Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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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. They sit. LORDS Thanks to your Majesty. MACBETH
Ourself will mingle with society
And play the humble host. 5
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. | Meanwhile, back at the dinner party, the Macbeths make a big show of welcoming their guests. |
Enter First Murderer to the door. MACBETH
See, they encounter thee with their hearts’ thanks. 10
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. 15 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. 20
If thou didst it, thou art the nonpareil. MURDERER
Most royal sir, Fleance is ’scaped. | The first murderer enters as everyone is being seated. Macbeth darts off to see the first murderer, who informs him that they've slit Banquo's throat, but that Fleance has escaped. |
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. 25
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. 30 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. 35 | Ooh. Not good. Macbeth is pretty sure that this is really going to tick Fleance off. He sends the murderer away, saying they'll check in again tomorrow. |
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; 40
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. 45 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. | And now the fun begins: Banquo's ghost shows up. Because the ghost is silent, he gets to creep around quite a bit before anyone notices. Eventually, he sits down. In Macbeth's chair! While everyone is busy not noticing, Macbeth raises a toast and calls special attention to Banquo's absence. He hopes Banquo is just running late or being rude and that nothing horrible has happened to him. (What a thoughtful guy.) |
ROSS His absence, sir, 50
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. 55 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? 60 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. | Multiple lords invite Macbeth to take his seat, but to Macbeth—who is the only one who can see the ghost—the table appears full. When he realizes who's in his chair, Macbeth freaks out. Naturally, all the lords all take notice and begin to worry that Macbeth isn't well. |
LADY MACBETH
Sit, worthy friends. My lord is often thus
And hath been from his youth. Pray you, keep seat. 65
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? 70 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 75
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, 80
You look but on a stool. | Lady Macbeth, always a quick thinker, excuses her husband for these "momentary" fits he has had since childhood. She urges them to keep eating, and then corners Macbeth, who is still hysterical. She asks him if he's a man, because he's acting like a sissy. She tells him to get it together—there's nothing but a stool in front of him. This "ghost" business is all in his head. |
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 85
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! 90 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, 95
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. | Meanwhile, Macbeth is discoursing with the ghost that only he sees, and then it disappears. He swears to Lady Macbeth that the ghost was there, and then laments that it used to be that when you dashed a man's brains out he would die. Now, apparently, instead of dying people come back and steal your seat at the table. Sheesh. The nerve! |
LADY MACBETH My worthy lord, 100
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 105
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, 110
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 115
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. 120 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 125
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, 130
I am a man again.—Pray you sit still. | Everything is just getting back to normal when the ghost reappears. Again Macbeth calls out a toast to the missing Banquo (he's just asking for it now). When he sees that the ghost has returned, Macbeth screams at him for being so spooky. He says if Banquo were to appear in any physical form—even a Russian bear—Macbeth would take him on, no problem. The ghost leaves again and Macbeth tells everyone to stay put. |
LADY MACBETH
You have displaced the mirth, broke the good
meeting
With most admired disorder. MACBETH Can such things be 135
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 140
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. 145
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. 150 Lords and all but Macbeth and Lady Macbeth exit. | Lady Macbeth lets her husband know that he's killed the mood. It's pretty clear the party's over. Macbeth tries to recover, and he even questions everyone else, asking how they can be so calm in the face of such horrible sights. Um...what sights? they want to know. Lady Macbeth tells the concerned lords to leave immediately. Pronto. NOW. |
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 155
forth
The secret’st man of blood.—What is the night? | After they exit, Macbeth philosophizes that blood will have blood. In other words, this ain't over yet. |
LADY MACBETH
Almost at odds with morning, which is which. MACBETH
How say’st thou that Macduff denies his person
At our great bidding? 160 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. 165
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. 170
Strange things I have in head that will to hand,
Which must be acted ere they may be scanned. | Morning is now approaching, and Macbeth points out that Macduff never showed at the party. He lets out that he has had a spy in Macduff's house. He promises to go to the witches the next day, and says that he's so far into this bloody business that there's no turning back now. |
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. 175
We are yet but young in deed. They exit. | Lady Macbeth suggests that maybe he just needs a good night's sleep, and so they go off to bed. Sweet dreams, you crazy kids! |