in his country’s wrack, I know not; But treasons capital, confessed and proved, Have overthrown him. MACBETH, aside Glamis and Thane of Cawdor! The greatest is behind. To Ross and Angus. Thanks for your pains. Aside to Banquo. Do you not hope your children shall be kings, When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me Promised no less to them? BANQUO That, trusted home, 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 ’s In deepest consequence.— Cousins, a word, I pray you.They step aside. MACBETH, aside Two truths are told As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme.—I thank you, gentlemen. Aside. This supernatural soliciting 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 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, Shakes so my single state of man That function is smothered in surmise, And nothing is but what is not. BANQUO Look how our partner’s rapt. MACBETH, aside If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me Without my stir. BANQUO New honors come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold But with the aid of use. MACBETH, aside Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. BANQUO Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure. MACBETH Give me your favor. My dull brain was wrought With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains Are registered where every day I turn The leaf to read them. Let us toward the King. Aside to Banquo. Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time, The interim having weighed it, let us speak Our free hearts each to other. BANQUO Very gladly. MACBETH

Till then, enough.—Come, friends. They exit.

Scene 4

Flourish. Enter King Duncan, Lennox, Malcolm, Donalbain, and Attendants.

DUNCAN Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not Those in commission yet returned? MALCOLM My liege, They are not yet come back. But I have spoke With one that saw him die, who did report That very frankly he confessed his treasons, Implored your Highness’ pardon, and set forth A deep repentance. Nothing in his life Became him like the leaving it. He died As one that had been studied in his death To throw away the dearest thing he owed As ’twere a careless trifle. DUNCAN There’s no art To find the mind’s construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust.

Enter Macbeth, Banquo, Ross, and Angus.

O worthiest cousin, The sin of my ingratitude even now Was heavy on me. Thou art so far before That swiftest wing of recompense is slow To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved, That the proportion both of thanks and payment Might have been mine! Only I have left to say, More is thy due than more than all can pay. MACBETH The service and the loyalty I owe In doing it pays itself. Your Highness’ part Is to receive our duties, and our duties Are to your throne and state children and servants, Which do but what they should by doing everything Safe toward your love and honor. DUNCAN Welcome hither. I have begun to plant thee and will labor To make thee full of growing.—Noble Banquo, That hast no less deserved nor must be known No less to have done so, let me enfold thee And hold thee to my heart. BANQUO There, if I grow, The harvest is your own. DUNCAN My plenteous joys, Wanton in fullness, seek to hide themselves In drops of sorrow.—Sons, kinsmen, thanes, And you whose places are the nearest, know We will establish our estate upon Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter The Prince of Cumberland; which honor must Not unaccompanied invest him only, But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine On all deservers.—From hence to Inverness And bind us further to you. MACBETH The rest is labor which is not used for you. I’ll be myself the harbinger and make joyful The hearing of my wife with your approach. So humbly take my leave. DUNCAN My worthy Cawdor. MACBETH, aside The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step On which I must fall down or else o’erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; 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. He exits. DUNCAN True, worthy Banquo. He is full so valiant, And in his commendations I am fed: It is a banquet to me.—Let’s after him, Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome.

It is a peerless kinsman. Flourish. They exit.

Scene 5Enter Macbeth’s Wife, alone, with a letter.

LADY MACBETH, reading the letter They met me in the day of success, and I have learned by the perfect’st report they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it came missives from the King, who all-hailed me “Thane of Cawdor,” by which title, before, these Weïrd Sisters saluted me and 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 greatness, that thou might’st not lose the dues of rejoicing by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell. Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, 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, And that which rather thou dost fear to do, Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with the valor of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal. Enter Messenger.

What is your tidings? MESSENGER The King comes here tonight. LADY MACBETH Thou ’rt mad to say it. Is not thy master with him, who, were ’t so, Would have informed for preparation? MESSENGER So please you, it is true. Our thane is coming. One of my fellows had the speed of him, Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more Than would make up his message. LADY MACBETH Give him tending. He brings great news.Messenger exits. The raven himself is hoarse 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. Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, 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!”

Enter Macbeth.

Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor, Greater than both by the all-hail hereafter! Thy letters have transported me beyond This ignorant present, and I feel now The future in the instant. MACBETH My dearest love, Duncan comes here tonight. LADY MACBETH And when goes hence? MACBETH Tomorrow, as he purposes. LADY MACBETH O, never Shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time, Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under ’t. He that’s coming Must be provided for; and you shall put This night’s great business into my dispatch, Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. MACBETH We will speak further. LADY MACBETH Only look up clear. To alter favor ever is to fear.

Leave all the rest to me. They exit.

Scene 6

Hautboys and Torches. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Banquo, Lennox, Macduff, Ross, Angus, and Attendants.

DUNCAN This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses. BANQUO This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, By his loved mansionry, that the heaven’s breath Smells wooingly here. No jutty, frieze, Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird Hath made his pendant bed and procreant cradle. Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed, The air is delicate.

Enter Lady Macbeth.

DUNCAN See, see our honored hostess!— The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you How you shall bid God ’ild us for your pains And thank us for your trouble. LADY MACBETH All our service, In every point twice done and then done double, Were poor and single business to contend Against those honors deep and broad wherewith Your Majesty loads our house. For those of old, And the late dignities heaped up to them, We rest your hermits. DUNCAN Where’s the Thane of Cawdor? We coursed him at the heels and had a purpose To be his purveyor; but he rides well, And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath helped him To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, We are your guest tonight. LADY MACBETH Your servants ever Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs in compt To make their audit at your Highness’ pleasure, Still to return your own. DUNCAN Give me your hand. Taking her hand. Conduct me to mine host. We love him highly And shall continue our graces towards him.

By your leave, hostess. They exit.

Scene 7

Hautboys. Torches. Enter a Sewer and divers Servants with dishes and service over the stage. Then enter Macbeth.

MACBETH If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well It were done quickly. If th’ assassination Could trammel up the consequence and catch With his surcease success, that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We’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 th’ inventor. This even-handed justice Commends th’ ingredience of our poisoned chalice To our own lips. He’s here in double trust: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against The deep damnation of his taking-off; And pity, like a naked newborn 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 To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself And falls on th’ other—

Enter Lady Macbeth.

