Act III, Scene 3
A park near the palace.
[Enter three Murderers]
First Murderer. But who did bid thee join with us?
Third Murderer. Macbeth. 1235
Second 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: 1240
Now spurs the lated traveller 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! 1245
Second Murderer. Then 'tis he: the rest
That are within the note of expectation
Already are i' the court.
First Murderer. His horses go about.
Third Murderer. Almost a mile: but he does usually, 1250
So all men do, from hence to the palace gate
Make it their walk.
Second Murderer. A light, a light!
[Enter BANQUO, and FLEANCE with a torch]
Third Murderer. 'Tis he. 1255
First Murderer. Stand to't.
Banquo. It will be rain to-night.
First Murderer. Let it come down.
[They set upon BANQUO]
Banquo. O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! 1260
Thou mayst revenge. O slave!
[Dies. FLEANCE escapes]
Third Murderer. Who did strike out the light?
First Murderer. Wast not the way?
Third Murderer. There's but one down; the son is fled. 1265
Second Murderer. We have lost
Best half of our affair.
First Murderer. Well, let's away, and say how much is done.
[Exeunt]
Act III, Scene 4
The same. Hall in the palace.
[A banquet 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.
Lords. Thanks to your majesty.
Macbeth. Ourself will mingle with society, 1275
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. 1280
[First Murderer appears at the door]
Macbeth. See, they encounter thee with their hearts' thanks.
Both sides are even: here I'll sit i' the midst:
Be large in mirth; anon we'll drink a measure
The table round. 1285
[Approaching the door]
There's blood on thy face.
First Murderer. 'Tis Banquo's then.
Macbeth. 'Tis better thee without than he within.
Is he dispatch'd? 1290
First Murderer. My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him.
Macbeth. Thou art the best o' the cut-throats: yet he's good
That did the like for Fleance: if thou didst it,
Thou art the nonpareil.
First Murderer. Most royal sir, 1295
Fleance is 'scaped.
Macbeth. Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect,
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,
As broad and general as the casing air:
But now I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confined, bound in 1300
To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo's safe?
First Murderer. Ay, my good lord: safe in a ditch he bides,
With twenty trenched gashes on his head;
The least a death to nature.
Macbeth. Thanks for that: 1305
There the grown serpent lies; the worm that's fled
Hath nature that in time will venom breed,
No teeth for the present. Get thee gone: to-morrow
We'll hear, ourselves, again.
[Exit Murderer]
Lady Macbeth. My royal lord,
You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold
That is not often vouch'd, while 'tis a-making,
'Tis given with welcome: to feed were best at home;
From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony; 1315
Meeting were bare without it.
Macbeth. Sweet remembrancer!
Now, good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both!
Lennox. May't please your highness sit. 1320
[The GHOST OF BANQUO enters, and sits in]
MACBETH's place]
Macbeth. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd,
Were the graced person of our Banquo present;
Who may I rather challenge for unkindness 1325
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. 1330
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? 1335
Macbeth. 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; 1340
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. Are you a man?
Macbeth. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that 1345
Which might appal 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, 1350
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. 1355
Macbeth. Prithee, see there! behold! look! 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 1360
Shall be the maws of kites.
[GHOST OF BANQUO vanishes]
Lady Macbeth. What, quite unmann'd in folly?
Macbeth. If I stand here, I saw him.
Lady Macbeth. Fie, for shame! 1365
Macbeth. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time,
Ere human statute purged the gentle weal;
Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd
Too terrible for the ear: the times have been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die, 1370
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, 1375
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; 1380
Then I'll sit down. Give me some wine; fill full.
I drink to the general joy o' the 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. 1385
Lords. Our duties, and the pledge.
[Re-enter GHOST OF BANQUO]
Macbeth. 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 1390
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. What man dare, I dare: 1395
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger;
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble: or be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword; 1400
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!
Unreal mockery, hence!
[GHOST OF BANQUO vanishes]
Why, so: being gone, 1405
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, 1410
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. 1415
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. 1420
Lennox. Good night; and better health
Attend his majesty!
Lady Macbeth. A kind good night to all!
[Exeunt all but MACBETH and LADY MACBETH]
Macbeth. It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood: 1425
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;
Augurs and understood relations have
By magot-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. 1430
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 1435
I keep a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow,
And betimes I will, to the weird sisters:
More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know,
By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good,
All causes shall give way: I am in blood 1440
Stepp'd 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 scann'd.
Lady Macbeth. You lack the season of all natures, sleep. 1445
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.
[Exeunt]
Act III, Scene 5
A Heath.
[Thunder. 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; 1455
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of all harms,
Was never call'd to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?
And, which is worse, all you have done 1460
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 1465
Meet me i' the morning: thither he
Will come to know his destiny:
Your vessels and your spells provide,
Your charms and every thing beside.
I am for the air; this night I'll spend 1470
Unto a dismal and a fatal end:
Great business must be wrought ere noon:
Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vaporous drop profound;
I'll catch it ere it come to ground: 1475
And that distill'd 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 1480
He hopes 'bove wisdom, grace and fear:
And you all know, security
Is mortals' chiefest enemy.
[Music and a song within: 'Come away, come away,' &c]
Hark! I am call'd; my little spirit, see, 1485
Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me.
[Exit]
First Witch. Come, let's make haste; she'll soon be back again.
[Exeunt]
Act III, Scene 6
Forres. The palace.
[Enter LENNOX and another Lord]
Lennox. My former speeches have but hit your thoughts,
Which can interpret further: only, I say,
Things have been strangely borne. The
gracious Duncan
Was pitied of Macbeth: marry, he was dead: 1495
And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late;
Whom, you may say, if't please you, Fleance kill'd,
For Fleance fled: men must not walk too late.
Who cannot want the thought how monstrous
It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain 1500
To kill their gracious father? damned 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; 1505
For 'twould have anger'd 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 1510
should find
What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance.
But, peace! for from broad words and 'cause he fail'd
His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear
Macduff lives in disgrace: sir, can you tell 1515
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 1520
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 1525
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 honours:
All which we pine for now: and this report 1530
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, 1535
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, to hold what distance
His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel 1540
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. 1545
[Exeunt]