Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 5
Inverness. Macbeth’s castle.
Lady Macbeth : 'They met me in the day of success: and I have
[p]learned by the
perfectest report, they have more in
[p]them than mortal knowledge.
When I burned in desire
[p]to question them further, they made
themselves air,
[p]into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt
in
[p]the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who
[p]all-hailed
me 'Thane of Cawdor;' by which title,
[p]before, these weird sisters
saluted me, and referred
[p]me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail,
king that
[p]shalt be!' This have I thought good to deliver
[p]thee,
my dearest partner of greatness, that thou
[p]mightst not lose the
dues of rejoicing, by being
[p]ignorant of what greatness is promised
thee. Lay it
[p]to thy heart, and farewell.'
[p]Glamis thou art, and
Cawdor; and shalt be
[p]What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy
nature;
[p]It is too full o' the milk of human kindness
[p]To catch
the nearest way: thou wouldst be great;
[p]Art not without ambition,
but without
[p]The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst
highly,
[p]That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
[p]And
yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'ldst have, great Glamis,
[p]That which
cries 'Thus thou must do, if thou have it;
[p]And that which rather
thou dost fear to do
[p]Than wishest should be undone.' Hie thee
hither,
[p]That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
[p]And chastise
with the valour of my tongue
[p]All that impedes thee from the golden
round,
[p]Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
[p]To have thee
crown'd withal.
[p][Enter a Messenger]
[p]What is your tidings?
Messenger : The king comes here to-night.
Lady Macbeth : Thou'rt mad to say it:
[p]Is not thy master with him? who, were't
so,
[p]Would have inform'd for preparation.
Messenger : So please you, it is true: our thane is coming:
[p]One of my fellows
had the speed of him,
[p]Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely
more
[p]Than would make up his message.
Lady Macbeth : Give him tending;
[p]He brings great news.
[p][Exit Messenger]
[p]The
raven himself is hoarse
[p]That croaks the fatal entrance of
Duncan
[p]Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
[p]That tend on
mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
[p]And fill me from the crown to the
toe top-full
[p]Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
[p]Stop up the
access and passage to remorse,
[p]That no compunctious visitings of
nature
[p]Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
[p]The effect
and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
[p]And take my milk for gall, you
murdering ministers,
[p]Wherever in your sightless substances
[p]You
wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
[p]And pall thee in the
dunnest smoke of hell,
[p]That my keen knife see not the wound it
makes,
[p]Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
[p]To cry
'Hold, hold!'
[p][Enter MACBETH]
[p]Great Glamis! worthy
Cawdor!
[p]Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!
[p]Thy
letters have transported me beyond
[p]This ignorant present, and I
feel now
[p]The future in the instant.
Macbeth : My dearest love,
[p]Duncan comes here to-night.
Lady Macbeth : And when goes hence?
Macbeth : To-morrow, as he purposes.
Lady Macbeth : O, never
[p]Shall sun that morrow see!
[p]Your face, my thane, is as a
book where men
[p]May read strange matters. To beguile the
time,
[p]Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
[p]Your hand,
your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
[p]But be the serpent
under't. He that's coming
[p]Must be provided for: and you shall
put
[p]This night's great business into my dispatch;
[p]Which shall to
all our nights and days to come
[p]Give solely sovereign sway and
masterdom.
Macbeth : We will speak further.
Lady Macbeth : Only look up clear;
[p]To alter favour ever is to fear:
[p]Leave all
the rest to me.
Previous: Act 1 - Scene 4
Next: Act 1 - Scene 6
