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, 5
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague th’ inventor. This even-handed justice 10
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, 15
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off; 20
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 25
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? | Somewhere in the castle Macbeth sits alone, contemplating the murder of King Duncan. And it gets a little complicated. See, if it were simply a matter of killing the king and then moving on without consequences, it wouldn't be a big issue. The problem is what happens afterward—the whole, being damned to hell thing. It's even worse, because murdering Duncan in Macbeth's own home would be a serious violation of hospitality. He's supposed to protect the king, not murder him. Plus, Duncan is a pretty good king (if not a bit "meek") and heaven is bound to frown upon murdering such a decent fellow. In then end, Macbeth decides that it's probably not a good idea to commit murder. He has no justifiable cause to kill the king and he admits that he's merely ambitious. |
LADY MACBETH
He has almost supped. Why have you left the 30
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 35
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon. | Lady Macbeth comes in to find out why Macbeth isn't downstairs making nice with the King, and Macbeth puts his foot down. He tells her he's made up his mind. There will be no more murdery talk about Duncan. The King has just honored Macbeth, Macbeth is clearly a rising star, and it would be silly to risk everything with this crazy plan. |
LADY MACBETH Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since? 40
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 45
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. 50
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? 55
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 60
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 65
And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this. | Lady Macbeth is livid. Was he drunk when he promised to follow through with this plan before? What's made him so cowardly? She gives him a good tongue-lashing, questions his manhood, and says that unlike him, she knows how to keep her word. If she had promised to kill her own child, she'd do it without a second thought, even if she was right in the middle of breast-feeding. |
MACBETH If we should fail— LADY MACBETH We fail?
But screw your courage to the sticking place 70
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, 75
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 80
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell? | Macbeth is worried about what will happen if they get caught, but Lady Macbeth scoffs at the idea. Them? Get caught? Ha! She lays out the plan to get Duncan's guards drunk and frame them for the murder. Easy-peasy. |
MACBETH Bring forth men-children only,
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be received, 85
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 90
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 95
know. They exit. | Macbeth is a little turned on by his wife's show of strength, and he finally resolves to go through with the murder. Now all they have to do is act innocent until everything is taken care of. |