!
' = ■ '
FROM THE
PERSONAL LIBRARY OF
JAMES BUELL MUNN
1890- 1967
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
'ClaX^a^
THE TRAGEDIE OF
MACBETH.
ayfdus Tnmus. Sccena Trima.
Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches.
Hen (ball we three meet againe?
In Thunder.LiqhtningjOr m R»ine?
i. When theHurley-burley's done,
When the Battailc's loft. and wonne.
3. That willbecrethefetofSunne.
1 Where theplace?
a. Vpon the Heath.
3. There to meet with Macbeth.
I 1 come, Graj-Alalkp>.
AH. Padock_c*\ls anon : faire is foule.and foule is faire,
Houer through the fogge and filihie ayre. Exeunt.
Scena Secunda.
Alarum within. Enter King iMtlcome, DonaJ-
baaeJ^enox,with attendants, meeting
A bleeding Caf tame.
King. What blood; man is that ? he can repot t,
As fcemeth by his plight,of thcRcuolt
The neweft ftate.
Mai. ThisistbeSerieant,
Who like a good and hardie Souldier fought
'Gainft my Captiuitie : Haile braue friend j
Say to the King.the knowledge of the Broy'.e,
Asthoudidfl leaueic.
Cap. Doubtfull it flood.
As two fpent Swimmers.ihat doe cling together,
And choake their Art : The rnercilefle Tilacdomtald
( Worihic to be a Rcbell, for to that
The multiplying Villanies of Nature
Doe fwarme vpon him) from the Weftcrne Ifles
OfKeraesandGallowgroifesisfuppIy'd,
And Fortune on his damned (Quarry fmiling,
ShewM like a Rebells Whore: bur all's too weake:
For braue Macbeth (well hce deferues that Nime)
Difdayning Fortune.with his brandifht Steele,
Which fmoak'd with bloody execution
(Like Valours Minion) caru'd out his paflage,
Till hee fae'd the Slaue;
Which neu'r fhooke hands,nor bad farwcll to hira.
Till he vnfeam'd him from theNaue toth'Chops,
And fix'd his Head vpon out Battlements.
King. O valiant Coffin, worthy Gentlemen.
Cup. As whence the Sunnc 'gins his refleiTtiou,
ShipwracUingStorines,a!iddirtfull Thunders:
So from that Spring.whence comfort feem'd to come,
Difcomfortfwells:MarkeKingof Scotland,u)arke,
No fooncrluflicehad.with Valour arm'd,
Compell'd thefc skipping Kernes to trufl their heetes,
But theNorweyan Lord.furueying vantage,
With furbufht Armtsjand new fupplyes of men,
Began a ftefh afTauh.
King. Dtfmay'd not this our Capt»ines,/Ta'<ttfc/£ and
'Banattoh ?
Caf. Yes.asSparrowes.Eagles;
Or the Hare, the Lyon:
If I fay footh, I muft report they .were
As Cannons ouer-charg'd with double Craclu,
So they doubly redoubled ftroakes vpou the Foe :
Except they meant to bathe in seeking Wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha,
I cannot tell : but I am faint,
My Gafhcs cry for helpe.
Kmg. So well thy words become tnee,astriy wounds,
They (mack of Honor both : Goc get him Surgeons.
Enter Rojfe and Angiu.
Who comes here ?
Mai. TheworthyTA^Mof Roffe.
Lenox. What a hafte lookes through his eyes?
So fhould he looke.that fcemes to fpeake things ftrange,
Rojfe . God faue the King.
King. Whence cam' ft thou, worthy Thane t
Rojfe. From Fiffe, great King,
Where the Norweyan Banners flowt the Skie,
And fanne our people cold.
NeTttaj himfclfe.with terrible numbeis,
A (Tilled by that moft difloyall Tray tor.
The Thane of Cawdor.bcganadifaiall Conflict,
Till that "Sellona's Bridegroome,lapt in proofe,
Confronted him with fclfc-compatifons,
Point againfl Point.rebellious Arme 'gainft Anne,
Curbing his lauifh fpirit : and to conclude,
The Victoric fell on vs.
Kmg. Great happinclTe.
Rojji. That now, JV««,il)e Norway es King,
Craues composition :
Nor would we deignc him burial! ofTiis men,
Till he disburfed,at Sainr Colmesynch,
Ten thoufand Dollars', to our gencrallvfe.
King No/
Facsimile (reduced) of the First Page of Macbeth,
First Folio
ws.
THE TRAGEDYOF
MACBETH
INmRODUCnON.^N) NOTES w
HENRYNORMAN
HUDSON,LLD-^
EDITED AND REVISED BY
EBENEZER CHARLTON
BLACK LLD- (GLASGOW)
WTIH THE COOPERATION OP
ANDREW JACKS ON
GEORGE nXTD'CMEERSl)
GINN AND COMPANY
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO LONDON
ATLANTA DALLAS COLUMBUS SAN FBANCIS<r>
Entered at Stationers' Hall
Copyright, 1908
By GINN AND COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
721.8
ttfte fltftenetum ffregfl
C1NN AND COMPANY • PRO-
PRIETORS ■ BOSTON • U.S.A.
PREFACE
The text of this edition of Macbeth is based upon a
collation of the seventeenth century Folios, the Globe edi-
tion, and that of Delius. As compared with the text of the
earlier editions of the Hudson Shakespeare, it is conservative.
Exclusive of changes in spelling, punctuation, and stage
directions, very few emendations by eighteenth century and
nineteenth century editors have been adopted; and these,
with every variation from the First Folio, are indicated in the
textual notes. These notes are printed immediately below
the text so that a reader or student may see at a glance the
evidence in the case of a disputed reading and have some
definite understanding of the reasons for those differences in
the text of Shakespeare which frequently surprise and very
often annoy. A consideration of the more poetical, or the
more dramatically effective, of two variant readings will often
lead to rich results in awakening a spirit of discriminating
interpretation and in developing true creative criticism. In
no sense is this a textual variorum edition. The variants
given are only those of importance and high authority.
The spelling and the punctuation of the text are mod-
ern, except in the case of verb terminations in -ed, which,
when the e is silent, are printed with the apostrophe in its
place. This is the general usage in the First Folio. Modern
iii
iv PREFACE
spelling has to a certain extent been followed in the
text variants ; but the original spelling has been retained
wherever its peculiarities have been the basis for impor-
tant textual criticism and emendation.
With the exception of the position of the textual variants,
the plan of this edition is similar to that of the earlier edi-
tions of the Hudson Shakespeare. It is impossible to specify
the various instances of revision and rearrangement in the
matter of the Introduction and the interpretative notes, but
the endeavor has been to retain all that gave the Hudson
Shakespeare its unique place and to add the results of what
seems vital and permanent in later inquiry and research.
While it is important that the principle of suum cuique
be attended to so far as is possible in matters of research
and scholarship, it is becoming more and more difficult to
give every man his own in Shakespearian annotation. The
amount of material accumulated is so great that the identity-
origin of much important comment and suggestion is either
wholly lost or so crushed out of shape as to be beyond
recognition. Instructive significance perhaps attaches to
this in editing the works of one who quietly made so much
of materials gathered by others. But the list of authorities
given on page Ixxi will indicate the chief source of much
that has gone to enrich the value of this edition. Espe-
cial acknowledgment is here made of the obligations to
Dr. William Aldis Wright and Dr. Horace Howard Furness,
whose work in Shakespearian criticism, research, and col-
lating, has made all subsequent editors and investigators
their eternal bondmen.
PREFACE V
With regard to the general plan of this edition, Professor
W. P. Trent, of Columbia University, has offered valuable
suggestions and given important advice ; and to Mr. M.
Grant Daniell's patience, accuracy, and judgment this volume
owes both its freedom from many a blunder and its possession
of a carefully arranged index.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Page
I. Sources ix
The Main Story ix
The Macbeth of History ix
The Macbeth of Legend x
John of Fordun x
Andrew of Wyntoun xi
Boece xii
Bellenden xii
Stewart xiii
Holinshed xiii
Buchanan xvii
Earlier Plays xviii
Witch Lore xx
The Moving Wood xxiii
Macduff's Birth xxiv
Was Shakespeare ever in Scotland ? . . . xxv
II. Date of Composition xxvi
External Evidence xxvi
Internal Evidence xxviii
III. Early Editions xxix
Folios xxix
The Quartos of 1673 AND I^74 xxx
Rowe's Editions xxxi
IV. Shakespeare and Middleton xxxi
V. Versification and Diction xxxiii
Blank Verse xxxiii
Rhyme xxxv
Prose xxxvi
vii
Vlil CONTENTS
Page
VI. Dramatic Structure xxxviii
Analysis by Act and Scene xxxix
VII. Management of Time and Place xliv
VIII. The Characters xlv
The Weird Sisters xlv
The Weird Sisters and Macbeth xlix
Macbeth and Banquo Hi
Macbeth liv
Lady Macbeth lvii
IX. General Characteristics lxiv
X. Stage History lxvi
The Seventeenth Century lxvi
The Eighteenth Century lxviii
The Nineteenth Century lxix
Authorities (with Abbreviations) lxxi
Chronological Chart lxxii
Distribution of Characters lxxvi
THE TEXT
Act I 3
Act II 42
Act III 67
Act IV 97
Act V 128
INDEX
I. Words and Phrases 153
II. Quotations from Holinshed 159
ILLUSTRATIONS
Title-Page, Holinshed's Chronicles Frontispiece
Macbeth Meets the Weird Sisters (from Holinshed) xiv
Macbeth's Investiture (from Holinshed) xiv
Title-Page, Holinshed's Description of Scotland . . xvi
INTRODUCTION
Note. In citations from Shakespeare's plays and nondramatic
poems the numbering has reference to the Globe edition, except in
the case of this play, where the reference is to this edition.
I. SOURCES
The fatal consequence of the intervention of malignant
supernatural powers in human affairs has fascinated the
deepest minds in all ages and in all lands. It is the theme
of Greek tragedy ; it is the germ idea of the Faust legend ;
it is the essential element in Paradise Lost. The story of
Macbeth, as we have it in Shakespeare, belongs to that great
cycle of temptation themes which, developing naturally from
the story of the fall in the Genesis narrative, became in the
Middle Ages the legend of the man who sells his soul to the
devil in exchange for fortune, power, or universal knowledge.
The Main Story
the macbeth of history
Modern research x has established that the Macbeth of
history was, for his time, a worthy and beneficent monarch,
thoroughly deserving the title of " the liberal king " given to
1 Cf. Freeman's The History of the Norman Conquest, 1867- 1879;
Skene's Celtic Scotland, 1876-1880 ; Professor Hume Brown's The
History of Scotland (Cambridge Historical Series) ; Robertson's Scot-
land under her Early Kings.
ix
X THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
him by St. Berchan. He appears first in trustworthy annals 1
as the hereditary ' mormaor,' or high steward, of Moray,
accompanying his grandfather, Malcolm II, on a mission of
homage to Cnut, king of England, in 1031. His seventeen
years' reign (1040- 105 7) was marked by unprecedented
order and prosperity ; and, as Buchanan states in his Rerum
Scoticarum Historia, first printed in 158?, he applied his
mind to make good and useful laws, a thing almost wholly
neglected by former kings. From this eleventh century
king of Scotland the influence of mediaeval story-telling and
the wilful falsification of historical material for political pur-
poses have created the Macbeth of myth and legend. " With
the Scottish historians who followed the War of Independ-
ence it was a prime concern to produce an unbroken line
of Scottish kings stretching to the fathers of the human
race. As an interloper in this series Macbeth was a monster
whose origin and whose actions must alike have been con-
trary to nature." — Hume Brown.
THE MACBETH OF LEGEND
i . John ofFordurts Chronica. The earliest extant version
of the Macbeth legend is in the Chronica Gentis Scotorum
(sometimes called the Scotichronicon? of which it forms the
first part), written in Latin by John of Fordun (often called
John Fordun), a secular priest and canon of the cathedral
church of Aberdeen, who died about the year 1385. This
1 In the earliest records the name is spelled ' Mealbea'Se,' ' Mac-
becSe,' ' Machetad,' ' Machbet.' In Dalrymple's version, " in Scot-
tish," of Leslie's Historie of Scotland, printed in 1 578, the name is given
as ' Machabie.' In Boece the Latin form of the name is ' Maccabaeus.'
2 Edited (with a translation) by Skene, Edinburgh, 1871-1872.
INTRODUCTION xi
chantry priest did for Scottish history and story what Geoffrey
of Monmouth more than two hundred years earlier had done
for the mythical history of Britain and the Arthurian story in
his Historia Regain Britannice. Both gathered the floating
legends and stories, facts and fables, and compacted them
into " something like a chronological system," thus starting
them on their literary career.
2. Andrew of Wyntoun'' s Orygynale Cronykil. About the
year 1424 Andrew (Androwe, Andro) of Wyntoun (often
called Andrew Wyntoun), a canon of St. Andrews who be-
came prior of St. Serf's Inch in Lochleven, resolved to draw
up a Cronykil out " off Latine in tyll Ynglys sawe," * as he
puts it. He prefixed the adjective * Orygynale ' because the
Cronykil went back to the beginnings of men and angels.
In the octosyllabic couplets of the Orygynale Cronykil is
the earliest form of the prophecy of the Weird Sisters. This
is the famous passage :
A nycht he thowcht in hys dremying,
That syttand he wes besyd the kyng
At a sete in hwntyng, swa
In till a leysh had grewhundys twa :
He thowcht quhile he wes swa syttand
He sawe thre wemen by gangand ;
And thai wemen than thowcht he
Thre werd Systrys mast lyk to be.
The fyrst he hard say gangand by,
1 Lo, yhondyr the Thayne off Crumbawchty ! '
The tothir woman sayd agane,
1 Of Morave yhondre I se the Thayne ! '
The thryd than sayd, ' I se the Kyng ! '
1 into English speech. Until well into the sixteenth century the Low-
land Scots, though they called themselves ' Scottis ' and their country
'Scotland,' called their language ' Ynglys,' ' Inglisch,' or ' Inglis.'
xii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
Here, it is to be noted, the temptation of Macbeth by the
Weird Sisters takes place in a dream. This version of the
story is followed by the skeptical and rationalistic Buchanan.
3. Boece's Historic. In 15 26-1527 was printed the Sco-
torum Histories of Hector Boece (Boetius, Boy is, Boyce),
the first principal of King's College, Aberdeen. This Latin
redaction added new epic and dramatic elements to the
Macbeth legend. The meeting of Macbeth and three women
supposed to be the Weird Sisters is now described as an actual
occurrence on the road to Forres, and the story begins to
take the definite shape familiar to readers of Holinshed and
Shakespeare.
4. Bellenderi's Croniklis. Under the title Croniklis of
Scotland a very free translation of Boece' s work into vigor-
ous Scottish prose was made about the year 1533 by John
Bellenden (Ballantyne), archdeacon of Moray and canon of
Ross. In Bellenden's version in the vernacular, first printed
in 1536,1 the description of the temptation scene is pithy
and dramatic :
Nocht lang eftir, hapnit ane uncouth and wounderfull thing, oe
quhilk folio-wit sone ane gret alteration in the realme. Be aventure,
Makbeth and Banquho wer passing to Fores, quhair King Duncane
hapnit to be for the time, and met be the gait thre wemen, clothit
in elrage and uncouth weid. They were jugit be the pepill to be
weird sisteris. The first of thaim said to Makbeth: 'Hale, Thane
of Glammis ! ' The secound said : ' Hale, Thane of Cawder ! ' and
the thrid said : ' Hale, King of Scotland ! '
Bellenden rehearses Lady Macbeth's complicity in the plot
to murder Duncan with much greater detail than is found
in either earlier or later versions of the legend.
1 Edited by Maitland, Edinburgh, 182 1. Reprinted in Collier's
Shakespeare 's Library.
INTRODUCTION xiii
5. SteivarV s Cronikle. In 1535 appeared a Scottish met-
rical version of Bellenden's Croniklis, purporting to be by
William Stewart1 and made at the command of Margaret
Tudor, Queen of Scotland, for her son James V. Though
this Cronikle was not printed till after Shakespeare's day, it is
perfectly possible that he may have had access to it through
the friendly relations between James VI and the " King's
Company " of players, to which Shakespeare belonged. Signi-
ficant verbal resemblances make this not only possible but
not at all improbable.
6. Holinshed 's Chronicles. As the numerous extracts in
the notes to the text in this edition of Macbeth will show,
Shakespeare derived the great body of his story material from
the Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, of Raphael
Holinshed (Holynshed,Hollingshead,Hollinshead), first pub-
lished in two folio volumes in 1577, and again in 1 586—15 87,
"newlie augmented and continued."2 In this second edi-
tion are many significant changes in the text, and it is
interesting to note that on the title-page The description a?id
historie of Ireland precedes The description and historie of
Scotland. The first edition has a great many quaint wood-
cuts inserted in the text,3 and two of these are here repro-
duced in facsimile, with some lines of the text. Figure 1
represents the meeting of Macbeth and the " .iij women in
straunge & ferly apparell, resembling creatures of an elder
1 Edited/by Turnbull (Rolls Series), 3 vols., 1858.
2 In W. G. Boswell-Stone's Shakspere's Holinshed are given all
the portions of the Chronicles which are of special interest to the
Shakespeare student.
3 These woodcuts were omitted in the second edition, and many
passages of the original text were cancelled by order of the Privy
Council " as disagreeable to Queen Elizabeth."
gjtaitf at ?rt toft* Crpne3Inclje,tticrf to be tljmi fapoe: 2111 l!?apIe2?a&Brtfrti8$kwaftri
ST gcanmtottb tbe emits of tbe 5?ants, as jo njall be fcing of ScotlanD.
flfca ©anqubo, tobat niatrcr of toomm 50 in bisplace,tobete contrarilpfljonin DccDeltialt
«e)atepi,tbatCjeni£{b fttle fauourable not ttpgneat au\buioftbeetoorcfl)allbeboinc
Fig. 1
fl^alcolme pjinct of CEnmtKrfatttie, as a were fcnt, he rtcejraeD tbe inutftnre of tlje feintjtemj
tbertbp to appoint bim bis fucctfTo? in. tbe Sing- aceojoing to tl>c accuff omet> manee.
<€\>t bobfe of SDancant teas Me conncpeD tbe tonnes of King 3?uncane, fojfrarc of vm
tnto ClgpnMnutbfrt butieotn ttnglptulft, Uucs(YotjttljE ttjep imgtjt tticll snoto ^ S^aumtt
Fig. 2
xiv
INTRODUCTION XV
worlde "; Figure 2 represents Macbeth receiving the "inues-
ture of the kingdome according to the accustomed maner."
In the special title prefixed to The Description of Scot-
land m. the edition of 1586-1587, given in facsimile on the
following page (Figure 3), Holinshed's indebtedness to Boece
and to Bellenden is clearly set forth. This is the edition
undoubtedly used by Shakespeare,1 and it is not improbable
that the mention of these authorities would stimulate him to
read them at first hand.
While the dramatist follows closely Holinshed's account
of the reigns of Duncan and Macbeth, he transfers to the
murder of Duncan such details as the drugging of the grooms,
the portents, the tempest, etc., from the narrative of the
murder of Dufle, Lady Macbeth's great-grandfather. Addi-
tional details taken from other parts of the Chronicles and
woven into the plot of the play are the story of young
Siward's death and the description of the English king's
touching to cure ' the evil.' Furness, too, has pointed out
that the hint for the ' voice ' which cried " Sleep no more ! "
(II, ii, 35) probably came from the voice that Kenneth, who
had poisoned his nephew Malcolm, heard :
And (as the fame goeth) it chanced that a voice was heard as he
was in bed in the night time to take his rest, vttering vnto him these
or the like woords in effect : " Thinke not Kenneth that the wicked
slaughter of Malcolme Duffe by thee contriued, is kept secret from
the knowledge of the eternall God. ; . . . The king with this voice
being stricken into great dread and terror, passed that night without
anie sleepe comming in his eies.
1 For example, 'ferly,' in the description of the dress of the Weird
Sisters in the first edition, is changed to ■ wild ' in the second, as in
Macbeth I, hi, 40. Boswell-Stone gives other proofs of this kind.
35;
Sj3J
15 8 5.
s
H
THE
DESCRIPTION
OF SCOTLAND,
Written at thefirft by He&or Boe-
tiut in Latine^ andafterrvardtrar^
dated into the Scotifli fpeech by
John Selkndtn Archdeecon of
Murrey , and now fiaal-
UtitittSndijhly
Whercvpon is inferred the
biftoric of Scotland , conteining
the beginning, increafeproceeding,
continuance , aSist and gouerntmtnt of
the Scotifh nation, from the original!
thercofvntothtjc&re 1 sy i,g/ttht-
rcdand written in Englilh by jy»
fhtcll Bi'IinJJhetd : and conti-
<t
M
Kv
Fig. 3
xvi
INTRODUCTION xvii
(In this connection see Buchanan's account of the con-
science-stricken king quoted below.)
Notable changes in Shakespeare's use of the material
furnished by Holinshed are the idealization of the character
of Banquo and the simplification and compression of the
action in the interests of dramatic economy. Above all,
and most significant of all, the drama throbs with a passion
and a moral energy of which Holinshed's Chronicles, with
all their infusion of enchantment and the supernatural, have
not the slightest trace.
7. Btichanarfs Historia. In 1582 was printed in Edin-
burgh the Rerum Scoticarum Historia of George Buchanan,
the famous tutor of James I and one of Scotland's most illus-
trious scholars. Of this work there was no version in Eng-
lish until after Shakespeare's death, but there was naturally
much discussion of it in London after James ascended the
English throne, and Shakespeare must have been acquainted
with the book to a greater or less extent. At the close of
the Macbeth narrative, Buchanan, whose attitude towards
the supernatural is, as already indicated, uncompromisingly
rationalistic, has this very significant sentence : " Certain of
our writers here relate many things which I omit, as they
seem fitter for stage representations or Milesian stories than
for sober history {theatris aut Milesiis fabulis sunt aptiora
quam historiae)." M. H. Liddell points out that the descrip-
tion of Kenneth's awakened conscience in Buchanan's His-
toria gives us " the picture of Macbeth's torture almost
exactly as Shakespeare conceived it":
His Mind being disquieted with the Guilt of his Offence, suffered
him to enjoy no sincere or solid Mirth ; but in the Day he was vexed
with the corroding Thoughts of that foul "Wickedness, which would
xviii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
always force themselves into his Mind, and in the Night terrible
Apparitions disturbed his Rest. At last, a Voice was heard from
Heaven, either a true one, as some think ; or else, such an one, as
his disquieted Mind suggested (as it commonly happens to guilty
Consciences), speaking to him in his Bed.1
8. Earlier Plays. There is clear evidence that within a
few years of the production of Gorboduc, the first English
tragedy, Scottish legendary history was attracting the atten-
tion of dramatists as a quarry from which to take effective
material. Under the influence of the passion for chronicle
histories, and plays founded on romantic legend, a Tragedie
of the King of Scottes came into existence as early as 1568 ;
about 1590 Robert Greene produced The Scottish Historie
of James IV, slaine at Flodden, inter??iixed with a pleas-
ant Comedie, presented by Oboram King of Fayeries 2 ; and
Henslowe in his Diary, under April 27, 1602, refers to a
play called Malcolme, King of Scottes. But dealing with the
Macbeth legend are two works of special interest in this con-
nection : (1) Macdobeth, probably dramatic and certainly
anterior to Shakespeare's play, and (2) a Latin Dramatic
Dialogue given before King James at Oxford, probably
anterior.
(1) Macdobeth. In The Stationers'' Registers under the
date August 27, 1596, is a reference to a " Ballad of
1 This translation is from the English version of Buchanan's His-
tory of Scotland, published in Edinburgh, 1751. In The Anatomy of
Melancholy, Burton quotes this passage from Buchanan.
2 The fact that this play (in the writing of which, according to
Fleay, Lodge collaborated with Greene) seems really founded on
the Italian romance of Astatio and Arrenopia in Giraldi Cinthio's
Gli Hecatommithi, 1565, does not affect the argument regarding
the growing popularity of Scottish themes for dramatic treatment.
INTRODUCTION xix
Macdobeth," and the same entry refers to " the ballad en-
tituled The taming of a shrew." Collier held that if The
Taming of the Shrew, which is known to be a play, was
recorded as a ballad, Macdobeth was probably of the same
character, and he sought to identify it with the "miserable
stolne story" referred to by Will Kemp, a famous actor of
clowns' parts, in his Kempes nine daies wonder, printed in
1600. In searching for a ballad-maker who had written an
unauthorized account of some of his morrice-dancing adven-
tures, Kemp says :
I met a proper vpright youth, onely for a little stooping in the
shoulders : all hart to the heele, a penny Poet whose first making
was the miserable stolne story of Macdoel, or Macdobeth, or Mac-
somewhat : for I am sure a Mac it was, though I never had the
maw to see it.
" Here the words ' to see it ' seem to show that the piece
had been publicly represented, and that it was not merely a
printed ' ballad.' Kemp, as a highly popular actor, would
most naturally refer to dramatic performances." — Collier.
(2) A Latin Dramatic Dialogue. In his Essay on the
Learning of Shakespeare (London, 1767) Farmer held that
Macbeth was possibly suggested by " a little performance
on the same subject at Oxford, before King James." This
' performance ' was a dialogue in Latin, dealing with the
prediction of the " prophetic sisters " (fatidicas sorores)
as to Banquo and Macbeth, arranged by the students of
St. John's College, Oxford, on the occasion of the royal
visit to the university in August, 1605. This dialogue,1
1 The Latin text is given in the Appendix to Furness's A New
Variorum. Macbeth.
XX THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
written by Dr. Mathew Gwynne, was found by Malone
bound up with Gwynne's Latin play Vertumnus, and the
opening lines, spoken by three students dressed to repre-
sent Sibyls, " the conceipt whereof the King did very much
applaude," 1 have certainly an interesting resemblance to the
Witches' prophecy in Shakespeare's play.
Witch Lore
In sorting the materials out of which the Weird Sisters
weave their incantations, and in gathering the ingredients
which they compound into their hell-broth so as to " make
the gruel thick and slab," Shakespeare drew upon the popu-
lar belief of his time. Into the coarse and realistic mixture
he infused magic elements of that mystic symbolism which
is the spirit of the Fates of the classical mythology and
of the Norns of the Scandinavian — that mystic symbolism
which already had so strangely idealized certain develop-
ments of witch lore in the old Hebrew story (z Samuel,
xxviii) of Saul's visit to the witch of Endor and the
reading of the future through a rising from the dead in a
midnight cave.
i . Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft. As the quotations in
the notes to the text of the play indicate, many minor de-
tails of the witch business in Macbeth seem to have been
derived from The Discoverie of Witchcraft? 1 584, an extraor-
dinary impeachment of the witchcraft superstition by Regi-
nald Scot, a Kentish man who, after years of study at Oxford,
returned to his native county and gave himself to gardening
1 A. Nixon's The Oxford Triumph, 1605.
2 Edited by B. Nicholson, London, 1886.
INTRODUCTION xxi
and hop-growing.1 The Discoverie of Witchcraft is a frank
and able exposure of the absurdities of the popular belief,
but the value of his book to-day is in the detailed account
of the processes of sorcery and the minutiae of witch lore.
The scope of the work is indicated in the original title :
The discoverie of witchcraft wherein the lewde dealing of witches
and witchmongers is notablie detected, the knaverie of conjurors,
the impietie of inchantors, the follie of soothsayers, the impudent
falsehood of cousenors,2 the infidelitie of atheists, the pestilent
practices of Pythonists, the curiositie of figure-casters, the vanitie
of dreamers, the beggarlie art of Alcumystrie, the abhomination
of idolatrie, the horrible art of poisoning, the vertue and power of
naturall magike, and all the conveiances of Legierdemaine and jug-
gling are deciphered, and many other things opened which have long
lien hidden, howbeit verie necessarie to be knowne.
2. King James 's Dcemonologie. In 1597 King James, a
born arguer and reveler in ' counterblasts/ issued his Dce-
mono/ogie, in Forme of a Dialogue as a reply to Scot and
other skeptics. Here, too, are interesting details of the ways
and methods of witches, as this extract from the preface
indicates :
The fearefull abounding at this time in this Countrey of these
detestable slaues of the Diuel, the Witches or enchaunters, hath
mooued me ... to resolue the doubting hearts of many ; both that
such assaults of Satan are most certainely practised, and that the
instruments thereof merits most seuerely to be punished : against
the damnable opinions of two principally in our aage, whereof the
one called Scot, an Englishman, is not ashamed in publike Print to
deny that there can be such a thing as Witch-craft. . . . And for to
1 He is said to have introduced hop-growing into England. His
treatise on the subject, The Hoppe- Garden, first published in 1574,
was thrice reprinted before 1580.