How now, what news? LADY MACBETH He has almost supped. Why have you left the chamber? MACBETH Hath he asked for me? LADY MACBETH Know you not he has? MACBETH We will proceed no further in this business. He hath honored me of late, and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people, Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, Not cast aside so soon. LADY MACBETH Was the hope drunk Wherein you dressed 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 valor 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’ th’ adage? MACBETH Prithee, peace. I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares do more is none. LADY MACBETH What beast was ’t, then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place Did then adhere, and yet you would make both. They have made themselves, and that their fitness now Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this. MACBETH If we should fail— LADY MACBETH We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking place And we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep (Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey Soundly invite him), his two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassail so convince That memory, the warder of the brain, Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason A limbeck only. When in swinish sleep Their drenchèd natures lies as in a death, What cannot you and I perform upon Th’ unguarded Duncan? What not put upon His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt Of our great quell? MACBETH Bring forth men-children only, For thy undaunted mettle should compose Nothing but males. Will it not be received, When we have marked with blood those sleepy two Of his own chamber and used their very daggers, That they have done ’t? LADY MACBETH Who dares receive it other, As we shall make our griefs and clamor roar Upon his death? MACBETH I am settled and bend up Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show. False face must hide what the false heart doth

know. They exit.

ACT 2

Scene 1

Enter Banquo, and Fleance with a torch before him.

BANQUO How goes the night, boy? FLEANCE The moon is down. I have not heard the clock. BANQUO And she goes down at twelve. FLEANCE I take ’t ’tis later, sir. BANQUO Hold, take my sword.He gives his sword to Fleance. There’s husbandry in heaven; Their candles are all out. Take thee that too. A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, And yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers, Restrain in me the cursèd thoughts that nature Gives way to in repose.

Enter Macbeth, and a Servant with a torch.

Give me my sword.—Who’s there? MACBETH A friend. BANQUO What, sir, not yet at rest? The King’s abed. He hath been in unusual pleasure, and Sent forth great largess to your offices. This diamond he greets your wife withal, By the name of most kind hostess, and shut up In measureless content. He gives Macbeth a jewel. MACBETH Being unprepared, Our will became the servant to defect, Which else should free have wrought. BANQUO All’s well. I dreamt last night of the three Weïrd Sisters. To you they have showed some truth. MACBETH 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. BANQUO At your kind’st leisure. MACBETH If you shall cleave to my consent, when ’tis, It shall make honor for you. BANQUO So I lose none In seeking to augment it, but still keep My bosom franchised and allegiance clear, I shall be counseled. MACBETH Good repose the while. BANQUO Thanks, sir. The like to you. Banquo and Fleance exit. MACBETH Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready, She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed. Servant exits. 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. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I draw.He draws his dagger. Thou marshal’st me the way that I was going, And such an instrument I was to use. Mine eyes are made the fools o’ th’ other senses Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still, 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 Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate’s off’rings, and withered murder, Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf, Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth, Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate of my whereabouts And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives. 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

That summons thee to heaven or to hell. He exits.

Scene 2Enter Lady Macbeth.

LADY MACBETH That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold. What hath quenched them hath given me fire. Hark!—Peace. It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman, Which gives the stern’st good-night. He is about it. The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms Do mock their charge with snores. I have drugged their possets, That death and nature do contend about them Whether they live or die. MACBETH, within Who’s there? what, ho! LADY MACBETH Alack, I am afraid they have awaked, And ’tis not done. Th’ attempt and not the deed Confounds us. Hark!—I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss ’em. Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done ’t.

Enter Macbeth with bloody daggers.

My husband? MACBETH I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise? LADY MACBETH I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did not you speak? MACBETH When? LADY MACBETH Now. MACBETH As I descended? LADY MACBETH Ay. MACBETH Hark!—Who lies i’ th’ second chamber? LADY MACBETH Donalbain. MACBETH This is a sorry sight. LADY MACBETH A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. MACBETH 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 MACBETH There are two lodged together. MACBETH One cried “God bless us” and “Amen” the other, As they had seen me with these hangman’s hands, List’ning their fear. I could not say “Amen” When they did say “God bless us.” LADY MACBETH Consider it not so deeply. MACBETH But wherefore could not I pronounce “Amen”? I had most need of blessing, and “Amen” Stuck in my throat. LADY MACBETH These deeds must not be thought After these ways; so, it will make us mad. MACBETH Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep”—the innocent sleep, Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast. LADY MACBETH What do you mean? MACBETH Still it cried “Sleep no more!” to all the house. “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more.” LADY MACBETH Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane, You do unbend your noble strength to think 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. MACBETH I’ll go no more. I am afraid to think what I have done. Look on ’t again I dare not. LADY MACBETH 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, I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal, For it must seem their guilt. She exits with the daggers. Knock within. MACBETH Whence is that knocking? How is ’t with me when every noise appalls me? What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.

Enter Lady Macbeth.

LADY MACBETH My hands are of your color, but I shame To wear a heart so white.Knock. I hear a knocking 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.Knock. Hark, more knocking. Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us And show us to be watchers. Be not lost So poorly in your thoughts. MACBETH To know my deed ’twere best not know myself. Knock. Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou

couldst. They exit.

Scene 3

Knocking within. Enter a Porter.

PORTER Here’s a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of hell gate, he should have old turning the key. (Knock.) Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub? Here’s a farmer that hanged himself on th’ expectation of plenty. Come in time! Have napkins enough about you; here you’ll sweat for ’t. (Knock.) Knock, knock! Who’s there, in th’ other devil’s name? Faith, here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake yet could not equivocate to heaven. O, come in, equivocator. (Knock.) Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there? Faith, here’s an English tailor come hither for stealing out of a French hose. Come in, tailor. Here you may roast your goose. (Knock.) Knock, knock! Never at quiet.—What are you?—But this place is too cold for hell. I’ll devil-porter it no further. I had thought to have let in some of all professions that go the primrose way to th’ everlasting bonfire. (Knock.) Anon, anon!

The Porter opens the door to Macduff and Lennox.

I pray you, remember the porter. MACDUFF Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed That you do lie so late? PORTER Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second cock, and drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things. MACDUFF What three things does drink especially provoke? PORTER Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes and unprovokes. It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance. Therefore much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery. It makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him and disheartens him; makes him stand to and not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep and, giving him the lie, leaves him. MACDUFF I believe drink gave thee the lie last night. PORTER That it did, sir, i’ th’ very throat on me; but I requited him for his lie, and, I think, being too strong for him, though he took up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him. MACDUFF Is thy master stirring?

Enter Macbeth.

Our knocking has awaked him. Here he comes. Porter exits. LENNOX Good morrow, noble sir. MACBETH Good morrow, both. MACDUFF Is the King stirring, worthy thane? MACBETH Not yet. MACDUFF He did command me to call timely on him. I have almost slipped the hour. MACBETH I’ll bring you to him. MACDUFF I know this is a joyful trouble to you, But yet ’tis one. MACBETH The labor we delight in physics pain. This is the door. MACDUFF I’ll make so bold to call, For ’tis my limited service.Macduff exits. LENNOX Goes the King hence today? MACBETH He does. He did appoint so. LENNOX The night has been unruly. Where we lay, Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say, Lamentings heard i’ th’ air, strange screams of death, And prophesying, with accents terrible, Of dire combustion and confused events New hatched to th’ woeful time. The obscure bird Clamored the livelong night. Some say the Earth Was feverous and did shake. MACBETH ’Twas a rough night. LENNOX My young remembrance cannot parallel A fellow to it.

