Year
1060
Dramatis Personae
Malcolm
Macduff
Seyton
Siward
Lennox
Angus
Ross
Donalbain
Fleance
Cawdor
Lady Malcolm
Nurse
Fiona
Syna
Doctor
Porter
Three Witches
Three Murderers
Two Petitioners
Suitor
Suitor’s Father
Two Guards
Six Crowd Members
Attendants
Messengers
Ghost of Macbeth
Ghost of Banquo
ACT I
SCENE I
Heath at sunset.
Enter Three Witches.
FIRST WITCH Now that we three meet again,
No thunder, lightning, absent rain.
SECOND WITCH No wars that rage, no plague that spreads,
no envied crown, no sleepless beds.
THIRD WITCH The hurly-burly now is done,
the battle has been lost and won.
ALL Sink down, now, the setting sun.
FIRST WITCH Invite a fog, let it rise,
bring for Malcolm slow demise.
SECOND WITCH A lizard’s eye, a drop of sage,
lend this Malcolm baseless rage.
THIRD WITCH A tiger’s claw, berries tart,
seal this king a blackened heart.
FIRST WITCH An eagle’s spine, a cup of sand,
spark new wars throughout the land.
ALL Fair is foul, and foul is fair,
Hover in fog and filthy air.
Exeunt.
SCENE II
Dunsinane.
Malcolm, seated, with Attendants.
Enter Macduff, Seyton, Siward, Lennox, Angus and Attendants.
ALL God save the King!
MALCOLM Welcome, dear counsel. But why such haste?
LENNOX My liege,
a band of men has formed about Fleance.
ANGUS They head for the sea.
SEYTON ’Tis a dangerous mob,
and it will swell before it touches the shore.
MALCOLM Fleance then rebuffed our invitation?
LENNOX He said he would ne’er again grace the walls
of Dunsinane.
SEYTON ’Tis a sharp rebuke,
the prologue to some greater action. We must
strike now, before this worm becomes a snake.
MALCOLM Macduff, you are silent.
MACDUFF Forgive, my lord. It is
my language since the murder of the ones
I loved.
MALCOLM Shall we strike Fleance?
MACDUFF No, my lord.
SEYTON Traitor!
Macduff draws.
MACDUFF This sword will take your head as swift as took
it Macbeth’s.
MALCOLM Stay, Macduff. Seyton, allow his speech.
MACDUFF Fleance’s gathering is but a few dozen souls.
They pose no threat to your great throne. They head
away from Dunsinane, not towards.
SEYTON In order to regroup
on some other shore.
MACDUFF You are a mighty
king, my liege. You have no reason to fear
an absconding boy.
SEYTON This boy is now a man,
and thinks manly thoughts.
MACDUFF Shall Scotland see
a king grown so uncertain of his throne
that he’d unleash an army ’gainst a pack
of men?
SEYTON Shall Scotland watch a king afraid
to stop rebellion in his midst?
A cheer.
MALCOLM What noise is that outside my window?
ANGUS A throng
has camped to celebrate your reign. ’Tis ten
years today since your ascent.
MALCOLM Is it today? Then this day also marks
the anniversary of Macbeth’s fall.
O, two-headed day! God has graced
us with ten quiet years. Scotland thrives;
Norway dares not attack; and the reign
of the Macbeths doth fade from memory.
The land now lies content, except in its need
of an heir, which I will soon provide. Stalk
Fleance; but do not attack. He has
commited no crime. Graver the danger that I
become the likeness of Macbeth than that
a boy-man dream of breaching Dunsinane.
SEYTON My lord,
the danger lies not in Fleance’s present strength;
it lies in the prophecy that he, not you,
shall inherit Scotland’s throne.
MALCOLM Let us declare our days of prophecy
concluded. Scotland has prospered without such dark
omens, and the witches’ words have proved false.
SEYTON But, my liege—
MALCOLM I have spoken.
Enter Ross.
ROSS God save the King.
MALCOLM What news from Ireland?
How fares my dear brother?
ROSS News which shames
me to report, my lord. A massive army
forms ’round Donalbain.
MALCOLM For what purpose?
ROSS I know not, and thus urge temperance.
Yet a host of ships rests on their shore,
and they all point towards Scotland.
SIWARD What!
SEYTON Traitor!
LENNOX Villain!
MALCOLM Even so?
ROSS We do not know
their purpose, my lord.
MACDUFF Ships set on a shore
do not in themselves prove ill intent.
SIWARD What other intent could there be?
LENNOX If peaceful,
he would have forewarned.
MACDUFF Perhaps it was gathered in haste.
SEYTON In haste to conquer Dunsinane.
You would have Donalbain’s army pounding
on our gates and wonder at his intent.
MALCOLM Enough! Are not my brother and I two halves
of one same Duncan? I cannot imagine
he aims for my throne.
MACDUFF He is a noble soul,
kind, valiant, honest.
MALCOLM Yet ’tis strange
he never returned to Scotland.
SEYTON But ’tis not,
my lord: for if your brother was devoid
of princely ambition, surely he would have returned,
as one brother to another, to the land
of his birth. If he lacked the lust
for power, he would have warned of his intent—
indeed, would not have massed such arms. The truest
villain does not reveal himself until
the moment meet for his desire—
and for this the truest will wait a lifetime.
MALCOLM Proceed to Ireland, noble Ross. Tell
my brother to return to Scotland at once, alone,
so that I may interrogate his intent.
Exit Ross.
SEYTON It is a fool’s errand, my lord. He will
return, but with men in tow. We must prepare
a defense, not grant him time to launch.
MALCOLM I have spoken. Go to.
Exeunt.
MALCOLM Macduff?
Macduff remains.
MALCOLM You knew my brother well. What do you see
in this?