2 cozeners, impostors. Cf. The Winter 's Tale, IV, iv, 256; King
Lear, IV, vi, 167.
xxii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
make this Treatise the more pleasant and facill, I haue put it in form
of a Dialogue, which I have diuided into three Bookes : The first
speaking of Magie in generall, and Necromancie in speciall : The
second, of Sorcerie and Witch-craft ; and the third containes a dis-
course of all these kinds of spirits and Spectres that appeares and
troubles persons.
3. Netues from Scotland. In 1591 there appeared in
Scotland a book called Newes from Scotland, in which are
graphically told the doings of certain Scottish witches and
" supposts of Sathan " who met " on the see ... in riddles or
seives ... to sink the schip . . . att the Kingis returning
fra Denmark." That was in 1589, when James was bring-
ing home his Danish bride. This little book was republished
in London in 1604, when the king's statute to suppress
witchcraft was enacted. Steevens1 connects the Scottish
witch lore in this book with such passages in Macbeth as
I, iii, 10— 11, 25-29, but in Scot's Discoverie and James's
Dcemonologie the power of witches to raise storms by sea
and land is fully recognized.
4. Golding's Ovid. Arthur Golding's translation of Ovid's
Metamorphoses, begun in 1565 and completed in 15 7 5," is
the probable source of much of Shakespeare's knowledge of
classical mythology. "Golding's rendering of Ovid had been
one of Shakespeare's best-loved books in youth." — Sidney
Lee. In it we have Hecate recognized as the goddess of
witches :
She went me to an Altar that was dedicate of olde
To Persys daughter Hecate (of whom the Witches holde
As of their Goddesse) standing in a thicke and secrete wood . . .
And thou, three-headed Hecate, who knowest best the way
To compasse this our great attempt, and art our chiefest stay.
1 Cf. T. A. Spalding's Elizabethan Demonology, London, 1S80.
INTRODUCTION xxiii
The Moving Wood
The incident of the moving wood belongs to the folk-
lore of both Semitic and Indo-European peoples.1 In Wyn-
toun's Cronykil the ' flyttand Wod ' is expressly referred to
as traditional. It is adumbrated in the Hebrew story of
David's conquest of the Philistines following the sound and
appearance as of armies moving along the tops of the mul-
berry trees in the valley of Rephaim. In Poet-Lo7-e, May,
1890, Dr. Morris Jastrow, Jr., gives an Arabic version of the
story ; and Halliwell-Phillipps transcribes a variant in an
old romance life of Alexander the Great. A vigorous form
of the story is in a broadside ballad purporting to be by
Thomas Deloney who died about 1600. It tells of the way
in which " the valiant courage and policie of the Kentish-
men" enabled them to use the device of the moving wood
to force William the Conqueror to recognize their rights :
For when they spied his approch
In place where they did stand,
Then march'd forth they to hem him in,
Each man with bough in hand.
So that unto the Conqueror's sight,
Amazed as he stood,
They seem'd to be a walking grove,
Or els a moouing wood.
The shape of men he could not see,
The boughs did hide them so,
And how his heart did quake for fear
To see a forest go.
1 Some of the variants are given in Porter and Clarke's Shake-
speare Studies : Macbeth.
xxiv THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
Simrock x has shown how closely several of the Macbeth
incidents, including this of the moving wood, correspond to
the traditionary story of King Griinewald :
A King had an only daughter, who possessed wondrous gifts.
Now, once upon a time there came his enemy, a King named Griine-
wald, and besieged him in his castle, and, as the siege lasted long,
the daughter kept continually encouraging her father in the castle.
This lasted till May-day. Then all of a sudden the daughter saw the
hostile army approach with green boughs : then fear and anguish fell
on her, for she knew that all was lost, and said to her father, " Father,
you must yield, or die; I see the green-wood drawing nigh."2
Simrock claims that the legend of the moving forest
originated in the German religious custom of May festivals
and summer welcomings.
Macduff's Birth
Simrock has also pointed out that the connection between
an untimely birth and heroic strength and prowess as shown
in the Witch's prophecy that " none of woman born Shall
harm Macbeth" (IV, i, 80-81), and that Macduff satisfied
this grim condition (V, viii, 15-16), is also a bit of Teutonic
folk-lore, Sigurd's ancestor, Wolsung, having been a child of
sorrow of this kind. Such a belief is latent in all the Aryan
mythologies and is common to-day among the peasantry of
many European countries. Macbeth's death at the hand of
a foe not born of woman is alluded to in Wyntoun's Cronykil,
but Shakespeare undoubtedly took his version from Hol-
inshed's Chronicles, where we read : " But Makduffe . . .
answered (with his naked swoord in his hand) saieng : It is
1 K. Simrock's Die Qtiellen des Shakespeare, Hildburghausen, 1870.
2 This is the translation given in Furness.
INTRODUCTION XXV
true Makbeth ... I am even he that thy wizzards have told
thee of, who was never born of my mother, but ripped out
of her wombe."
Was Shakespeare ever in Scotland?
Whether Shakespeare visited Scotland has been the sub-
ject of much discussion. Knight, Fleay, and other scholars
maintain that he did, and that Macbeth derives much of its
1 local colour ' and peculiar power from the fact that the
dramatist was describing what he had seen with his own
eyes. Thus, and thus alone, it has been claimed, could he
have caught so marvellously both the letter and the spirit
of old Highland romance. The internal evidence based on
such accuracy of local description and allusion as is found in
I, vi, 1-6, is strengthened by such strong external evidence
as the visits of English actors to Scotland during the time of
Shakespeare's connection with the stage. On October 22,
1 60 1, the freedom of the city of Aberdeen was conferred
on Lawrence Fletcher, " Comedian to His Majestie," and
under a Privy Seal dated May 17, 1603, license * was granted
to this Lawrence Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Richard
Burbage, and other members of the old Lord Chamber-
lain's company as " the King's Men," to perform stage plays
"within their now usual house called the Globe," and else-
where in the kingdom.
Fleay 2 held that Shakespeare was in the company that
went to Scotland in 1601, and that when the company was
at Aberdeen he wrote a version of Macbeth for performance
before the king there, in the winter following the Gowry
1 The license is given in full in Collier's Annals of the Stage.
2 The Life and Work of Shakespeare, London, 1886.
xxvi THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
conspiracy. This he revised and enlarged after his interest
had been awakened in the subject again by the dramatic dia-
logue given by the Oxford students in 1605. Fleay's theory
is interesting and suggestive, but of course inconclusive.
II. DATE OF COMPOSITION
The date of composition of Macbeth falls within April 20,
1 6 10, the later time limit {terminus ante que?ri), and 1603,
the earlier time limit (terminus post queni). The weight of
evidence favors 1 605-1 606.
External Evidence
1. Forma?? s Diary. In determining the date of compo-
sition, the most famous bit of external evidence gives a
definite terminus ante quern. This is Dr. Simon Forman's
account of a performance of Macbeth attended by him at
the Globe theatre on April 20, 1610. Forman was an Eliza-
bethan physician, astrologer, and dabbler in the black art,
and in The Booke of Plaies and Notes therof per Formans
for Common Pollicie^ a little manuscript volume discovered
in the Ashmolean Museum in 1836, he gives a minute and
particular account of the plot and leading incidents of the
drama. Forman's description begins as follows :
In Mackbeth at the glob, i6jo, the 20 of Aprill, ther was to be
obserued, firste, howe Mackbeth and Bancko, 2 noble men of Scot-
land, Ridinge thorowe a wod, the[r] stode before them 3 women
feiries or Nimphes, And saluted Mackbeth, sayinge, 3 tyms vnto him,
haille mackbeth, king of Codon ; for thou shalt be a kinge, but shalt
1 for guidance in the ordinary affairs of life. Furnivall's reprint
of The Booke of Plaies is given in the Appendix to Transactions of the
New Shakspere Society, 187 5- 187 6.
INTRODUCTION xxvii
beget No kinge, &c. then said Bancko, what all to mackbeth And
nothing to me. Yes, said the nimphes, haille to thee Banko, thou
shalt beget kinges, yet be no kinge. And so they departed & cam
to the courte of Scotland to Dunkin king of Scotes, and yt was in
the dais of Edward the Confessor.
2. The Puritan. Forman's lengthy and detailed notice
of Macbeth has been regarded as evidence that the tragedy
was then fresh from Shakespeare's hand, and was in its first
course of performance. But this is to mistake Forman's pur-
pose in making his Notes. Besides, there are unmistakable
allusions to Macbeth earlier than 1610. In The Puritan, or
The Widow of Waiting Street, printed in 1607, there is a
very pointed reference to Banquo's Ghost : " Instead of a
jester we '11 ha' the ghost i' th' white sheet sit at upper end
o' th' table." 1
3. Mars ton's Sophonisba. Professor Bradley, in his Shake-
spearean Tragedy, points out a number of parallels between
Macbeth and Marston's Sophonisba {The Wonder of Women,
or The Trajedie of Sophonisba), printed in 1606 — parallels
so marked as to be conclusive that Marston was familiar with
Shakespeare's play. In Marston's other plays are obvious
reminiscences of Shakespeare.
4. Warner's Albion's England. In the 1606 edition of
Warner's Albion's England (the first edition appeared in
1586), a Historie of Macbeth is added, probably in conse-
quence of the popularity of Shakespeare's play.
5. Latin Dramatic Dialogue., In summing up external
evidence for the date of Macbeth some weight is due to
the Latin dramatic dialogue given before the king at Ox-
ford in 1605, as described above.
1 The often-quoted similar passage in The Knight of the Bicrning
Pestle, 161 1, has no direct bearing upon the date of Macbeth.
xxviii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
Internal Evidence
The terminus post quern is generally agreed upon by inter-
nal evidence as 1603, the date of the accession of James I.
1. Allusions within the Play. (1) The specific reference
to the union of the two crowns, IV, i, 120-12 1. (2) The
description of touching for 'the evil,' IV, iii, 141— 159.
(3) The dramatic use of witchcraft, a subject of intense
interest to the king. (4) Allusions in the Porter's speech.
The references to " the equivocator," II, iii, 8-1 1, and " the
farmer that hang'd himself on the expectation of plenty," II,
iii, 4-5, are usually quoted as pointing to 1606 as the date
of composition. The " equivocator ' ' passage, especially when
taken in connection with IV, ii, 45-50, and V, v, 43, seems
certainly a marked reference to Henry Garnet, as indicated
in note, page 54, line 8. Too much has been made of the
" farmer " allusion, even though special research has shown
that there was an unusually abundant harvest in 1606. As
a matter of fact, the jest seems to have been common in
Elizabethan London and is found in Ben Jonson's Every
Man Out of His Humour, published in 1599 (see note,
page 53, lines 4-5). Another common Elizabethan jest
that has been dragged into the date of composition discus-
sion is that of the " tailor . . . stealing out of a French hose."
In this connection it is well to remember that the Porter's
speech is regarded by many editors as a later interpolation
(see below, Shakespeare and Middleton). (5) "The fatal
bellman." In a letter published in The Athenceum, Septem-
ber 13, 1902, Professor Hales points out that the surmise
of the editors of the Clarendon Press Shakespeare that the
full significance of the expression " the fatal bellman, Which
INTRODUCTION xxix
gives the stern'st good-night," II, ii, 3-4, lay in its " allusion
to a certain Newgate custom " of Shakespeare's day, is
probably correct. In 1605 Robert Dow, a merchant tailor
of London, gave a sum of money to provide for, or fee, a
bellman who should deliver at the prison of Newgate "a
most pious and aweful admonition" to condemned criminals
the night before they suffered.
2. Style and Diction. While certain passages in Macbeth
are in Shakespeare's greatest, richest, and most idiomatic
style, and taken by themselves might justify placing the com-
position of the play as near as possible to the terminus ante
quem, the strict application of the various verse and diction
tests * (see Versification and Diction) would make the date
of composition as early as the main body of the external
evidence and that drawn from the allusions within the play
allow.
III. EARLY EDITIONS
Folios
On November 8, 1623, Edward Blount and Isaac Jaggard
obtained formal license to print "Mr. William Shakespeere's
Comedyes, Histories, and Tragedyes, soe many of the said
copies as are not formerly entered to other men." This is
the description-entry in The Stationers' Registers of what
is now known as the First Folio (1623), designated in the
textual notes of this edition Fx. Macbeth is one of the six-
teen plays "not formerly entered," and it was first printed,
1 There is an excellent summary of these tests in Dowden's Skak-
spere Pri?ner. See also Ward's History of English Dramatic Liter-
ature, Vol. II, pages 47-51.
XXX THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
so far as is known, in this famous volume. While, as to
language, it is not one of the worst printed of the plays, the
peculiar nature of the errors and corruptions has given rise
to an unusual amount of textual criticism and led to those
interesting theories of the original version of the play which
are discussed elsewhere in this Introduction and in the notes
attached to the text. " Probably it was printed from a tran-
script of the author's MS., which was in great part not copied
from the original but written to dictation. This is confirmed
by the fact that several of the most palpable blunders are
blunders of the ear and not of the eye." — Clar. Macbeth
occupies pages 131 to 151 in the division of the Folio de-
voted to Tragedies, and it stands there between Julius Ccesar
and Hamlet. The running title is The Tragedie of Macbeth.
It is one of the seventeen plays in the First Folio in which
is indicated the division into acts and scenes.
The Second Folio, F2 (1632), offers an unusual number
of changes in the text of Macbeth as compared with that of
other plays. The more important of these are given in the
textual notes of this edition. This Second Folio text is
repeated with few changes, except in the way of slightly
modernized spelling, in the Third Folio, F3 (1663, 1664),
and in the Fourth Folio, F4 (1685).
Quartos of 1673 and 1674
In 1673 appeared a Quarto edition of Macbeth purport-
ing to be as "acted at the Dukes Theatre." With the ex-
ception of songs added and changes in the witch scenes,
this Quarto is a reprint from the First Folio. Furness has
suggested calling it ' Betterton's Version,' after Thomas
Betterton, whom Pepys regarded as the best actor in the
INTRODUCTION xxxi
world. In the following year appeared a Quarto with this
title-page : ' Macbeth, | A | Trag/edy. With all the
Alterations, Amendments, Additions, And | New
Songs. | As it 's now Acted at the Dukes Theatre. | LON-
DON, | Printed for P. Chetwin, and are to be Sold | by
most Booksellers, 1674.' This is now known as the
1 D'Avenant Quarto.' It gives Sir William D'Avenant's
post-Restoration revision of the play, and in it are printed
now in full both Thomas Middleton's famous witch songs,
" Come away, come away," and " Black spirits and white."
Under the title ' The Persons Names ' it contained the first
list of dramatis personam.
Rowe's Editions
The first critical editor of Shakespeare's plays was Nicholas
Rowe, poet laureate to George I. His first edition was issued
in 1 709 in six octavo volumes. In this edition Rowe, an ex-
perienced playwright, marked the entrances and exits of the
characters and introduced many stage directions. A second
edition in eight volumes was published in 17 14. Rowe fol-
lowed very closely the text of the Fourth Folio, but mod-
ernized spelling, punctuation, and occasionally grammar.
IV. SHAKESPEARE AND MIDDLETON
In the First Folio, Macbeth, III, v, after line 33, is the
stage direction, Musicke, and a Song, and after line 35
another stage direction, Sing within. Come away, come
away, &c. Again, in IV, i, after line 43, is the stage direc-
tion, Music ke and a Song. Blacke Spirits, &c. In the
D'Avenant Quarto, where, as mentioned above, both songs
xxxii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
are given in full,1 there is no sign as to the source of them,
and for long they were supposed to be D'Avenant's own
composition. About the year 1778 (Malone gives the date
as 1779) Steevens is said to have found in " the collection
of the late Thomas Pearson, esq." a manuscript play called
The Witch, written by Thomas Middleton, one of Shake-
speare's younger contemporaries and a well-known dramatist
of the early seventeenth century. In The Witch are both
songs in almost the same form as D'Avenant had given
them, and it may be easily surmised why the songs were
not printed in full in the First Folio. Macbeth was of course
there printed from a playhouse manuscript ; and these songs,
which had formed a popular and catching part of Middle-
ton's otherwise unsuccessful play, were introduced by the
actors into Macbeth, and were presumed to be so well
known to the actors of the play in the form it then had
that a bare indication of them was enough.2
The date of Middleton's play has not been ascertained.3
Various resemblances both of thought and language in the
two plays — resemblances much too close and literal to be
merely accidental — show that one of the authors must have
borrowed from the other. Several of these resemblances
1 See also notes, (1) page 92, lines 33, 35; (2) page 99, line 43.
2 A. H. Bullen, in his Introduction to Middleton's Works, defends
the Shakespearian authorship of the songs, but thinks they were
probably added to and expanded by Middleton.
3 Fleay conjectures that The Witch was composed in 1622, after
Middleton began to write for the King's Men (Shakespeare's old
company, see page xxv) at the Blackfriars theatre, by whom, accord-
ing to the title-page of the manuscript, the play was first produced.
The King's Men went to the Blackfriars in 1613, and Middleton
wrote for the company from 161 5 to 1624.
INTRODUCTION xxxiii
occur in those parts of Macbeth which are unquestionably
Shakespeare's and bear the clearest tokens of his mintage.
Steevens, in the enthusiasm over Middleton which followed
his find, held that Shakespeare borrowed from The Witch,
but it is now clear that, whatever may be the exact date,
Middleton wrote his play after the appearance of Macbeth;
besides, in other plays he unmistakably imitates Shakespeare.
The theory of collaboration is untenable. The views of those
who hold the ' interpolation ' theory may be summarized
thus : Middleton's own play being unsuccessful, as he admits,
except probably in the lyrical passages, he was employed
by the Blackfriars management to add to Shakespeare's suc-
cessful play and develop the musical and spectacular fea-
tures to suit the growing popular demand for this sort of
thing. Of these 'interpolated' passages, the most important
are: I, ii; hi, 1-37; II, Hi (Porter's part); III, v; IV, i,
39-47, 125-132; hi, 140-159; V, ii; v, 47~5°; viii>
32-33, 35-75. "This theory of interpolation must be
considered as in a high degree doubtful." — Dowden.
V. VERSIFICATION AND DICTION
Blank Verse
The greater part of Macbeth is in blank verse — the un-
rhymed, iambic five-stress (decasyllabic) verse, or iambic
pentameter, introduced into England from Italy by Henry
Howard, Earl of Surrey, about 1540, and used by him in a
translation of the second and fourth books of Vergil's sEneid.
Nicholas Grimald (TottePs Miscellany, 1557) employed the
measure for the first time in English original poetry, and
its roots began to strike deep into British soil and absorb
xxxiv THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
substance. It is peculiarly significant that Sackville and
Norton should have used it as the measure of Gorboduc,
the first English tragedy (performed by "the Gentlemen of
the Inner Temple " on January 18, 15 61, and first printed in
1565). About the time when Shakespeare arrived in London
the infinite possibilities of blank verse as a vehicle for
dramatic poetry and passion were being shown by Kyd and
above all by Marlowe. Blank verse as used by Shakespeare
is really an epitome of the development of the measure in
connection with the English drama. In his earlier plays the
blank verse is often similar to that of Gorboduc. The tend-
ency is to adhere to the syllable-counting principle, to make
the line the unit, the sentence and phrase coinciding with
the line (end-stopped verse), and to use five perfect iambic
feet to the line. In plays of the middle period, such as The
Merchant of Venice and As You Like It, written between
1596 and 1600, the blank verse is more like that of Kyd
and Marlowe, with less monotonous regularity in the struc-
ture and an increasing tendency to carry on the sense from
one line to another without a syntactical or rhetorical pause
at the end of the line (run-on verse, enjambemenf). Redun-
dant syllables now abound and the melody is richer and
fuller. In Shakespeare's later plays the blank verse breaks
away from bondage to formal line limits, and sweeps all
along with it in freedom, power, and organic unity.
Macbeth has a greater number of regular five-stress (pen-
tameter) unrhymed lines 1 than is usual in a later play ; but
1 For perfect examples of such normal lines see I, ii, 1 ; iii, 38 ;
II, i, 35. The play contains 28 Alexandrines, 21 light endings, 78
feminine mid-line syllables, and 97 short lines. There are only 2 weak
endings.
INTRODUCTION xxxv
stress modifications of all kinds, Alexandrines, light endings,
feminine mid-line syllables, and other variations and devia-
tions from the norm give to the verse, with all its singular
compactness of idiomatic expression, a rich music and a
superb movement, epical as well as dramatic.1
Rhyme
i. Couplets. Macbeth has 108 lines of rhymed pentam-
eter verse (rhymed couplets), an unusually large number
for a later play and one that contains only 2108 lines.2
Rhyme-tags, or couplets at the end of scenes and acts (see
Abbott, § 515), are especially numerous. " In this play more
scenes end with tags than in any other play in Shakespeare ;
the number of tag-rhymes is also greater than in any other
play, including his very earliest." — Fleay. Those who be-
lieve in the Middleton influence read Middleton's heavy
hand in this extraordinary prevalence of rhymed couplets.
2. Witch Scenes. The dominant measure in the speeches
of the Weird Sisters is four-stress (tetrameter) trochaic verse
catalectic — a rhythm often adopted by Shakespeare. Cf .
Orlando's verses in praise of Rosalind, and Touchstone's
' false gallop ' in As You Like It; Autolycus's song in The
Winter's Tale, IV, iv, 220, etc. But in Macbeth the trochaic
movement in the tetrameter is freer than in any other
Shakespeare play, being varied by the introduction of three-
stress lines, of iambic five-stresses, and very frequently of
inversions of stress. The speeches of 'Hecate and the
1 Cf. J. A. Symonds's Blank Verse, page 58.
2 Macbeth is the shortest of Shakespeare's plays, with the excep-
tion of The Comedy of Errors (1778 lines) and The Tempest (2065
lines).
xxxvi THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
First Witch in III, v, and in IV, i, 39-43, 125-132, are in
iambic verse, and this fact has been used to strengthen the
arguments against the Shakespearian authorship of these
passages.
Prose
In the development of the English drama the use of prose
as a vehicle of expression entitled to equal rights with verse
was due to Lyly. He was the first to use prose with power and
distinction in original plays, and did memorable service in
preparing the way for Shakespeare's achievement. Interest-
ing attempts have been made to explain Shakespeare's dis-
tinctive use of verse and prose; and of recent years there has
been much discussion of the question " whether we are jus-
tified in supposing that Shakespeare was guided by any fixed
principle in his employment of verse and prose, or whether
he merely employed them, as fancy suggested, for the sake
of variety and relief." x It is a significant fact that in many
of his earlier plays there is little or no prose, and that the
proportion of prose to blank verse increases with the de-
crease of rhyme. In Macbeth four kinds of prose may be
distinguished : (1) The prose of formal documents, as in
Macbeth's letter to Lady Macbeth (I, v). In Shakespeare
prose is the usual medium for letters* proclamations, and
other formal documents. (2) The prose of 'low life' and
the speech of comic characters, as in the Porter scene (II, hi).
1 Professor J. Churton Collins's Shakespeare as a Prose Writer.
See Delius's Die Prosa in Shakespeares Dramen (Shakespeare Jahr-
ouch, V, 227-273) ; Janssen's Die Prosa in Shakespeares Drame?i;
Professor Hiram Corson's An Introduction to the Study of Shake-
speare, pp. 83-98.
INTRODUCTION xxxvii
This is a development of the humorous prose found, for
example, in Greene's comedies that deal with country life.
(3) The colloquial prose of simple dialogue, as in the talk
between Lady Macduff and her little boy (IV, ii), and in the
conversation of the Doctor and the Gentlewoman (V, i). In
both these passages, as in the Porter scene, the prose dic-
tion gives temporary emotional relief and prepares for the
heightening of the dramatic pitch in the scenes which imme-
diately follow. (4) The prose of abnormal mentality, as in
the sleep-walking scene (V, i). It is an interesting fact that
Shakespeare should so often make persons whose state of
mind is abnormal, or seemingly so, speak in prose.1 " The
idea underlying this custom of Shakespeare's evidently is
that the regular rhythm of verse would be inappropriate
where the mind is supposed to have lost its balance and to
be at the mercy of chance impressions coming from without
(as sometimes with Lear) or of ideas emerging from its un-
conscious depths and pursuing one another across its passive
surface. The somnambulism of Lady Macbeth is such a
condition. . . . This language (i.e. Lady Macbeth's in prose)
stands in strong contrast with that of Macbeth in the sur-
rounding scenes, full of a feverish and almost furious excite-
ment, and seems to express a far more desolating misery."
— A. C. Bradley. In previous editions of Hudson's Shake-
speare the suggestion was made that the matter in the sleep-
walking scene is too sublime, too austerely grand, to admit
of anything so artificial as the measured language of verse,
even though the verse were Shakespeare's ; and that the poet,
as from an instinct of genius, saw or felt that any attempt
1 Cf. Hamlet, II, ii, 17 1-22 1 ; IV, v, 172-186; Lear, III, iv, 51-
64, etc.
xxxviii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
to heighten the effect by any such arts or charms of delivery
would unbrace and impair it. Is prose then, after all, a
higher form of speech than verse?
VI. DRAMATIC STRUCTURE
In regularity of construction and in symmetrical develop-
ment of plot, Macbeth and Julias Ccesar are unsurpassed
among Shakespeare's plays. The individual act-structure in
both plays is as compact and effective as the structure of
the drama as a whole.1 Neither play has a complicating
underplot ; every incident and every speech is inextricably
bound up with the central personality. In both plays the set-
ting of scenery and the accessories of supernatural phenom-
ena harmonize subtly with incident and characterization.
Macbeth is a romantic tragedy in which is represented a
conflict between an individual, or, as in this play, two per-
sons acting together as one protagonist, and certain forces
which environ, antagonize, and overwhelm. In such a drama
are five essential elements : (i) the exposition or intro-
duction; (2) the complication or rising action; (3) the
climax or turning point ; (4) the resolution or falling action ;
and (5) the catastrophe or conclusion.2 In Macbeth, as in
Shakespeare's other plays, the organic elements in the action
do not correspond exactly to the mechanical division into
acts. The exposition is contained in the first two scenes ;
1 Macbeth, IV, iii, and Julius Ccesar, IV, iii, have been censured
for being too episodical, but the ' suspensive plot ' theory is surely
sufficient justification.
2 Cf. Freytag's Technik des Dramas, Leipzig. A useful little book
on the subject is Elisabeth Woodbridge's The Drama; its Law and
its Technique.
INTRODUCTION xxxix
the complication begins with the meeting of Macbeth and
the Weird Sisters and continues until the climax is reached
in the murder of Banquo in the third scene of the third act.
The beginning of the resolution is usually in the closest
union with the climax, and the announcement by the Third
Murderer that Fleance has escaped is incorporated with the
Banquo murder scene. From the escape of Fleance, on
through the banquet scene, the arousing of Macduff, and the
retreat to Dunsinane, the fortunes of Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth fall to the catastrophe.
Analysis by Act and Scene1
I. The Exposition, or Introduction (Tying of the Knot)
Act I, Scene i. The Witches are introduced in a desert place to the
accompaniment of a storm in the physical world. The key-note of
high tragic drama is struck at once. Like a prologue this brief scene
foreshadows the moral and cosmic significance of an impending
struggle in which Macbeth is involved (line 7).
Act /, Scene ii. Interest in Macbeth before he appears is deepened
by narratives of his personal courage and military prowess. His
success in battle with rebellion and invasion wins the favor of the
king, who bestows on him in absence the title forfeited by the
treacherous thane of Cawdor. This gift becomes an impulse towards
Macbeth's own criminal ' enterprise ' (cf. I, vii, 48) and carries with
it a foreboding of his own treason (cf. I, iii, 116-117).
Act I, Scene iii, 1-47- With the introduction of Macbeth the dra-
matic exposition is complete. For the significance of Macbeth's
first words, see note, line 38.
1 " It must be understood that a play can be analyzed into very
different schemes of plot. It must not be thought that one of these
schemes is right and the rest wrong ; but the schemes will be better
or worse in proportion as — while of course representing correctly
the facts of the play — they bring out more or less of what ministers
to our sense of design." — Moulton.
Xi THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
II. The Complication, Rising Action, or Growth (Tying of
the Knot)
Act I, Scene iii, 4.7-156. The greetings of the Witches furnish the
exciting force of the drama, and the complication, or rising action,
begins. The 'supernatural soliciting' (line 130) stimulates the guilty
brooding of Macbeth ; he mutters to himself of ' horrible imagin-
ings' (line 138) and murder; and this, the temptation scene, closes
with his determination to seek the king.
Act I, Scene iv. The king's announcement that Malcolm will be
his successor determines in a general way Macbeth's ' black and
deep desires' (line 51). The king resolves to honor Macbeth by a
visit to his castle. The way is prepared for a line of action by
Macbeth and for the introduction of Lady Macbeth. The king's
graciousness and trust are in ironical contrast to Macbeth's dark
hopes and sinister designs (cf. note, lines 13-14).
