Macbeth Lines

created by SG403870 (not myself) on Quizlet, RIP Quizlet.

Witches:

The weird sisters, hand in hand,

Posters of the sea and land,

Thus do go about, about,

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,

And thrice again, to make up nine.

Peace, the charm's wound up.

So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

Banquo:

What are these,

So withered and so wild in their attire

That look not like th' inhabitants o' th' earth

And yet are on't? Live you, or are you aught

That man may question?

Speak, if you can. What are you?

First Witch:

Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!

Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more.

By Finel's death I know I am thane of Glamis.

But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives,

A prosperous gentleman, and to be king

Stands not within the prospect of belief,

No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence

You owe this strange intelligence, or why

Upon this blasted heath you stop our way

With such prophetic greeting. Speak, I charge you.

Banquo:

The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,

And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?

Into the air, and what seemed corporal melted

As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed!

Banquo:

Were such things here as we do speak about?

Or have we eaten on the insane root

That takes the reason prisoner?

Your children shall be kings.

Banquo:

You shall be king.

And thane of Cawdor too. Went it not so?

Banquo:

What, can the devil speak true?

The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me

In borrowed robes?

Lennox:

...He labored in his country's wrack, I know not;

But treasons capital, confessed and proved,

Have overthrown him.

[Aside] Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor-

The greatest is behind.

[To Ross and Lennox] Thanks for your pains.

[Aside to Banquo] Do you not hope your children shall be kings,

When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me

Promised no less to them?

Banquo:

...Cousins, a word, I pray you.

[Aside] Two truths are told,

As happy prologues to the swelling act

Of the imperial theme. [To Ross and Lennox] - I thank you, worthy thanes -

[Aside] This supernatural soliciting

Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,

Why hath it given me earnest of success

Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs

Against the use of nature? Present fears

Are less than horrible imaginings:

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,

Shakes so my single state of man that function

Is smothered in surmise and nothing is

But what is not.

Banquo:

Look how our partner's rapt.

[Aside] If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.

Banquo:

New honors come upon him,

Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold

But with the aid of use.

[Aside] Come what come may,

Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.

Banquo:

Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.

Give me your favor. My dull brain was wrought

With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains

Are registered where every day I turn

The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king.

[Aside to Banquo] Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time,

The interim having weighed it, let us speak

Our free hearts each to other.

Banquo:

Very gladly.

Till then, enough. - Come, friends.

Duncan:

...That the proportion both of thanks and payment

Might have been mine. Only I have left to say,

More is thy due than more than all can pay.

The service and the loyalty I owe,

In doing pays itself. Your highness' part

Is to receive our duties, and our duties

Are to your throne and state children and servants,

Which do but what they should by doing everything

Safe toward your love and honor.

Duncan:

...But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine

On all deservers. From hence to Inverness,

And bind us further to you

The rest is labor which is not used for you.

I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful

The hearing of my wife with your approach;

So, humbly take my leave.

Duncan:

My worthy Cawdor!

[Aside] The Prince of Cumberland - that is a step

On which I must fall down or else o'erleap,

For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;

Let not light see my black and deep desires.

The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be

Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.

Lady Macbeth:

...To cry "Hold, hold."

[enter]

Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor,

Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter,

Thy letters have transported me beyond

This ignorant present, and I feel now

The future in the instant.

My dearest love,

Duncan comes here tonight.

Lady Macbeth:

And when he goes hence?

Tomorrow, as he purposes.

Lady Macbeth:

...This nights' great business into my dispatch,

Which shall to all our nights and days to come

Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

We will speak further.

Duncan:

...By your leave, hostess. [Scene 6 end, Scene 7 start]

If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well

It were done quickly. If th' assassination

Could trammel up the consequences and catch

With his surcease success, that but this blow

Might be the be-all and the end-all here,

But in these cases

We still have judgement here, that we but teach

Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return

To plague th' inventor. This even-handed justice

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,

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;

And pity 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

To prick the sides of my intent, but only

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself

And falls on th' other-

[Lady Macbeth enter]

How now, what news?

Lady Macbeth:

He has almost supped. Why have you left the chamber?

Hath he asked for me?

Lady Macbeth:

Know you not he has?