Enter Macduff.

MACDUFF O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee! MACBETH AND LENNOX What’s the matter? MACDUFF Confusion now hath made his masterpiece. Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope The Lord’s anointed temple and stole thence The life o’ th’ building. MACBETH What is ’t you say? The life? LENNOX Mean you his Majesty? MACDUFF Approach the chamber and destroy your sight With a new Gorgon. Do not bid me speak. See and then speak yourselves. Macbeth and Lennox exit. Awake, awake! Ring the alarum bell.—Murder and treason! 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, As from your graves rise up and walk like sprites To countenance this horror.—Ring the bell. Bell rings.

Enter Lady Macbeth.

LADY MACBETH What’s the business, That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley The sleepers of the house? Speak, speak! MACDUFF O gentle lady, ’Tis not for you to hear what I can speak. The repetition in a woman’s ear Would murder as it fell.

Enter Banquo.

O Banquo, Banquo, Our royal master’s murdered. LADY MACBETH Woe, alas! What, in our house? BANQUO Too cruel anywhere.— Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself And say it is not so. Enter Macbeth, Lennox, and Ross.

MACBETH Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessèd 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.

Enter Malcolm and Donalbain.

DONALBAIN What is amiss? MACBETH You are, and do not know ’t. The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood Is stopped; the very source of it is stopped. MACDUFF Your royal father’s murdered. MALCOLM O, by whom? LENNOX 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 Upon their pillows. They stared and were distracted. No man’s life was to be trusted with them. MACBETH O, yet I do repent me of my fury, That I did kill them. MACDUFF Wherefore did you so? MACBETH Who can be wise, amazed, temp’rate, and furious, Loyal, and neutral, in a moment? No man. Th’ expedition of my violent love Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan, His silver skin laced with his golden blood, And his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature For ruin’s wasteful entrance; there the murderers, Steeped in the colors of their trade, their daggers Unmannerly breeched with gore. Who could refrain That had a heart to love, and in that heart Courage to make ’s love known? LADY MACBETH Help me hence, ho! MACDUFF Look to the lady. MALCOLM, aside to Donalbain Why do we hold our tongues, That most may claim this argument for ours? DONALBAIN, aside to Malcolm What should be spoken here, where our fate, Hid in an auger hole, may rush and seize us? Let’s away. Our tears are not yet brewed. MALCOLM, aside to Donalbain Nor our strong sorrow upon the foot of motion. BANQUO Look to the lady. Lady Macbeth is assisted to leave. And when we have our naked frailties hid, That suffer in exposure, let us meet 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 pretense I fight Of treasonous malice. MACDUFF And so do I. ALL So all. MACBETH Let’s briefly put on manly readiness And meet i’ th’ hall together. ALL Well contented. All but Malcolm and Donalbain exit. MALCOLM 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. DONALBAIN 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. MALCOLM This murderous shaft that’s shot Hath not yet lighted, and our safest way 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. They exit.

Scene 4

Enter Ross with an Old Man.

OLD MAN 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 Ha, good father, Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act, Threatens his bloody stage. By th’ clock ’tis day, And yet dark night strangles the traveling 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 MAN ’Tis unnatural, Even like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place, Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed. ROSS And Duncan’s horses (a thing most strange and certain), Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, Contending ’gainst obedience, as they would Make war with mankind. OLD MAN ’Tis said they eat each other. ROSS They did so, to th’ amazement of mine eyes That looked upon ’t.

Enter Macduff.

Here comes the good Macduff.— How goes the world, sir, now? MACDUFF Why, see you not? ROSS Is ’t known who did this more than bloody deed? MACDUFF Those that Macbeth hath slain. ROSS Alas the day, What good could they pretend? MACDUFF They were suborned. Malcolm and Donalbain, the King’s two sons, Are stol’n away and fled, which puts upon them Suspicion of the deed. ROSS ’Gainst nature still! Thriftless ambition, that will ravin up Thine own lives’ means. Then ’tis most like The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth. MACDUFF He is already named and gone to Scone To be invested. ROSS Where is Duncan’s body? MACDUFF Carried to Colmekill, The sacred storehouse of his predecessors And guardian of their bones. ROSS Will you to Scone? MACDUFF No, cousin, I’ll to Fife. ROSS Well, I will thither. MACDUFF Well, may you see things well done there. Adieu, Lest our old robes sit easier than our new. ROSS Farewell, father. OLD MAN God’s benison go with you and with those

That would make good of bad and friends of foes. All exit.

ACT 3

Scene 1

Enter Banquo.

BANQUO Thou hast it now—king, Cawdor, Glamis, all As the Weïrd Women promised, and I fear Thou played’st most foully for ’t. Yet it was said It should not stand in thy posterity, 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.

Sennet sounded. Enter Macbeth as King, Lady Macbeth, Lennox, Ross, Lords, and Attendants.

MACBETH Here’s our chief guest. LADY MACBETH If he had been forgotten, It had been as a gap in our great feast And all-thing unbecoming. MACBETH Tonight we hold a solemn supper, sir, And I’ll request your presence. BANQUO Let your Highness Command upon me, to the which my duties Are with a most indissoluble tie Forever knit. MACBETH Ride you this afternoon? BANQUO Ay, my good lord. MACBETH We should have else desired your good advice (Which still hath been both grave and prosperous) In this day’s council, but we’ll take tomorrow. Is ’t far you ride? BANQUO As far, my lord, as will fill up the time ’Twixt this and supper. Go not my horse the better, I must become a borrower of the night For a dark hour or twain. MACBETH Fail not our feast. BANQUO My lord, I will not. MACBETH We hear our bloody cousins are bestowed In England and in Ireland, not confessing Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers With strange invention. But of that tomorrow, 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? BANQUO Ay, my good lord. Our time does call upon ’s. MACBETH I wish your horses swift and sure of foot, And so I do commend you to their backs. Farewell.Banquo exits. Let every man be master of his time Till seven at night. To make society The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself Till suppertime alone. While then, God be with you. Lords and all but Macbeth and a Servant exit. Sirrah, a word with you. Attend those men Our pleasure? SERVANT They are, my lord, without the palace gate. MACBETH Bring them before us.Servant exits. 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 feared. ’Tis much he dares, And to that dauntless temper of his mind He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor 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 Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the sisters When first they put the name of king upon me And bade them speak to him. Then, prophet-like, They hailed him father to a line of kings. Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown And put a barren scepter in my grip, Thence to be wrenched 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 murdered, Put rancors 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 seeds of Banquo kings. Rather than so, come fate into the list, And champion me to th’ utterance.—Who’s there?