Act I, Scene v. In her quivering ambition for her husband's advance-
ment, Lady Macbeth sees in the king's visit a chance "to catch the
nearest way" (line 16). She starts Macbeth's treacherous purposes
into a course of immediate action, and 'this night's great business'
(line 66) is outlined ominously. The nervous tension of her soliloquy
(lines 36-42) prepares for the effects of the reaction as revealed in V,i.
Act I, Scene vi. Dramatic irony and the irony of situation (cf.
note, I, iv, 13-14) prevail in this brief scene (cf. notes, lines 1-3, 20).
The castle, with its air of peace and security, is a death trap; the
gracious mistress is an instigator of treason and murder.
Act I, Scene vii. Macbeth's soliloquy, with its vision of the evil
consequences of the bloody deed, foreshadows all that comes in the
falling action of the play. His faltering calls forth the energy and
spirit of Lady Macbeth, who nerves him to the deed.
Act II, Scene i. The scene opens in an atmosphere of agitation
and dread. Banquo's anxiety expresses itself in short, tense sen-
tences relating to the time of night (cf. Hamlet, I, i, 1-14)- In a few
words with Macbeth he shows that his suspicions are awakened.
Left alone, Macbeth has a vision of a bloody dagger, and then the
bell, Lady Macbeth's signal for the murder, sounds.
Act II, Scene ii. As often in Greek tragedy, the murder is not
presented on the stage, but it is suggested with all the accessories of
INTRODUCTION xli
horror in Lady Macbeth's soliloquy and her comments to Macbeth
when he returns. Her strength of mind and her self-control come
not from heartlessness but from a will steeled to help her husband.
Before the scene closes the guilty pair are startled by a knocking at
the gate ; and it is dramatically effective that one of the men knock-
ing is the destined instrument of vengeance (cf. note, line 57).
Act II, Scene Hi. The humorous soliloquy in prose with which
the scene opens is a notable example of dramatic contrast. The
realism and verisimilitude suggest how abnormal the conditions are
through which the action has been passing. In the mechanism of
stage production this interlude allows Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
time to prepare for the discovery of the murder. When Macduff
raises the alarm, Macbeth rushes in and rashly murders the drugged
grooms, who were to be charged with the king's death, and thus he
ruins the original plan made by Lady Macbeth. She swoons when
she hears what he has done (cf. note, line 112). The king's sons
suspect Macbeth and take refuge in flight.
Act II, Scene iv. After the rush of tragic incident this calm scene
gives relief and perspective. In quiet talk, as in a Chorus speech,
the immediate after effects of the occurrences are revealed. The
flight of the king's sons has put " upon them suspicion of the deed "
(lines 26-27) ; Macbeth has "gone to Scone to be invested" (lines
31-32) as king.
Act III, Scene i. In an opening soliloquy Banquo makes clear the
menace he is to Macbeth and thus motives his own death. He holds
the threads which connect Macbeth with the murder of Duncan ;
the Witches prophesied that his own offspring should sit on the
throne. Macbeth reveals his uneasiness, and, to end the torture of
suspense, hastily arranges for the ' taking off' of Banquo and his son.
Act III, Scene ii. Lady Macbeth begins to feel remorse. " Nought 's
had, all 's spent " (line 4) is a note of deepest melancholy. Her hus-
band is less with her than before; the copartnership of guilt is
breaking up. She conceals her feelings when Macbeth appears,
flushed with his new scheme of murder. He hints of a ' deed of
dreadful note ' (line 44) that is to be done that night. This half
confidence enables her to play her part in the crisis of the banquet
scene.
xlii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
III. The Climax, Crisis, or Turning Point (the Knot Tied)
Act III, Scene Hi, 1-18. Banquo is murdered, and this murder
marks the height of Macbeth's success. From the entrance of the
exciting force in his interview with the Witches until now the action
has been a steady rise for him in power and reach.
IV. The Resolution, Falling Action, or Consequence (the
Untying of the Knot)
Act III, Scene Hi, ig-22. With the escape of Fleance begins the
falling action of the drama. Though he is not used again as an agent,
his escape symbolizes the turn of Macbeth's fortune. Macbeth's
doom now darkens down, scene by scene, to the denouement.
Act III, Scene iv. * That Fleance is scap'd ' is told to Macbeth
as the banquet scene opens. He is uneasy, and for him at the feast
the apparition of murdered Banquo becomes the handwriting on the
wall. Superstitious terrors entangle him ; he " will tomorrow ... to
the weird sisters" (lines 133-134). Macduff's absence from the
banquet is referred to as significant.
Act III, Scene v. In the rising action Macbeth entered into al-
liance with the Witches and profited by their patronage ; in the fall-
ing action, under Hecate, they contrive his ruin.
Act III, Scene vi. This quiet side-scene, like a Chorus speech
(cf. II, iv), supplies comment and bridges an interval of time. Mac-
beth's conduct as king is making him suspected and detested in
Scotland. Macduff has fled to England.
Act IV, Scene i. Macbeth meets the Witches for the second time.
As before, they act as an exciting force. The repetition suggests the
inevitableness of destiny. The suggestions and ambiguous oracles
of the Witches first soothe Macbeth and then irritate him. His
rapid moral deterioration is shown in the purposeless savagery of
his scheme to massacre Macduff's wife and family.
Act IV, Scene ii. The scene has dramatic relief in the sweetness,
humor, and pathos of the dialogue between Lady Macduff and her
little son. The domestic calm is broken in on by the murderers.
This wanton crime becomes the exciting cause of the dramatic
catastrophe. It causes revolt in Scotland ; it awakes Malcolm and
Macduff to immediate revenge.
INTRODUCTION xliii
Act IV, Scene Hi. This long scene has been censured for its
' dragging ' tendency ; but the slow movement represents the steady
gathering of the forces, moral and material, which are about to over-
whelm Macbeth. It marks the pause before the storm. When the
news of his loss comes to Macduff, the emotion of tenderness and
pathos, touched in the preceding scene, is intensified. For an ex-
planation of the seemingly irrelevant passage on ' the evil,' see note,
lines 146-159.
Act V, Scene i. Lady Macbeth's brooding remorse (cf. Ill, ii) has
deepened into the melancholy of a disordered brain. In her delirium
she reproduces the murder of Duncan, and though she has drifted
apart from her husband into a solitude of guilty fears, she mingles
his actions with her own, as she lays bare her soul. Her memories
and imaginings are eating away her life ; her death ' by self and
violent hands ' (V, viii, 70) is foreshadowed.
Act V, Scene ii. The action of the drama now oscillates between
the opposing forces and Macbeth. In this scene the Scottish nobles
and their followers gather to join Malcolm and the English army.
They "march towards Birnam " (line 31).
Act V, Scene Hi. Macbeth learns of the forces arrayed against him,
and he is told that Lady Macbeth is ill. As he expresses his sense of
utter loneliness, he awakens the pity due to a hero of tragedy, without
disturbance of the principles of justice and moral retribution. Then
his old personal courage blazes up in the presence of pressing danger.
V. Denouement, Catastrophe, or Conclusion (the Knot Untied)
Act V, Scene iv. As the Scottish and English soldiers march
through Birnam wood, they lop boughs and carry them to confuse
the enemy. Thus begins the fulfilment of a prediction deemed by
Macbeth impossible (IV, i, 92-100).
Act V, Scene v. Macbeth learns that Birnam wood is moving to
Dunsinane, and ' the cry of women ' (line 8) tells him that Lady
Macbeth is dead. Again the pathos and the poetry of his intensely
human cry awaken pity without interfering with the rigorous re-
quirements of moral law.
Act V, Scene vi. This prelude to the battle reveals the spirit of
the opposing forces. Battle representations were popular in the
xliv THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
Elizabethan theatre, and the stage conditions account in great meas-
ure for such short, typical scenes as this and the two which follow.
Act V, Scene viz. Macbeth, with hope in the prediction that " none
of woman born shall harm " him (IV, i, 80-81), fights bravely against
desperate odds (cf. note, line 2).
Act V, Scene viii. Despising a temptation to commit suicide,
Macbeth fights on. The discovery that he has been tricked a second
time by an ambiguous oracle of the 'juggling fiends' (line 19), and
that they have paltered with him ' in a double sense ' (line 20), un-
nerves him for a moment, but he recovers himself and goes to his
doom with a speech that rings of heroic freedom and satisfies the
demands of high tragedy.
VII. MANAGEMENT OF TIME AND PLACE
The historic succession of events comprised in Macbeth
covers nearly twenty years. This period includes the time
of " the warres that Duncane had with forrayne enemies in
the seventh yeare of his raigne," the year of Duncan's death
and Macbeth's coronation, and the seventeen years of Mac-
beth's reign from his accession in 1040 to his defeat and
death in 1057 at the hands of Malcolm, "probably in open
fight at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire." — Hume Brown.
These historic happenings are represented in the stage action
as the occurrences of nine days, separated by uncertain in-
tervals of time of not more than a few months at most ; 1
but, as we read or listen, it seems all only a matter of a few
hours. In the second scene of the first act four battles
recorded by Holinshed are rolled into one. Everywhere
1 P. A. Daniel's time-analysis is : 1st day, I, i-iii. 2d day, I, iv-
vii. 3d day, II, i-iv. Interval of about two weeks. 4th day, III,
i-v. (Ill, vi, an impossible time.) 5th day, IV, i. 6th day, IV, ii.
Interval (Ross's journey to England). 7th day, I V, iii ; V, i. Interval
(Malcolm's return to Scotland). 8th day, V, ii — iii. 9th day, V, iv-viii.
INTRODUCTION xlv
there is similar compression and dramatic economy. So
with place; the scene may shift from Forres to Inverness,
from Macduff's castle to England, and from England to
Dunsinane and the north again, but the unity and the con-
tinuity of perfect verisimilitude are secured in a convincing,
effective plot. The genius of the great dramatist breaks
down the barriers of mere locality. With him the years are
as one day ; he is in the divine secret of time and of space.
VIII. THE CHARACTERS
The Weird Sisters *
a
The WTeird Sisters," says Coleridge, " are as true a crea-
tion of Shakespeare's as his Ariel and Caliban, — fates, furies,
and materializing witches being the elements. They are
wholly different from any representation of witches in the
contemporary writers, and yet presented a sufficient ex-
ternal resemblance to the creatures of vulgar prejudice to
act immediately on the audience." Charles Lamb, also,
referring to the witches of Rowley and of Dekker says :
"They are the plain, traditional, old-woman witches of our
ancestors, — poor, deformed, and ignorant, the terror of
villages, — themselves amenable to a justice. That should
be a hardy sheriff, with the power of the county at his heels,
that should lay hands on the Weird Sisters. They are of
another jurisdiction."
1 An interesting analysis of the Weird Sisters is in Professor Tol-
man's ' Studies in Macbeth ' in The Views about Hamlet and other
Essays. There he says, "Strangely enough the word 'weird' has
come into modern English entirely from its use in MacbethP Cf.
note, page 13, line 32.
xlvi THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
The old witches of superstition were foul, ugly, mischie-
vous beings, generally actuated by vulgar envy or hate ; not
so much wicked as mean, and more apt to excite disgust
than to inspire terror or awe ; who could inflict injury, but
not guilt ; and could work men's temporal ruin, but not win
them to work their own spiritual ruin. The Weird Sisters
are cast in quite another mould, and are beholden to those
old witches for little if anything more than the drapery of
the representation. Resembling old women, save that they
have long beards, they bubble up in human shape, but own
no human relations ; are without age, or sex, or kin ; with-
out birth or death ; passionless and motiveless. A combi-
nation of the terrible and the grotesque, unlike the Furies of
the Greek drama they are petrific, not to the senses, but to
the thoughts. At first, indeed, on merely looking at them,,
we can scarce help laughing, so uncouth and grotesque is
their appearance ; but afterwards, on looking into them, we
find them terrible beyond description : and the more we
look, the more terrible do they become, the blood almost
curdling in our veins as, dancing, and singing their infernal
glees over embryo murders, they unfold to our thoughts the
cold, passionless, inexhaustible malignity and deformity of
their nature. Towards Macbeth they have nothing of per-
sonal hatred or revenge ; their malice is of a higher strain,
and savors as little of any such human ranklings as the
thunderstorms and elemental perturbations amidst which
they come and go. Coleridge describes their character as
"consisting in the imaginative disconnected from the good " ;
but with all their essential wickedness, the Weird Sisters
have nothing gross or vulgar or sensual about them. "Fair
is foul, and foul is fair," to them, by constitution of nature ;
INTRODUCTION xlvii
darkness is their light, storms their sunshine, tumults,
terrors, hideous rites, and Satanic liturgies their religion.
They are indeed ihe very purity of sin incarnate ; the vestal
virgins, so to speak, of hell; in whom everything is re-
versed ; whose ascent is downwards ; whose proper eucharist
is a sacrament of e\ il ; and the law of whose being is viola-
tion of law !
But is there anything of permanent truth in the matter
of the Weird Sisters? and, if so, what? These are ques-
tions that may fairly claim to be considered in any attempt
to interpret the drama.
Probably no form of superstition ever prevailed to much
extent but that it had a ground and principle of truth.
The old system of witchcraft was an embodiment of some
natural law, a local and temporary outgrowth from some-
thing as general and permanent as human nature. Our
moral being must breathe; and therefore, in default of
other provision, it puts forth some such arrangement of
breathing-organs spontaneously, just as a tree puts forth
leaves. The point of art then, in the case before us, was to
raise and transfigure the literal into the symbolical ; to take
the body, so brittle and perishable in itself, and endow it
with immortality; which could be done only by filling and
animating it with the efficacy of imperishable truth. Accord-
ingly Shakespeare took enough of current and traditionary
matter to enlist old credulity in behalf of agents suited to
his peculiar purpose; he represented to the age its own
thoughts, and at the same time informed that representation
with a moral significance suited to all ages alike. In The
Witch of Middleton we have the literal form of a transient
superstition ; in Macbeth that form is made the transparent
xlviii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
vehicle of a truth coeval and coextensive with the workings
of human guilt. In their literal character the Weird Sisters
answer to something that was, and is not ; in their symbol-
ical character they answer to something that was, and is,
and will abide ; for they represent the mysterious action and
reaction between the evil mind and external nature.
For the external world serves in some sort as a looking-
glass wherein we behold the image of our inner man ; and
the evil suggestions, which seem to us written in the face or
speaking from the mouth of outward objects and occasions,
are in reality but projections from our own evil hearts. In
a moral sense, the world around us only gives us back our-
selves ; its aspect is but a reflection of what we bring to it ;
so that, if the things we look on seem inviting us to crime,
it is only because our depraved lusts and most frail affections
construe their innocent meanings into wicked invitations.
In the spirit and virtue of this principle the Weird Sis-
ters symbolize the inward moral history of each and every
man ; and therefore they may be expected to live in the
faith of reason so long as the present moral order or
disorder of things shall last. They may be aptly enough
described as poetical or mythical impersonations of evil
influences. They body forth in living forms the fearful
echo which the natural world gives back to the evil that
speaks out from the human heart. And the secret of their
power over Macbeth lies mainly in that they present to him
his embryo wishes and half-formed thoughts. At one time
they harp his fear aright, at another his hope, — and this,
too, before his hope and fear have dis'tinctly reported them-
selves in his consciousness, — and, by thus, harping them,
nurse them into purpose and draw them into act; as men
INTRODUCTION xlix
often know they would something, yet know not clearly
what they would, till an articulation of it, or what seems
such, comes to them from without. For so we are naturally
made conscious of what is within us by the shadow it casts
in the light of occasion ; and therefore it is that trials and op-
portunities have such an effect in revealing us to ourselves.
The Weird Sisters and Macbeth
The office of the Weird Sisters is not so much to deprave
as to develop the characters whereon they act. They do
not create the evil heart ; they only untie the evil hands.
They put nothing into Macbeth's mind, but merely draw
out what was already there ; breathing fructification upon
his indwelling germs of sin, and thus acting as mediators
between the secret upspringing purpose and the final ac-
complishment of crime. He was already minded to act as
he does, only something was needed to " trammel up the
consequence "j which, in his apprehension, is just what the
Weird Sisters do.
' Accordingly it well appears in the course of the play
that the thought of murdering Duncan is by no means new
to Macbeth. As the Scottish crown was elective in a cer-
tain line, Macbeth's claim to it was legally as good as Dun-
can's till the vote was declared ; while his consciousness of
superior fitness for the office might naturally have filled him
with high expectations. At all events, it is plain enough
that he has more than dallied with the purpose of retriev-
ing that disappointment by crime ; he has entertained it
seriously, and has had talks with his wife about it, she no
doubt encouraging him in it with all her fiery vehemence
of spirit. In his boldness of imagination he was even then
1 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
ready to make an opportunity for the deed ; and it is a
profound stroke of nature that, when the opportunity makes
itself to his hands, its effect is to unman him. This is evi-
dent from his wife's stinging reproaches when at last his
resolution falters and breaks down : " Was the hope drunk
wherein you dress'd yourself?" (I, vii, 35-36) — "When
you durst do it, then you were a man" (I, vii, 49); and,
" Nor time nor place Did then adhere, and yet you would
make both " (I, vii, 51-52). These plainly refer to conver-
sations they have had on the subject.
So that in the salutation of the Weird Sisters Macbeth
just meets with an external temptation to that which he
has been inwardly tempted or instigated to before. Yet he
cannot all at once rest secure in the thoughts which at that
prophetic greeting spring up within him; and therefore it
is that he " burns in desire to question them further." Fears
and scruples as to the consequence still shake him ; a gen-
eral pledge of security is not enough ; he craves to know
further how and whence the means of safety are to come,
his faith in the Weird promise not being strong enough at
first to silence the warnings of experience, reenforced as
these are by the instinctive apprehensions of conscience :
But in these cases
We still have judgment here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague th' inventor : this even-handed justice
Commends th' ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. [I, vii, 7-12.]
It is wisely ordered that the Weird Sisters meet Macbeth
" in the day of success," when the exultations of victory
would naturally prompt such a mind as his to catch at
INTRODUCTION li
ambitious hopes. And " the early birth-date of his guilt "
appears in that, on hearing the first Weird salutation, he is
instantly seized with a kind of mental delirium. This comes
out in what Banquo says :
Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair ? — I' the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show ? My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction
Of noble having and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal ; to me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak, then, to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate. [I, Hi, 51-61.]
Macbeth's behavior as here indicated is profoundly
symptomatic of his moral predispositions. It is a full reve-
lation of his criminal aptitudes that so startles and surprises
him into a rapture of meditation. The Weird greeting is as
a spark to a magazine of wickedness in him, and he is at
once seized with a trance of terror at the result :
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma or a hideous dream:
The Genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council ; and the state of a man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.
[Julius Ccesar, II, i, 63-69.]
"So surely," says Coleridge, "is the guilt in its germ an-
terior to the supposed cause and immediate temptation."
Whether the Weird Sisters "look into the seeds of time" or
lii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
not, they manifestly look into the seeds of Macbeth's char-
acter ; and they drop just the right stuff on them to make
them sprout, as is evident from the fact that they instantly
do sprout. And it was their insight of the unhatched eggs
of evil within him, that drew them to him. It seems then
clear that in Shakespeare's idea Macbeth already had the
will, and that what he wanted further was but an earnest
and assurance of success. The ordering of things so as to
meet that want, and the tracing of the mental processes
and the subtle workings of evil consequent thereon, — this
it is that renders the drama such a paragon of ethical mean-
ing organized into art. The Weird Sisters rightly strike the
key-note and lead off the terrible chorus, because they em-
body and realize to us, and even to the hero himself, that
secret preparation of evil within him out of which the whole
action proceeds. In their fantastical and unearthly aspect,
awakening mingled emotions of terror and mirth ; in their
mysterious reserve and oracular brevity of speech, so fitted
at once to sharpen curiosity and awe down skepticism ; in
the circumstances of their prophetic greeting, — a blasted
heath, with the elements wrangling over it, as if Nature were
at odds with herself, and in love with desolation ; — in all
this we may discern a peculiar aptness to generate, even in
strong minds, a belief in what they utter.
Macbeth and Banquo
The contrast in the behavior of Macbeth and Banquo
after the interview with the Weird Sisters is deeply signifi-
cant. Belief takes hold of them both alike, for aught that
appears. Yet, while Macbeth is beside himself with excite-
ment, and transported with guilty thoughts and imaginations,
INTRODUCTION liii
Banquo remains calm, unexcited, and perfectly self-poised.
His intellectual forces are indeed stimulated by the preter-
natural address, but stimulated only to moralize the occasion
and to draw arguments in support of his better mind. He
hears the speakers with simple wonder ; shows no interest
in them but that of an honest and rational curiosity ; his
mind is absorbed in the matter before him ; and because
he sees nothing of himself in them, and has no germs of
wickedness for them to work upon, therefore he " neither
begs nor fears their favours nor their hate." Macbeth, on
the contrary, as we have seen, goes off in a trance or medi-
tation, and loses what is before him in a stress of introver-
sion : roused from this, he is eager and impatient to have
them speak further, and his heart leaps forth to catch their
words ; and again, when his ear is saluted with a partial ful-
filment of their promise, a still more violent fit of abstraction
seizes him, his very senses being palsied by the horrid sug-
gestion which at once charms and terrifies him, and which
makes him shudder simply because it reveals an answering
spirit and purpose within him. That which so entrances
and appalls him is but the image of his moral self, as he be-
holds it in the mirror of his newly-awakened consciousness.
It is indeed a fearful transpiration of character !
Macbeth himself never thinks of making the Weird Sisters
anywise responsible for what he does. The workings of his
mind throughout manifestly infer that he feels just as free
in his actions as if no supernatural soliciting had come near
him. He therefore never offers to soothe his conscience or
satisfy his reason on the score of his being under any fatal
charm or fascination of evil. For, in truth, the promise of
the throne is no more an instigation to murder for it than a
Hv THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
promise of wealth in like sort would be to steal. To a truly
honest man, such a promise, in so far as he believed it,
would preclude the motives to theft. His thought would be,
"Wealth is coming; I have but to work, and let it come."
If, however, he were already a thief at heart, and kept from
stealing only by fear of the consequences, he would be apt
to construe the promise of wealth into a promise of impunity
in theft, — which just marks the difference between Banquo
and Macbeth. What with the one precludes the motive to
crime, with the other itself becomes the motive to crime.
Banquo's moral reason, indeed, grows more vigilant and
discerning for the temptations laid before him ; his virtue,
instead of being staggered by them, is rendered more circum-
spective and firm ; he disarms or repels them by prayer ; and
the more they press upon him, the more he prays for help
against them. For so we find that the having merely dreamed
of the Weird Sisters moves him to exclaim, " Merciful powers,
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature Gives way to
in repose ! " (II, i, 7-9). And when Macbeth, on hearing of
the dream, tries to draw him into his counsels, telling him
"it shall make honour for him," he gives the prompt reply :
So I lose none
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchis'd, and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsell'd. [II, i, 26-29.]
Nothing could better approve his firmness of moral tone.
Macbeth
Macbeth's falterings and misgivings spring from the
peculiar structure of his intellect as inflamed with the poison
of meditated guilt. His understanding and imagination rush
INTRODUCTION lv
into irregular, convulsive action ; conscience being indeed
the main cause of that action, yet hiding itself in the agi-
tations of mind which it stirs up. Thus a strange, fearful
hallucination, all begotten of guilt, takes possession of him.
Hence his long and fatal course of self-delusion. He has
done the greatest possible violence to his moral nature, and
thereby " put rancours in the vessel of his peace " ; but the
agonies thence resulting he still misderives from external
causes, and keeps mistranslating them into the warnings of
prudence, the forecastings of reason, and the threatenings
of danger. His strong and excitable imagination, set on fire
of conscience, fascinates and spellbinds his other faculties,
and so gives objectiveness to its internal workings. His
moral forces even usurp his eyes and ears, turning them into
" miraculous organs," so that he cannot choose but see and
hear things that are not ; as in case of " the air-drawn dag-
ger " which leads him to Duncan, and the cry that haunts
him, "Sleep no more ! Macbeth does murder sleep." Thus
his conscience, instead of acting directly in the form of
remorse, comes to act through imaginary terrors, which in
turn react on his conscience, as fire is made hotter by the
current of air which itself generates.
It is probably from oversight of this that some have set
Macbeth down as a timid, cautious, remorseless villain, .with-
held from crime only by a shrinking, selfish apprehensive-
ness. He does indeed seem strangely dead to the guilt, and
morbidly alive to the dangers, of his enterprise ; free from
remorses of conscience, and filled with imaginary fears ;
but whence his uncontrollable irritability of imagination?
how comes it that his mind so swarms with horrible imagin-
ings, but that his imagination itself is set on fire of hell?
lvi THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
Such "paintings of fear," it scarce need be said, are not the
offspring of a mind in which the moral sense is weak or
dead ; rather they attest a peculiar strength and quickness
in that sense. Call it insanity, if you will ; but it is an in-
sanity full of moral inspiration. And what a lesson does it
read us of the secret possibilities of evil, ay, and of punish-
ment too, wrapped up in the moral constitution of man !
It is a natural result of an imagination so redundant and
excitable as Macbeth's that the agonies of remorse should
project and embody themselves in imaginary terrors, and so
spur him on to further crimes for security against those terrors.
To give himself peace, he must still keep using his dagger;
and yet every thrust he makes with it stabs a new wound in
his own soul. Such is the dreadful madness which guilt en-
genders in him ! His moral forces, indeed, turn to a down-
right fury and venom of infatuation, insomuch that he boldly
enters the lists against the very powers in which he trusted.
All this comes out in his interview with Lady Macbeth on
the eve of Banquo's murder :
We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it :
She '11 close and be herself, whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth.
But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreams
That shake us nightly : better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our place, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave;
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;
Treason has done his worst : nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,
Can touch him further. [Ill, ii, 13-26.]
INTRODUCTION lvii
Here we see that crime has filled his mind with scorpions,
and still he thinks of no way to clear them out but by crime.
And the thought of Duncan instantly charms him into a
feverish brooding over the dangers which he seems to have
invited against himself by murdering him. And it is well
worth noting how, in this speech, as in several others, he
goes on kindling more and more with his theme, till he fairly
loses himself in a trance of moral and imaginative thought.
The inward burnings of guilt act as a sort of inspiration to
him. For the preternatural illumination of mind, which so
often transports him, marks the insurgent stress of moral
forces.
Lady Macbeth
In the structure and working of her mind and moral
frame, Lady Macbeth is the opposite of her husband, and
therefore all the fitter to countervail his infirmity of purpose;
that is, she differs from him in just the right way to supple-
ment him. Of a firm, sharp, wiry, matter-of-fact intellect,
doubly charged with energy of will, she has little in common
with him save a red-hot ambition : hence, while the Weird
disclosures act on her will just as on his, and she jumps
forthwith into the same purpose, the effect on her mind is
wholly different. Without his irritability of understanding
and imagination, she is therefore subject to no such involun-
tary transports of thought. Accordingly she never loses her-
self in any raptures of meditation ; no illusions born of guilty
fear get the mastery of her ; at least, not when her will is in
exercise : in her waking moments her senses are always
so thoroughly in her keeping that she hears and sees things
just as they are. As conscience draws no visions before her
lviii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
eyes, and shapes no voices in her hearing, so, while he
is shaken and quite unmanned with fantastical terrors, she
remains externally calm, collected, and cool. Her presence
of mind indeed seems firmest when his trances of illusion
run highest ; so that, instead of being at all infected with his
agitations, her forces then move in the aptest order to re-
cover him from them. Which shows that her sympathy with
his ambition, intense as it is, has no power to make her sym-
pathize with his mental workings. It may almost be said,
indeed, that what stimulates his imagination stifles hers.
There was strong dramatic reason why Lady Macbeth
should have such a mind and temper as to be moved and
impressed, when awake, by nothing but facts. She ought
to be, as indeed she is, so constituted that the evil which
has struck its roots so deep within never comes back to her
in the elements and aspects of nature, either to mature the
guilty purpose or to obstruct the guilty act. It is remark-
able that she does not once recur to the Weird Sisters, nor
make any use of their salutations ; they seem to have no
weight with her, but for the impression they have wrought
on her husband. That this impression may grow to the
desired effect, she refrains from meddling with it, and seeks
only to fortify it with impressions of another sort. And what
could better approve her shrewdness and tact than that, in-
stead of overstraining this one motive, and so weakening it,
she thus lets it alone and labors to strengthen it by mixing
others with it? For in truth the Weird Sisters represent,
in most appalling sort, the wickedness of the purpose they
suggest : so that Macbeth's fears as well as his hopes are
stimulated, and his fears even more than his hopes, by the
recollection of their greetings : the instant he reverts to
INTRODUCTION lix
them, his imagination springs into action, — an organ of
which ambition works the bellows indeed, but conscience
still governs the stops and keys. The very thought of them,
indeed, seems to put him at once under a fascination of
terror. All this does not escape his wife ; who therefore
judges it best rather to draw his thoughts off from that
matter, and fix them on other inducements. He had
thought of the murder, when as yet he could see no oppor-
tunities for doing it. When those opportunities come, they
are the arguments that tell with her ; and she therefore
makes it her business to urge them upon him, invoking his
former manhood withal, to redintegrate and shame him out
of his present weakness :
Nor time nor place
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both :
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now
Does unmake you. [I, vii, 51-54-]
Coleridge justly remarks upon her adroit boldness in first
pressing those very considerations which most stagger her
husband's purpose. That Duncan has cast himself unre-
servedly on their loyalty and hospitality, this she puts forth
as the strongest argument for murdering him ! An awful
stroke of character indeed, and therefore awful, because
natural. By thus anticipating his greatest drawbacks, and
urging them as the chief incentives, she forecloses all debate.