We will proceed no further in this business.

He hath honored me of late, and I have bought

Golden opinions from all sorts of people,

Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,

Not cast aside so soon.

Lady Macbeth:

...And live a coward in thine own esteem,

Letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would,"

Like the poor cat i' th' adage?

Prithee, peace.

I dare do all that may become a man.

Who dares do more is none.

Lady Macbeth:

...Did then adhere, and yet you would make both.

They have made themselves, and that their fitness now

Does unmake you.

If we should fail-

Lady Macbeth:

...Th' unguarded Duncan? What not put upon

His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt

Of our great quell?

Will it not be received,

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

Upon his death?

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 know.

Banquo:

...Gives way to in repose.

[Enter]

Banquo:

Who's there?

A friend.

Banquo:

...By the name of most kind hostess. All's well.

I dreamt last night of the three Weird Sisters.

To you they have showed some truth.

I think not of them.

Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,

We would spend it in some words upon that business,

If you would grant the time.

Banquo:

At your kind'st leisure.

If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis

It shall make honor for you.

Banquo:

So I lose none

In seeking to augment it, but still keep

My bosom franchised and allegience clear,

I shall be counseled.

Good repose the while.

Banquo:

Thanks, sir. The like to you. [exit]

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward me hand? Come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

I see thee yet, in form as palpable

As this which now I draw.

Thou marshal'st me the way that I was going,

And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' th' other senses

Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still,

And, on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood,

Which was not so before. There's no such thing.

It is the bloody business which informs

Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one-half world

Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse

The curtained sleep. Thou sure and firm-set earth,

Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear

Thy very stones prate of my whereabouts

And take the present horror from the time,

Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives. [a bell rings]

I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

Lady Macbeth:

...Do mock their charge with snores. I have drugged their possets,

That death and nature do contend about them

Whether they live or die.

[Within] Who's there? What, ho!

Lady Macbeth:

...Confounds us. Hark!- I laid their daggers ready;

He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled

My father as he slept, I had done't. [Macbeth enter]

My husband?

I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?

Lady Macbeth:

I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.

Did you not speak?

When?

Lady Macbeth:

Now.

As I descended?

Lady Macbeth:

Ay.

Hark!- Who lies i' th' second chamber?

Lady Macbeth:

Donalbain.

This is a sorry sight.

Lady Macbeth:

A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.

There's one did laugh in 's sleep, and one cried "Murder!"

That they did wake each other. I stood and heard them.

But they did say their prayers and addressed them

Again to sleep.

Lady Macbeth:

There are two lodged together.

One cried "god bless us" and "Amen" the other,

As they had seen me with these hangman's hands,

List'ning their fear. I could not say "Amen"

When they did say "God bless us."

Lady Macbeth:

Consider it not so deeply.

But wherefore could I not pronounce "Amen"?

I had most need of blessing and "Amen"

Stuck in my throat.

Lady Macbeth:

These deeds must not be thought

After these ways; so, it will make us mad.

Methought I heard a voice cry "Sleep no more!

Macbeth does murder sleep" - the innocent sleep,

Sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care,

The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath,

Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,

Chief nourisher in life's feast.

Lady Macbeth:

What do you mean?

Still it cried "Sleep no more!" to all the house.

"Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor

Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more."

Lady Macbeth:

...Why did you bring these daggers from the place?

They must lie there. Go, carry them and smear

The sleepy grooms with blood.

I'll go no more.

I am afraid to think what I have done.

Look on 't again I dare not.

Lady Macbeth:

...That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,

I'll gild the faces if the grooms withal,

For it must seem their guilt. [she exits, knock within]

Whence is that knocking?

How is 't with me when every noise appalls me?

What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes.

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood

Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather

The multitudinous seas incarnadine,

Making the green one red.

Lady Macbeth:

...Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us

And show us to be watchers. Be not lost

So poorly in your thoughts.

To know my deed 'twere best not know myself.

Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou couldst.

Lennox:

Good morrow, noble sir.

Good morrow, both.

Macduff:

Is the king stirring, worthy thane?

Not yet.

Macduff:

He did command me to call timely on him.

I have almost slipped the hour.

I'll bring you to him.

Macduff:

I know this is a joyful trouble to you,

But yet 'tis one.

