Macbeth, Act I, Scene V
| ACT I SCENE V | Inverness. Macbeth's castle. | |
| Enter LADY MACBETH, reading a letter (Why the letter is in prose...) | ||
| LADY MACBETH | 'They met me in the day of success: and I have | |
| learned by the perfectest report, they have more in | ||
| them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire | ||
| to question them further, they made themselves air, | 5 | |
| into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in | ||
| the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who | ||
| all-hailed me 'Thane of Cawdor;' by which title, | ||
| before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred | ||
| me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, king that | 10 | |
| shalt be!' This have I thought good to deliver | ||
| thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou | ||
| mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being | ||
| ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it | ||
| to thy heart, and farewell.' | 15 | |
| Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be | ||
| What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; | ||
| It is too full o' the milk of human kindness | ||
| To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; | ||
| Art not without ambition, but without | 20 | |
| The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly, | ||
| That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, | ||
| And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'ldst have, great Glamis, | ||
| That which cries 'Thus thou must do, if thou have it; | ||
| And that which rather thou dost fear to do | 25 | |
| Than wishest should be undone.' Hie thee hither, | ||
| That I may pour my spirits in thine ear; | ||
| And chastise with the valour of my tongue | ||
| All that impedes thee from the golden round, | ||
| Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem | 30 | |
| To have thee crown'd withal. | ||
| Enter a Messenger | ||
| What is your tidings? | ||
| Messenger | The king comes here to-night. | |
| LADY MACBETH | Thou'rt mad to say it: | |
| Is not thy master with him? who, were't so, | 35 | |
| Would have inform'd for preparation. | ||
| Messenger | So please you, it is true: our thane is coming: | |
| One of my fellows had the speed of him, | ||
| Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more | ||
| Than would make up his message. | 40 | |
| LADY MACBETH | Give him tending; | |
| He brings great news. | ||
| Exit Messenger | ||
| The raven himself is hoarse | ||
| That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan | ||
| Under my battlements. Come, you spirits | 45 | |
| That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, | ||
| And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full | ||
| Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; | ||
| Stop up the access and passage to remorse, | ||
| That no compunctious visitings of nature | 50 | |
| Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between | ||
| The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts, | ||
| And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers, | ||
| Wherever in your sightless substances | ||
| You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, | 55 | |
| And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, | ||
| That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, | ||
| Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, | ||
| To cry 'Hold, hold!' | ||
| Enter MACBETH | ||
| Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor! | 60 | |
| 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. | ||
| MACBETH | My dearest love, | 65 |
| Duncan comes here to-night. | ||
| LADY MACBETH | And when goes hence? | |
| MACBETH | To-morrow, as he purposes. | |
| LADY MACBETH | O, never | |
| Shall sun that morrow see! | 70 | |
| Your face, my thane, is as a book where men | ||
| May read strange matters. To beguile the time, | ||
| Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, | ||
| Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, | ||
| But be the serpent under't. He that's coming | 75 | |
| Must be provided for: and you shall put This night's great business into my dispatch; | ||
| Which shall to all our nights and days to come | ||
| Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. | ||
| MACBETH | We will speak further. | 80 |
| LADY MACBETH | Only look up clear; To alter favour ever is to fear: | |
| Leave all the rest to me. | ||
| Exeunt |