Which is just what she wants ; for she knows full well that
the thing will not stand the tests of reason a moment : it
must be done first, and discussed afterwards. And through-
out this wrestling-match she surveys the whole ground, and
darts upon the strongest points with the quickness and sure-
ness of instinct ; the sharpness of the exigency being to her
lx THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
a sort of practical inspiration. The finishing stroke in this
part of the work is when, her husband's resolution being all
in a totter, she boldly cuts the sinews of retreat, casting the
thing into a personal controversy and making it a theme of
domestic war :
Lady Macbeth. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire ? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting ' I dare not ' wait upon ' I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage ?
Macbeth. Prithee, peace :
I dare do all that may become a man ;
Who dares do more is none.
Lady Macbeth. What beast was 't, then,
That made you break this enterprise to me ?
[I, vii, 39-48.]
The virtues and affections of the husband are now drawn
up against the conscience of the man. For, to be scorned
and baited as a coward by the woman he loves, and by
whom he is loved, is the last thing a soldier can bear :
death is nothing to it. Macbeth, accordingly, goes about
the deed, and goes through it, with an assumed ferocity
caught from his wife.
Nor is that ferocity native to her own breast : surely, on
her part too, it is assumed ; for though in her intense over-
heat of expectant passion it is temporarily fused into her
character, it is disengaged and thrown off as soon as that
heat passes away, — as men, in the ardor of successful effort,
sometimes pass for a while into a character which they un-
dertake to play. Lady Macbeth begins with acting a part
INTRODUCTION t lxi
which is really foreign to her, but which, notwithstanding,
such is her energy of will, she braves out to issues so over-
whelming that her husband and many others believe it
to be her own. Take, for example, the speech beginning,
" I have given suck, and know how tender 't is to love the
babe that milks me." Mrs. Siddons used to utter the clos-
ing words of that speech in a scream, as though scared from
her propriety by the audacity of her own tongue. It is not
hard to conceive how a spasmodic action of fear might lend
to such a woman as Lady Macbeth an appearance of super-
human or inhuman boldness. At all events, it seems clear
enough that in this case her fierce vehemence of purpose
rasps her woman's feelings to the quick ; and the pang
thence resulting might well utter itself in a scream.
Lady Macbeth is indeed a great bad woman, whom we
fear and pity; but neither so great nor so bad as is com-
monly supposed. She has closely studied her husband, and
penetrated far into the heart of his mystery, yet she knows
him rather as he is to her than as he is in himself : hence
in describing his character she interprets her own. She has
indeed the ambition to wish herself unsexed, but not the
power to unsex herself except in words. For, though she
invokes the " murdering ministers " to " come to her woman's
breasts, and take her milk for gall," still she cannot make
them come, and her milk, in spite of her invocation, con-
tinues to be milk. Verplanck describes her as " a woman of
high intellect, bold spirit, and lofty desires, who is mastered
by a fiery thirst of power, and that for her husband as well
as herself."
Two characters, however, may easily be made out for
Lady Macbeth, according as we lay the chief stress on what
lxii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
she says or what she does. No one can fail to remark that
the anticipation raised by her earlier speeches is by no
means sustained in her subsequent acts. When she looks
upon the face of the sleeping Duncan, and sees the mur-
derous thought passing, as it were, into a fact before her,
a gush of womanly feeling or of native tenderness suddenly
stays her hand. " Had he not resembled My father as he
slept, I had done 't " (II, ii, 12-13). That such a real or
fancied resemblance should thus rise up and unsinew her
purpose in the moment of action, is a rare touch of nature
indeed, and shows that conscience works even more effec-
tually through the feelings in her case than through the im-
agination in that of her husband. And the difference of
imagination and feeling in this point is, that the one acts
most at a distance, the other on the spot. The towering
audacity of her earlier speeches arises, at least in part, from
an overstrained endeavor to school herself into a firmness
and fierceness of which she feels the want.
Her whole after course favors this view. For instance,
when she hears from Macbeth how he has murdered the
two grooms also, she sinks down at the tale. That is not a
counterfeit swoon. The thing takes her by surprise, and
her iron-ribbed self-control for once gives way. The an-
nouncement of Duncan's murder had no such effect upon
her, for she was prepared for that ; and that was when she
would have counterfeited fainting, if at all. So bold of
tongue, she could indeed say, "the sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures ; 'tis the eye of childhood That fears a
painted devil" (II, ii, 53-55); but the sequel proves her
to have been better than she was aware. In truth, she has
undertaken too much : in her efforts to screw her own and
INTRODUCTION Ixiii
her husband's courage to the sticking-place, there was ex-
erted a force of will which answered the end indeed, but at
the same time flawed the core of her being.
Accordingly she gives no waking sign of the dreadful work
that is doing within : the unmitigable corrodings of her rooted
sorrow, even when busiest in destruction, do not once betray
her, except when her self-rule is dissolved in sleep. But the
truth comes out, with an awful mingling of pathos and ter-
ror, in the scene where her conscience, sleepless amidst the
sleep of nature, nay, most restless even then when all other
cares are at rest, drives her forth, open-eyed yet sightless, to
sigh and groan over spots on her hands that are visible to
none but herself, nor even to herself save when she is blind
to everything else, — a living automaton worked by the ago-
nies of remorse ! How perfectly her senses are then domi-
nated by the conscience is shown with supreme effect in
"Here's the smell of blood still"; which has been aptly
noted as the only instance in modern times where the sense
of smell has been successfully employed in high tragic ex-
pression.1 An awful mystery, too, hangs over her death.
We know not, the poet himself seems not to know, whether
the gnawings of the undying worm drive her to suicidal vio-
lence, or themselves cut asunder the cords of her life : all
we know is, that the death of her body springs somehow
from the inextinguishable life and the immedicable wound
of her soul. What a history of her woman's heart is written
in her thus sinking, sinking away where imagination shrinks
from following her, under the violence of an invisible yet un-
mistakable disease, which still sharpens its inflictions and at
the same time quickens her sensibilities !
1 See quotation from Verplanck illustrating V, i, 48-49.
lxiv THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
Lady Macbeth dies before her husband. This is one of
the most judicious points of the drama. Her death touches
Macbeth in the only spot where he seems to retain the feel-
ings of a man, and draws from him some deeply-solemn,
soothing, elegiac tones :
Macbeth. Wherefore was that cry?
Seyton. The queen, my lord, is dead.
Macbeth. She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life 's but a walking shadow; a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. [V, v, 15-28.]
IX. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Dr. Johnson observes, with singular infelicity, that this play
"has no nice discriminations of character." In respect of
characterization, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are equalled
only by Shakespeare's other masterpieces, — by Shylock,
Hamlet, Lear, and Iago ; while the Weird Sisters, so seem-
ingly akin (though whether as mothers or sisters or daugh-
ters we cannot tell) to the thunderstorms that come and go
with them, occupy the summit of his preternatural creations.
Nevertheless, it must be owned that the grandeur of the
dramatic combination somewhat overshadows the individual
characters ; insomuch that something of special effort is
INTRODUCTION lxv
required to keep the delicate limning of the agents from
being lost sight of in the magnitude, the manifold unity and
thought-like rapidity of the action.
The style of this great drama is pitched in the same high
tragic key as the action. Throughout we have an explo-
sion, as of purpose into act, so also of thought into speech,
both literally kindling with their own swiftness. No sooner
thought than said, no sooner said than done, is the law of
the piece. Therewithal thoughts and images come crowd-
ing and jostling each other in such quick succession as to
prevent a full utterance. Nowhere is there greater concen-
tration of expression. The least touching of the ear sends
vibrations through all the chambers of the mind. Hence
the large, manifold suggestiveness which lurks in the words :
they seem instinct with something which the speakers can-
not stay to unfold. And between these invitations to lin-
ger, and the continual drawings onward, the reader's mind
is kindled to an almost preternatural activity. All which
might at length grow wearisome, but that the play is
throughout a conflict of antagonist elements and opposite
extremes, which are so managed as to brace up the interest
on every side : so that the effect of the whole is to refresh,
not exhaust the powers, the mind being sustained in its
long and lofty flight by the wings that grow forth as of their
own accord from its superadded life. The lyrical element,
instead of being interspersed here and there in the form of
musical lulls and pauses, is thoroughly interfused with the
dramatic ; while the ethical sense underlies them both, and
is forced up through them by their own pressure. The whole
drama, indeed, may be described as a tempest set to music.
lxvi THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
X. STAGE HISTORY
The strong: dramatic interest of Macbeth has made its
popularity as an acting play among Shakespeare's tragedies
almost as great as that of Hamlet. The red shadow of
murder and the gloom of disaster hang over it from first
to last ; with the exception of the opening of the scene after
the murder of Duncan, there is an almost total lack of comic
relief; but the vigorous style, the rapid action, the play-
wright's structural methods, the spectacular stage effects,
and the superb opportunity afforded for the interpretation
of a notable heroine as well as for that of a great hero,
have made it a strong favorite with actors and audiences.
The Seventeenth Century
The evidence for the date of composition (see pages xxvi-
xxvii) attests the popularity of the play before Shakespeare's
death, and the theory of interpolations by Middleton (see
pages xxxi-xxxiii) would indicate that with or without alter-
ations it held the stage up to the time of the closing of the
theatres. Richard Burbage (Burbidge, Burbadge), the famous
member of the company to which Shakespeare belonged,
was undoubtedly the first stage Macbeth. Though short
and stout, he had a musical voice, and Overbury speaks of
" his full and significant action of body." In the theatre of
the Restoration, in such adaptations as are represented by
the Quartos of 1673 and 1674 (see page xxx), it was one
of the most popular of the Shakespearian revivals, Thomas
Betterton, the great Shakespeare actor of the time, taking
the leading part and Mrs. Betterton playing Lady Macbeth.
INTRODUCTION lxvii
Pepys has eight distinct references to performances at " the
Duke's house " (the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields) between
1666 and 1669. The description under the date, January 7,
1667, is significant : " To the Duke's house and saw Macbeth,
which though I saw it lately, yet appears a most excellent
play in all respects, but especially in divertisement, though
it be a deep tragedy ; which is a strange perfection in a
tragedy, it being most proper here and suitable." The " di-
vertisement " probably has reference to such " alterations,
amendments, additions, and new songs " as are mentioned
on the title-page of the D'Avenant Quarto (see page xxxi).
After the opening of the theatres methods of opera were
applied to some of Shakespeare's plays, and none suffered
more in this respect than Macbeth and The Tempest. The
accompanying music to Macbeth is now known to have been
by Matthew Locke (Lock), one of the earliest English com-
posers to write for the stage.1 Among other changes and
deformations in D'Avenant's version 2 are the abbreviation
of the blank verse speeches, the use of rhymed heroics in
the dialogue between Macduff and his wife, and the moderni-
zation of the diction. The matter of the Witches offered an
opportunity for display too good to be neglected, and the
Weird Sisters as conceived by Shakespeare, with their
solemn suggestion of the Destinies of the Greek and Roman
mythology and the Norns of the Scandinavian, gave place
to semi-comic furies, now flying and now participating in
spectacular dances.
1 A controversy has raged over the authorship of the original
Macbeth music, some claiming that Purcell wrote it. As a matter of
fact the music appeared when Purcell was only fourteen years old.
2 See Furness's A New Variorum. Macbeth, pages 507-543.
lxviii THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
The Eighteenth Century
The D'Avenant version was popular on the stage until
Garrick appeared as Macbeth at Drury Lane in 1744. Gar-
rick professed to give " Macbeth as written by Shakespeare,"
and though he retained the operatic business in the Witch
scenes and Locke's music, he was on the whole faithful to
the original text except at the close of the play. In Garrick's
version Macbeth is represented on the stage to the last, and
he dies with this most un-Shakespearian speech on his lips : 1
'T is done ! the scene of life will quickly close.
Ambition's vain delusive dreams are fled,
And now I wake to darkness, guilt, and horror. —
I cannot rise : — I dare not ask for mercy —
It is too late ; hell drags me down ; — I sink,
I sink ; — my soul is lost for ever ! Oh ! — Oh !
In Garrick's later revivals Lady Macbeth was played by
Mrs. Pritchard, one of the great interpreters of the part in
the traditions of the stage.
Garrick played Macbeth in scarlet coat, gold lace and pow-
dered tiewig, the full court dress of the time of George II.
It had been suggested to him that he should appear in
Highland costume, but he replied naively : " You forget
that the Pretender was here only thirty years ago, and, egad !
I should be pelted off the stage with orange-peel."
The first time 2 that a stage Macbeth appeared in tartan
and kilt was when " rough honest old " Macklin took the
1 This arrangement with these added lines was continued in
Kemble's version of the play.
2 Steevens pointed out that in IV, iii, 160, there may be an indica-
tion that appropriate Scottish dress was used in Shakespeare's day.
INTRODUCTION lxix
part at Covent Garden in 1773. All the characters were
in Scottish costumes, and one of his detractors described
Macklin as an " old Scotch piper stumping along at the head
of his army." In his later revivals he abandoned the High-
land dress and acted the part in conventional costume.
On April 21, 1794, a notable performance took place at
the opening of new Drury Lane, when John Philip Kemble
played Macbeth, his sister, Mrs. Siddons, acted Lady Mac-
beth, and the younger brother, Charles Kemble, appeared
as Malcolm. Kemble was singularly impressive in the banquet
scene, and this was the first time that it was given without
a visible ghost.1 " Mrs. Siddons," writes Doran, " imagined
Lady Macbeth, the heroine of the most tragic of tragedies,
to be a delicate blonde, who ruled by her intellect, and sub-
dued by her beauty, but with whom no one feeling of com-
mon general nature was congenial, a woman prompt for
wickedness, but swiftly possessed by remorse."
The Nineteenth Century
Kemble's Macbeth with its dignity and poetry dominated
the stage until Edmund Kean appeared in the part, Novem-
ber 5, 18 1 4. Kean was peculiarly effective in the murder
scene. " As a lesson of common humanity," says Hazlitt,
" it was heart-rending. The hesitation, the bewildered look,
the coming to himself when he sees his hands bloody ; the
manner in which his voice clung to his throat and choked
his utterance ; his agony and tears ; the force of nature
overcome by passion — beggared description." To Kean
1 Macready, Booth, and Irving followed Kemble in this ; Edmund
Kean, Forrest, and Charles Kean adhered to the old tradition of a
visible ghost.
lxx THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
belongs the credit of having swept away the last of the
comic business that had clung to the Witch scenes from the
time of the Restoration. From his day to the beginning of
the twentieth century the stage history of Macbeth is a history
of noteworthy performances by the great actors of the mod-
ern world. Macready, Forrest, Phelps, Charles Kean, Booth,
Irving, and Salvini are names that will ever be associated
with the title role ; and Helen Faucit (Lady Martin), Ellen
Terry, and Charlotte Cushman have widened in a remarkable
and varied way the conception of what is involved in the
dramatic interpretation of the heroine.
AUTHORITIES
(With the more important abbreviations used in the notes)
Fi = First Folio, 1623.
F2 = Second Folio, 1632.
F3 — Third Folio, 1664.
F4 = Fourth Folio, 1685.
Ff = all the seventeenth century Folios.
D'Avenant = D'Avenant's version, 1674.
Rowe = Rowe's editions, 1709, 1714.
Pope = Pope's editions, 1723, 1728.
Theobald = Theobald's editions, 1733, 1740.
Hanmer = Hanmer's edition, 1744.
Johnson = Johnson's edition, 1765.
Capell = Capell's edition, 1768.
Malone = Malone's edition, 1790.
Steevens = Steevens's edition, 1793.
Globe = Globe edition (Clark and Wright), 1864.
Clar = Clarendon Press (second) edition (Clark and Wright),
1869.
Dyce = Dyce's (third) edition, 1875.
Delius = Delius's (fifth) edition, 1882.
Camb = Cambridge (third) edition (W. A. Wright), 1891.
Libby = M. F. Libby's Some New Notes oil Macbeth, 1893.
Manly = J. M. Manly's edition, Longmans' English Classics,
1896.
Verity = A. W. Verity's edition, Pitt Press, 1902.
Furness = H. H. Furness's A New Variortim. Macbeth (revised
edition), 1903.
Liddell = M. H. Liddell's edition, Doubleday, Page & Co., 1903.
Herford = C. H. Herford's The Eversley Shakespeare, 1903.
Abbott = E. A. Abbott's A Shakespearian Grammar.
Cotgrave = Cotgrave's Dictionarie of the French and English
Tongues, 1 6 r 1 .
Schmidt = Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon.
Skeat = Skeat's An Etymological Dictionary.
Murray = A New English Dictionary ( The Oxford Dictionary).
Century = The Century Dictionary.
Holinshed — Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Ireland,
and Scotland (second edition), 15S6-1587.
Scot =: Reginald Scot's The Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584.
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lxxv
DISTRIBUTION OF CHARACTERS
In this analysis are shown the acts and scenes in which the char-
acters (see Dramatis Personae, page 2) appear, with the number of
speeches and lines given to each.
Note. Parts of lines are counted as whole lines.
NO. OF
NO. OF
no. of
NO. OF
SPEECHES
LINES
speeches
LINES
Macbeth
I, iii
13
50
Banquo
I, iii
12
42
I, iv
3
16
I, iv
I
2
I,v
3
4
I,vi
I
8
I, vii
7
48
II, i
8
24
II, i
6
45
II, iii
2
II
II, ii
14
39
III, i
6
20
II, iii
13
33
III, iii
3
4
III, i
15
114
33
in
III, ii
5
4i
III,iv
25
no
Lennox
I, ii
1
2
IV, i
16
75
II, iii
7
20
V, iii
V,v
V, vi
10
6
55
44
Ill.iv
III, vi
4
3
5
32
5
10
IV, i
5
2
6
V, viii
_5
26
V, ii
7
146
710
22
72
Malcolm
I, ii
2
6
I, iv
r
10
Duncan
I, ii
8
14
II, iii
5
J4
I, iv
6
36
IV, iii
23
139
I, vi
4
18
V, iv
3
n
18
"68
V, vi
1
6
V, vii
1
2
Scotch Doctor
V, i
15
34
V, viii
_J
20
V, iii
4
_9
40
208
19
43
Macduff
II, iii
II, iv
r5
7
37
14
Porter
II, iii
3
24
IV, iii
V, iv
28
1
91
3
Captain
I, ii
3
35
V, vi
V, vii
1
1
2
10
1 Murderer
III, i
7
10
V, viii
s
19
III, iii
7
n
1 1 1 , iv
4
7
58
176
IV, ii
_3
_A
Ross
I, ii
I, iii
4
2
18
16
21
32
II, iv
10
26
Old Siward
V, iv
3
10
III, iv
3
5
V, vi
1
3
IV, ii
4
x9
V, vii
2
6
IV, iii
13
4i
V, viii
_5
11
V, viii
_3
39
_9
134
n
30
lxxvi
DISTRIBUTION OF CHARACTERS lxxvii
NO. OF
NO. OF
NO. OF
NO. OF
SPEECHES
LINES
speeches
LINES
All (Witches)
I, iii
I
I
3
6
English )
Doctor J
IV, iii
I
5
IV, i
8
13
Seyton
V, iii
3
3
IO
22
V, v
2
2
All (Lords)
II, iii
2
2
5
5
V, viii
I
I
2 Apparition
IV, i
2
4
3
3
1 Apparition
IV, i
1
2
Lord
III,vi
3
21
Fleance
II, i
2
2
Lords
III,iv
3
3
Attendant
III, i
1
1
Messenger
I,v
2
5
Lady )
Macbeth j
Lv
I,vi
6
68
IV, ii
I
9
V, v
3
9
2
11
I, vii
6
43
6
23
II, ii
14
46
Angus
I, iii
2
12
II, iii
III, i
3
1
6
3
V, ii
2
_9
III, ii
7
18
4
21
III, iv
V, i
14
6
40
20
Son
IV, ii
14
20
59
25S
2 Murderer
III, i
4
8
1 Witch
I, i
3
4
III, iii
4
_9
I, iii
9
28
8
17
III, V
IV, i
2
9
2
27
Menteith
V, ii
V, iv
3
2
10
2
23
61
5
12
2 Witch
I, iii
2
6
3
6
Old Man-
II, iv
. 4
1 1
IV, i
6
17
Caithness
V, ii
3
1 1
14
26
Donalbain
II, iii
3
9
3 Witch
Li
I, iii
2
6
2
8
3 Murderer
III, iii
6
8
IV, i
4
12
16
"26
Young Siward
V, vii
4
7
Lady Macduff
IV, ii
19
41
Servant
III, ii
2
2
V, iii
3
3
H ecate
III, V
1
34
IV, i
1
5
S
5
2
39
3 Apparition
IV, i
i
5
Gentlewoman
V, i
11
23
THE TRAGEDY OF
MACBETH
DRAMATIS PERSON^1
Duncan,2 King of Scotland.
Malcolm, ) , .
^ > his sons.
DONALBAIN, J
Macbeth, {_ generals of the
Banquo,3 S King's army.
Macduff,
Lennox,
Ross,
Menteith,
Angus,
Caithness,4.
Fleance, son to Banquo.
Siward, earl of Northumberland,
general of the English forces.
Young Siward, his son.
Seyton, an officer attending on
Macbeth.
noblemen of Scot-
land.
Boy, son to Macduff.
An English Doctor.
A Scotch Doctor.
A Captain.
A Porter.
An Old Man.
Lady Macbeth.
Lady Macduff.
Gentlewoman5 attending on
Lady Macbeth.
Hecate.
Three Witches.
Apparitions.
Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Attendants,
and Messengers.
Scene: Scotland; England.
1 In D'Avenant's version of the play (1674) is a ns* °f 'The Persons
Names,' but Rowe was the first editor to give the Dramatis Persons in
essentially the modern form. Capell expanded Rowe's list. That given here
is substantially Dyce's.
2 The names of all the leading characters are from Holinshed.
3 Banquo. The name and title as given by Holinshed is ' Banquho the
thane of Lochquhaber.' For an interesting discussion of the pronunciation,
see Furness.
4 " Malcolme . . . created manie earles. . . . Manie of them that before
were thanes, were at this time made earles, as Fife, Menteth, Atholl, Leuenox,
Murrey, Cathnes, Rosse, and Angus. These were the first earles that haue
beene heard of amongst the Scotishmen." — Holinshed.
5 Gentlewoman . . . Capell | Gentlewomen . . . Rowe.
2
ACT I
Scene I. A desert place
Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches
i Witch. When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain ?
2 Witch. When the hurlyburly 's done,
When the battle 's lost and won.
3 Witch. That will be ere the set of sun. 5
1 Witch. Where the place?
2 Witch. Upon the heath.
3 Witch. There to meet with Macbeth.
A desert place Camb | Ff omit. i. again Hanmer | againe? Ff„
ACT I. Scene I. The division into acts and scenes in this edi-
tion is that given with Latin nomenclature in the First Folio, except
in the case of the fifth act, where Scena Septima of the Folio is sub-
divided into scenes vii and viii.
A desert place. Line 6 indicates that this is not 'the heath.'
Enter three Witches. " The true reason for the first appearance
of the Witches is to strike the key-note of the character of the whole
drama." — Coleridge.
1-2. The question concerns time, not weather. 'Or' emphasizes
the difference in the three elements. "In Stormes of Haile, or
Snowe, Wind, Tempest, or Lightning, is accounted amongst magi-
cians, a Tyme for Conjuring at an easie rate." — Scot.
3. hurlyburly : tumult. This onomatopoetic word was used in a
dignified sense in the sixteenth century. See Murray.
7. A strong pause after ' meet ' heightens the metrical effect.
3
4 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act I
i Witch. I come, Graymalkin.
All. Paddock calls : — Anon !
Fair is foul, and foul is fair ; 10
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
[_Exeunt~\
9. All. Paddock calls : — Anon! | 9-10. Paddock . . . fair: | one line
All. Padock calls anon : Ff . in Ff.
8. Graymalkin : gray cat, cat. In Scotland ' malkin ' (' mawkin ')
is ' hare.' Cf. ' puss ' for ' hare ' in sportsmen's slang. In the old
witchcraft lore witches are represented as having attendants, called
familiars, in the guise of animals. " They can keep the Divils and
Spirits in the likenesse of Todes and Cats." — Scot.
9-10. Some modern editors, including Clark and Wright (Clar,
Globe), follow Hunter's conjecture and distribute the dialogue
among the witches thus : " 2 Witch. Paddock calls. 3 Witch.
Anon. All. Fair is foul," etc. In the D'Avenant version the
arrangement is that of the Folios. This probably indicates the
stage tradition. — Paddock : toad. The word (often pronounced
'padda,' cf. Middle English fiadde, Icelandic paddd) is still used in
Scotland and provincial England for 'frog.' In the Western High-
lands ' padock ' is the name sometimes given to a malevolent spirit.
— Anon : immediately. The usual inn-waiter's reply to a call. Cf.
1 Henry IV, II, iv, 36, 72, 109, etc. Here the toad serving as
familiar is supposed to make a sign for the witches to leave, and
' Anon ! ' is the reply. — Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Cf . Spenser,
The Faerie Qtieene, I, ii, 38. Farmer also quotes Spenser's " Then
faire grew foule and foule grew faire," to show the proverbial char-
acter of this phrase. But the expression probably signifies the moral
confusion or inversion which the witches represent.
11. filthy: murky. See Murray. Gloom is the background of
the play.
scene ii MACBETH 5
Scene II. A camp near Forres
Alarum within. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain,
Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleedi7ig Captain
/^~
Duncan. What bloody man is that? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.
Malcolm. This is the sergeant
Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend ! 5
Say to the king thy knowledge of the broil
As thou didst leave it.
Captain. Doubtful it stood,
As two spent swimmers that do cling together
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald —
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that 10
A camp . . . Capell | Ff omit. — 5. Hail | Haile Fi | Haile: haile
Duncan, Capell | King Ff. — bleed- F2 I Haile, haile F3F4.
ing Captain Ff | bleeding Sergeant 7. Captain | Cap. Ff | Sergeant
Globe Dyce Camb. Globe Dyce Camb.
1. Duncan | King Ff (so else- 9. Macdonwald Fi | Macdonnell
where). F2F3F4.
Scene II. This scene is regarded by many modern editors as
not Shakespeare's. The reasons given are slovenly diction, bom-
bastic style, alleged inconsistencies, and the absurdity of sending
news of victory by a wounded soldier. Daniel notes that the ser-
geant was not formally sent but was merely a straggler.
3. sergeant. Probably trisyllabic. In the fourteenth century ser-
geants held lands by tenure of military service. " The offendors
were sent for by a sergeant at armes." — Holinshed.
5. Hail. Probably dissyllabic, but see Abbott, §§ 480-482.
9. Macdonwald. " Manie slanderous words also, and railing tants
this Macdowald vttered against his prince." — Holinshed.
io. to that: to that end, for that purpose. See Abbott, § 186.
6 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act I
The multiplying villainies of nature
Do swarm upon him — from the western isles
Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied ;
And fortune, on his damned quarry smiling,
Show'd like a rebel's whore : but all 's too weak; 15
For brave Macbeth — well he deserves that name —
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smok'd with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carv'd out his passage
Till he fac'd the slave ; 20
13. gallowglasses Steevens | Gal- 14. quarry | Quarry Ff | quarrel
lowgrosses Fi | Gallow glasses F2F3 Hanmer (Warburton Johnson conj.)
F4. — is Ff I was Pope. Globe Camb.
13. Of : with. See Abbott, § 171. — kerns: light-armed Erse infan-
try. Cf. Richard II, II, i, 156. See Skeat. — gallowglasses: heavy-
armed Erse infantry. Cf . 2 Henry VI, IV, ix, 26. See Murray. " For
out of the westerne lies there came vnto him a great multitude of
people, offering themselves to assist him in that rebellious quarell,
and out of Ireland in hope of the spoile came no small number
of Kernes and Galloglasses, offering gladlie to serve vnder him,
whither it should please him to lead them." — Holinshed.
14. damned quarry: doomed prey. 'His' may refer to 'fortune'
or to ' Macdonwald.' The Warburton -Johnson suggestion that
'quarrel' (cf. 'rebellious quarell' in the quotation from Holinshed
just given) should be read here is adopted by most modern editors.
In IV, iii, 206, ' quarry ' means ' heap of slain.' Cf. Coi'iolanus, I, i,
202. Other Elizabethan writers use 'quarry' in the sense of ' square-
headed bolt of a crossbow.'
