Macbeth by William Shakespeare (top 100 books to read TXT) 📕

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 towering 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,
    Turn'd 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 the amazement of mine eyes
    That look'd 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 suborn'd:
    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 wilt ravin up
    Thine own life's 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!
                                                         Exeunt.

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ACT III. SCENE I. Forres. The palace.

Enter Banquo.

  BANQUO. 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,
    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 sounds. Enter Macbeth as King, Lady Macbeth
    as Queen, Lennox, Ross, Lords, Ladies, 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 bestow'd
    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. Exit Banquo.
    Let every man be master of his time
    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?
  ATTENDANT. They are, my lord, without the palace gate.
  MACBETH. Bring them before us. Exit Attendant.
    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,
    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 hail'd him father to a line of kings.
    Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown
    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 murther'd,
    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 seed of Banquo kings!
    Rather than so, come, Fate, into the list,
    And champion me to the utterance! Who's there?

Re-enter Attendant, with two Murtherers.

    Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.
                                                 Exit Attendant.
    Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
  FIRST MURTHERER. It was, so please your Highness.
  MACBETH. Well then, now
    Have you consider'd 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, pass'd in probation with you:
    How you were borne in hand, how cross'd, 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 MURTHERER. 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 gospel'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 forever?
  FIRST MURTHERER. We are men, my liege.
  MACBETH. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men,
    As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
    Shoughs, waterrugs, 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' 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,
    Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
    Which in his death were perfect.
  SECOND MURTHERER. 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 MURTHERER. And I another
    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.
  MACBETH. Both of you
    Know Banquo was your enemy.
  BOTH MURTHERERS. 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 MURTHERER. We shall, my lord,
    Perform what you command us.
  FIRST MURTHERER. 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' the time,
    The moment on't; fort 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.
  BOTH MURTHERERS. We are resolved, my lord.
  MACBETH. I'll call upon you straight. Abide within.
                                              Exeunt Murtherers.
    It is concluded: Banquo, thy soul's flight,
    If it find heaven, must find it out tonight. Exit.

SCENE II. The palace.

Enter Lady Macbeth 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. Exit.
  LADY MACBETH. Nought'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 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.
    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 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 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 the 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. Exeunt.

SCENE III. A park near the palace.

Enter three Murtherers.

  FIRST MURTHERER. But who did