Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 7
Macbeth’s castle.
Macbeth : If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
[p]It were done
quickly: if the assassination
[p]Could trammel up the consequence, and
catch
[p]With his surcease success; that but this blow
[p]Might be the
be-all and the end-all here,
[p]But here, upon this bank and shoal of
time,
[p]We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
[p]We still
have judgment here; that we but teach
[p]Bloody instructions, which,
being taught, return
[p]To plague the inventor: this even-handed
justice
[p]Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
[p]To our
own lips. He's here in double trust;
[p]First, as I am his kinsman and
his subject,
[p]Strong both against the deed; then, as his
host,
[p]Who should against his murderer shut the door,
[p]Not bear
the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
[p]Hath borne his faculties so
meek, hath been
[p]So clear in his great office, that his
virtues
[p]Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
[p]The
deep damnation of his taking-off;
[p]And pity, like a naked new-born
babe,
[p]Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed
[p]Upon the
sightless couriers of the air,
[p]Shall blow the horrid deed in every
eye,
[p]That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
[p]To prick
the sides of my intent, but only
[p]Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps
itself
[p]And falls on the other.
[p][Enter LADY MACBETH]
[p]How now!
what news?
Lady Macbeth : He has almost supp'd: why have you left the chamber?
Macbeth : Hath he ask'd for me?
Lady Macbeth : Know you not he has?
Macbeth : We will proceed no further in this business:
[p]He hath honour'd me of
late; and I have bought
[p]Golden opinions from all sorts of
people,
[p]Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
[p]Not cast
aside so soon.
Lady Macbeth : Was the hope drunk
[p]Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept
since?
[p]And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
[p]At what it
did so freely? From this time
[p]Such I account thy love. Art thou
afeard
[p]To be the same in thine own act and valour
[p]As thou art in
desire? Wouldst thou have that
[p]Which thou esteem'st the ornament of
life,
[p]And live a coward in thine own esteem,
[p]Letting 'I dare
not' wait upon 'I would,'
[p]Like the poor cat i' the adage?
Macbeth : Prithee, peace:
[p]I dare do all that may become a man;
[p]Who dares
do more is none.
Lady Macbeth : What beast was't, then,
[p]That made you break this enterprise to
me?
[p]When you durst do it, then you were a man;
[p]And, to be more
than what you were, you would
[p]Be so much more the man. Nor time nor
place
[p]Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
[p]They have
made themselves, and that their fitness now
[p]Does unmake you. I have
given suck, and know
[p]How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks
me:
[p]I would, while it was smiling in my face,
[p]Have pluck'd my
nipple from his boneless gums,
[p]And dash'd the brains out, had I so
sworn as you
[p]Have done to this.
Macbeth : If we should fail?
Lady Macbeth : We fail!
[p]But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
[p]And we'll
not fail. When Duncan is asleep--
[p]Whereto the rather shall his
day's hard journey
[p]Soundly invite him--his two chamberlains
[p]Will
I with wine and wassail so convince
[p]That memory, the warder of the
brain,
[p]Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
[p]A limbeck
only: when in swinish sleep
[p]Their drenched natures lie as in a
death,
[p]What cannot you and I perform upon
[p]The unguarded Duncan?
what not put upon
[p]His spongy officers, who shall bear the
guilt
[p]Of our great quell?
Macbeth : Bring forth men-children only;
[p]For thy undaunted mettle should
compose
[p]Nothing but males. Will it not be received,
[p]When we have
mark'd with blood those sleepy two
[p]Of his own chamber and used
their very daggers,
[p]That they have done't?
Lady Macbeth : Who dares receive it other,
[p]As we shall make our griefs and clamour
roar
[p]Upon his death?
Macbeth : I am settled, and bend up
[p]Each corporal agent to this terrible
feat.
[p]Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
[p]False face must
hide what the false heart doth know.
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Next: Act 2 - Scene 1