15. all 's. Unless this be a contraction of ' all was,' it is an exam-
ple of mixing up historical present and past tenses. Pope omitted
's, interpreting 'all too weak.' Cf. 'is supplied,' line 13.
18. execution. The termination ' -ion ' is frequently pronounced
as two syllables at the end of a line, and occasionally in the middle
of a line. See Abbott, § 479.
19. minion : favorite. In a good sense, as in / Henry IV, I, i, 83.
scene II MACBETH 7
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to th' chops,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.
Duncan. O valiant cousin ! worthy gentleman !
Captain. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection 25
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders,
So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come
Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark :
No sooner justice had, with valour arm'd,
Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels, 30
21. ne'er Knight I nev'rFiFsFs! Ff. — thunders, | Thunders: Fi |
never F4. — bade Steevens | bad Ff . Thunders breaking F2F3F4 I thun-
26. Shipwrecking | Shipwracking ders break Pope Camb.
21. Which. The antecedent is Macbeth. See Abbott, § 265. —
shook hands. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ' to shake
hands with' a thing was a picturesque phrase for 'to leave.' "I have
shaken hands with delight in my warm blood and canicular days ; I
perceive I do anticipate the vices of age." — Browne, Religio Medici.
But there maybe an allusion to the formal handshaking before a duel.
"The shaking of handes was with sharp weapons." — Sidney, A rcadia.
22. nave : navel. Hanmer read ' nape,' as ' nave ' occurs nowhere
else, and such a sword-stroke as that described seems ridiculous.
Steevens quotes from Nash's Dido, Queen of Carthage (1594), II,
256: "Then from the navel to the throat at once He ripp'd old
Priam." — chops : jaws. Another form of ' chaps.'
23. " Makbeth entring into the castell by the gates . . . found the
carcasse of Makdowald lieng dead ... he caused the head to be
cut off, and set upon a pole's end (and so sent it as a present to the
king). . . . The headlesse trunke he commanded to be hoong up
upon an high paire of gallowes." — Holinshed.
25-28. As from the east, the region of quiet dawn and fair prom-
ise, come fiercest storms, so from a victory that brought joy spring
fresh dangers and alarms. — There seems no valid reason for adding
1 break ' to line 26, as many editors do, for with ideas of motion the
verb is often omitted, and the irregular verse is characteristic of
Macbeth and onomatopoetically effective. See Liddell.
8 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i
But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,
With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men,
Began a fresh assault.
Duncan. Dismay'd not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Captain. Yes ;
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. 35
If I say sooth, I must report they were
As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks ;
So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe :
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha, 40
I cannot tell —
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
32. furbish'd | furbusht Ff. 38. So they I separate line in
33-34. Dismay'd . . . Banquo Pope Steevens Camb.
I one line in Ff. 42. I . . . help Rowe | two lines in
34-35. Yes . . . lion Pope | two Ff, first ending faint,
lines in Ff, ending eagles, lion.
31. surveying vantage : perceiving a favorable opportunity. " Im-
mediatlie whereupon woord came that Sueno king of Norway was
arrived in Fife with a puissant armie, to subdue the whole realme of
Scotland." — Holinshed.
34. captains. Probably trisyllabic. ' Capitains ' is a common six-
teenth century form of the word. This pronunciation is still heard
in dialect. Cf . 3 Henry VI, IV, vii, 30.
36. sooth: truth. 'Sooth' (Middle English 'soth,' Ang^o-Saxon
soft) is both adjective and substantive, the adjectival sense being the
older. The root idea is 'being.' See Skeat.
37. By a well-known figure of speech, ' crack ' is here put for that
wThich makes the 'crack.' Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, V, i, 14, 15.
39-41. Unless they meant to bathe in reeking wounds and make
the place as memorable as Golgotha, I cannot tell what they in-
tended. Golgotha, " the place of a skull " {Matthew, xxvii, 23 '
Mark, xv, 22), i.e. of slaughter, is here referred to.
scene ii MACBETH 9
Duncan. So well thy words become thee as thy wounds ;
They smack of honour both. Go get him surgeons.
\_Exit Captain, attended^
Enter Ross and Angus
Who comes here ? d^Xl 4
Malcolm. The worthy thane of Ross. 45
Lennox. What a haste looks through his eyes ! So should
he look
That seems to speak things strange.
Ross. God save the king !
Duncan. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?
Ross. From Fife, great king ;
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
And fan our people cold. 50
Norway himself, with terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor,
The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict ;
Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,
44. {Exit . . . i Ff omit. 46-47. So . . . strange Hanmer |
46. a haste Fi | hast F2F3F4. one line in Ff.
45. Enter Ross and Angus. This is the First Folio stage direc-
tion. Most modern editors omit ' and Angus,' as Angus does not
speak and is not addressed. But in the next scene Ross and Angus
together bring to Macbeth the news of his promotion.
47. seems to: is about to. " 'Seem' in Early English often con-
notes an immediate or near futurity." — Liddell. The D'Avenant
version reads ' comes.' Johnson suggested ' teems.'
49-50. The Norwegian banners proudly reared aloft and fluttering
in the wind seemed to mock or insult the Scottish sky, and the sight
of them struck chills of dismay into our countrymen. ' Flout ' and
'fan' are examples of the historic present. See note, line 15.
54. Bellona's bridegroom. Steevens sneered at Shakespeare's igno-
rance in making Bellona, the old Roman goddess of war (bellum\
IO THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i
Confronted him with self-comparisons, 55
Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm,
Curbing his lavish spirit ; and, to conclude,
The victory fell on us.
Duncan. Great happiness !
Ross. That now
Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition ;
Nor would we deign him burial of his men 60
Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme's inch,
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
Duncan. No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
58-59. That ...composition 61. Colme's inch | Colmes ynch
Steevens | two lines in Ff, the first Fi | Colmes-hill F2F3F4 | Colmes-
one ending king. kill-isle Pope.
the wife of Mars, but Shakespeare poetically makes her the bride of
Macbeth. — lapp'd in proof: clad in impenetrable armor. Cf. 'armed
in proof ' in Richard III, V, iii, 219.
55. Met him in every respect upon equal terms.
56. The punctuation is that of the First Folio. Many editors put
the comma after ' rebellious.' " If the old punctuation be right, ' re-
bellious,' being applied to the arm of the loyal combatant, must be
taken to mean ' opposing, resisting assault.' " — Clar.
57. Curbing his lavish spirit : checking his reckless daring.
58. That : so that. ' That ' often expresses result. See Abbott,
§ 283. ' That ' is an overworked word in Elizabethan English.
59. composition : terms of peace. Cf . the phrase ' composed a
quarrel.' Cf. Measure for Meastire, I, ii, 2.
61. Saint Colme's inch: the island of Inchcolm. It is in the Firth
of Forth and on it was a monastery dedicated to St. Columba. 'Inch'
is from the Gaelic innis, 'island,' or 'land by a river.' "They . . .
obteined of Makbeth for a great summe of gold, that such of their
friends as were slaine at this last bickering, might be buried in saint
Colmes Inch." — Holinshed.
62. A characteristic Shakespearian anachronism. Dollars were
first coined in the sixteenth century.
SCENE III
MACBETH 1 1
Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth. 65
Ross. I '11 see* it done.
Duncan. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.
\_Exeunt\
Scene III. A heath
Thunder. Enter the three Witches
1 Witch. Where hast thou been, sister?
2 Witch. Killing swine.
3 Witch. Sister, where thou?
1 Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd. 'Give me,'
quoth I : 5
'Aroint thee, witch ! ' the rump-fed ronyon cries.
Her husband 's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger :
But in a sieve I '11 thither sail,
A heath Capell | A heath near . . . I | separate line in Ff Globe.
Forres Globe | Ff omit. 6. Aroint | Aroynt F1F2 I Anoynt
5. munch'd | mouncht Ff. — Give F3F4.
2. " Finallie she said she would be even with me : and soone after
my child, my cow, my sow . . . died, or was strangelie taken." — Scot.
6.' 'Aroint thee!' is probably an old exorcism against witches.
Cf. King Lear, III, iv, 1 29. The etymology is uncertain. — rump-fed.
Either 'offal-fed' or 'pampered.' — ronyon: mangy creature. A gen-
eral term of abuse. See Century. So in The Merry Wives of Windsor.,
IV, ii, 195. Cf. 'roynish clown,' As You Like It, II, ii, 8.
7. Tiger. A common name for a ship. Cf. Twelfth Night, V, i, 65.
In Hakluyt's Voyages is an account of a ship of this name that went
to Tripolis with cargo for Aleppo in 1583.
8. Witches were believed to go to sea in sieves. " They can go in
and out at awger holes, and saile in an egge shelle, a cockle or mus-
cle shell, through and under the tempestuous seas." — Scot.
12
THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act I
And, like a rat without a tail,
I '11 do, I '11 do, and I '11 do.
2 Witch. I '11 give thee a wind,
i Witch. Thou 'rt kind.
3 Witch. And I another.
i Witch. I myself have all the other ;
And the very points they blow,
All the quarters that they know
I' the shipman's card.
I'll drain him dry as hay.
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid ;
He shall live a man forbid :
Weary se'nnights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine
10
i5
20
12. Thou 'rt Capell | Th'art Ff.
18. I'll I lie Fi I I will Pope.
22. se'nnights | Seu'nights Ff
seven-nights Steevens.
9. Whatever animal form the witch might assume, there would
always be some defect. Cf. the ' devil's limp,' ' the cloven foot,' etc.
10. do : work him mischief. The vagueness adds impressiveness.
11-12. This free gift of a wind is to be taken as an act of sisterly
kindness, witches being thought to have the power of selling winds.
17. shipman's card. Either the mariner's compass, i.e. the circular
card marked with the points of the compass, or a ' chart ' showing
the points of the compass.
20. pent-house lid : eyelid. A ' pent-house ' is a shed or ' lean-to '
sloping down from a main building. Drayton and Tennyson use
' pent-house ' to describe the eyebrow.
21. forbid. Either 'under a curse,' or 'excommunicated.'
22. se'nnights : seven-nights, weeks. Cf. 'fortnight ' (for 'fourteen-
night '). ' Sennet ' (sennit) is still heard in English dialect.
23. peak : grow thin. Usually in the expression ' peak and pine.'
See Murray. Holinshed, describing the means used for destroying
King Duff, says that the witches wTere found " rosting ... an image
SCENE III
MACBETH
13
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost. 25
Look what I have.
2 Witch. Show me, show me.
1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wreck'd as homeward he did come.
\JDrum within~\
3 Witch. A drum, a drum ! 30
Macbeth doth come.
All. The weird sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about :
Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, 35
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Peace ! the charm 's wound up.
29. Wreck'd | Wrackt Ff.
32. weird Theobald | weywardFf.
of wax at the fier, resembling in each feature the kings person . . .
so that as the wax euer melted so did the kings flesh."
32. weird. The Folios spell the word ' weyward,' but Holinshed
has ' weird ' : " These women were either the weird sisters, that is
(as ye would say) the goddesses of destinie, or else some nymphs
or feiries indued with knowledge of prophesie by their necroman-
tical science, bicause euery thing came to passe as they had spoken."
Probably the Folio spelling represents a southern pronunciation of
the word. According to Skeat 'weird' as an adjective here means
' subservient to destiny.' The Anglo-Saxon wyrd means 'fate,' ' des-
tiny,' also one of the Norns, or Fates. Gavin Douglas translates
Parcae in the ALneid, III, 379, by ' weird sisteris.'
33. Posters : messengers, rapid travelers. Cf. ' post-haste.'
36. Here the witches perform a sort of incantation by joining
hands and dancing round in a ring, three rounds for each. Odd num-
bers and multiples of odd numbers, especially three and nine, were
thought to have great magical power in thus winding up a charm.
14 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act I
E?iter Macbeth and Banquo
Macbeth. So foul and .cair a day I have not seen.
Banquo. How far is 't call'd to Forres? What are these
So wither'd, and so wild in their attire, 40
That look not like th' 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, 45
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
Macbeth. Speak, if you can : what are you?
1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of
Glamis !
2 Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of
Cawdor !
3 Witch. All hail, Macbeth, that shall be king here-
after ! 50
38. Scene IV Pope 39. Forres | Foris Pope | Soris Ff .
38. Macbeth's first words may refer only to the symbolical sun-
shine and storm of the day, or to a day fouled with storm but bright-
ened with victory. Dowden reads here a deeper meaning: "Observe
that the last words of the witches in the opening scene of the play
are the first words which Macbeth himself utters : ' Fair is foul, and
foul is fair.' Shakespeare intimates by this that, although Macbeth
has not yet set eyes upon these hags, the connection is already estab-
lished between his soul and them. Their spells have already wrought
upon his blood."
40. " Three women in strange and wild apparell." — Holinshed.
48-50. "The first of them spake and said: 'All haile Makbeth,
thane of Glammis ' (for he had latelie entered into that dignitie and
office by the death of his father Smell). The second of them said:
scene in MACBETH 15
Banquo. Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? — I' the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show ? My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction 55
Of noble having and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal : to me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not, ,
57. rapt Pope | wrapt Ff.
• Haile Makbeth thane of Cawder.' But the third said : ' All haile
Makbeth that heereafter shalt be king of Scotland.' " — Holinshed.
53. fantastical: imaginary. Cf. line 139; Richard II, I, iii, 299.
Holinshed has "vaine fantasticall illusion."
55. An example of 'respective construction.' 'Present grace' re-
fers to ' noble having ' (i.e. ' possession ') and ' great prediction ' to
4 royal hope.' Similarly in lines 60-61, 'beg' refers to 'favours'
and 'fear ' to 'hate.'
57. That: so that. Cf. I, ii, 58. — withal: therewith, with it. Here
' withal ' is an adverb (cf. German daviit), not, as often in Shakespeare,
the emphatic form of 'with,' used after the object, generally a rela-
tive, at the end of a sentence. Macbeth's rapture or trance of
thought on this occasion is deeply significant of his moral predis-
positions. Coleridge remarks upon the passage as follows:
How truly Shakespearian is the opening of Macbeth's character given in
the unpossessedness of Banquo's mind, wholly present to the present object ;
an unsullied, unscarified mirror ! And how strictly true to nature it is that
Banquo, and not Macbeth himself, directs our notice to the effect produced on
Macbeth's mind, rendered temptable by previous dalliance of the fancy with
ambitious thoughts. . . . Banquo's questions are those of natural curiosity,
such as a girl would put after hearing a gipsy tell her school-fellow's fortune ;
— all perfectly general, or rather planless. But Macbeth, lost in thought,
raises himself to speech only by the witches being about to depart, . . . and
all that follows is reasoning on a problem already discussed in his mind, —
on a hope which he welcomes, and the doubts concerning the attainment of
which he wishes to have cleared up.
fr
l6 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act I
Speak, then, to me, who neither beg nor fear 60
Your favours nor your hate.
1 Witch. Hail !
2 Witch. Hail !
3 Witch. Hail !
1 Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 65
2 Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier.
3 Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none :
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo !
1 Witch. Banquo and Macbeth, all hail !
Macbeth. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more : 70
By Sinel's death I know I am thane of Glamis ;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman \ and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence 75
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.
[Witches vanish']
78. Two lines in Ff.
73. A prosperous gentleman. There is seemingly a strange discrep-
ancy here. In the preceding scene, Macbeth is said to have met
Cawdor face to face in the ranks of Norway : he must therefore have
known him to be a rebel and traitor.
74. prospect of belief. Cf. ' prospect of his soul,' Mitch Ado about
Nothing, IV, i, 231; 'prospect of my hopes,' Twelfth Night, III,
iv, 90. " Elizabethan thinking was full of such metaphors for the
perceptive powers of the mind." — Liddell.
76. owe : have, possess. This, the original meaning of the word, is
common in Shakespeare, as in King John, II, i, 247-248. From 'to
possess another's property' comes the meaning 'to be in debt for.'
scene in MACBETH 17
Banquo. The earth hath bubbles as the water has,
And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd? 80
Macbeth. Into the air ; and what seem'd corporal melted
As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd !
Banquo. Were such things here as we do speak about?
Or have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner? 85
Macbeth. Your children shall be kings.
Banquo. You shall be king.
Macbeth. And thane of Cawdor too : went it not so?
Banquo. To th' selfsame tune and words. Who 's here ?
Enter Ross and Angus
Ross. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth,
The news of thy success : and, when he reads 90
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend \\ *%
Which should be thine or his : silenc'd with that,
81-82. Three lines in Ff, ending 89. Scene V Pope
corporal, wind, stay'd. 91. rebels' Theobald | rebels Ff.
84. on F1F2F3 I of F4.
81. corporal : corporeal. Shakespeai'e never uses the latter form.
84. on: of. Cf. 'on's' in V, i, 61. — the insane root. This is usu-
ally taken to mean hemlock or henbane, but it is probable that
Shakespeare had in mind this passage from North's Plutarch :
" They were compelled to live of herbs and roots . . . among the
which there was one that . . . made them out of their wits. For he
that had once eaten of it, his memory was gone from him." — The
Life of Marcus Antonius. With this causal use of 'insane,' cf. 'ob-
livious ' in V, iii, 43. For the pronunciation * in'sane ' see Abbott,
§ 492. Cf. ' ob'scure,' II, iii, 45.
92-93. The construction is involved (cf. ' respective construction,'
line 55), but the meaning seems to be, He knows not whether to
18 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i
In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day,
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, 95
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as tale
Came post with post ; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.
Angus. We are sent 100
To give thee from our royal master thanks ;
Only to herald thee into his sight,
Not pay thee.
Ross. And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor ; 105
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane !
For it is thine.
97. tale Ff I hail Rowe Globe 102. herald F4 I harrold Fi | her-
Camb I bale Becket conj. raid F2F3.
98. Came Rowe | Can Ff | Ran 105. hade Theobald | bad Ff.
Delius conj.
express his own wonder at these achievements or to sound your
praises.
96. Nothing : not at all. This adverbial use is common in Shake-
speare. — afeard. The past participle of ' afear ' (Anglo-Saxon
df of rati) ; ' afraid ' is the participle of ' affray ' (Low Lat. ex-fridare).
See Murray. ' Afeard ' (' 'feard ') is still heard in dialect.
97. Strange images : unusual forms. This refers to the heaps of
slain. In 2 Henry VI, I, iii, 179, is ' Image of pride '; in King Lear,
II, iv, 91, ' images of revolt.' Cf. ' picture of health.' — thick as tale :
fast as could be counted. "A phrase peculiarly Shakespearian in its
pregnant condensation . . . transformed into bald commonplace by
the substitution of 'thick as hail.' " — Churton Collins. 'Thick' for
'fast' occurs in 2 Henry IV, II, iii, 24; 'tell' for 'count' occurs
often. Cf . ' keep tally,' also ' tale ' in Exodus, v, 8.
106. addition : title. Something added to a man's name to show
his rank. Cf. Ill, i, 99 ; Hamlet, I, iv, 20.
scene in MACBETH 19
Banquo. \Aside\ What, can the devil speak true?
Macbeth. The thane of Cawdor lives : why do you
dress me
In borrow'd robes?
Angus. Who was the thane lives yet ;
But under heavy judgment bears that life no
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combin'd
With those of Norway, or did line the rebel
With hidden help and vantage, or that with both
He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not ;
But treasons capital, confess'd and prov'd, 115
Have overthrown him.
Macbeth. \_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?
Banquo. That trusted home 120
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 't is strange ;
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
107, 116. [Aside] Ff omit. Malone | five lines in Ff, ending
108-109. why . . . robes Capell | loose, Norway, help, labour'd, not.
one line in Ff. 117. [To Ross . . .] Ff omit.
m-114. Which . . . know not 118. [7^ Banquo] Ff. omit.
112. line : strengthen, reenforce. So in / Henry IV, II, iii, 86.
120. home : thoroughly. Cf. Meastire for Measure, IV, iii, 148 ;
Cymbeline, III, v, 92; King Lear, III, iii, 13.
123-126. It is nowise likely that Shakespeare was a reader of
Livy, but in these lines, which give, as Professor Corson says, the
entire moral of the tragedy, is a striking resemblance to a passage in
Book xxviii, 42, 4 : "An Syphaci Numidisque credis ? satis sit semel
20 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's 125
In deepest consequence.
Cousins, a word, I pray you.
Macbeth. \_Aside~\ Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme. — I thank you, gentlemen. —
\Aside\ This supernatural soliciting 130
Cannot be ill ; cannot be good : if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth ? I am thane of Cawdor :
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair 135
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, * \
Shakes so my single state of man that function 140
127, 130. [Aside] Ff omit. 135. hair Rowe | heire F1F2F3.
131-132. if . . . success I one line 140-142. that . . . not | two lines
in Ff. in Ff.
creditum : non semper temeritas est felix, et fraus fidem in parvis sibi
praestruit ut, quum operae pretium sit, cum mercede magna fallit."
128-129. The image is of the stage, with an august drama of kingly
state to be performed ; the inspiring prologue has been spoken, and
the glorious action is about to begin. — imperial theme: theme of
empire. Cf. 'sterile curse,' Julius Ccesar, I, ii, 9, and 'slanderous
loads,' Julius Ccesar, IV, i, 20. " In such phrases the adjective defines
the sphere or character of the noun." — A. W. Verity.
134. suggestion : temptation. Cf. The Tempest, II, i, 2S8.
137. use: custom. — fears: dangers, terrors. Effect for cause.
130-141. My thought, though it is only of a murder in imagination,
so disturbs my feeble human condition that the power of action is
scene in MACBETH 21
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not.
Banquo. Look, how our partner 's rapt.
Macbeth. \_Aside\ If chance will have me king, why,
chance may crown me,
Without my stir.
Banquo. New honours come upon him,
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould 145
But with the aid of use.
Macbeth. \Aside\ Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
Banquo. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.
142. Look . . . rapt | separate line 143. Two lines in Ff.
in Ff. 143, 146. [Aside] Ff omit.
lost in speculation. Shakespeare often uses ' single ' in the sense of
'weak,' as in I, vi, 16. Staunton quotes as a parallel passage Julhis
Cczsar, II, i, 63-69, and interprets ' state ' as ' kingdom.'
141-142. nothing is But what is not. Facts are lost sight of ; he
sees nothing but what is unreal, nothing but the spectres of his own
fancy. Macbeth's conscience here acts through his imagination, sets
it all on fire, and he is terror-stricken, and lost to the things before
him, as the elements of evil within him gather and fashion them-
selves into the wicked purpose. Of this wronderful development of
character Coleridge says: "So surely is the guilt in its germ ante-
rior to the supposed cause and immediate temptation." And again :
" Every word of his soliloquy shows the early birth-date of his guilt.
He wishes the end, but is irresolute as to the means ; conscience
distinctly warns him, and he lulls it imperfectly."
147. Time and the hour. A reduplicate phrase like ' time and tide,'
probably proverbial. ' II tempo e 1' ore ' occurs in one of Michel-
angelo's sonnets. The sense of the line in the text is thus explained
by Heath : " The advantage of time and of seizing the favourable
hour, whenever it shall present itself, will enable me to make my
way through all obstruction and opposition. Every one knowTs the
Spanish proverb, — ' Time and I against any two.' "
22 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act t
Macbeth. Give me your favour : my dull brain was
wrought
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains 150
Are register'd where every day I turn
The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king.
Think upon what hath chanc'd ; and, at more time,
The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.
Banquo. Very gladly. 155
Macbeth. Till then, enough. Come, friends. \Exeunf\
Scene IV. Forres. The palace
Flourish. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox,
and Attendants
Duncan. Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet return'd ?
156. Two lines in Ff. i. Duncan Capell I King Ff (and
Scene IV | Scene VI Pope. throughout the scene). — Is . . . Caw-
Enter Duncan . . . Lennox | dor | one line in Ff. — Are F2F3F4 I
Enter King, Lenox, Malcolme, Don- Or Fi.
albaine Ff.
149. favour : indulgence. — wrought : agitated, worked up. Cf.
The Winter's Tale, V, iii, 58. Macbeth puts forth a pretext to hide
the true cause of his trance of guilty thought.
151. register'd : noted on the table of memory. Cf. Hamlet, I, v, 98.
154. The interim having weigh'd it : the lapse of time having en-
abled us to see it in its true light. But Abbott, § 202, would construe
this as a case of the omission of the preposition in adverbial expres-
sions of time.
Scene IV. This scene takes place the day after the previous
scenes, which may be regarded as happening on one day. "The be-
haviour of the thane of Cawdor corresponds in almost every circum-
stance with that of the unfortunate Earl of Essex, as related by Stowe."
— Steevens. The execution of the Earl of Essex took place in 1601.
scene iv MACBETH 23
Malcolm. My liege,
They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
With one that saw him die ; who did report
That very frankly, he confess'd his treasons, 5
Implor'd your highness' pardon, and set forth
A deep repentance : nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it ; he died
As one that had been studied in his death
To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd, 10
As 't were a careless trifle.
Duncan. There 's no art
To find the mind's construction in the face :
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.
Eftter Macbeth, Banquo, Ross, and Angus
O worthiest cousin !
The sin of my ingratitude even now 15
Was heavy on me. Thou art so far before,
2-8. My . . . died I seven lines in repentance, him, died.
Ff, ending back, die, he, pardon, 10. ow'd Ff | own'd Warburton.
9. studied in his death : well instructed in the art of dying.
10. ow'd : owned. So in I, iii, 76. See note.
11. careless: uncared for. So 'sightless,' I, vii, 23. See Abbott, § 3.
13-14. Duncan's words spoken as Macbeth enters are often quoted
as a splendid example of that 'tragic irony' (when a speaker uncon-
sciously uses words that have a double meaning to his hearers) which
pervades the whole of this scene. " Duncan's childlike spirit makes
a moment's pause of wonder at the act of treachery, and then flings
itself, like Gloucester in King Lear, with still more absolute trust
and still more want of reflection, into the toils of a far deeper and
darker treason.'' — Moberly.
24
THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i
That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserv'd, .
That the proportion both of thanks and payment
Might have been mine ! Only I have left, to say, 20
More is thy due than more than all can pay.
Macbeth. The service and the loyalty I owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part
Is to receive our duties ; and our duties
Are to your throne and state children and servants ; 25
Which do but what they should, by doing every thing I
Safe toward your love and honour.
Duncan. Welcome hither :
I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserv'd, nor must be known 30
No less to have done so, let me infold thee
And hold thee to my heart.
23-27. Your. . . honour | five lines should, love, honour,
in Ff, ending receive our duties, state, 27. Safe Ff | Shap'd Hanmer.
19-20. That my return of thanks and payment might have been
in the right proportion to thy deserts, or in the due relation to them.
24-25. ' Duties' is here put, apparently, for the faculties and labors
of duty ; the meaning being, All our works and forces of duty are
children and servants to your throne and state. Hypocrisy and
hyperbole are apt to go together; and so here Macbeth overacts
the part of loyalty, and tries how high he can strain up his expres-
sion of it. We have a parallel instance in Goneril's and Regan's
finely worded professions of love. Such high-pressure rhetoric is
the right vernacular of hollowness.
27. Safe toward your love and honour. One of the many condensed,
elliptical expressions in the play. The meaning may be, With a firm
and sure purpose to have you loved and honored ; or, So as to merit
and secure love and honor from you. It may mean both.
scene iv MACBETH 25
Banquo. There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.
Duncan. My plenteous joys,
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes, 35
And you whose places are the nearest, know,
We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
The Prince of Cumberland ; which honour must
Not unaccompanied invest him only, 40
But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers. From hence to Inverness,
And bind us further to you.
Macbeth. The rest is labour, which is not us'd for jrou.
I '11 be myself the harbinger, and make joyful 45
35. kinsmen Fi | kinsman F2F3F4. 45. harbinger Rowe | Herbenger
42. Inverness Pope | Envernes Ff. F1F2F3 I Harbenger F4.
33-35. Cf. Much Ado abotct Nothing, I, i, 22; Romeo and Juliet,
III, ii, 102-104 ; The Winter 's Tale, V, ii, 50. — Wanton : unrestrained,
undisciplined (the original sense of the word).
38-39. " King Duncane, hauing two sonnes by his wife which was
the daughter of Siward earle of Northumberland, he made the elder
of them called Malcolme prince of Cumberland, as it were thereby
to appoint him his successor in the kingdome, immediatelie after
his deceasse. Mackbeth sore troubled herewith ... he began to take
counsell how he might vsurpe the kingdome by force, hauing a iust
quarell so to doo (as he tooke the matter) for that Duncane did
what in him lay to defraud him." — Holinshed.
44. Even the repose, which is not taken for your sake or spent
in your service, is a labor to me.
45. harbinger : an officer who goes in advance to make provision
for the night's shelter. The Middle English form is herbergeour and
is found in Chaucer, The Man of Lawes Tale, 997: " herbergeours
that wenten him biforn."
26 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i
The hearing of my wife with your approach;
So humbly take my leave.
Duncan. My worthy Cawdor !