The labor we delight in physics pain.

This is the door.

Lennox:

Goes the King hence today?

He does. He did appoint so.

Lennox:

New hatched to th' woeful time. The obscure bird

Clamored the livelong night. Some say the Earth

Was feverous and did shake.

'Twas a rough night.

Macduff:

O horror, horror, horror!

Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee!

[with Lennox] What's the matter?

Macduff:

Confusion now hath made his masterpiece.

Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope

The Lord's anointed temple and stole thence

The life o' th' buidling.

What is 't you say? The life?

Banquo:

Too cruel anywhere.-

Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself

And say it is not so.

[enter] Had I died an hour before this chance,

I had lived a blessEd time; for from this instant

There's nothing serious in mortality.

All is but toys. Renown and grace is dead.

The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees

Is left this vault to brag of.

Donalbain:

What is amiss?

You are, and do not know 't.

The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood

Is stopped; the very source of it is stopped.

Lennox:

So were their daggers, which unwiped we found

Upon their pillows. They stared and were distracted.

No man's life was to be trusted with them.

O, yet I do repent me of my fury,

That I did kill them.

Macduff:

Wherefore did you so?

Who can be wise, amazed, temp'rate, and furious,

Loyal, and neutral, in a moment? No man.

Th' expedition of my violent love

Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan,

His silver skin laced with his golden blood,

And his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature

For ruin's wasteful entrance; there the murderers,

Steeped in the colors of their trade, their daggers

Unmannerly breeched with gore. Who could refrain

That had a heart to love, and in that heart

Courage to make 's love known?

Macduff:

And so do I.

[all] So all.

[just me] Let's briefly put on manly readiness

And meet i' th' hall together.

Banquo:

...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.

[enter] Here's our chief guest.

Lady Macbeth:

If he had been forgotten,

It had been as a gap in our great feast

And all-thing unbecoming.

Tonight we hold a solemn supper, sir,

And I'll request your presence.

Banquo:

Let your Highness

Command upon me, to the which my duties

Are with a most indissoluble tie

Forever knit.

Ride you this afternoon?

Banquo:

Ay, my good lord.

Is 't far you ride?

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.

Fail not our feast.

Banquo:

My lord, I will not.

We hear our bloody cousins are bestowed

In England and in Ireland, not confessing

Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers

With strange invention. But of that tomorrow,

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?

Banquo:

Ay, my good lord. Our time does call upon 's.

I wish your horses swift and sure of foot,

And so I do commend you to their backs.

[Banquo exits]

Let every one be master of their time

Till seven at night. To make society

The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself

Till suppertime alone. While then, God be with you.

[all but Macbeth and Servant exit]

Sirrah, a word with you. Attend those men

Our pleasure?

Servant:

They are, my lord, without the palace gate.

Bring them before us. [Servant exits]

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 feared. 'Tis much he dares;

And to that dauntless temper of his mind

He hath a wisdom that doth guide her valor

To act in safety. There is none but he

Whose being I do fear; and under his

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 hailed him father to a line of kings.

Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown

And put a barren scepter in my grip,

Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,

No child of mine succeeding. If 't be so,

For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind;

For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered,

Put rancors 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 seeds of Banquo kings!

Rather than so, come, Fate, into the list,

And champion me to th' utterance. - Who's there?

[enter Servant and Murderers] Now go to the door, and stay there till we call. [Servant exits]

Was it not yesterday we spoke together?

Murderers:

It was, so please your Highness.

Well then, now

Have you considered of my speeches? Know

That 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, passed in probation with you

How you were borne in hand, how crossed, 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."

First Murderer:

You made it known to us.

I did so, and went further, which is now

Our point of second meeting.

First Murderer:

And I another

So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune,

That I would set my life on any chance,

To mend it or be rid on 't.

Both of you

Know Banquo was your enemy.

Murderers:

True, my lord.

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 entreat,

Masking the business from the common eye

For sundry weighty reasons.

Second Murderer:

We shall, my lord,

Perform what you command us.

First Murderer:

Though our lives-

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' th' time,

The moment on 't, for 't must be done tonight

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, must embrace the fate

Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart.

I'll come to you anon.

