Macbeth Act 3 Scene 1
Forres. The palace.
The Original
Plain Modern English
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.
Banquo
So you have it all now — king, Cawdor, Glamis, everything,
just as the weird women promised. And I suspect
you cheated to win it. Still — the prophecy said
it wouldn't stay in your family.
It said I would be the root, the father,
of a whole dynasty of kings. If those three tell the truth —
and look how their words lit up your life, Macbeth —
then, judging by how they delivered for you,
why shouldn't they be my fortune-tellers too,
and give me something to hope for? But quiet. Not another word.
Sennet sounded. Enter Macbeth as king, Lady Macbeth as queen, Lennox, Ross, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants.
Macbeth
Here's our chief guest.
Macbeth
Here he is — our guest of honor.
Lady Macbeth
If he had been forgotten,
It had been as a gap in our great feast,
And all-thing unbecoming.
Lady Macbeth
If we'd left him off the list,
there'd be a hole in the middle of our great feast,
and the whole evening would feel wrong.
Macbeth
To-night we hold a solemn supper sir,
And I'll request your presence.
Macbeth
We're holding a formal banquet tonight, sir,
and I'd like you there.
Banquo
Let your highness
Command upon me; to the which my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie
For ever knit.
Banquo
Your Highness only needs
to give the order. My duty is knotted to you
with a tie that can never
be undone.
Macbeth
Ride you this afternoon?
Macbeth
Going riding this afternoon?
Banquo
Ay, my good lord.
Banquo
Yes, 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 to-morrow.
Is't far you ride?
Macbeth
Otherwise we'd have asked for your advice
in today's council — it's always been
wise and useful. But tomorrow will do.
Riding far?
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.
Banquo
Far enough, my lord, to use up the hours
between now and supper. If my horse doesn't hurry,
I'll have to borrow an hour or two of darkness
to get home. (Note how carefully Macbeth is collecting these details.)
Macbeth
Fail not our feast.
Macbeth
Don't miss our feast.
Banquo
My lord, I will not.
Banquo
My lord, I won't. (He won't. That's the horror of it.)
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 to-morrow,
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?
Macbeth
We hear our bloodstained cousins have settled
in England and Ireland — refusing to confess
to murdering their own father, and stuffing listeners' ears
with bizarre stories instead. But that's tomorrow's business,
along with other affairs of state
that need us both. Off to your horse now — goodbye
until tonight. Is Fleance riding with you?
Banquo
Ay, my good lord: our time does call upon 's.
Banquo
Yes, my good lord — and we really must be going.
Macbeth
I wish your horses swift and sure of foot;
And so I do commend you to their backs. Farewell.
Macbeth
I wish your horses speed and sure footing,
and so I hand you over to their saddles. Farewell.
Exit Banquo.
Macbeth
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!
Macbeth
Everyone's free to spend the day
however they like until seven. To make your company
sweeter when it comes, I'll stay by myself
until supper. Until then — God be with you!
Exeunt all but Macbeth and an Attendant.
Macbeth
Sirrah, a word with you: attend those men
Our pleasure?
Macbeth
You — a word. Are those men
waiting for me?
Attendant
They are, my lord, without the palace gate.
Attendant
They are, my lord — just outside the palace gate.
Macbeth
Bring them before us.
Macbeth
Bring them to me.
Exit Attendant.
Macbeth
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 valour
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 murder'd;
Put rancours 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!
Macbeth
Being king means nothing
unless I'm safely king. And my fears run deep
when it comes to Banquo. There's something regal in his nature,
and that's exactly what frightens me. He dares a great deal,
and on top of that fearless spirit
he has the judgment to steer his courage
so it never exposes him. He's the only man alive
whose existence scares me. Next to him,
my guardian spirit cringes — the way they say
Mark Antony's did next to Caesar's. He scolded the sisters
the moment they named me king,
and demanded they speak to him too. And like prophets,
they hailed him father to a line of kings.
On my head they set a fruitless crown;
in my fist they shoved a barren scepter
for some stranger's hand to twist away,
since no son of mine will follow me. If that's how it is,
then I've dirtied my soul for Banquo's children.