Macbeth. [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland ! that is
a step
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires ; 50
Let not light see my black and deep desires ;
The eye wink at the hand ; yet let that be
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. [Exit]
Duncan. True, worthy Banquo ; he is full so valiant,
And in his commendations I am fed ; 55
It is a banquet to me. Let 's after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome.
It is a peerless kinsman. [Flourish. Exeunt]
Scene V. Inverness. Macbeth's castle
Enter Lady Macbeth, alone, with a letter
Lady Macbeth. [Reads] They met me in the day of suc-
cess ; and I have learn'd by ther^eifexil&t-reporJ^ they have
48. [Aside] Ff omit. Lady Macbeth I Macbeth's
Scene V I Scene VII Pope.— In- Wife Ff.
verness . . . castle \ Ff omit. 1. Lady Macbeth | Lady Ff.
50. Stars, hide your fires. We are not to understand from this
that the present scene takes place at night. Macbeth is evidently
contemplating night as the time when the murder is to be done.
52. The eye wink at : Let the eye refuse to see. ' Wink at ' some-
times means 'encourage' or 'prompt,' but is used here literally.
54. True, worthy Banquo. Duncan and Banquo have been speak-
ing about Macbeth during his soliloquy. The beginning of Duncan's
speech refers to something Banquo has said in praise of Macbeth.
5CENE v MACBETH 27
more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burn'd in desire
to question them further, they made themselves air, into which
they vanish'd. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came
missives from the King, who all-hail'd me 'Thane of Cawdor';
by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and
referr'd me to the coming on of time, with ' Hail, king that
shalt be ! ' This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest
partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the dues of re-
joicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promis'd thee.
Lay it to thy heart, and farewell. 12
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promis'd. 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
The illness should attend it : what thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily ; wouldst not play false, 19
And yet wouldst wrongly win : thou 'ldst have, great Glamis,
20-21. And ... it Pope | three lines in Ff, ending win, cries, it.
6. missives : messengers. So in Antony and Cleopatra, II, ii, 74.
15. human kindness. " ' Humankind ' is still an expression for
human nature, and the sense of the passage . . . would be more
obvious if the whole phrase were printed as one word, not ' human
kindness' but ' humankind-ness' : — that shrinking from what is not
natural. . . . 'Milk of humankind-ness' suggests absence of hard-
ness but it equally connotes natural, inherited traditional feelings,
imbibed at the mother's breast." — R. G. Moulton.
18. illness : unscrupulousness. See Murray. " Macbeth is de-
scribed by Lady Macbeth so as at the same time to reveal her own
character. Could he have every thing he wanted, he would rather
have it innocently ; — ignorant, as," alas, how many of us are ! that
he who wishes a temporal end for itself does in truth will the means ;
and hence the danger of indulging fancies." — Coleridge.
/^ssau v
28 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i
That which cries, ' Thus thou must do,' if thou have it; 21
And that which rather thou dost fear to do
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 25
All that impedes thee from the golden round
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
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 :
26. impedes thee | impeides thee 27. seem | seek Johnson conj.
Fi I thee hinders F2F3F4. 28. Two lines in Ff.
21-23. A passage involved and obscure. Does 'That which' of
line 21 refer to the crown personified, or to the murder of Duncan ?
In the Folios are no inverted commas, and in some modern editions
(Clar) they are put at the end of line 21 ; in others (Globe Camb)
Pope is followed and they are put after ' undone.' In previous edi-
tions of Hudson's Shakespeare, 'An act which' was substituted for
'And that which' in line 22, 'that which' being supposed to have
crept in by mistake from the preceding line. If the crown is the
thing which Glamis would have, and if the crown is here repre-
sented as crying out to him " Thus thou must do, if thou have,"
there appears no way of getting the sense but by substituting ' me '
for 'it.' If we suppose only the words "Thus thou must do" to be
spoken by the crown, and the following words to be spoken by Lady
Macbeth in her own person, then ' it ' is right ; and this is probably
the way the passage ought to be understood and printed. Johnson
saw the difficulty, and proposed to read " if thou have me."
26. golden round : crown. Cf. IV, i, SS ; Richard II, III, ii, 160-161.
27. metaphysical : supernatural. — seem. See note, I, ii, 47.
>
scene v MACBETH 29
Is not thy master with him ? who, were 't so, 30
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.
Lady Macbeth. Give him tending ; 35
He brings great news. {Exit Messenger]
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here ;
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full 40
Of direst cruelty ! make thick my blood ;
Stop up th' access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
36. Two lines in Ff.
36-38. The raven has made himself hoarse with croaking, or has
croaked so loud and long as to become hoarse, over the fatal en-
trance, etc. The ominousness of the raven's croak is implied else-
where in Shakespeare. Cf. Othello, IV, i, 21 ; Hci7)ilet, III, ii, 264,
2 Henry VI, III, ii, 40. 'Entrance ' is here trisyllabic. See Abbott.
§477-
39. mortal : deadly. So in III, iv, 81 ; IV, iii, 3.
42. remorse : pity, compassion. So in As You Like It, I, iii, 72 ;
The Tempest, V, i, 76.
43. compunctious visitings of nature : natural feelings of compunc-
tion. A common Shakespearian construction.
44-45. keep peace between The effect and it : come as peacemaker
between the purpose and the effect. Another elliptical expression. In
previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare 'break' was substituted
for 'keep.'
30 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act 1
The effect and it ! Come to my woman's breasts, 45
And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief ! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, 5°
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry, < Hold, hold ! '
Enter Macbeth
Great Glamis ! worthy Cawdor !
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter !
Thy letters have transported me beyond
45. it F3F4 I hit F1F2.
46. take my milk for gall. Either, Take away my milk and give
me gall instead (Johnson) ; or, Change my milk into gall by your
malignant power (Schmidt). In support of Schmidt's interpretation,
Manly quotes Merry Wives of Windsor, IV, iv, 23 '■> Hamlet, I, i, 163 ;
King Lear, II, iv, 166 ; III, iv, 60. In her fiery thirst for power, Lady
Macbeth feels that her woman's heart is unequal to the calls of her
ambition, and she would fain exchange her "milk of human kind-
ness" for a fiercer infusion.
47. sightless: invisible. See note on 'careless,' I, iv, II.
49. pall: shroud, wrap as in a pall (Lat. pallium •, 'cloak'). —
dunnest smoke. Cf. Milton's "dun shades," Comus, 127 ; "dun air,"
Paradise Lost, III, 72.
51. The metaphor of darkness being a blanket wrapped round
the world, so as to keep the Divine Eye from seeing the deed
which Lady Macbeth longs and expects to have done, is just such
as it was fitting for the boldest of poets to put into the mouth of
the boldest of women. But the expressions 'peep' and 'blanket'
have seemed undignified to many commentators, and some strange
substitutes have been suggested. Coleridge proposed ' blank height '
for 'blanket' ! In Romeo and Juliet, III, ii, 5, we have " Spread thy
scene v MACBETH 3 1
This ignorant present, and I feel now 55
The future in the instant.
Macbeth. My dearest love,
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 !
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men 60
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
Must be provided for ; and you shall put 65
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.
61. matters. To . . . time, Theobald | matters, to . . . time. Ff.
close curtain, love-performing night." Cf. The Faerie Queene, I, iv,
44: "darkesome night displayd Her coleblack curtein." Malone
quotes from Drayton's Mortimer iados : " sullen night in mistie rugge
is wrapp'd."
56. instant : present. The enthusiasm of her newly-kindled expec-
tation quickens the dull present with the spirit of the future, and gives
to hope the life and substance of fruition.
59. Abbott, § 511, in a suggestive note on "single lines with two
or three accents interspersed amid the ordinary verses of five ac-
cents," says that in this broken line is indicated the way in which
Lady Macbeth pauses to watch the effect of her words.
62. ' Time ' is here put for its contents, or what occurs in time. It
is a time of full-hearted welcome and hospitality; and such are the
looks which Macbeth is urged to counterfeit.
32 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i
Lady Macbeth. Only look up clear ;
To alter favour ever is to fear. 70
Leave all the rest to me. [Exeunt]
Scene VI. Before Macbeth's castle
Hautboys and torches. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donal-
bain, Banquo, Lennox, Macduff, Ross, Angus, and
Attendants
Duncan. This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.
Banquo. This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
Scene VI | Scene VIII Pope. — 1-2. the air . . . itself | one line
Before . . . castle | Ff omit. — Enter in Ff .
Duncan | Enter King Ff. 4. martlet Rowe I Barlet Ff.
70. favour: countenance. Lady Macbeth is here mad, or inspired,
with a kind of extemporized ferocity, so that she feels herself able
to perform without flinching the crime she has conceived, if her hus-
band will only keep his face from telling any tales of their purpose.
As Coleridge says, " Hers is the mock fortitude of a mind deluded by
ambition : she shames her husband with a superhuman audacity of
fancy which she cannot support, but sinks in the season of remorse,
and dies in suicidal agony."
1-3. The air, by its purity and sweetness, attempers our senses to
its own state, and so makes them gentle, or sweetens them into gen-
tleness. A proleptical form of speech.
The subject of this quiet and easy conversation gives that repose so neces-
sary to the mind after the tumultuous bustle of the preceding scenes, and per-
fectly contrasts the scene of horror that immediately succeeds. . . . This also
is frequently the practice of Homer, who, from the midst of battles and hor-
rors, relieves and refreshes the mind of the reader, by introducing some quiet
rural image or picture of familiar domestic life. — Sir J. Reynolds.
4. approve : prove, make evident. So in 2 Corinthians, vii, II.
scene vi MACBETH 33
By his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath 5
Smells wooingly here : no jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle :
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ'd
The air is delicate.
Enter Lady Macbeth
Duncan. See, see, our honour'd hostess ! 10
The love that follows us sometime is our trouble,
Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you
How you shall bid God 'ild us for your pains,
And thank us for your trouble.
Lady Macbeth. All our service
In every point twice done and then done double 15
Were poor and single business to contend
Against those honours deep and broad wherewith
5. mansionry Theobald | Man- 13. God 'ild | God-eyld Ff.
sonry Ff | masonry Pope. 17-20. Against . . . hermits | four
9. most Rowe | must Ff. lines in Ff, ending broad, house, dig-
10. Enter . . . | Enter Lady Ff. nities, hermits.
6. jutty: projection. The Folios read 'jutty frieze.' See Murray.
7. coign of vantage : convenient corner. A ' coign ' (' quoin ') is ' a
projecting corner,' or ' a comer-stone at the exterior angle of a build-
ing.' So in Coriolamis, V, iv, i: " See you yon coign o' the Capitol,
yon corner-stone?" See Murray.
11. sometime: sometimes. Shakespeare and Milton use both
forms.
13. bid God 'ild : pray God repay. The kind-hearted monarch
means that his love is what puts him upon troubling them thus, and
therefore they will be grateful for the pains he causes them. ' God
'ild ' (' God 'ield,' ' God dild,' etc.) is a common Elizabethan corrup-
tion of ' God yield,' i.e. ' God reward.'
16. single : weak. Contrasted with ' double ' in preceding line.
34
THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act I
And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him
To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, ■ h
1» ,
Your majesty loads our house : for those of old,
And the late dignities heap'd up to them,
We rest your hermits.
Duncan. Where 's the thane of Cawdor? 20
We cours'd him at the heels, and had a purpose
To be his purveyor : but he rides well,
We are your guest to-night.
Lady Macbeth. Your servants ever 25
Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt,
To make their audit at your highness' pleasure,
Still to return your own.
Duncan. Give me your hand ;
Conduct me to mine host : we love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him. 30
By your leave, hostess. \_Exetinf\
20. We rest your hermits : we remain as beadsmen to pray for you.
" The lyrical movement with which this scene opens, and the free
and unengaged mind of Banquo, loving Nature, and rewarded in the
love itself, form a highly dramatic contrast with the laboured rhythm
and hypocritical over-much of Lady Macbeth's welcome, in which
you cannot detect a ray of personal feeling, but all is thrown upon
the ' dignities,' the general duty." — Coleridge. — thane of Cawdor.
" How gracious the mention here of Macbeth's new title, how
poignant the irony ! " — Verity.
22. purveyor : forerunner. Literally ' one sent in advance to pro-
vide (Fr. pour voir) food.' The word is here accented on the first syl-
lable. Cf. 'harbinger,' I, iv, 45.
23. holp. The old preterite of ' help ' used as a past participle.
26. in compt : subject to account, reckoning. So in Otkello,V, ii,
273: " When we shall meet at compt," i.e. at the judgment-day.
31. By your leave. " Here Duncan gives his hand to Lady Mac-
beth, and leads her into the castle." — Clar.
scene vii MACBETH 35
Scene VII. Macbeth's castle
Hautboys and torches. Enter a Sewer, and divers Servants
with dishes and service^ over the stage. Then enter
Macbeth
Macbeth. If it were done when 't is done, then 't were
well
It were done quickly : if th' assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success \ that but this blow
Scene VII | Scene IX Pope. — boys . . . Macbeth Ff.
Macbeth's castle | Ff omit. — Haut- 1-2. well It | well, It Ff.
Sewer. An officer in a noble household whose duty was to arrange
the dishes on the table. Cf. " sewers and seneschals " in Paradise Lost,
IX, 38. 'Sewer' is not connected etymologically with Fr. essayeur,
1 a taster,' but probably with Fr. asseour, ' one who sets the table.'
1-2. The punctuation is similar to that of the Folios. Some edi-
tors put a period, or colon, at the end of line 1. The meaning is, If
all were done w^heri the murder is done, or if the mere doing of the
deed were sure to finish the matter, then the quicker it were done
the better. Macbeth then goes on to amplify and intensify the same
thought in other language.
2-4. if th' assassination . . . success. That is, If the assassination
could foreclose or shut off all sequent issues, and end with itself.
'His' for 'its' refers undoubtedly to 'assassination.' So 'his' is com-
monly used in Elizabethan literature. 'To trammel up' is 'to entan-
gle ' as in a net. So Spenser has the noun in The Faerie Queene, III,
ix, 20 : " Her golden locks, that were in tramells gay Upbounden."
' Surcease ' is properly a legal term, meaning the arrest or stay of a
suit. So in Bacon's essay Of Church Controversies : " It is more than
time that there were an end and surcease made of this immodest and
deformed manner of writing," etc. ' Success ' probably has the sense
of 'sequel,' 'succession,' or 'succeeding events.' So that 'to catch
success ' is to arrest and stop off all further outcome, or all entail of
danger.
A:
36 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act 1
Might be the be-all and the end-all here, 5
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We 'd jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here^rhat we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague th' inventor : this even-handed justice 10
Commends th' ingredients of our poison'd chalice . py. r LjJ&A
To our own lips. He 's here in double trust :
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed ; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door, 15
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongu'd, against
The deep damnation of his taking-ofr" \ 20
And pity, like a naked new-born babe
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin hors'd
lY^t*
7
5. be-all Pope | be all Ff. — end- 6. shoal Theobald | Schoole F1F2
all here Hanmer I end all. HeereFiFa. I School F3F4 I shelve Warburton.
6. But: only. — bank and shoal. Theobald's brilliant emendation is
generally accepted by modern editors. The metaphor, bringing out
the contrast between the shallows of time and the abysses of eternity,
is thoroughly Shakespearian. For a defence of the Folio text, see
Furness, Liddell, and Porter and Clarke's ' First Folio ' Macbeth.
7. jump : risk, hazard. Cf. Cymbeline, V, iv, 1S8. In Antony and
Cleopatra, III, viii, 6, 'jump' in this sense is a noun.
8. still: always. — that: so that. So in line 25. Cf. I, iii, 57.
17. faculties : honors, dignities, prerogatives. Cf. Henry VIII, I,
ii, 73. "The essential idea of 'faculty' is 'power of doing' (Lat.
facere, ' to do ') and a common meaning formerly was ' power,
liberty, right of doing.' " — Verity.
22. Cf. Psalms, xviii, 10: "he rode upon a cherub and did fly."
scene vii MACBETH 37
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur 25
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on th' other.
Enter Lady Macbeth
How now ! what news?
Lady Macbeth. He has almost supp'd : why have you
left the chamber? 29
Macbeth. Hath he ask'd for me?
Lady Macbeth. Know you not he has?
Macbeth. We will proceed no further in this business :
He hath honour'd me of late ; and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.
Lady Macbeth. Was the hope drunk 35
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since?
23. couriers Pope | Curriors Ff. Rowe | th' other side. Hanmer. —
28. th' other. Ff | th' other— Scene X Pope.
23. sightless couriers of the air. Cf. ' viewless winds,' Measure for
Measure, III, i, 124; 'posting winds,' Cymbeliue, III, iv, 38.
25. tears shall drown the wind. The metaphor is common in
Shakespeare. Cf. Troilus and Cressida, IV, iv, 55, and Lticrece,
1790. — I have no spur, etc. As Malone pointed out, this passage
contains two distinct metaphors. Both are taken from horsemanship,
and they follow naturally the figure in lines 22-23.
36. Though it seems natural to take 'dress'd' as carrying on the
metaphor in line 34, it here means something more. 'Dress' and
'address' are used by Elizabethan writers in the sense of 'prepare'
38 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act I
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour 40
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting ' I dare not ' wait upon ' I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adagei-
Macbeth. Prithee, peace : 45
I dare do all that may become a man ;
WTho dares do more is none.
Lady Macbeth. What beast was 't, then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man ;
And, to be more than what you were, you would 50
39. love Ff I liver Bailey conj. — 45. adage ? Capell | Addage. F1F2F3.
afeard | affear'd F1F2F3 I afraid F4. 47. do Rowe | no Ff.
or 'make ready.' The meaning here may be, Was it a drunken man's
hope, in the strength of which you made yourself ready for the
killing of Duncan ? and does that hope now wake from its drunken
sleep, to shudder and turn pale at the preparation which it made so
freely ? In accordance with this explanation, Lady Macbeth's next
speech shows that at some former time Macbeth had been, or had
fancied himself, ready to make an opportunity for the murder.
42. ornament of life. The ' golden opinions ' of line 33.
45. The proverb is a common one. Probably the version Shake-
speare was familiar with is that in Heywood's Three Hundred Epi-
grammes, 1562 : " The cat would eate fyshe, but she wyll not weate
her feete."
47. beast. The word is exceedingly well chosen'here : it conveys
a stinging allusion to what Macbeth has just said. If you dare do
all that may become a man, then what beast was it that put this
enterprise into your head ?
scene vil MACBETH 39
Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both :
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
How tender 't is to love the babe that milks me ; 55
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
Macbeth. If we should fail ?
Lady Macbeth. We fail.
But screw your courage to the sticking-place, 60
And we '11 not fail. When Duncan is asleep —
Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
58. In Ff the line ends with sworn. | should fail ? — Rowe | fail, — Theo
— so Fi I but so F2F3F4. bald. — We fail. Capell | We faile ?
59. should fail? | should faile ? Ff Ff | We fail ! Rowe.
52. adhere : agree, consist with the purpose. This passage seems
to infer that the murdering of Duncan had been a theme of conver-
sation between Macbeth and his wife long before the weird saluta-
tion. He was then for making a time and place for the deed ; now
that they have made themselves to his hand, he is unmanned by them.
59. Probably the sense of this much-disputed passage is simply
this : If we should fail, why then, to be sure, we fail, and it is all
over with us. So long as there is any hope or prospect of success,
Lady Macbeth is for going ahead, and she has a mind to risk all and
lose all, rather than let slip any chance of being queen. And why
should she not be as ready to jump the present life in such a cause
as her husband is to V jump the life to come " ?
60. "A metaphor perhaps taken from the ' screwing-up ' the
chords of string-instruments to their proper degree of tension, wThen
the peg remains fast in its 'sticking-place.'" — Steevens. "Lady
Macbeth is thinking of the cross-bow rack or gaffle, a small detach-
able winch to draw the string of the bow to its 'sticking-place,' the
action of which would naturally be connoted by ' screw.' " — Liddell.
40 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act i
Soundly invite him — his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassail so convince,
That memory, the warder of the brain, 65
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only : when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
Th' unguarded Duncan? what not put upon 70
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
Macbeth. Bring forth men-children only ;
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be receiv'd,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two 75
68. lie Pope I lyes Fi | lye F2F3F4.
63-64. " He got him into his priuie chamber, onelie with two of
his chamberlains . . . till they had charged their stomachs with such
foul gorges, that their heads were no sooner got to the pillow, but
asleepe they were so fast, that a man might haue remooued the cham-
ber ouer them, sooner than to haue awaked them out of their droonken
sleepe." — Holinshed. — wassail: carousing. See Skeat. — convince:
overcome. Cf. IV, iii, 142.
65-67. "By the old anatomists the brain was divided into three
ventricles, in the hindermost of which they placed the memory.
That this division was not unknown to Shakespeare we learn from
Love's Labour' 's Lost, IV, ii, 70. . . . When the memory is converted
by intoxication into a mere fume (cf. The Tempest, V, i, 67), then it fills
the brain itself, the receipt or receptacle of reason, which thus becomes
like the alembic or cap of a still." — Clar. — limbeck: alembic.
71. spongy: drunken. Cf. The Merchant of Venice, I, ii, 107 : "I
will do any thing, Nerissa, ere I '11 be married to a sponge."
72. quell : slaying, slaughter. Cf. ' manqueller,' i.e. ' murderer,' in
2 Henry LV, II, i, 58. From the same root as 'kill' (Anglo-Saxon
cwgllan).
scene vii MACBETH 4 1
Of his own chamber and us'd their very daggers,
That they have done 't?
Lady Macbeth. Who dares receive it other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?
Macbeth. I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. 80
Away, and mock the time with fairest show ;
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
\_Exeunf\
77. other : otherwise. So in V, iv, 8 ; King John, V, ii, 58.
79. bend up. Cf. 'bend up every spirit,' in Henry V, III, i, 16.
The figure is from stringing a bow, and this strengthens Professor
Liddell's interpretation of line 60.
/
1
•jr
%£ ACT n %\ ^
Scene I. Inverness. Court of Macbeth' s castle
Enter Banquo, arid Fleance with a torch before him
Banquo. How goes the night, boy?
Fleance. The moon is down ; I have not heard the clock.
Banquo. And she goes down at twelve.
Fleance. I take % 't is later, sir.
Banquo. Hold, take my sword. There 's husbandry in
heaven ;
Their candles are all out. Take thee that too. 5
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 !
Inverness . . . castle Dyce | Ff 7-10. In the Ff lines end sleep,
omit. thoughts, repose, there.
4. Two lines in Ff.
4. husbandry: economy. If 'heaven' be taken as a collective
noun, the grammatical construction of ' their ' in the next line will
be normal.
5. candles. Cf. The Me?-chant of Venice, V, i, 220 ; Romeo and Juliet,
III,v, 9. — thee. See Abbott, § 212. — that. He hands Fleance some-
thing, a helmet, a shield, or a dagger.
7-9. From line 20 we learn that Banquo has been dreaming of
the weird sisters. He understands how their greeting may act as an
incentive to crime, and shrinks writh horror from the poison of such
evil suggestions, and seeks refuge in prayer from the invasion of
42
scene i MACBETH 43
Enter Macbeth, and a Servant with a torch
Give me my sword.
Who's there? 10
Macbeth. 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, 15
By the name of most kind hostess ; and shut up
In measureless content.
Macbeth. Being unprepar'd,
Our will became the servant to defect ;
Which else should free have wrought.
13. In Ff the line ends with 16. By . . . hostess | separate line
pleasure. in Ff.
guilty thoughts even in his sleep. His character stands in marked
contrast to that of Macbeth, whose mind is inviting wicked thoughts,
and catching eagerly at temptation, and revolving howT he may work
the guilty suggestions through into act.
14. "Comming foorth, he called such afore him as had faithfullie
serued him in pursute and apprehension of the rebels, and giuing
them heartie thanks, he bestowed sundrie honourable gifts amongst
them, of the which number Donwald was one, as he that had been
euer accounted a most faithful seruant to the king." — Holinshed.
— offices : the apartments of those in charge of the various branches
of household w7ork. ' Officers ' has been suggested as an emen-
dation, but no change is needed.
16. shut up. A difficult expression. It may mean ' composed him-
self to rest'; or here may be a participle in an elliptical construc-
tion, and the whole passage will mean, He is wrapped in a sense of
boundless satisfaction.
18. A man may be said to be the servant of that which he cannot
help : and Macbeth means that his will would have made ampler
preparation, but that it was fettered by want of time.
t*
44 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act 11
v' Banquo. All's well.
I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters : 20
To you they have show'd some truth.
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.
Banquo. At your kind'st leisure.
Macbeth. If you shall cleave to my consent, when 't is,
It shall make honour for you.
Banquo. So I lose none 26
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchis'd, and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsell'd.
Macbeth. Good repose the while !
Banquo. Thanks, sir : the like to you ! 30
[Exeunt Banquo and Fleance]
Macbeth. Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready,
She strike upon the bell. Get thee 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. 35
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
24. kind'st Fi I kindst F2 I kind 30. [Exeunt Banquo and
F3F4. Fleance] Exit Banquo Ff.
25-26. when 'tis . . . you | one 31. Scene II Pope,
line in Ff. 32. {Exit Servant] Exit Ff.
25-26. If you will join my party (i.e. what has my consent), when
the time comes (or, when the result is gained), it shall make honor
for you. ' Consort,' ' contest,' ' ascent,' ' concept,' have all been sug-
gested as emendations of the obscure ' consent ' of the Folio text.
36. sensible : " perceptible through the bodily organs." — Century.
'' Capable of being perceived through the senses." — Clar.
scene i MACBETH 45
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 40
As this which now I draw.
Thou mar shall' st me the way that I was going ;
And such an instrument I was to use. lAA^JL
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest : I see thee still ; 45
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 half- wo rid
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep ; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd murder,
I 5*
44-45. 'Senses' is here used with a double reference, (1) to the
bodily organs of sense, and (2) to the inward faculties of the mind.
Either his eyes are. deceived by his imaginative forces in being made
to see that which is not, or else his other senses are at fault in not
being able to find the reality which his eyes behold.
46. dudgeon : haft, hilt. The name of a kind of wood (probably
boxwood) used by turners for the handles of knives, daggers, etc.
Then, by metonymy, the handle or the dagger itself. — gouts : large
drops. Fr. gontte ; Lat. gutta.
51. " The loss of an unstressed syllable after a caesural pause is
of common occurrence in English verse." — Liddell. But may not
'witchcraft' be trisyllabic here, ' witchc(e)raft,' in accordance with
the rule that 'r' and liquids in dissyllables are frequently pronounced
as though an extra vowel were introduced between them and the
preceding consonant. See Abbott, § 477.
51-52. celebrates Pale Hecate's offerings. That is, Makes offer-
ings or sacrifices to Hecate, who was the queen of Hades, the
patroness of all infernal arts, and of course the mistress of all who
«**<
46 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act b
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 55
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 : 60
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
[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. [Exit]
55. strides Pope | sides Ff. sowr F3 | sour F4.
56. sure Capell | sowre F1F2 I 57. way they Rowe | they may Ff .
practised them; here called 'pale,' because, under the name of
Diana, she was identified with the moon. Cf. Childe Harold, II, 22 :
"beneath pale Hecat's blaze." The name is, properly, trisyllabic,
but Shakespeare always has it dissyllabic, except in 1 Henry VI,
III, ii, 64.
54. 'Watch' is here used probably for 'signal.' The figure is of
the wolf acting as the sentinel of murder, and his howl being the
signal to give warning of approaching danger.
55. Steevens points out that 'strides' (Pope's emendation for
' sides ' in the Folio text) did not necessarily carry the idea of vio-
lence or noise, but was used by Elizabethan writers in a sense coher-
ent enough with ' stealthy pace ' :
They passing forth kept on their readie way,
With easie steps so soft as foot could stryde.
The Faerie Queene, IV, viii, yj.
58. Cf. Luke, xix, 40.
59-60. " Macbeth would have nothing break through the universal
silence that added such horror to the night, as suited well with the
bloody deed he was about to perform." — Steevens.
scene ii MACBETH 47
Scene II. 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,
JL I."
Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it :"
The doors are open ; and the surfeited grooms 5
Do mock their charge with snores : I have drugg'd their
possets,
Scene II | Scene III Pope I Rowe shriek'd, good-night, open, charge,
continues scene. possets.
2-6. In Ff the lines end fire,
1-2. Lady Macbeth has fired her courage by drinking wine ; but,
while she is kindled by drink, the grooms are stupefied, " their
possets " having been drugged.
3. Shakespeare has more than one allusion to the supposed omi-
nousness of the owl's note. Cf. / Hemy VI, IV, ii, 15 ; Richard III,
IV, iv, 509; Iticrece, 165. Cf. "fatal fowle ! As ravens, schrich-owles."
— Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, IV, ii, 63-64. " For one will saie ;
I had a dreame to-night, or a crowe croked upon my house, or an
owle flew by me and screeched (which augurie Lucius Silla tooke of
his death)." — Scot. — the fatal bellman. So in The Duchess of
Malfi, IV, ii, 1 79-18 1 :
I am the common bellman,
That usually is sent to condemn'd persons
The night before they suffer.
