The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (950 page)

FLEANCE

The moon is down; I have not heard the clock.

The moon has gone down. I have not heard the clock chime.

BANQUO

And she goes down at twelve.

The moon goes down at midnight.

FLEANCE

I take't, 'tis later, sir.

I think it is later than that, sir.

BANQUO

Hold, take my sword. There's husbandry in heaven;

Their candles are all out. Take thee that too.

A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,

And yet I would not sleep: merciful powers,

Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature

Gives way to in repose!

Here, take my sword. They are being frugal tonight in heaven;

the candles are all out. Take this, too.

I have such a need for sleep, it weighs heavy on me,

but I can’t sleep. God help me, and keep me

from the nightmares that come with sleep!

Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch

Give me my sword.

Who's there?

Give me back my sword.

Who’s there!

MACBETH

A friend.

A friend.

BANQUO

What, sir, not yet at rest? The king's a-bed:

He hath been in unusual pleasure, and

Sent forth great largess to your offices.

This diamond he greets your wife withal,

By the name of most kind hostess; and shut up

In measureless content.

You haven’t gone to bed yet, sir? The king

is asleep. He has been in great spirits and

has given so much to your home. He greeted

your wife with a diamond, calling her the most

kind hostess, and went to bed immeasurably happy.

MACBETH

Being unprepared,

Our will became the servant to defect;

Which else should free have wrought.

We were not prepared for the visit,

but tried our best to overcome what lacked

and would have been freely available otherwise.

BANQUO

All's well.

I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters:

To you they have show'd some truth.

All is well.

I dreamt last night of the three witches.

What they said to you proved to be true.

MACBETH

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.

I don’t think about them.

But when we can find an hour to do so,

we should talk some more about all of that,

if you can find the time.

BANQUO

At your kind'st leisure.

Whenever you get a chance.

MACBETH

If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis,

It shall make honour for you.

If you stick to me, I will honor you in time.

BANQUO

So I lose none

In seeking to augment it, but still keep

My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,

I shall be counsell'd.

As long as I lose nothing in seeking

more honor, and can still keep

my heart and conscious clean,

I’ll do whatever you say.

MACBETH

Good repose the while!

Rest well in the meantime!

BANQUO

Thanks, sir: the like to you!

Thanks, sir—the same to you!

Exeunt BANQUO and FLEANCE

MACBETH

Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready,

She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed.

Go tell your mistress that when my drink is ready,

she should ring the bell. Then go to bed.

Exit Servant

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my 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 marshall'st me the way that I was going;

And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' the 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 halfworld

Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse

The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates

Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,

Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,

Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.

With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design

Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,

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

Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,

And take the present horror from the time,

Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:

Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

Is this a dagger I see before me with the handle

pointing toward my hand? Let me hold it.

It is not here, and yet I see it.

Is it possible to touch you, dagger, as well as see you?

Or are you just a hallucination, a false vison

coming from a fever in my brain?

You look as real as this dagger I have here.

You are guiding me to the place that I was going,

and you are like the dagger I was going to use.

My eyes are either not working as well as the rest

of my senses, or they work better than them all.

I still see you, and on your blade and handles I see

drops of blood which were not there before.

There’s no such thing: it is the brutal act

I am about to do that causes me see these things.

The night world is dark now and nightmares

are haunting sleep. Witches are making blood sacrifices,

and thin ghost-like murder is awoken by his wolf’s

cries. Murder strides toward his target like Tarquin,

as silently as a ghost. Firm and certain earth beneath

my feet—pay no attention to my steps or the way I walk.

I fear the stones beneath my feet will reveal where I am

going and make the time less perfect for the murder

to occur. While I stand here talking, he lives, and the

talking lessens my resolve to act.

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.

I might as well go and do it. The bell

is inviting me to do so. Don’t listen

to the bell, Duncan. It is summoning you

to heaven or to hell.

Exit

The Same

Enter LADY MACBETH

LADY MACBETH

That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold;

What hath quench'd them hath given me fire.

Hark! Peace!

It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman,

Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it:

The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms

Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg'd

their possets,

That death and nature do contend about them,

Whether they live or die.

What has made them drunk has made me bold,

and what have quenched them has put me on fire.

Listen! Quiet!

I heard an owl shriek like a bellman delivering

a message of death. Macbeth is doing the deed:

the doors to the chamber are open and the drunken

guards are snoring so loudly it makes their job

a joke. I put so many drugs in their drinks that

they sleep as if they are dead.

MACBETH

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

[Inside] Who’s there? What is that?

LADY MACBETH

Alack, I am afraid they have awaked,

And 'tis not done. The attempt and not the deed

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.

Oh no, I’m afraid the guards have woken up

and the murder has not been completed! If we

were to get caught in the attempt, it would ruin us.

Listen! I put their daggers where Macbeth

could easily find them. Had he not looked

so much like my father sleeping, I would have

killed the king myself.

Enter MACBETH

My husband!

My husband!

MACBETH

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

I have done the deed. Did you hear a noise?

LADY MACBETH

I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.

Did not you speak?

I heard an owl shriek and I heard the crickets chirp.

Didn’t you say something?

MACBETH

When?

When?

LADY MACBETH

Now.

Just now.

MACBETH

As I descended?

As I came downstairs?

LADY MACBETH

Ay.

Yes.

MACBETH

Hark!

Who lies i' the second chamber?

Listen to that!

Who is in the other bedroom?

LADY MACBETH

Donalbain.

Donalbain.

MACBETH

This is a sorry sight.

This is a sorry sight.