For them I murdered gracious Duncan.
For them — only for them — I poured poison
into my own cup of peace, and handed my immortal soul,
my one eternal jewel, to mankind's oldest enemy —
all to crown them. Banquo's seed, kings!
No. Before I let that happen — Fate, step into the arena
and fight me to the death! — Who's there?
Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers.
Macbeth
Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.
Macbeth
Wait by the door until I call.
Exit Attendant.
Macbeth
Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
Macbeth
It was yesterday we talked, wasn't it?
First Murderer
It was, so please your highness.
First Murderer
It was, 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.'
Macbeth
Good. So —
have you thought about what I told you? Understand:
it was Banquo, all those years, who kept you
poor and unlucky — while you blamed
innocent me. I proved it to you
at our last meeting: walked you through the evidence,
how you were strung along, how you were blocked,
the tools that were used,
who used them — everything that would tell
even half a brain, even a madman:
'Banquo did this to you.'
First Murderer
You made it known to us.
First Murderer
You laid it all out for 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 gospell'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 for ever?
Macbeth
I did — and I went further, which brings us
to today. Tell me: is patience
so dominant in your nature
that you can just let this slide? Are you such devout Christians
that you'll pray for this 'good man' and his offspring —
the man whose heavy hand has bent you toward the grave
and left your families beggars forever?
First Murderer
We are men, my liege.
First Murderer
We're men, my lord.
Macbeth
Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men;
As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs 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 't;
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.
Macbeth
Sure — in the catalogue, you're listed as men,
the same way hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, strays,
lapdogs, shaggy mutts, and half-wolves all get filed
under 'dog.' But the breeder's list
sorts out the fast one, the slow one, the clever one,
the guard dog, the hunter — ranks each one
by the particular gift generous nature
sealed inside him, and that's how he earns
a title of his own, apart from the list
that lumps them all together. Men work the same way.
So — if you rank anywhere on that list
above the bottom grade of manhood, say so,
and I'll trust you with a piece of business
that removes your enemy from the world,
hooks you to my heart and my favor —
since my health is sickly while he lives
and would be perfect the day he dies.
Second Murderer
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.
Second Murderer
I'm a man, my lord,
whom the world has slapped and shoved around
so long that I'm past caring what I do
to spite it back.
First Murderer
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.
First Murderer
Same here —
so worn down by disasters, so yanked around by luck,
that I'd bet my life on any odds
to fix it — or be done with it.
Macbeth
Both of you
Know Banquo was your enemy.
Macbeth
You both
know Banquo was your enemy.
Both Murderers
True, my lord.
Both Murderers
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.
Macbeth
He's mine too — and so dangerously close
that every minute he's alive is a knife-thrust
at the core of my life. Now, I could simply
use raw power, sweep him away in the open,
and say 'because I wanted to.' But I can't —
we have mutual friends whose loyalty
I can't afford to lose. I'll have to weep over the death
of the man I ordered killed. That's why
I'm courting your help —
to keep this business masked from the public eye
for several weighty reasons.
Second Murderer
We shall, my lord,
Perform what you command us.
Second Murderer
We'll do it, my lord —
whatever you command.
First Murderer
Though our lives—
First Murderer
Even if it costs 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; for't must be done to-night,
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.
Macbeth
I can see the fire in you. Within the hour, at most,
I'll tell you exactly where to position yourselves,
brief you on the perfect moment to strike,
down to the minute — because it must happen tonight,
and at a distance from the palace. Remember:
I stay clean. And along with him —
so the job has no snags and no loose threads —
Fleance, his son, who rides with him,
whose removal matters to me every bit as much
as his father's, must share the fate
of that dark hour. Go talk it over between you —
I'll join you shortly.
Both Murderers
We are resolved, my lord.
Both Murderers
We're decided, my lord.
Macbeth
I'll call upon you straight: abide within.
Macbeth
I'll call for you in a moment. Wait inside.
Exeunt Murderers.
Macbeth
It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul's flight,
If it find heaven, must find it out to-night.
Macbeth
Then it's settled. Banquo — if your soul is flying to heaven,
it takes off tonight.
Exit.