Lady Macbeth of course regards Duncan as the condemned person
to whom the 'fatal bellman' gives 'the stern'st good-night.'
6. " Posset is hot milk poured on ale or sack, having sugar, grated
bisket, and eggs, with other ingredients boiled in it, which all goes
to a curd." — Academy of Armourie (16SS). " Get me three hundred
milch bats, to make possets to procure sleepe." — The Duchess of
Malfi, IV, ii, 116.
48 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii
That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they live or die.
Enter Macbeth
Macbeth. Who's there? what, ho !
Lady Macbeth. Alack, I am afraid they have awak'd,
And 'tis not done. Th' attempt and not the deed 10
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. ' My husband !
Macbeth. I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear
a noise?
Lady Macbeth. I heard the owl scream and the crickets
cry. 15
Did not you speak?
8. E7iter Macbeth Ff | in Globe 13. My husband | separate line in Ff .
Camb after done 't, line 13. 14. Two lines in Ff.
7. That : so that. So in line 23. Cf. I, ii, 58 ; I, vii, 8.
8. Enter Macbeth. The Folio stage direction. " It may be that
on the Elizabethan stage Macbeth entered here, not to the stage
proper, but to the balcony above." — Manly.
10-11. The attempt without the deed destroys or ruins us.
12-13. This little touch of nature is one of Shakespeare's most
pregnant hints of character, and of itself should be enough to upset
the more common notion of Lady Macbeth. It tells us that, notwith-
standing her appalling invocation to the " murdering ministers," her
milk continues to be milk. And what a suggestive contrast it makes
to the terrible audacity of thought and speech she has just displayed !
It is the tenderness of her woman's heart that causes her to see in
the sleeping king an image of her father.
15. Webster imitated this in The White Devil, V, iv, 91-94 :
When scritch-howles croke upon the chimney tops,
And the strange cricket i' th' oven singes and hoppes . . «
Be certaine then you of a corse shall heare.
scene ii MACBETH 49
Macbeth. When?
Lady Macbeth. Now.
Macbeth. As I descended?
Lady Macbeth. Ay.
Macbeth. Hark!
Who lies i' the second chamber?
Lady Macbeth. Donalbain. 19
Macbeth. This is a sorry sight. {Looking on his hands]
Lady Macbeth. A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.
Macbeth. There 's one did laugh in 's sleep, and one
cried ' Murder ! '
That they did wake each other : I stood and heard them :
But they did say their prayers, and address'd them
Again to sleep. ,
Lady Macbeth. There are two lodg'd together.
Macbeth. One cried ' God bless us ! ' and 'Amen
other,
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands :
Listening their fear, I could not say 'Amen,'
When they did say f God bless us ! '
Lady Macbeth. Consider it not so deeply. 30
Macbeth. But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen ' ?
I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen'
Stuck in my throat.
18-19. Hark! . . . chamber? | 22-25. Lines in Ff end sleep, other,
one line in Ff. prayers, sleep.
20. {Looking . . . | Ff omit. 32-33. I had . . . throat | one line in Ff .
24. address'd: prepared. Cf. The Merchant of Venice, II, ix, 19.
27. As: as if. See Abbott, § 107. — hangman's: executioner's.
28. The Folio punctuation. In previous editions of Hudson's
Shakespeare a comma closed the preceding line and a colon was put
after ' fear,' so that ' listening ' modified ' me ' and not ' I.'
r1.
50 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii
Lady Macbeth. These deeds must not be thought
After these ways : so, it will make us mad. 34
Macbeth. Methought I heard a voice cry ' Sleep no more !
Macbeth does murder sleep,' — the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast, —
Lady Macbeth. What do you mean? 40
Macbeth. Still it cried ' Sleep no more ! ' to all the house :
' Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more ; Macbeth shall sleep no more ! '
Lady Macbeth. Who was it that thus cried? Why,
worthy thane,
You do unbend your noble strength, to think 45
So brainsickly of things. Go get some water,
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.
Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
35-36. 'Sleep . . . sleep' | marked 41. 'Sleep . . . more' | marked as
as quotation by Johnson. quotation by Hanmer.
37. sleave Steevens | sleeve Ff. 42-43. ' Glamis . . . more ! ' |
marked as quotation by Hanmer.
35. "A voice was heard as he was in bed in the night time to take
his rest vttering unto him these or the like woordes . . . The king
with this voice being striken into great dread and terror, passed
that night without anie sleepe comming in his eies." — Holinshed.
The Folio printing does not indicate where the words of the ' voice '
end. Hanmer extended the quotation as far as ' life's feast.'
37. ravell'd sleave: tangled skein of floss-silk. Cf. Troilus and
Cressida, V, i, 35 : " thou idle immaterial skein of sleave-silk."
39-40. In the second course at Elizabethan feasts were served the
most nourishing dishes.
45-46. to think So braiusickly : in thinking so crazily. The gerun-
dive use of the infinitive. See Abbott, § 356.
scene ii MACBETH 5 1
They must lie there : go carry them, and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.
Macbeth. I '11 go no more : so
I am afraid to think what I have done ;
Look on 't again I dare not.
Lady Macbeth. Infirm of purpose !
Give me the daggers : the sleeping and the dead i ^tltt < -%(
Are but as pictures ; 't is the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, 55
1 '11 gild the faces of the grooms withal;
For it must seem their guilt. [Exit. Knocking within]
Macbeth. Whence is that knocking?
How is 't with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? ha ! they pluck out mine eyes !
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 60
57. [Knocking ... I Knocke . . . Ff.
52-55. With her firm self-control, this bold woman, when awake
was to be moved by nothing but facts : when her powers of self-
control were unknit by sleep, then was the time for her to see things
that were not, save in her own conscience.
56. gild. ' Red ' is a common epithet for ' gold ' in early English
literature, and ' golden blood ' occurs in II, iii, 100. Cf. King John,
II, i, 316. '" Gild with blood 'was an expression not uncommon in
the sixteenth century." — Nares. — withal. See note, I, iii, 57.
57. guilt. The same quibble, also with tragic setting, occurs in
2 Henry IV, IV, v, 129-130 ; and Henry V, Pro!. II, 26. It is famous
in English literature from Marlowe to Hood. — Knocking within. For
the tragic significance of this, see De Quincey, " On the Knocking at
the Gate in Macbeth." It is dramatically effective that one of the men
whose knocking startles the guilty pair is the destined instrument of
vengeance. "The knocking here seems to show that the opening of
the next scene always formed part of the play." — E. K. Chambers.
60-61. For parallel passages in Sophocles, Catullus, Lucretius,
and Seneca, see Furness.
52 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act n
Clean from my hand ? No ; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
Re-enter Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth. My hands are of your colour, but I
shame
To wear a heart so white. [Knocking within] I hear a
knocking 65
At the south entry : retire we to our chamber.
A little water clears us of this deed :
How easy is it, then ! Your constancy
Hath left you unattended. [Knocking within~] Hark ! more
knocking.
Get on your night-gown, lest occasion call us, 70
And show us to be watchers. Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.
Macbeth. To know my deed, 'twere best not know
myself. \_Knocking within]
Wake Duncan with thy knocking ! I would thou couldst !
[Exeunt]
63. green one red | Green one Red 65-69. Seven lines in Ff , ending
F4 I Greene one, Red F1F2F3. white, entry, chamber, deed, con-
64. Re-enter . . . | Enter Ff. stancy, unattended, knocking.
65. 69, 73. [Knocking within\ 73. Two lines in Ff.
Knocke Ff. 74. Two lines in Ff.
63. Some editors have followed the Folio punctuation. " Convert-
ing the green into one uniform red. The comma after 'one' yields
a tame, not to say ludicrous, sense." — Clar. Cf. Hamlet, II, ii, 479.
68-69. Your constancy Hath left you unattended : firmness, which
was once your attendant, has deserted you.
70 night-gown : dressing-robe. Usual sixteenth century meaning.
73. While thinking of what I have done, it were best I should be
lost to myself, or should not know myself as the doer of it.
\ Scene III. The same
Enter a Porter.' Knocking within
Porter. Here 's a knocking indeed ! If a man were
porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key.
[Knocking] Knock, knock, knock ! Who 's there, i' the
name of Beelzebub? Here's a farmer, that hang'd himself
on the expectation of plenty. Come in time ; have napkins
Scene III | Scene IV Warburton 3, 6, etc. [Knocking] Knock Ff.
(Pope) I Rowe continues scene. — 4. Beelzebub | Belzebub Ff.
The same Capell | Ff omit.
Scene III. This, the famous " Porter's scene," has been regarded
by some critics, including Coleridge, as unauthentic. But it is thor-
oughly Shakespearian in conception and execution. Its broad
drollery serves as a proper foil to the antecedent horrors ; its very
discordance with the surrounding matter imparts an air of verisimili-
tude to the whole. " Looking at the scene as a practical dramatist,
I see that it is absolutely necessary to get Macbeth off the stage. A
motive must be contrived for this. That motive is at once supplied
by the sudden knocking." — Tom Taylor.
2. old : plenty of. A frequent intensive or augmentative in collo-
quial Elizabethan speech, and still heard in modern slang. Cf. The
Merchant of Venice, IV, ii, 15 : " We shall have old swearing."
4. Beelzebub. Perhaps the Folio trisyllabic spelling should be re-
tained in the text as representing the popular pronunciation. The
Porter proceeds to hold a dialogue with several imaginary persons at
'hell-gate ' who are supposed to be knocking for admission. Too much,
perhaps, has been made of supposed 'topical allusions' in this dialogue
for determining the date of composition of the play. See Introduction.
4-5. That a farmer who hoarded grain against a ' lean ' year should
hang himself when a year of plenty came seems to have been a
current Elizabethan jest. Hall and Ben Jonson both make use of it.
5. Come in time : an early arrival. — napkins. In Baret's Alvearie
we have "a napkin, or handkerchiefe, wherewith wee wipe away the
sweate." In Tindale's New Testament ' napkin ' is used to translate
ffovd&piov, Lat. sudarium.
54 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act n
enough about you; here you'll sweat for 't. [Knocking]
Knock, knock! Who's there, in the other devil's name?
Faith, here 's an equivocator that could swear in both the
scales against either scale ; who committed treason enough
for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven. O,
come in, equivocator. [Knocking] Knock, knock, knock !
Who 's there ? Faith, here 's an English tailor come hither
for stealing out of a French hose. Come in, tailor; here
you may roast your goose, [Knocking] Knock, knock;
never at quiet ! What are you? But this place is too cold
for hell. I '11 devil-porter it no further : I had thought to
have let in some of all professions, that go the primrose way
8. Editors following Malone find a specific reference here to
Henry Garnet, who was tried in March, 1606, for complicity in the
Gunpowder Plot. At this trial the doctrine of ' equivocation ' was
much discussed, but 'equivocation' was "at all times so favourite a
theme of invective with Protestant preachers that it could not but
be familiar to the public, who in those days frequented the pulpit
as assiduously as the stage-" — Clar. Verity notes that "the alias
under which Garnet often passed was ' Mr. Farmer ' ... so that the
transition (for the two must not be identified) from ' the farmer that
hang'd himself' to the 'equivocator ' was a sort of jest."
io. equivocate to heaven : win heaven by equivocating.
13. hose: trousers. "The joke consists in this, that, a French
hose being very short and strait, a tailor must be master of his trade
who could steal any thing from thence." — Warburton. Another
view is that the allusion is to a French fashion, which made the
hose very large and wide, and so with more cloth to be stolen.
14. A tailor's 'goose' is the heavy flatiron with which he smooths
and presses his work, so called because the handle bore some resem-
blance to the neck of a goose. The quibble is an ancient one.
17-18. the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire. Cf. All's Well
that Ends Well, IV, v, 56 : " They '11 be for the flowery way that leads
to the broad gate and the great fire "; Hamlet, I, iii, 50 : " Himself
the primrose path of dalliance treads." "A bonfire at that date is
scene in MACBETH 55
to the everlasting bonfire. [Knocking] Anon, anon ! I
pray you, remember the porter. [Opens the gate]
Enter Macduff and Lennox
Macduff. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, 20
That you do lie so late?
Porter. Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second cock.
Macduff. I believe drink gave thee the lie last night.
Porter. That it did, sir, i' the very throat on me : but I
requited him for his lie ; and, I think, being too strong for
him, though he took up my legs sometime, yet I made a
shift to cast him. 27
Enter Macbeth
Macduff. Is thy master stirring?
Our knocking has awak'd him; here he comes.
Lennox. Good morrow, noble sir.
Macbeth. Good morrow, both.
Macduff. Is the king stirring, worthy thane?
Macbeth. Not yet.
19. [Opens . . . I Ff omit. 28. Scene IV Pope.
invariably given in Latin Dictionaries as equivalent to pyra or
rogus ; it was the fire for consuming the human body after death:
and the hell-fire differed from the earth-fire only in being everlast-
ing. This use of a word so remarkably descriptive in a double
meaning is intensely Shakespearian." — Fleay. See Murray.
22. the second cock. Cf. Romeo and Juliet, IV, iv, 3-4:
The second cock hath crow'd,
The curfew bell hath rung, 't is three o'clock.
27. cast him. The quibble is between 'cast,' i.e. 'throw,' as a
wrestling term, and ' cast ' in the sense of ' ease my stomach of.'
56 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act n
Macduff. He did command me to call timely on him :
I have almost slipp'd the hour.
Macbeth. I '11 bring you to him.
Macduff. I know this is a joyful trouble to you ;
But yet 't is one. 35
Macbeth. The labour we delight in physics pain.
This is the door.
Macduff. I '11 make so bold to call,
For 'tis my limited service. \_Exif\
Lennox. Goes the king hence to-day?
Macbeth. He does; — he did appoint so.
Lennox. The night has been unruly : where we lay, 40
Our chimneys were blown down ; and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i' the air, strange screams of death,
And, prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion and confus'd events
New hatch'd to th' woeful time, the obscure bird 45
Clamour'd the livelong night : some say, the earth
Was feverous and did shake.
Macbeth. 'T was a rough night.
37-38. Prose in Ff. 44. combustion Fi | combustions
38. [Exit] Exit Macduffe Ff. F2F3F4.
40-42. In Ff four lines, ending 45-47^ New . . . shake | four lines
unruly, down, air, death. in Ff, ending time, night, feverous,
shake.
38. limited: appointed. Cf. Timon of Athens, IV, iii, 431.
39. Here we have a significant note of character. Macbeth catches
himself in the utterance of a falsehood, which is something at odds
with his nature and habitual feelings ; and he starts back into a mend-
ing of his speech, as from a spontaneous impulse to be true.
44. combustion. A common Elizabethan meaning was * tumult.'
45. obscure : darkness-haunting. Cf . Julius Ccesar, I, iii, 26 ; Titus
A?idronicus, II, iii, 97. ' Obscure ' as adjective is accented on the first
syllable in Shakespeare ; as verb, on the second. See Abbott, § 492.
scene in MACBETH 57
Lennox„ My young remembrance cannot parallel
A fellow to it.
Re-enter Macduff
Macduff. O horror, horror, horror ! tongue nor heait
Cannot conceive nor name thee !
Macbeth. ) .... , ,
X What s the matter? 51
Lennox. )
Macduff. Confusion now hath made his masterpiece !
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence
The life o' the building.
Macbeth. What is 't you say? the life? 55
Lennox. Mean you his majesty?
Macduff. Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight
With a new Gorgon. Do not bid me speak ;
See, and then speak yourselves.
\_Exeunt Macbeth and Lennox]
Awake, awake !
Ring the alarum-bell. Murder and treason ! 60
Banquo and Donalbain ! Malcolm ! awake !
Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit,
And look on death itself ! up, up, and see
50-51. tongue . . . thee | separate line in Ff.
52. Confusion : destruction. So in III, v, 29.
54. The Lord's anointed temple. Shakespeare here mixes in one
metaphor " Lord's anointed," / Samuel, xxiv, 10, and " temple of the
living God," 2 Corinthians, vi, 16.
57. JEvery one who looked on Medusa, one of the three Gorgons,
was turned to stone. Cf. Milton's Comus, 447-449:
What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield
That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin,
Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone ?
58 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii
The great doom's image ! Malcolm ! Banquo !
As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites, 65
To countenance this horror. Ring the bell. [Bell rings']
Enter Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth. What 's the business,
That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
The sleepers of the house? speak, speak !
Macduff. O gentle lady,
'T is not for you to hear what I can speak : 70
The repetition, in a woman's ear,
Would murder as it fell.
Enter Banquo
O Banquo, Banquo,
Our royal master 's murder'd !
Lady Macbeth. Woe, alas !
What, in our house?
Banquo. Too cruel anywhere.
Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself, 75
And say it is not so.
65. sprites I sprights Ff. 67. Scene V Pope.
66. Ring the bell | Theobald 72-73. 0 . . . murder'd | one line
omits. in Ff.
64. great doom's image: picture of the Judgment-day. Cf. 'image
of that horror ' in King Lear, V, iii, 264. " The strong medial pause
in the line indicates that Macduff waits a moment for their reply to
his summons." — Verity.
66. countenance : lend countenance to, be in keeping with. ' Ring
the bell ' is omitted by some editors, who regard it as a stage direction
that had crept into the Folio text.
74. Lady Macbeth's first thought appears to be, that she and her
husband may be suspected of the murder.
scene in MACBETH 59
Re-enter Macbeth and Lennox, with Ross
Macbeth. Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had liv'd a blessed time ; for, from this instant,
There 's nothing serious in mortality :
All is but toys ; renown and grace is dead ; 80
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.
Enter Malcolm and Donalbain
Donalbain. What is amiss?
Macbeth. You are, and do not know 't :
The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood
Is stopp'd, the very source of it is stopp'd. 85
Macduff. Your royal father 's murder'd.
Malcolm. O ! by whom?
Lennox. Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done 't :
Their hands and faces were all badg'd with blood ;
So were their daggers, which unwip'd we found
Upon their pillows : 90
They star'd, and were distracted ; no man's life
Was to be trusted with them.
Macbeth. O, yet I do repent me of my fury,
That I did kill them.
Macduff. Wherefore did you so?
91-92. In Ff lines end distracted, them.
79. mortality : human life. So in King John, V, vii, 5.
81-82. Observe the fine links of association in 'wine' and 'vault';
the latter having a double reference, to the wine-vault and to the
firmament over-arching the world of human life.
88. badg'd : marked as with a distinctive symbol. In 2 Henry VI^
III, ii, 200, occurs " Murder's crimson badge."
h
60 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii
Macbeth. Who can be wise, amaz'd, temperate and
furious, 95
Loyal and neutral, in a moment ? No man :
The expedition of my violent love
Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan,
His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood ;
And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature 100
For ruin's wasteful entrance ; there, the murderers,
Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers
Unmannerly breech'd with gore : who could refrain,
That had a heart to love, and in that heart
Courage to make 's love known?
Lady Macbeth. Help me hence, ho ! 105
Macduff. Look to the lady.
Malcolm. \_Aside to Donalbain] Why
do we hold our tongues,
That most may claim this argument for ours?
106, 108, in. [Aside . . . I Ff omit.
97. expedition : haste. This meaning survives in ' expeditiously.'
99. In Much Ado About Nothing, III, iv, 19, is "cloth of gold,
lac'd with silver." See note on II, ii, 56. " It is not improbable that
Shakespeare put these forced and unnatural metaphors into the
mouth of Macbeth as a mark of artifice and dissimulation, to show
the difference between the studied language of hypocrisy and the
natural outcries of sudden passion. The whole speech, so consid-
ered, is a remarkable instance of judgment, as it consists entirely of
antithesis and metaphor." — Johnson.
100-101. The image is of a besieging army making a breach in the
walls of a city, and thereby opening a way for general massacre and
pillage.
103. This probably means rudely covered, dressed, with blood.
" Language so forced is only appropriate in the mouth of a conscious
murderer dissembling guilt." — Abbott.
SCENE III
MACBETH 6l
Donalbain. [Aside to Malcolm] What should be spoken
here, where our fate,
Hid in an auger-hole, may rush, and seize us?
Let 's away. no
Our tears are not yet brew'd.
Malcolm. [Aside to Donalbain] Nor our strong sorrow
Upon the foot of motion.
Banquo. Look to the lady;
[Lady Macbeth is carried out]
And when we have our naked frailties hid,
That suffer in exposure, let us meet
And question this most bloody piece of work, 115
To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us :
109-m. In Ff lines end here, hole, 112. [Lady Macbeth . ..] Rowe
away. I Ff omit.
108-110. Where there is no hiding-place so small but that murder
may be lurking therein, ready to spring upon us at any moment.
The Princes divine at once that their father has been murdered for
the crown, and that the same motive means death to themselves
as well.
112. Lady Macbeth is carried out. Some regard this swoon as
feigned, others as real. The question is very material in the deter-
mining of Lady Macbeth's character. If feigned, why was it not done
when the murder of Duncan was announced ? The announcement of
these additional murders takes her by surprise ; she was not prepared
for it ; whereas in the other case she had, by her fearful energy of
will, steeled her nerves up to it beforehand. " For dreadful deeds
anticipated and resolved upon, she has strength ; but the surprise of
a novel horror, on which she has not counted, deprives her suddenly
of consciousness : when Macbeth announces his butchery of Duncan's
grooms, the lady swoons, — not in feigning but in fact, — and is borne
away insensible." — Dowden.
113. Banquo and the others who slept in the castle have rushed
forth undressed. This is what he refers to in ' our naked frailties/
62 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act n
In the great hand of God I stand, and thence
Against the undivulg'd pretence I fight
Of treasonous malice.
Macduff. And so do I.
All. So all.
Macbeth. Let 's briefly put on manly readiness, 120
And meet i' the hall together.
All. Well contented.
[_Exetmt all but Malcolm and Donalbain]
Malcolm. What will you do? Let's not consort with
them :
To show an unfelt sorrow is an office
Which the false man does easy. I '11 to England.
Donalbain. To Ireland I: our separated fortune 125
Shall keep us both the safer : where we are,
There 's daggers in men's smiles : the near in blood,
The nearer bloody.
121. {Exeunt all . . . | Exeunt Ff. 125-128. To . . . bloody I in Ff
122. Two lines in Ff. lines end I, safer, smiles, bloody.
124. Two lines in Ff.
117-119. The natural construction is, ' and thence I fight against
the undivulg'd pretence of treasonous malice.' ' Pretence ' here means
'intention' or 'purpose.' A frequent usage. Cf. the verb, II, iv, 24.
120. briefly: quickly. So in Cymbeline, V, v, 106. — manly readi-
ness : man's equipment. The expression suggests preparation for
fight. It is in marked contrast to ' naked frailties.'
124. easy. In Elizabethan literature adjectives are often used as
adverbs. See Abbott, § 1. — I'll to England. " Malcolme Cammore
and Donald Bane the sons of King Duncane, for feare of their Hues
. . . fled into Cumberland, where Malcolme remained . . . but Donald
passed over into Ireland." — Holinshed.
127. near : nearer. ' Near ' is really an old comparative, as may be
seen in Richard II, V, i, 88. Donalbain suspects Macbeth, who is
next in blood or of kin.
scene iv MACBETH 63
Malcolm. This murderous shaft that 's shot
Hath not yet lighted; and our safest way
Is to avoid the aim. Therefore, to horse ; 130
And let us not be dainty of leave-taking,
But shift away: there 's warrant in that theft
Which steals itself, when there 's no mercy left. [Exeunt]
Scene IV. Outside Macbeth's castle
Enter Ross and an Old Man
^ Old Man. Threescore-and-ten I can remember well:
>
Within the volume of which time I have seen
Hours dreadful and things strange ; but this sore night
Hath trifl'd former knowings.
Ross. Ah, good father,
Thou see'st the heavens, as troubl'd with man's act, 5
Threatens his bloody stage : by th' clock 't is day,
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp.
Is 't night's predominance, or the day's shame
That darkness does the face of earth entomb,
When living light should kiss it?
Scene IV I Scene VI Pope. 7. travelling F3F4 I travailing
4. Ah Rowe I Ha Ff. F1F2.
129-130. Suspecting this murder to be the work of Macbeth,
Malcolm thinks it could have no purpose but what himself and his
brother equally stand in the way of ; that the ' murderous shaft '
must pass through them to reach its mark.
4. trifl'd former knowings : made of no importance previous
experiences.
7. travelling lamp: the sun. Cf. 1 Henry IV, I, ii, 226.
8-10. " For the space of six monethes togither, after this heinous
murther was committed, there appeered no sunne by day, nor moone
64 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii
Old Man. 'T is unnatural, 10
Even like the deed that 's done. On Tuesday last,
A falcon, tow'ring in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd.
Ross. And Duncan's horses — a thing most strange and
certain —
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, 15
Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,
Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make
War with mankind.
Old Man. 'T is said they eat each other.
Ross. They did so, to th' amazement of mine eyes,
That look'd upon 't.
Enter Macduff
Here comes the good Macduff. 20
How goes the world, sir, now?
14. Two lines in Ff. 19-20. Three lines in Ff, ending
17-18. First line in Ff ends would. so, upon 't, Macduff.
by night in anie part of the realme." — Holinshed. These and other
omens and signs are described by Holinshed in connection with the
murder of King Duff.
12-18. " Monstrous sights also that were seene within the Scotish
Kingdome that yeere were these, horsses in Louthian, being of sin-
gular beautie and swiftnesse, did eate their owne fleshe . . . There
was a sparhawke also strangled by an owle." — Holinshed.
12. tow'ring. A technical term of falconry to describe the spiral
soaring of a hawk to its ' place ' whence it swoops on the prey. Cf.
2 Henry VI, II, i, 10. The word is still used by gamekeepers to de-
scribe the vertical ascent of a game-bird fatally wounded in the head.
13. mousing. "A very effective epithet, as contrasting the falcon,
in her pride of place, with a bird that is accustomed to seek its prey
on the ground." — Talbot.
15. minions: darlings, favorites. From Fr. mignon, 'dainty.'
SCENE IV
MACBETH 6;
Macduff. Why, see you not?
Ross. Is 't known who did this more than bloody deed?
Macduff. Those that Macbeth hath slain.
Ross. . Alas, the day !
What good could they pretend? JUs
Macduff. They were suborn'd :
Malcolm and Donalbain, the King's two sons, 25
Are stol'n away and fled ; which puts upon them
Suspicion of the deed.
Ross. 'Gainst nature still !
Thriftless ambition, that will ravin up
Thine own life's means ! Then 't is most like
The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth. 30
Macduff. He is already nam'd ; and gone to Scone
To be invested.
Ross. Where is Duncan's body?
Macduff. Carried to Colmekill,
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,
And guardian of their bones.
Ross. Will you to Scone ? 35
Macduff. No, cousin, I '11 to Fife.
Ross. Well, I will thither.
28. ravin up : completely devour. Cf . ' kill them up,' As Yon Like
It, II, i, 62.
31-33. " He . . . foorthwith went vnto Scone where ... he receiued
the inuesture of the Kingdome. . . . The bodie of Duncane was . . .
remoued and conueied unto Colmekill, and there laid in a sepulture
amongst his predecessors." — Holinshed. Scone (pronounced skoon)
was the place of coronation of the Scottish kings. 'The stone of
destiny,' carried to Westminster by Edward I in 1296, was part of
the coronation chair. Colmekill (i.e. the cell of St. Columba) is the
modern Iona.
66
THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act ii
Macduff. Well, may you see things well done there, —
adieu ! —
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new !
Ross. Farewell, father.
Old Man. God's benison go with you ; and with those
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes ! 41
\_Exeunt\
(ZuA
fJlM
-•>0
ACT III
Scene I. Forres. The palace
Enter Banquo
Banquo. Thou hast it now : king, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the weird women promis'd, and, I fear,
Thou play'dst most foully for 't : yet it was said
It should not stand in thy posterity,
But that myself should be the root and father 5
Of many kings. If there come truth from them,
As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine,
Why, by the verities on thee made good,
May they not be my oracles as well,
And set me up in hope? But hush ! no more. 10
Sennet sounded. Enter Macbeth, as king; Lady Macbeth,
as queen ; Lennox, Ross, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants
Macbeth. Here 's our chief guest.
Lady Macbeth. If he had been forgotten,
Forres. The palace | Ff omit. u. . .. Lady Macbeth, as queen
2. weird | weyard Fi | weyward . . . Attendants Globe | Lady Lenox,
F2F3F4. Rosse, Lords, and Attendants Ff.
7. As : inasmuch as. — speeches shine : predictions cast lustre.
11. Sennet. A peculiar set of notes played on the trumpet,
announcing the approach of royal personages. Sometimes spelled
' signate,' as though connected etymologically with ' signal.' Cf.
'signature ' in musical notation.
67
68 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi
It had been as a gap in our great feast,
And all- thing unbecoming.