Enter Servant and two Murderers.

To the Servant. Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.Servant exits. Was it not yesterday we spoke together? MURDERERS It was, so please your Highness. MACBETH Well then, now Have you considered of my speeches? Know 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, passed in probation with you How you were borne in hand, how crossed, the instruments, Who wrought with them, and all things else that might To half a soul and to a notion crazed Say “Thus did Banquo.” FIRST MURDERER You made it known to us. MACBETH I did so, and went further, which is now Our point of second meeting. Do you find Your patience so predominant in your nature That you can let this go? Are you so gospeled To pray for this good man and for his issue, Whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave And beggared yours forever? FIRST MURDERER We are men, my liege. MACBETH Ay, in the catalogue you go for men, As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves are clept All by the name of dogs. The valued file Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle, The housekeeper, the hunter, every one According to the gift which bounteous nature Hath in him closed; whereby he does receive Particular addition, from the bill That writes them all alike. And so of men. Now, if you have a station in the file, Not i’ th’ worst rank of manhood, say ’t, And I will put that business in your bosoms Whose execution takes your enemy off, Grapples you to the heart and love of us, Who wear our health but sickly in his life, Which in his death were perfect. SECOND MURDERER I am one, my liege, Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world Hath so incensed that I am reckless what I do to spite the world. FIRST MURDERER And I another So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune, That I would set my life on any chance, To mend it or be rid on ’t. MACBETH Both of you Know Banquo was your enemy. MURDERERS True, my lord. MACBETH So is he mine, and in such bloody distance 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, 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 MURDERER We shall, my lord, Perform what you command us. FIRST MURDERER Though our lives— MACBETH 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’ th’ time, The moment on ’t, for ’t must be done tonight 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 Than is his father’s, must embrace the fate Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart. I’ll come to you anon. MURDERERS We are resolved, my lord. MACBETH I’ll call upon you straight. Abide within. Murderers exit. It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul’s flight, If it find heaven, must find it out tonight. He exits.

Scene 2

Enter Macbeth’s Lady and a Servant.

LADY MACBETH Is Banquo gone from court? SERVANT Ay, madam, but returns again tonight. LADY MACBETH Say to the King I would attend his leisure For a few words. SERVANT Madam, I will.He exits. LADY MACBETH Naught’s had, all’s spent, Where our desire is got without content. ’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 With them they think on? Things without all remedy Should be without regard. What’s done is done. MACBETH We have scorched the snake, not killed it. She’ll close and be herself whilst our poor malice Remains in danger of her former tooth. 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, 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 Can touch him further. LADY MACBETH Come on, gentle my lord, Sleek o’er your rugged looks. Be bright and jovial Among your guests tonight. MACBETH So shall I, love, And so I pray be you. Let your remembrance Apply to Banquo; present him eminence Both with eye and tongue: unsafe the while that we Must lave our honors in these flattering streams And make our faces vizards to our hearts, Disguising what they are. LADY MACBETH You must leave this. MACBETH O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! Thou know’st that Banquo and his Fleance lives. LADY MACBETH But in them nature’s copy’s not eterne. MACBETH There’s comfort yet; they are assailable. Then be thou jocund. Ere the bat hath flown His cloistered flight, ere to black Hecate’s summons The shard-born beetle with his drowsy hums Hath rung night’s yawning peal, there shall be done A deed of dreadful note. LADY MACBETH What’s to be done? MACBETH 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 Which keeps me pale. Light thickens, and the crow Makes wing to th’ rooky wood. Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, Whiles night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.— Thou marvel’st at my words, but hold thee still. Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.

So prithee go with me. They exit.

Scene 3

Enter three Murderers.

FIRST MURDERER But who did bid thee join with us? THIRD MURDERER Macbeth. SECOND MURDERER, to the First Murderer He needs not our mistrust, since he delivers Our offices and what we have to do To the direction just. FIRST MURDERER Then stand with us.— The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day. Now spurs the lated traveler apace To gain the timely inn, and near approaches The subject of our watch. THIRD MURDERER Hark, I hear horses. BANQUO, within Give us a light there, ho! SECOND MURDERER Then ’tis he. The rest That are within the note of expectation Already are i’ th’ court. FIRST MURDERER His horses go about. THIRD MURDERER Almost a mile; but he does usually (So all men do) from hence to th’ palace gate Make it their walk.

Enter Banquo and Fleance, with a torch.

SECOND MURDERER A light, a light! THIRD MURDERER ’Tis he. FIRST MURDERER Stand to ’t. BANQUO, to Fleance It will be rain tonight. FIRST MURDERER Let it come down! The three Murderers attack. BANQUO O treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! Thou mayst revenge—O slave! He dies. Fleance exits. THIRD MURDERER Who did strike out the light? FIRST MURDERER Was ’t not the way? THIRD MURDERER There’s but one down. The son is fled. SECOND MURDERER We have lost best half of our affair. FIRST MURDERER

Well, let’s away and say how much is done. They exit.

Scene 4Banquet prepared. Enter Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Ross, Lennox, Lords, and Attendants.

MACBETH You know your own degrees; sit down. At first And last, the hearty welcome.They sit. LORDS Thanks to your Majesty. MACBETH Ourself will mingle with society And play the humble host. Our hostess keeps her state, but in best time We will require her welcome. LADY MACBETH Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends, For my heart speaks they are welcome.

Enter First Murderer to the door.

MACBETH See, they encounter thee with their hearts’ thanks. Both sides are even. Here I’ll sit i’ th’ midst. Be large in mirth. Anon we’ll drink a measure The table round. He approaches the Murderer. There’s blood upon thy face. MURDERER ’Tis Banquo’s then. MACBETH ’Tis better thee without than he within. Is he dispatched? MURDERER My lord, his throat is cut. That I did for him. MACBETH Thou art the best o’ th’ cutthroats, Yet he’s good that did the like for Fleance. If thou didst it, thou art the nonpareil. MURDERER Most royal sir, Fleance is ’scaped. MACBETH, 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 cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in To saucy doubts and fears.—But Banquo’s safe? MURDERER Ay, my good lord. Safe in a ditch he bides, With twenty trenchèd gashes on his head, The least a death to nature. MACBETH Thanks for that. There the grown serpent lies. The worm that’s fled Hath nature that in time will venom breed, No teeth for th’ present. Get thee gone. Tomorrow We’ll hear ourselves again.Murderer exits. LADY MACBETH My royal lord, You do not give the cheer. The feast is sold That is not often vouched, while ’tis a-making, ’Tis given with welcome. To feed were best at home; From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony; Meeting were bare without it.