Murderers:

We are resolved, my lord.

I'll call upon you straight. Abide within. [Murderers exit]

It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul's flight,

If it find heaven, must find it out tonight.

Lady Macbeth:

...Using those thoughts which should indeed have died

With them they think on? Things without all remedy

Should be without regard. What's done is done.

We have scorched the snake, not killed it.

She'll close and be herself whilst our poor malice

Remains in danger of her former tooth.

But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,

Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep

In the affliction of these terrible dreams

That shake us nightly. Better be with the dead,

Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,

Than on the torture of the mind to lie

In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave.

After life's fitful fever he sleeps well.

Treason has done his worst; nor steel nor poison,

Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing

Can touch him further.

Lady Macbeth:

Come on,

Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks;

Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight.

So shall I, love, and so I pray be you.

Let your rememberance apply to Banquo;

Present him eminence both with eye and tongue:

Unsafe the while, that we must lave

Our honors in these flattering streams

And make our faces vizards to our hearts,

Disguising what they are.

Lady Macbeth:

You must leave this.

O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!

Thou know'st that Banquo and his Fleance lives.

Lady Macbeth:

But in them nature's copy's not eterne.

There's comfort yet; they are assailable.

Then be thou jocund. Ere the bat hath flown

His cloistered flight, ere to black Hecate's summons

The shard-born beetle with his drowsy hums

Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done

A deed of dreadful note.

Lady Macbeth:

What's to be done?

Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,

Till thou applaud the deed.- Come, seeling night,

Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day

And with thy bloody and invisible hand

Cancel and tear me to pieces that great bond

Which keeps me pale. Light thickens, and the crow

Makes wing to th' rooky wood.

Good things of day begin to droop and drowse,

Whiles night's black agents to their preys do rouse.-

Thou marvel'st at my words, but hold thee still.

Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.

So prithee go with me.

[Intermission end, enter]

You know your own degrees; sit down.

At first and last, the hearty welcome.

Lords:

Thanks to your Majesty.

Both sides are even. Here I'll sit i' th' midst.

Be large in mirth. Anon we'll drink a measure

The table round.

[approach First Murderer]

There's blood upon thy face.

First Murderer:

'Tis Banquo's then.

'Tis better thee without than he within.

Is he dispatched?

First Murderer:

My lord, his throat is cut.

That I did for him.

Thou art the best o' th' cutthroats.

Yet he's good that did the like for Fleance.

First Murderer:

Most royal sir, Fleance is 'scaped.

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 cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in

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.

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.

Lady Macbeth:

...'Tis given with welcome. To feed were best at home;

From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony:

Meeting were bare without it.

Sweet remembrancer!-

Now, good digestion wait on appetite,

And health on both!

Lennox:

May't please your Highness Sit.

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.

Ross:

His absence, sir,

Lays blame upon his promise. Please 't your Highness

To grace us with your royal company?

The table's full.

Lennox:

Here is a place reserved, sir.

Where?

Lennox:

Here, my good lord. What is 't that moves your Highness?

Which of you have done this?

Lords:

What, my good lord?

Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake

Thy gory locks at me

Lady Macbeth:

...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?

Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that

Which might appall the devil.

Lady Macbeth:

...Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!

Why do you make such faces? When all's done,

You look but on a stool.

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

Shall be the maws of kites.

Lady Macbeth:

What, quite unmanned in folly?

If I stand here, I saw her.

Lady Macbeth:

Fie, for shame!

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,

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,

Your noble friends do lack you.

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,

Then I'll sit down.- Give me some wine. Fill full.

I drink to th' general joy o' th' whole table

And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss.

Would she were here! To all, and her we thirst,

And all to all.

Lords:

Our duties, and the pledge.

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

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.

What man dare, I dare.

Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,

The armed 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.

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,

I am a man again.- Pray you sit still.

Lady Macbeth:

You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting

With most admired disorder.

Can such things be

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

When mine is blanched with fear.

Lady Macbeth:

A kind good night to all. (all but macb and lady macb exit)

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 forth

The secret'st man of blood.- What is the night?

Lady Macbeth:

Almost at odds with morning, which is which.

I will tomorrow 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

Stepped 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 scanned.