40 ACT I BAN. How far is 't call'd to Forres? What are these So wither'd, and so wild in their attire, That look not like inhabitants o' the Earth, And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying Upon her skinny lips: you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so. MACB. Speak, if you can: what are you ? FIRST WITCH. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! SEC. WITCH. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of THIRD WITCH. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King BAN. Good Sir, why do you start, and seem to fear Which outwardly ye shew? My noble partner That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not. And say which grain will grow, and which will not, FIRST WITCH. Hail! SEC. WITCH. Hail! THIRD WITCH. Hail! FIRST WITCH. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. SEC. WITCH. Not so happy, yet much happier. 50 60 THIRD WITCH. Thou shalt get Kings, though thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! FIRST WITCH. Banquo and Macbeth, all hail! MACB. Stay, you imperfect Speakers, tell me more : By Sinel's death I know I am Thane of Glamis; 1 bodied of fancy. 70 ACT I Stands not within the prospect of belief, BAN. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd? That takes the reason prisoner ? 81 You shall be King. MACB. And Thane of Cawdor too : went it not so ? Enter Ross and ANGUS. Ross. The King hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth, 90 And pour'd them down before him. ANG. We are sent To give thee, from our royal master, thanks ; Not pay thee. Ross. And, for an earnest of a greater honour, He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor : In which addition, hail, most worthy Thane! For it is thine. What, can the Devil speak true ? BAN. 1 =maddening. 100 MACB. The Thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress ACT I me In borrow'd robes? ANG. Sc. III Who was the Thane lives yet; But under heavy judgment bears that life With those of Norway, or did line1 the rebel With hidden help and vantage, or that with both He labour'd in his country's wrack, I know not; But treasons capital, confess'd and prov'd, Have overthrown him. MACB. [aside.] Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor! The greatest is behind. [to Ross and ANGUS.] Thanks for your pains. [to BANQUO.] Do you not hope your children shall be Kings, When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me Promis'd no less to them? BAN. That, trusted home, Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths; Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's In deepest consequence. Cousins, a word, I pray you. MACB. [aside.] Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme. I thank you, Gentlemen. [aside.] This supernatural soliciting 120 130 Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor : Cannot be ill; cannot be good : if ill, Why hath it given me earnest of success, 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, My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, 1 furnish. VIII: M 2 feeble. 85 140 ACT 1 Is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is But what is not.1 BAN. Look, how our partner's rapt. MACB. [aside.] If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir. BAN. New honours come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould But with the aid of use. MACB. [aside.] Come what come may, The leaf to read them. Let us toward the King. Our free hearts each to other. 151 Very gladly. [exeunt. MACB. Till then, enough. Come, Friends. SCENE IV. Forres. The Palace. Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, DUN. Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not Those in commission yet return'd? MAL. DUN. There's no art 1 See Brutus' description of the same state of mind, Julius Cæsar, 11. i. 63. To find the mind's construction1 in the face : Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, Ross, and ANGUS. O worthiest Cousin! The sin of my ingratitude even now To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserv'd, MACB. The service and the loyalty I owe, DUN. Welcome hither : I have begun to plant thee, and will labour BAN. There if I grow, The harvest is your own. Our eldest, Malcolm; whom we name hereafter Not unaccompanied invest him only, But signs of nobleness, like Stars, shall shine And bind us further to you. MACB. The rest is labour, which is not us'd for you. interpretation. 20 30 40 ACT I |