Enter the Ghost of Banquo, and sits in Macbeth’s place.

MACBETH, to Lady Macbeth Sweet remembrancer!— Now, good digestion wait on appetite And health on both! LENNOX May ’t please your Highness sit. MACBETH Here had we now our country’s honor roofed, 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? MACBETH The table’s full. LENNOX Here is a place reserved, sir. MACBETH Where? LENNOX Here, my good lord. What is ’t that moves your Highness? MACBETH Which of you have done this? LORDS What, my good lord? MACBETH, to the Ghost Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake Thy gory locks at me. ROSS Gentlemen, rise. His Highness is not well. LADY MACBETH 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 He will again be well. If much you note him You shall offend him and extend his passion. Feed and regard him not.Drawing Macbeth aside. Are you a man? MACBETH Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that Which might appall the devil. LADY MACBETH O, proper stuff! 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, Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself! Why do you make such faces? When all’s done, You look but on a stool. MACBETH Prithee, see there. Behold, look! To the Ghost. Lo, how say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.— If charnel houses and our graves must send Those that we bury back, our monuments Shall be the maws of kites.Ghost exits. LADY MACBETH What, quite unmanned in folly? MACBETH If I stand here, I saw him. LADY MACBETH Fie, for shame! MACBETH Blood hath been shed ere now, i’ th’ olden time, Ere humane 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 With twenty mortal murders on their crowns And push us from our stools. This is more strange Than such a murder is. LADY MACBETH My worthy lord, Your noble friends do lack you. MACBETH I do forget.— Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends. 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.

Enter Ghost.

I drink to th’ general joy o’ th’ whole table And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss. Would he were here! To all, and him we thirst, And all to all. LORDS Our duties, and the pledge. They raise their drinking cups. MACBETH, to the Ghost 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 Which thou dost glare with. LADY MACBETH Think of this, good peers, But as a thing of custom. ’Tis no other; Only it spoils the pleasure of the time. MACBETH, to the Ghost What man dare, I dare. Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, The armed rhinoceros, or th’ 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 The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mock’ry, hence!Ghost exits. Why so, being gone, I am a man again.—Pray you sit still. LADY MACBETH You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting With most admired disorder. MACBETH Can such things be 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 When mine is blanched with fear. ROSS What sights, my lord? LADY MACBETH 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. LENNOX Good night, and better health Attend his Majesty. LADY MACBETH A kind good night to all. Lords and all but Macbeth and Lady Macbeth exit. MACBETH It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood. Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak. Augurs and understood relations have By maggot pies and choughs and rooks brought forth The secret’st man of blood.—What is the night? LADY MACBETH Almost at odds with morning, which is which. MACBETH How say’st thou that Macduff denies his person At our great bidding? LADY MACBETH Did you send to him, sir? MACBETH I hear it by the way; but I will send. There’s not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant fee’d. I will tomorrow (And betimes I will) to the Weïrd Sisters. More shall they speak, for now I am bent to know By the worst means the worst. For mine own good, All causes shall give way. I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, 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 scanned. LADY MACBETH You lack the season of all natures, sleep. MACBETH 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. They exit.

Scene 5Thunder. Enter the three Witches, meeting Hecate.

FIRST WITCH Why, how now, Hecate? You look angerly. HECATE Have I not reason, beldams as you are? Saucy and overbold, how did you dare To trade and traffic with Macbeth In riddles and affairs of death, And I, the mistress of your charms, The close contriver of all harms, Was never called to bear my part Or show the glory of our art? 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 Meet me i’ th’ morning. Thither he Will come to know his destiny. Your vessels and your spells provide, Your charms and everything beside. I am for th’ air. This night I’ll spend Unto a dismal and a fatal end. Great business must be wrought ere noon. Upon the corner of the moon There hangs a vap’rous drop profound. I’ll catch it ere it come to ground, And that, distilled 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 His hopes ’bove wisdom, grace, and fear. And you all know, security Is mortals’ chiefest enemy. Music and a song. Hark! I am called. My little spirit, see, Sits in a foggy cloud and stays for me.Hecate exits. Sing within “Come away, come away,” etc. FIRST WITCH

Come, let’s make haste. She’ll soon be back again. They exit.

Scene 6

Enter Lennox and another Lord.

LENNOX 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 walked too late, Whom you may say, if ’t please you, Fleance killed, 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? Damnèd fact, 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 angered any heart alive To hear the men deny ’t. So that I say He has borne all things well. And I do think That had he Duncan’s sons under his key (As, an ’t please heaven, he shall not) they should find What ’twere to kill a father. So should Fleance. But peace. For from broad words, and ’cause he failed His presence at the tyrant’s feast, I hear Macduff lives in disgrace. Sir, can you tell Where he bestows himself? LORD The son of Duncan (From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth) Lives in the English court and is received Of the most pious Edward with such grace That the malevolence of fortune nothing Takes from his high respect. Thither Macduff Is gone to pray the holy king upon his aid To wake Northumberland and warlike Siward That, by the help of these (with Him above To ratify the work), we may again Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights, Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives, Do faithful homage, and receive free honors, All which we pine for now. And this report Hath so exasperate the King that he Prepares for some attempt of war. LENNOX Sent he to Macduff? LORD He did, and with an absolute “Sir, not I,” The cloudy messenger turns me his back And hums, as who should say “You’ll rue the time That clogs me with this answer.” LENNOX And that well might Advise him to a caution t’ hold what distance His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel Fly to the court of England and unfold His message ere he come, that a swift blessing May soon return to this our suffering country Under a hand accursed. LORD

I’ll send my prayers with him. They exit.

ACT 4

Scene 1

Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

FIRST WITCH Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed. 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 poisoned entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights has thirty-one Sweltered venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i’ th’ charmèd pot. The Witches circle the cauldron. ALL Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. SECOND WITCH Fillet of a fenny snake In the cauldron boil and bake. Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork and blindworm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. ALL Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. THIRD WITCH Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witch’s mummy, maw and gulf Of the ravined salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digged i’ th’ dark, Liver of blaspheming Jew, Gall of goat and slips of yew Slivered in the moon’s eclipse, Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips, Finger of birth-strangled babe Ditch-delivered by a drab, Make the gruel thick and slab. Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron For th’ ingredience of our cauldron. ALL Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. SECOND WITCH Cool it with a baboon’s blood. Then the charm is firm and good.

Enter Hecate to the other three Witches.

HECATE O, well done! I commend your pains, And everyone shall share i’ th’ gains. And now about the cauldron sing Like elves and fairies in a ring, Enchanting all that you put in. Music and a song: “Black Spirits,” etc. Hecate exits. SECOND WITCH By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. Open, locks, Whoever knocks.

Enter Macbeth.