MACDUFF No foul purpose. Except in Seyton.
He sees in your brother what he hides in himself.
Exit Macduff.
MALCOLM O Donalbain! In these halls of flatterers,
a brother’s love is what I long for most—
yet what, as king, I am least safe to have.
If the witches had foretold that I’d
be king, then would there still sit such unrest?
Are not ten years enough to kill the flame
of speculation? . . . Not even in myself.
As king, I mock their prophecy; as man
and witness, I cannot forget. I do
fear Fleance, but that I do my men
can never know; I do suspect Donalbain;
Seyton and Siward have lately grown too bold;
and Norway is not as still as I pretend.
O, unstable anniversary!
I am enthroned by right, but not by fate—
and fate is yet the stronger of the two.
Why then, I shall challenge fate.
What’s done can be undone; what’s proclaimed,
proclaimed again. What better way to quell
a prophecy than with another?
I shall find the witches, and if by right
am I king, what prophecy can form
but one triumphant, filled with omens fair?
Fleance, I need not net you with my men—
old ladies’ words will do the work as well.
What they’ve spun for you, they’ll spin for me.
Head I there with alacrity.
Exit Malcolm.
SCENE III
Witches’ place.
Enter Malcolm.
MALCOLM This mist of hell confounds. Swore I the hags
lived in this place; yet days of searching bear
no fruit. Perchance times of prophecy
have long since concluded.
Enter Three Witches.
FIRST WITCH Hail to thee, King of Scotland!
SECOND WITCH Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
THIRD WITCH Hail to thee, master of Macbeth!
MALCOLM Can it be? Hear me, sisters. I have come—
FIRST WITCH You speak when you should listen.
SECOND WITCH You listen but hear not.
THIRD WITCH You look but see not.
MALCOLM Do not declaim in riddles. I beseech, if nights
of prophecy have not been stopped,
then I, as king, command: lend me your clouded
vision and ope my fate. O agents of darkness!
Grant me a prophecy to slay Macbeth’s.
Speak for me a future, one greater yet
more permanent; one grander yet more secure.
ALL Triple, triple, toil and trouble,
fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
FIRST WITCH Look to Ireland; from there will hail
your sorrows. An army shall your brother march
through the shades of Birnam Wood.
SECOND WITCH Look to the black church: you will love
Macbeth,
and love in marriage will divide.
THIRD WITCH No man can kill you but Cawdor.
MALCOLM Stay, imperfect speakers! Stay!
Pronounce more clearly! I demand!
Witches Vanish.
MALCOLM They have sunk again into the bog;
yet their evil residue remains.
O Donalbain! Would you march a troop
’gainst your other half? I will prepare.
A black church? Love Macbeth? Nonsense—
I cannot love a ghost. None can kill
me but Cawdor. There is the heart of it.
Being Cawdor I shall not attack
myself. Thus am I secure
in what can never be. See, Banquo,
you were wrong: your seed shall not sow kings.
I alone am king!
Exit Malcolm
SCENE IV
Ireland.
Enter Ross, Donalbain and Soldiers.
ROSS Hail to thee, Prince Donalbain!
DONALBAIN It warms my heart to see a living thing
from Scotland. Ireland is now my home,
yet the Highlands sit deep in my heart.
ROSS Sire, is this why you have amassed
these men, which were absent when last we met?
Have you your brother’s throne set in your sights?
DONALBAIN Art thou mad? Ha! Nonsense! Indeed!
My brother sits as rightful king; my seat
lies in the shadow of the throne. Gladly so.
For I have studied the missteps of Macbeth
and thus have settled here in Ireland;
unreservedly, then, my brother can rule,
free from the threat of Duncan’s other half.
The second-born brother must prop the first. That
is why I have gathered these men.
We have received ill news of Norway’s approach.
She means to catch sweet Malcolm unaware,
as a violent storm upon a peaceful sea.
Grace be to God we have netted this scroll.
(hands him scroll)
Read
how it commands one ship to meet the other.
I shall not rest whilst my dear brother lies
in danger. I have thus lev’raged my purse to recruit
this loyal throng. We shall soon sail for home,
and lend our lives to him.
ROSS I am thus more shamed by the news I bear.
DONALBAIN A message?
ROSS From your brother.
DONALBAIN Out with it.
ROSS He is suspect of your intent, and demands
a private audience.
DONALBAIN Suspect? Of a brother?
ROSS I shame to speak.
DONALBAIN Suspect? Of his flesh?
ROSS Your prolonged absence,
and now this sudden army—they have grown
as thorns upon his reason.
DONALBAIN Others prick
too, I’m sure: Seyton, Siward?
ROSS I do not deny. For he is flocked by men
of little trust, and in you, the wayward prince,
they have found a subject.
DONALBAIN The too-worn walls of Dunsinane, soaked
with evil and disturbances past, are no
place for a king to sleep. My father’s ghost,
perplexed by a life stopped short, mingles with those
of foul Macbeth and his wicked queen.
No castle wall, no parapet or porter’s
gate could contain these spirits’ malcontent.
ROSS Nor that of his living counsel. Forgive
me, sire, but they, though not spectral, do shame
the underworld.
DONALBAIN Then Malcolm lies in danger
of himself.
ROSS I do not dispute.
DONALBAIN Then we shall save him from himself. We’ll
convince him to leave Dunsinane
and elsewhere build a holier seat;
we’ll urge him soon to marry; and we’ll purge
him of his treacherous flock. Our men,
meanwhile, shall deter Norway’s assault.
Come, we kill the time.
ROSS I fear how Malcolm
may start when he first sights your men. But I
stand at your side. I once left Lady Macduff
in haste; on my very heels she was slain.
Never again shall I a friend abandon.
I will help you execute whatever
noble device yo
u choose.
Exeunt.