MACBETH How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags? What is ’t you do? ALL A deed without a name. MACBETH I conjure you by that which you profess (Howe’er you come to know it), answer me. Though you untie the winds and let them fight Against the churches, though the yeasty waves Confound and swallow navigation up, Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down, Though castles topple on their warders’ heads, Though palaces and pyramids do slope Their heads to their foundations, though the treasure Of nature’s germens tumble all together Even till destruction sicken, answer me To what I ask you. FIRST WITCH Speak. SECOND WITCH Demand. THIRD WITCH We’ll answer. FIRST WITCH Say if th’ hadst rather hear it from our mouths Or from our masters’. MACBETH Call ’em. Let me see ’em. FIRST WITCH Pour in sow’s blood that hath eaten Her nine farrow; grease that’s sweaten From the murderers’ gibbet throw Into the flame. ALL Come high or low; Thyself and office deftly show.

Thunder. First Apparition, an Armed Head.

MACBETH Tell me, thou unknown power— FIRST WITCH He knows thy thought. Hear his speech but say thou naught. FIRST APPARITION Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff! Beware the Thane of Fife! Dismiss me. Enough. He descends. MACBETH Whate’er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks. Thou hast harped my fear aright. But one word more— FIRST WITCH He will not be commanded. Here’s another More potent than the first.

Thunder. Second Apparition, a Bloody Child.

SECOND APPARITION Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!— MACBETH Had I three ears, I’d hear thee. SECOND APPARITION Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth.He descends. MACBETH Then live, Macduff; what need I fear of thee? But yet I’ll make assurance double sure And take a bond of fate. Thou shalt not live, That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, And sleep in spite of thunder. Thunder. Third Apparition, a Child Crowned, with a tree in his hand.

What is this That rises like the issue of a king And wears upon his baby brow the round And top of sovereignty? ALL Listen but speak not to ’t. THIRD APPARITION Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are. Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him.He descends. MACBETH That will never be. Who can impress the forest, bid the tree Unfix his earthbound root? Sweet bodements, good! Rebellious dead, rise never till the Wood Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart Throbs to know one thing. Tell me, if your art Can tell so much: shall Banquo’s issue ever Reign in this kingdom? ALL Seek to know no more. MACBETH I will be satisfied. Deny me this, And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know! Cauldron sinks. Hautboys. Why sinks that cauldron? And what noise is this? FIRST WITCH Show. SECOND WITCH Show. THIRD WITCH Show. ALL Show his eyes and grieve his heart. Come like shadows; so depart. A show of eight kings, the eighth king with a glass in his hand, and Banquo last.

MACBETH 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. 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 th’ crack of doom? Another yet? A seventh? I’ll see no more. And yet the eighth appears who bears a glass Which shows me many more, and some I see That twofold balls and treble scepters carry. Horrible sight! Now I see ’tis true, For the blood-boltered Banquo smiles upon me And points at them for his. The Apparitions disappear. What, is this so? FIRST WITCH Ay, sir, all this is so. But why Stands Macbeth thus amazedly? Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites And show the best of our delights. I’ll charm the air to give a sound While you perform your antic round, That this great king may kindly say Our duties did his welcome pay. Music. The Witches dance and vanish. MACBETH Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour Stand aye accursèd in the calendar!— Come in, without there.

Enter Lennox.

LENNOX What’s your Grace’s will? MACBETH Saw you the Weïrd Sisters? LENNOX No, my lord. MACBETH Came they not by you? LENNOX No, indeed, my lord. MACBETH Infected be the air whereon they ride, And damned all those that trust them! I did hear The galloping of horse. Who was ’t came by? LENNOX ’Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word Macduff is fled to England. MACBETH Fled to England? LENNOX Ay, my good lord. MACBETH, aside Time, thou anticipat’st my dread exploits. The flighty purpose never is o’ertook Unless the deed go with it. From this moment The very firstlings of my heart shall be The firstlings of my hand. And even now, To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done: The castle of Macduff I will surprise, Seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool; This deed I’ll do before this purpose cool. But no more sights!—Where are these gentlemen?

Come bring me where they are. They exit.

#Macbeth

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mask131 · 2 years

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Magical summer: The Weird Sisters

THE THREE WITCHES

Category: British literature / Shakespearian theater

Ah… “Macbeth”. One of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. The “cursed play”, the “Scottish play”… As well as one of the most famous depictions of witches in theater and literature. Because, despite their relatively small part in the actual story, the Three Witches are one of the most memorable, remembered and influential characters of “Macbeth”.

The official way to refer to this trio of witches is simply “The Three Witches” : it is how the list of characters at the beginning of the play refers to them. “Three Witches”. However popular culture knows them better under the name “Weird Sisters”, which is one of the names the trio call themselves during their introduction scene. A third name given to them, but less used, is “The Wayward Sisters”. Three names is quite fitting because the Witches of Macbeth are entirely based on the number three: they are three witches, they repeat their incantations three times, and they circle around to “wind up” their spells three times in a row. But more generally, the Witches appear three times in total during the play (I am leaving the Hecate scene aside, see the description below).

~ The Three Witches in the story ~

The Witches are actually the characters that open the play, Scene 1 Act 1. On the foggy moors of Scotland, somewhere during the 11th century, under a thunderous storm three witches are deciding when they will next meet each other again, and they agree that their next reunion will be to “meet with Macbeth” before each going their separate way following the calls of their respective familiars (Graymalkin, Paddock and Anon – the first two are commonly agreed to be a cat and a toad, the third one is more mysterious it might be an owl or a harpy).

The Three Witches reappear in the third scene of the first act – for this specific “meeting with Macbeth” (who we meet during scene 2, as it turns out he is a faithful vassal to the King of Scotland, coming back from a victorious battle). Under a thunderous sky and around a heath, the witches (calling each other “sister”) gather and chat about all the things they have been doing since their last meeting, such as killing swine or causing shipwrecks… But they stop upon hearing the drum announcing the arrival of Macbeth, back from war, with his faithful friend Banquo. Before the two can arrive they turn around nine times to “wound up” their charm. When Macbeth and Banquo see the three witches they quite startled, and despite Banquo speaking to them first, they speak to Macbeth in return. They deliver him a prophecy in three times “All hail Macbeth, thane of Glamis! All hail Macbeth, thane of Cawdor! All hail Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!”. Banquo, quite happy for his friends upon the witches delivering him such a good prophecy, decides to ask the witches (that he clearly identifies as prophets or seers) to speak about HIS future, and their prophecy is… quite weird. “Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. Not so happy, yet much happier. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.” And then the witches vanish.

These prophecies are actually what starts the whole plot of the play. Macbeth, who is just the Thane of Glamis, does not understand how he could “Thane of Cawdor” or “King” given both of these titles are hold by healthy, living, powerful men… But upon returning home, Macbeth discovers that Duncan, the King of Scotland, decided to reward Macbeth for his services by giving him the title of Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth then understands that the prophecy of the witches is indeed real, and gladly awaits to become King after Duncan… However, through fear, greed, ambition, and the negative influence of his wife, Macbeth will slowly sink into villainy and madness, first by murdering Duncan in order to steal the crown away from him, and then by killing Banquo, his good friend, because since the witches said he would give birth to a “line of kings”, Macbeth feared Banquo would steal away his throne. The new King of Scotland is however not appeased: the young son of Banquo escaped the murderers Macbeth sent, and Macbeth is tormented by the ghost of Banquo (or at least he thinks Banquo haunts him – to everyone else it just looks like he is going mad).

Macbeth, to appease his fear, doubt and guilt, decides to seek back the Three Witches and he does so in the opening of Act 4, which forms the last apparition of the Wayward Sisters. Macbeth finds them in a cavern, gathered around a boiling cauldron. Before Macbeth’s arrival the witches had been preparing a potion by throwing in all sorts of weird, creepy and disturbing ingredients while chanting and dancing around the “boiling pot”. However they feel Macbeth arriving (a witch says the iconic line “By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.”. Macbeth arrives and begs them to answer his questions and give him more prophecies: but this time the Witches offer Macbeth to hear the future not from their mouth, but from the one of their “masters”. What follows is a series of three “apparitions” – the spirits that the witches serve appear to Macbeth, each one with a new prophecy. First appears “an armed Head”, which tells him to “beware of Macduff, the thane of Fife”. Second appears a “bloody Child” which tells him to “be bloody, bold and resolute ; laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth”. The third spirit is a “Child crowned with a tree in his hand” that tells him: “Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him”. The witches then promptly order Macbeth to “Seek to know no more” – yet Macbeth, much too curious for his own good, begs to know and see what is cooking inside the witches’ cauldron… and he regrets it when the content of the cauldron appears: eight ghosts of kings, with the last one being actually the crowned ghost of Banquo. Macbeth is seeing the future “line of kings” Banquo’s son will birth to rule over Scotland. The Witches then disappear and this is the last we see of them.

However this last scene is crucial to the development of the story. On one side the witches’ prophecies gave Macbeth a sense of comfort and omnipotence: he cannot be defeated by a man “of woman born”, and he will only be vanquished when the Birnam wood will “walk” against him and come down from Dunsinane hill… Which is obvious impossible as trees can’t just move around. Due to these prophecies and the spirits’ encouragement, Macbeth will become bolder and more ruthless in his decisions and actions, certain that no one can vanquish him… But on the other hand seeing back the ghost of Banquo and the kings he shall bear re-ignited Macbeth’s fear that the son of Banquo will steal his throne, and the witches warning about Macduff also greatly worry him. He is another member of the court, who so far only has a secondary role in the play, but to avoid any risk Macbeth decides to eliminate him. However he can only manage to kill Macduff’s wife and son, as Macduff himself has fled Macbeth’s tyranny and madness… Which actually makes the witches prophecy a self-fulfilling one as, by killing Macduff’s family Macbeth just made a mortal enemy out of him.

Macduff and the son of King Duncan, Prince Malcolm, gather together their forces to launch an army against Macbeth to dethrone him. Macbeth, full of pride, is ready to take them on… until the prophecy of the witches becomes reality. The Birnam wood “coming down” onto Macbeth… is the army of Macduff and Malcolm, who use tree branches and tree-disguises as a camouflage method to approach the castle of Macbeth unseen. And the “man of no woman born” is actually Malcolm, who fights and kills Macbeth in a duel: he was born out of a Cesarean. So he was not “born” of a woman… but ��ripped out” of a woman.

Thus the witches’ prophecies come true and the story ends with order restored.

~ More about the Witches ~

# The Weird Sister are, indeed, very weird in appearance. We never get a clear description of them but we know that they are supposed to be quite old (they are called “hags”, are said to have wrinkled fingers…), they are very ugly (described as “foul” and “withered”), and they have a “wild attire” (their wilderness making sense given they have a strong tie to nature, tied to wild animals, gathering under storms, meeting on moors and in caverns…). In fact, they are so bizarre, ugly and deformed that Banquo, upon seeing them, wonders if they are truly “inhabitant of earth” and if they are not “fantastical” beings – he even wonders if they are actually alive and not some sort of ghosts or revenants. One final line is that, upon first seeing them, Banquo doubts their actual gender because despite them looking and being dressed like women, they have “beards”. This line (which is not often adapted into the witches’ design) was actually a meta-joke by Shakespeare, because at the time no woman was allowed on stage and so in theater plays all feminine roles were played by men. Usually women were played by young, beardless men (preferably pre-teen boys or youthful/feminine looking teenagers) ; but we can imagine that to play the ugly and old witches, mature men were used. Aka bearded men, hence the inner joke of Banquo seeing the witches beard and doubting their gender. (A joke that also works in the idea that the witches are bizarre, confusing and abnormal beings, like bearded women).

# The witches are clearly forces of evil and chaos here. Their powers are destructive ones, as all they do is kill living beings, cause disasters and disturb nature : Macbeth mentions that he knows how they enrage the winds and disturb the sea to destroy buildings and fields through storms, for example. They are also shown to be quite petty and cruel, as for example one says she cursed a sailor with perpetual insomnia to drive him insane, just because he was a bit rude with her and refused to give her some food. But despite all that, they are not actually the villains of the play. The true villain is Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth. The Witches do start Macbeth’s fall into villainy, crime and madness, as it is their prophecy that ignites Macbeth’s ambition and makes him power-hungry… But all they do is actually deliver visions of the future. They just say the future as it will happen, and this is it. Macbeth on its own lets himself get corrupted by these prophecies. But the confusing thing is that Macbeth is the titular character, and the protagonist of the story – as a result, all the “good people” that oppose him are antagonists. Macbeth is an anti-hero as we see the pain, guilt and heavy price that his actions bring to him, almost giving up sympathy for this man who sees his world crumble down horribly around him because he listened to the wrong people and wanted to follow a hopeful dream… The same way others such as Banquo, Macduff and Malcolm are anti-villains, as while they are the enemies of Macbeth, they are victims of his crime, and here to restore order into the kingdom and punish a villain. And this entire confusion is actually recapped in one specific line told by the Three Witches in their very first scene, a line which becomes a leitmotif for the whole play “Fair is foul and foul is fair”. The Witches are precisely such a confusion and inversion of morals, and they bring, through their prophecies and presence, the same kind of chaos and anarchy into the kingdom, as Macbeth’s rule is surrounded by treachery, murders and all sorts of other disasters.

# This all leads to a big debate about the exact role of the Witches. The literal, simple, most down-to-the-text interpretation of the Weird Sisters is that they are not actually villain character in the play, but rather “purveyor of dangerous knowledge”. Their only mission originally was to meet with Macbeth to deliver him their prophecy that he would be King. That was it. Banquo was not included in their preparations, and he insisted on having a prophecy too – which he got, so he discovered his glorious future… but also put himself into danger, because it is this prophecy that will lead Macbeth to kill him. The same thing happened when Macbeth actively sought the witches a second time: he wanted to have more prophecies to ease his tormented mind, and he got them, but to the price of both luring him into a false sense of invulnerability AND causing his own fall and doom. If Macbeth hadn’t tried to kill Macduff due to the Witches’ prophecy, Macduff would probably have not turned against him so hard. Macbeth tried to accelerate or prevent his own fate, but in doing so prepare his own doom and fall – and overall, the Witches’ prophecy are self-fulfilling. The moment someone asks for their knowledge of the future, this person is doomed, and it is well illustrated by how Macbeth’s curiosity about what is in the cauldron, despite the Witches’ warnings, leads to a manifestation of his worst fear and the certainty of his failure.

# But a second interpretation of the Witches, which rose in popularity in several adaptations (especially since the Orson Welles movie), is that they are not as passive characters as the first interpretation leads to believe: this second idea claims the Witches are actually masterminds of the whole play, that they orchestrated Macbeth’s rise to power and fall in order to savor the chaos and evilness that would result from it. This concept of the Witches interprets them as deliberately making their prophecies ambiguous enough to be misinterpreted by Macbeth, and shows them as influencing Macbeth into villainy and madness – as a result in this version Macbeth is less a man who lets his own flaws and ambition turn him into a monster, but rather the puppet of evil witches and the victim of supernatural forces beyond his control. (A specific case: the Witches predict that Macbeth will be King. However the actual king, Duncan, says his heir will be his son Malcolm. Macbeth, anxious at seeing his dream pass by, decides to take matter into his own hands and kill Duncan to take the crown away. Did the Witches actually saw and predict that Macbeth would be King? Or did they make this “fake” prophecy to place the idea of kingship in Macbeth’s mind, knowing full well he would somehow manage on his own to get King and thus take the crown away from the royal family?)

These two dual interpretations can co-exist without much trouble because in the play itself there is a confusion and ambiguity towards the relationship between the Witches and fate : it is unclear if the Witches actually shape and provoke fate, or if they are just servants of Fate whose job is to do what they do. When in the first scene they set their next meeting with Macbeth, are they doing that on their own accord because they decide that Macbeth will be their next “game”… or are they just obeying the powers of Fate that force them to meet Macbeth so that they can deliver their prophecy? It doesn’t help that Shakespeare HEAVILY relied on ancient pagan symbolism of fate to create his Witches: a trio of three old women giving prophecies was of course made to evoke characters such as the Moirae of Greek mythology or the Norns of Norse mythology, and the word “weird” (of Weird Sisters) actually comes from the ancient word “wyrd” which was an alternate way to name “fate”, “doom”, “destiny”. As a result one can read it as the “Wyrd Sisters” or “Sisters of Fate”. (It is a wordplay Terry Pratchett did in his Discworld series, when he parodied Macbeth in the novel called “Wyrd Sisters”). Again, new confusion and ambiguity: The Wayward Sisters are clearly entities whose actions and presence are chaotic by nature, and yet they serve and use fate, the ultimate form of order…

# The scene of Macbeth visiting the Witches in their cave brings a very iconic theme and topic: the Witches cooking a potion with bizarre ingredients over a cauldron. This is where we have the iconic line “Double, double, toil and trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bubble” (which got even more famous when the Harry Potters movie made a whole song out of it). The Witches list all the ingredients they throw into their cauldron, all bizarre, weird, creepy or disturbing (finger of a birth-strangled babe, liver of a blaspheming Jew, root of hemlock, scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, wool of bat, tongue of dog…), and this long litany of rhyming ingredients greatly influenced the concept of potions and witches’ brew in popular culture and literature. It goes to the point that some of the very first ingredients listed by the witches, “Eye of newt” and “toe of frog”, became an archetypal ingredient of potions and magical brews in fiction, and even a stereotype in modern days. But what one should not underestimate is the importance of the three witches being gathered around a cauldron. It might seem “normal” for us today, but back then the imagery of witches gathering around a cauldron weren’t actually “popular” or “common”. In fact, this very idea of witches gathering together around a cauldron, or brewing horrible potions inside a cauldron, was popularized and spread into culture thanks to this very specific scene in Macbeth!

- - -

Now maybe is time to talk about the "Hecate scene"... At the end of act 3 there is a fourth scene involving The Witches. In this scene Hecate herself (yep, the goddess) arrives as Queen of Witches - and she scolds the Weird Sisters for having directly acted in Macbeth's fate and given him prophecies without consulting or warning her first. This scene is actually a musical interlude, with a witch song and lot of creepy special effects and incantations. However this scene is cut from almost every adaptation of the play. Why? For the simple reason that it is pretty obvious it does not belong here. The scene doesn't make much sense in context, and while it is definitively a cool one, it breaks the tension and the plot, and ruins the balance, harmony and tone set by the rest of the play (which works very well once this sequence is removed). In fact, people have traced back the origins of this part : it is actually a scene belonging to ANOTHER theater play of the time "The Witch" by Thomas Middleton. As a result it is clear that this sequence was NOT written by Shakespeare, and was not intended to be part of Macbeth. Rather after the success of the play someone took this scene out of Middleton's work and added it into the play (or at least into the printed version of the play) to add more "witchy" stuff in it. And it is quite interesting to see that the whole point of the witches in this story was also to greatly please a specific member of the audience: the current King of England, James the First (also known as James the Sixth... You see, he started out as James VI King of Scotland, but after the death of Elizabeth the First he ended up with the English crown too, becoming James I of England... James VI and I, double King). On one side, James was believed to be a descendant of Banquo, so obviously there's things playing about that in the play. But James was also known for his great fascination and obsession with witches and witchcraft - the characters of the Weird Sisters and their incantations were put in by Shakespeare specifically to suit the taste and obsessions of the king. It was even rumored that the spells and incantations used by Shakespeare were actually REAL witches chant... But this obsession of James had quite a dark side, because this obsession was also a form of paranoia that was fed by demonologists and religious authorities all over both countries... and which led to several waves of witch hunts throughout England and Scotland. You thought Salem was bad? It was just a speck of dust compared to all the trials, tortures and executions that happened in those countries.

#magical summer #witch #weird sisters #wayward sisters #three witches #macbeth #shakespeare #the witches

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