Macbeth. To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir,
And I '11 request your presence.
Banquo. Let your highness 15
Command upon me ; to the which my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie
For ever knit.
Macbeth. Ride you this afternoon?
Banquo. Ay, my good lord.
Macbeth. We should have else desir'd your good advice,
Which still hath been both grave and prosperous, 21
In this day's council ; but we '11 take to-morrow.
Is 't far you ride?
Banquo. As far, my lord, as will fill up the time
'Twixt this and supper : go not my horse the better, 25
I must become a borrower of the night
For a dark hour or twain.
Macbeth. Fail not our feast.
Banquo. My lord, I will not.
Macbeth. We hear, our bloody cousins are bestow'd
In England and in Ireland, not confessing 30
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
With strange invention : but of that to-morrow,
13. all-thing : quite, altogether, entirely. See Murray.
14. solemn: official, formal. Cf. All's Well that Ends Well, II,
iii, 187.
15. In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare Rowe's reading
of ' Lay ' for ' Let ' was adopted because of ' upon ' in the next line.
But ' upon ' belongs to ' command ' rather than to ' me.'
21. still: always. — grave: weighty. — prosperous: turning out well.
25. go not my horse the better : if my horse go not fast enough.
scene I MACBETH 69
When therewithal we shall have cause of state
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse ; adieu,
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you? 35
Banquo. Ay, my good lord : our time does call upon 's.
Macbeth. I wish your horses swift and sure of foot;
And so I do commend you to their backs.
Farewell. \_Exit Banquo]
Let every man be master of his time 40
Till seven at night ; to make society
The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself ^-|
Till supper- time alone : while then, God be with you ! \y>*-
[Exeunt all but Macbeth and an Attendant]
Sirrah, a word with you : attend those men
Our pleasure? 45
Attendant. They are, my lord, without the palace-gate.
Macbeth. Bring them before us. \_Exit Attendant]
To be thus is nothing,
But to be safely thus. Otir fears in Banquo
Stick deep ; and in his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be fear'd. 'T is much he dares ; 50
34-35. Three lines in Ff, ending 44. Scene II Pope,
horse, night, you. 47. [Exit Attendant] Exit
42-43. Three lines in Ff, ending Servant Ff.
welcome, alone, you. 47-50. To he. . .dares | Four lines
43. [Exeunt . . . | Exeunt Lords Ff. in Ff, ending thus, deep, that, dares.
43. While : until. A common Elizabethan usage. Cf. Twelfth Night,
IV, iii, 29. — God be with you. The full form of ' good-bye.' Some-
times written ' God-b'wy-ye,' or 'God buy you,' which is probably
the pronunciation here.
48. But: unless, except. The sentence means, To be on the
throne is nothing at all if I cannot be so in perfect security. — in:
on account of. Cf. Julius Ccesar, II, ij 190 : " There is no fear in him;
let him not die."
JO THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act III
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety. There is none but he
Whose being I do fear ; and, under him,
My Genius is rebuk'd, as, it is said, 55
Mark Antony's was by Caesar. He chid the sisters,
When first they put the name of king upon me,
And bade them speak to him ; then prophet-like
They hail'd him father to a line of kings :
Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown, 60
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If 't be so,
For Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind ;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd; 65
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,
To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings !
69. seed Pope | Seedes F1F2.
51. to: in addition to. Cf. King John, I, i, 144.
55-56. With this use of ' Genius ' cf. Troilus and Cressida, IV,
iv, 52 ; Julius Ccesar, II, i, 66. The 'Caesar' referred to is Octavius.
Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, II, iii, 15-22. "For thy demon, said he
(that is to say, the good angell and spirit that keepeth thee), is
afraid of his : and being couragious and high when he is alone,
becommeth fearfull and timorous when he cometh near unto the
other." — Life of Marcus Antonius, North's Plutarch.
62. with an unlineal hand : by the hand of one not heir to me.
64. fil'd: defiled. Anglo-Saxon^^* ' make foul.' Whence 'foul/
'filth,' etc. This use of 'file' is still common in Scotland.
67. eternal jewel : immortal soul. Cf. Richard II, I, i, 180-181.
scene i MACBETH 71
Rather than so, come, fate, into the list, 70
And champion me to th' utterance ! — Who 's there?
Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers
Now go to th' door, and stay there till we call. —
[Exit Attendant]
Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
1 Murderer. It was, so please your highness.
Macbeth. Well then, now
Have you consider'd of my speeches ? Know 75
That it was he, in the times past, which held you
So under fortune ; which you thought had been
Our innocent self : this I made good to you
In our last conference, pass'd in probation with you,
How you were borne in hand, how cross'd, the instruments,
Who wrought with them, and all things else that might 81
To half a soul and to a notion craz'd
Say, ' Thus did Banquo.'
71. Two lines in Ff. 75-8i. Nine lines in Ff, ending
74. 1 Murderer | Murth. Ff. speeches, past, fortune, self, confer-
— now I Ff give to line 75. ' ence, you, cross'd, them, might.
71. champion me: fight against me. — to th' utterance: to the
extremity, to the death. It is the Fr. a outrance, often written incor-
rectly a Foutrance {outre, Lat. ultra, 'beyond '). The meaning of the
passage is, Let Fate, that has decreed the throne to Banquo's
issue, enter the lists in support of its own decrees, I will fight
against it to the last extremity, whatever be the consequence.
79. pass'd in probation : went over the details of the proof.
80. borne in hand: deluded with false hopes (cf. Fr. maintenir,
from late Lat. manutenere), — cross'd: thwarted. — instruments:
agents. The general meaning of the passage is that Banquo has
managed to hold up their hopes, while secretly preventing fruition;
thus using them as tools, and cheating them out of their pay.
82. notion: understanding, judgment. Cf. King Lear, I, iv, 248.
72 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi
i Murderer. You made it known to us.
Macbeth. I did so, and went further, which is now
Our point of second meeting. Do you find 85
Your patience so predominant in your nature
That you can let this go ? Are you so gospelPd,
To pray for this good man and for his issue,
Whose heavy hand hath bow'd you to the grave
And beggar'd yours for ever?
1 Murderer. We are men, my liege. 90
Macbeth. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men ;
As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are clept
All by the name of dogs : the valued file
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle, 95
The housekeeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous nature
Hath in him clos'd ; whereby he does receive
Particular addition, from the bill
That writes them all alike ; and so of men. 100
Now, if you have a station in the file,
84-90. Nine lines in Ff, ending 93. Shoughs | S ho wghe s Ff |
so, now, meeting, predominant, go, Shocks Capell. — clept Capell |
man, hand, heggar'd, ever. dipt Ff.
87. so gospell'd : so filled with the spirit of the Gospel.
92-93. Cf. King Lear, III, vi, 71-73. — Shoughs: shock dog (so
called from its shaggy hair). — water-rugs: rough water dog (Swed-
ish rugg). — demi-wolves : mongrels bred between dogs and wolves.
— clept: called. Cf. Hamlet, I, iv, 19 ; Love's Labour' 's Lost, V, i, 23.
In Love's Labour's Lost, I, i, 42, V, iii, 602, ' yclept ' is the form of the
participle. See Murray.
94. valued file : list where dogs are graded according to their worth.
96. housekeeper : watch-dog; one that 'keeps' ('guards') the house.
99. addition: title of distinction. Cf. I, iii, 106.
scene i MACBETH 73
Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say 't ;
And I will put that business in your bosoms,
Whose execution takes your enemy off,
Grapples you to the heart and love of us, 105
Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
Which in his death were perfect.
2 Murderer. I am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Hath so incens'd, that I am reckless what
I do to spite the world.
1 Murderer. And I another no
So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune,
That I would set my life on any chance,
To mend it, or be rid on 't.
Macbeth. Both of you
Know Banquo was your enemy.
Both Murderers. True, my lord.
Macbeth. So is he mine; and in such bloody distance,
That every minute of his being thrusts 116
Against my near'st of life ; and though I could
With barefac'd power sweep him from my sight
109-110. Hath ... do Rowe | one one line in Ff.
line in Ff. 114. Both Murderers \Murth.
113-114. Both . . . enemy Rowe | Ff.
in. tugg'd with fortune : " buffeted by misfortune." — Liddell.
115. ' Distance ' ( Old Fr. distance, Lat. distantia, ' standing apart ')
originally meant ' discord,' ' dispute.' Here it probably is the fencing
term, meaning the definite interval of space to be observed between
two antagonists. When men are in a hot mortal encounter with
swords, they stand at just the right distance apart for the bloodiest
strokes or thrusts. Cf. Romeo and Juliet, II, iv, 21.
117. near'st of life. Either ' most vital parts ' or 'inmost soul.'
74 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not,
For certain friends that are both his and mine, 120
Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
Who I myself struck down ; and thence it is,
That I to your assistance do make love,
Masking the business from the common eye
For sundry weighty reasons.
2 Murderer. We shall, my lord, 125
Perform what you command us.
1 Murderer. Though our lives —
Macbeth. Your spirits shine through you. Within this
hour at most
I will advise you where to plant yourselves ;
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time,
V
127. Two lines in Ff.
119. avouch it : to take responsibility for the deed.
120. For : on account of. A common Elizabethan use. See Abbott,
150.
122. Who: whom. So in III, iv, 42. See Abbott, 274.
128. " He willed therefore the same Banquho with his sonne named
Fleance, to come to a supper that he had prepared for them, which
was in deed, as he had deuised, present 1 death at the hands of cer-
teine murderers, whom he hired to execute that deed, appointing them
to meete with the same Banquho and his son without2 the palace, as
they returned to their lodgings, and there to slea them." — Holinshed.
129. A much-disputed passage. Johnson proposed ' a ' for ' the,'
and made the line refer to the third murderer. More probably the
meaning is, Will furnish you with an exact and sure note or signal of
the time when to strike ; wThich is probably done by or through the
third murderer, who joins them just before the murder is done. The
success of the undertaking depends on the assault being rightly
timed. So that ' the perfect spy of the time ' may be ' the sure means
of spying or knowing the time.'
1 immediate. 2 outside.
scene ii MACBETH 75
The moment on 't; for 't must be done to-night, 130
And something from the palace ; always thought
That I require a clearness : and with him —
To leave no rubs nor botches in the work —
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me 135
Than is his father's, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart ;
I '11 come to you anon.
Both Murderers. We are resolv'd, my lord.
Macbeth. I '11 call upon you straight : abide within.
\_Exeunt Murderers]
It is concluded : Banquo, thy soul's flight, 140
If it find heaven, must find it out to-night. \_Exif\
Scene II. The palace
Enter Lady Macbeth and a Servant
Lady Macbeth. Is Banquo gone from court ?
Servant. Ay, madam, but returns again to-night.
138. Both Murderers I Murth. Ff. Scene II | Scene III Pope.
139. [Exeunt . . . | Ff omit. — The palace \ Ff omit.
141. [Exit] Rowe | Exeunt Ff. Lady Macbeth | Macbeths
Lady Ff.
131-133. It being always borne in mind that I must stand clear of
blame or suspicion. " So that he would not have his house slaun-
dered, but that in time to come he might cleare himselfe." — Holin-
shed. — rubs: roughnesses, impediments. Cf. the bowling and golfing
term 'rub on the green.' The literal meaning is seen in Henry V,
II, ii, 18S, " Every rub is smoothed on our way"; the figurative in
Hamlet, III, i, 65, " ay, there 's the rub." — botches. Murray suggests
that ' botch ' is probably an onomatopoetic word akin to ' patch.'
j6 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi
Lady Macbeth. Say to the king, I would attend his
leisure
For a few words.
Servant. Madam, I will. [Exit]
Lady Macbeth. Nought 's had, all 's spent,
Where our desire is got without content : 5
'T is safer to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.
\>i
Enter Macbeth
How now, my lord ! why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest fancies your companions making;
Using those thoughts which should indeed have died 10
With them they think on? Things without all remedy
Should be without regard : what 's done is done.
Macbeth. We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it :
She '11 close and be herself, whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth. 15
But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreams
13. scotch'd Theobald | scorch'd Ff. 16. Two lines in Ff.
11. without all : beyond any. ' Without ' is literally ' outside of.'
13. scotch'd : cut, slashed. " Made narrow incisions, as with a
' scutcher' or riding whip." — Herford. See ' hop-scotch ' in Murray.
1 Close ' in the next line shows this to be the meaning. Cf. Co?'io-
lanus, IV, v, 19S: "he scotch'd him and he notch'd him like a car-
bonado," where ' carbonado ' means a piece of meat slashed across
for broiling. Liddell defends the Folio reading on the ground that
" ' scorch ' is a derivative verb from ' score ' and means ' to hack.' "
18-19. What ' these terrible dreams ' ate, is shown in Lady Mac-
beth's sleep-walking agonies. It is of her state of mind, not of his
own, that Macbeth is here thinking. " No witches have given her
scene II MACBETH 7 7
That shake us nightly : better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, 20
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave ;
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;
Treason has done his worst : nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, 25
Can touch him further.
Lady Macbeth. Come on ;
Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks ;
Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night.
Macbeth. So shall I, love ; and so, I pray, be you :
Let your remembrance apply to Banquo ; 30
Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue :
20 peace Fi | place F2F3F4. 22. Two lines in Ff.
' hail ' ; no airy dagger marshals her the way she is going ; nor is she
afterwards haunted by the terrible vision of Banquo's gory head. As
long as her will remains her own she can throw herself upon external
facts, and maintain herself in relation with the definite, actual sur-
roundings ; it is in her sleep, when the will is incapable of action,
that she is persecuted by the past which perpetually renews itself,
not in ghostly shapes, but by the imagined recurrence of real and
terrible incidents." — Do\yden.
21. The reference is to the torture of the rack. Cf. The Merchcuit
of Venice, III, ii, 24-27.
22. ecstasy. In its general sense the word describes any violent
mental disturbance. Cf. The Tempest, III, iii, 108.
27. Gentle my lord. This common inversion ii probably for
emphasis.
30. remembrance apply to: consideration attach itself to.
31. Present him eminence: treat him as eminent. In lines 30-31
the language is strained and obscure. Is Macbeth ironical, or is he
wishing to keep his wTife ignorant and innocent of the new crime
on foot ?
78 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act in
Unsafe the while, that we
Must lave our honours in these flattering streams,
And make our faces vizards to our hearts,
Disguising what they are.
Lady Macbeth. You must leave this. 35
Macbeth. O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife !
Thou know'st that Banquo and his Fleance lives.
Lady Macbeth. But in them nature's copy 's not eterne.
Macbeth. There 's comfort yet ; they are assailable ;
Then be thou jocund : ere the bat hath flown 40
His cloister'd flight ; ere to black Hecate's summons
The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done
A deed of dreadful note.
Lady Macbeth. What 's to be done? ^/ .'•'
Macbeth. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
32-33. In Ff lines end lave, 42. shard-borne F1F2 I shard-born
streams. F3F4 | sharp-brow'd D'Avenant.
37. Fleance Rowe | Fleans F1F3 43-44- In Ff first line ends peal.
F4 I Feans F2
32-35. The very fact of our being obliged thus to use the arts of
hypocrisy and dissimulation proves that we are not safe in our seats,
not secure in the tenure of our honors : we can retain them only by
making our life, even in social intercourse, a studied, continuous lie.
— flattering streams : streams of flattery.
38. copy. " Probably for ' copyhold,' a form of land tenure which
differed from freehold in being terminable." — Herford.
41. cloister'd. " The bats wheeling round the dim cloisters of
Queen's College, Cambridge, have frequently impressed on me the
singular propriety of this original epithet." — Steevens.
42. shard-borne : borne through the air on scaly wings. Cf. Antony
and Cleopatra, III, ii, 20 ; Cymbeline, III, iii, 20. Some editors follow
the spelling of the later Folios and interpret as ' born in refuse.'
43. yawning : drowsy. — peal. The curfew bell is suggested.
45. chuck. A term of endearment. Cf. Othello, III, iv, 49.
scene ii MACBETH 79
Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night, 46
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day,
And with thy bloody and invisible hand
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
Which keeps me pale ! Light thickens, and the crow 50
Makes wing to th' rooky wood :
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse,
Whiles night's black agents to their preys do rouse.
Thou marvell'st at my words, but hold thee still ;
Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill. 55
So, prithee, go with me. \Exeunf\
50-51. and the crow . . . wood | one line in Ff.
46. seeling night : night that closes up the eyes. ' Seeling ' is a
term of falconry often used figuratively in Elizabethan literature.
To tame hawks their eyelids were drawn together by a thread of
fine silk. Fr. ciller {siller), Lat. cilium.
49. that great bond. Probably, as Mr. E. K. Chambers suggests,
" the bond between destiny and the house of Banquo, made known in
the prophecy of the weird sisters."
50. Light thickens. Cf. 'lustre thickens' in Antony and Cleopatra,
II, iii, 27. So in Spenser, The Shepheards Calender, March, 1 1 5— 116:
But see, the Welkin thicks apace,
And stouping Phebus steepes his face.
51. rooky: rook-haunted. 'Crow' and 'rook' were used of the
same bird, ' crow ' being generic and ' rook ' specific. " The passage
simply means, ' the rook hastens its evening flight to the wood where
its fellows are already assembled,' and to our mind 'the rooky wood '
is a lively and natural picture." — Mitford (quoted by Funiess). But
some editors interpret ' rooky ' as ' misty,' ' gloomy,' connecting it
etymologically with Anglo-Saxon rec, Dutch rook, German Ranch,
etc. Cf. Scottish and dialectic ' reek,' as in Coriolanus, III, iii, 121.
52. "A motto of the entire tragedy ... It is the tragedy of the
twilight and the setting-in of thick darkness." — Dowden.
53-55. A covert allusion to the exploit which Macbeth's murderers
are going about. He seems to want, that his wife should suspect the
80 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi
Scene III. A park near the palace
Enter three Murderers
0
i Murderer. But who did bid thee join with us?
3 Murderer. Macbeth.
2 Murderer. He needs not our mistrust; since he
delivers
Our offices, and what we have to do,
To the direction just.
i Murderer. Then stand with us.
The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day : 5
Now spurs the lated traveller apace
To gain the timely inn ; and near approaches
The subject of our watch.
3 Murderer. Hark ! I hear horses.
Scene III | Scene IV Pope | Scene II Rowe. — A park . . . | Ff omit.
new crime he has in hand, while he shrinks from telling her of it
distinctly. And the purpose of his dark hints is probably to prepare
her, as fat as may be, for a further strain upon her moral forces,
which he sees to be already overstrained. For he fears that, if she
has full knowledge beforehand of the intended murder, she may
oppose it, and that if she has no suspicion of it the shock may be
too mtich for her.
Enter three Murderers. See Fumess for a full statement of the
ingenious theory that Macbeth himself is the Third Murderer, ad-
vanced by Mr. A. P. Paton {Macbeth, Hamnet edition, 1877). A strong
point against this view is the way in which Macbeth is affected on
hearing of Fleance's escape (III, iv, 21). Mr. Libby holds that Ross
is the Third Murderer, and says that "because Shakespeare is deal-
ing with the spy-system, he refuses to give the name of this villain."
2. He needs not our mistrust : we need not mistrust him.
6. lated: belated. Not from 'belated,' but a participial adjective
in -ed from • late.' Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, III, xi, 3.
scene m MACBETH 8 1
Banquo. [Within~\ Give us a light there, ho !
2 Murderer. Then 't is he : the rest
That are within the note of expectation 10
Already are i' the court.
i Murderer. His horses go about.
3 Murderer. Almost a mile : but he does usually,
So all men do, from hence to th' palace gate
Make it their walk.
Enter Banquo, and Fleance with a torch
2 Murderer. A light, a light !
3 Murderer. 'T is he.
i Murderer. Stand to 't. 15
Banquo. It will be rain to-night.
1 Murderer. Let it come down.
[ They set upon Banquo]
Banquo. O, treachery ! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly !
Thou mayst revenge. O slave ! [Dies. Fleance escapes']
16. {They set upon . . . | Ff omit. 18. {Dies . . . escapes'] Pope | Dies
17. 0 ... fly! I two lines in Ff. Rowe | Ff omit.
10. note of expectation : list of those guests who are expected.
17-18. " It chanced yet by the benefit of the darke night, that
though the father were slaine, the sonne yet . . . escaped that dan-
ger: and afterwards hauing some inkeling . . . how his life was
sought no lesse than his fathers, who was slaine not by chance-
medlie 1 (as by the handling of the matter Makbeth would have had
it to appeare) but euen vpon a prepensed 2 deuise : wherevpon to
auoid further perill he fled into Wales." — Holinshed. Doubtless
Shakespeare accepted the Stuart tradition that Fleance married a
daughter of the Prince of Wales and had a son who afterwards
became Lord High Steward of Scotland ; from thence he assumed
the name of Walter Steward (Stuart). " From him, in a direct line,
1 accident. 2 premeditated.
82 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act in
3 Murderer. Who did strike out the light?
i Murderer. Was 't not the way?
3 Murderer. There 's but one down ; the son is fled.
2 Murderer. We have lost
Best half of our affair. 21
1 Murderer. Well, let 's away, and say how much is
done. [Exeunt~]
Scene IV. Hall in the palace
A banquet prepared. Enter Macbeth, Lady Macbeth,
Ross, Lennox, Lords, and Attendants
Macbeth. You know your own degrees ; sit down : at first
And last the hearty welcome.
Lords. Thanks to your majesty.
Macbeth. Ourself will mingle with society,
And play the humble host.
Our hostess keeps her state, but in best time 5
We will require her welcome.
Lady Macbeth. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our
friends,
For my heart speaks they are welcome.
\_First Murderer appears at the door]
Macbeth. See, they encounter thee with their hearts'
thanks.
Scene IV | Scene V Pope | 5. best Fi I the best F2F3F4.
Scene III Rowe. — Hall in the . . . | 9. [First Murderer . . . | Enter
Ff omit. first Murtherer Ff.
King James I was descended, in compliment to whom our author has
chosen to describe Banquo, who was equally concerned with Macbeth
in the murder of Duncan, as innocent of that crime." — Malone.
5. keeps her state : remains in her chair of state.
scene iv MACBETH 83
Both sides are even : here I '11 sit 'i the midst. 10
Be large in mirth ; anon we '11 drink a measure
The table round. — [ Goes to the door'] There 's blood upon
thy face.
Murderer. 'T is Banquo's then.
Macbeth. 'T is better thee without than he within.
Is he dispatch'd? 15
Murderer. My lord, his throat is cut ; that I did for him.
Macbeth. Thou art the best o' the cut-throats ; yet he's
good
That did the like for Fleance : if thou didst it,
Thou art the nonpareil.
Murderer. Most royal sir,
Fleance is scap'd. 20
Macbeth. Then comes my fit again : I had else been
perfect,
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock;
As broad and general as the casing air :
But now I am cabin 'd, cribb'd, confm'd, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo's safe? 25
Murderer. Ay, my good lord ; safe in a ditch he bides,
With twenty trenched gashes on his head,
The least a death to nature.
Macbeth. Thanks for that.
There the grown serpent lies ; the worm that 's fled
12. [Goes ... I Approaching the Ff lines end cut-throats, Fleance,
door Grant White Globe | Ff omit. nonpareil.
17-19. Thou . . . nonpareil | in 21. Two lines in Ff.
14. It is better on your face than in his veins.
19. nonpareil : one who has no equal. Cf. Twelfth Night, I, v, 273.
23. Having as full and free scope as the enveloping air.
29. worm : serpent. Cf. A Midsummer Night's Dream, III, ii, 71.
•
84 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi
Hath nature that in time will venom breed, 30
No teeth for th' present. Get thee gone : to-morrow
We '11 hear 't, our self, again. \_Exit Murderer]
Lady Macbeth. My royal lord,
You do not give the cheer : the feast is sold
That is not often vouch'd, while 't is a-making,
'Tis given with welcome : to feed were best at home; 35
From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony;
Meeting were bare without it.
Enter the Ghost ^/Banquo, a?id sits in Macbeth's place
Macbeth. Sweet remembrancer !
Now, good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both !
Lennox. May 't please your highness sit.
Macbeth. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd,
Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present ; 41
Who may I rather challenge for unkindness
Than pity for mischance.
Ross. - His absence, sir,
Lays blame upon his promise. Please 't your highness
To grace us with your royal company. 45
Macbeth. The table 's full !
Lennox Here is a place reserv'd, sir.
33-37. The feast is made or given for profit, not as a frank expres-
sion of kindness and good-will, if, during its course, it is not often
declared to be given with pleasure. If merely to feed were all, that
were best done at home.
37. Enter the Ghost . . . This is the stage direction of the Folios.
Modern editors place the entry of the Ghost after line 39, and dis-
cuss the question whether, upon the stage, the Ghost should ob-
jectively appear. See note, line 89.
scene iv MACBETH 85
Macbeth. Where ?
Lennox. Here, my good lord. What is 't that moves
your highness?
Macbeth. Which of you have done this?
Lords. What, my good lord?
Macbeth. Thou canst not say I did it : never shake 50
Thy gory locks at me.
Ross. Gentlemen, rise ; his highness is not well.
Lady Macbeth. Sit, worthy friends : my lord is often
thus,
And hath been from his youth : pray you, keep seat ;
The fit is momentary ; upon a thought 55
He will again be well : if much you note him,
You shall offend him, and extend his passion :
Feed, and regard him not. \_Aside to Macbeth] Are you a
man?
Macbeth. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appal the devil.
Lady Macbeth. [Aside to Macbeth] O proper stuff ! 60
This is the very painting of your fear :
This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said,
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts,
Impostors to true fear, would well become
A woman's story at a winter's fire, 65
Authoriz'd by her grandam. Shame itself !
48. Two lines in Ff. 58, 60. [Aside . . . | Ff omit.
57. shall : will. — extend his passion : increase his agitation.
63. flaws: bursts of passion. Originally, 'gusts of wind.' Cf. Cori-
olamts, V, iii, 74. See Murray.
64. to : compared with. A common use. Cf. Hamlet, I, ii, 139-140.
65. Cf. Richard ff, V, i, 40-43 ; The Winter's Tale, II, i, 25-26.
86 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi
Why do you make such faces? When all 's done,
You look but on a stool.
Macbeth. Prithee, see there ! behold ! look ! lo ! how
say you?
Why, what care I ? If thou canst nod, speak too. 70
If charnel-houses and our graves must send
Those that we bury back, our monuments
Shall be the maws of kites. [Ghost vanishes']
Lady Macbeth. [Aside to Macbeth] What, quite un-
mann'd in folly?
Macbeth. If I stand here, I saw him !
Lady Macbeth. [Aside to Macbeth] Fie, for shame !
Macbeth. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden
time, 75
Ere humane statute purg'd the gentle weal;
Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd
Too terrible for the ear. The time has been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end ; but now they rise again, 80
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools : this is more strange
Than such a murder is.
Lady Macbeth. My worthy lord,
Your noble friends do lack you.
69. Two lines in Ff. 73, 74. [Aside . . . | Ff omit.
73. [Ghost...] Rowe| Exit 78. time has Camb | times has
Ghost F2F3F4 I Fi omits. Fi | times have F2F3F4.
•72-73. monuments : tombs. — maws : stomachs. Cf. The Faerie
Queene, II, viii, 17 : " But be entombed in the raven or the kight."
76. Ere humane statute made the commonwealth gentle by purg-
ing and cleansing it from the wrongs and pollutions of barbarism.
'Gentle' is here used proleptically.
scene iv MACBETH 87
Macbeth. I do forget.
Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends; 85
I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing
To those that know me. Come, love and health to all ;
Then I '11 sit down. Give me some wine, fill full.
Re-enter the Ghost
I drink to th' general joy o' the whole table,
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss ; 90
Would he were here ! to all and him we thirst,
And all to all.
Lords. Our duties, and the pledge.
Macbeth. Avaunt ! and quit my sight ! let the earth
hide thee !
Thy bones are marrowiess, thy blood is cold ;
89. Re-enter . . . | Enter Ghost Ff.
85. muse: wonder. See Skeat. Cf. King John, III, i, 317.
89. Re-enter the Ghost. Much question has been made, whether
there be not two several ghosts in this scene ; some maintaining that
Duncan's enters here, and Banquo's before ; others, that Banquo's
enters here, and Duncan's before. The question is best disposed of
by referring to Forman {Diary, see Introduction), who, as he speaks
of Banquo's ghost, would doubtless have spoken of Duncan's, had
there been any such :
Next night, beinge at supper with his noble men whom he had bid to a
feaste to the which also Banco should have com, he began to speak of Noble
Banco, and to wish that he wer ther. And as he thus did, standing up to
drincke a Carouse to him, the ghoste of Banco came and sat down in his
cheier be-hind him. And he turning A-bout to sit down Again sawe the
goste of banco, which fronted him so, that he fell in-to a great passion of
fear and fury.
92. all to all : pledge all good wishes to all. An appropriate ges-
ture would bring out the full meaning here.
88 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 95
Which thou dost glare with !
Lady Macbeth. Think of this, good peers,
But as a thing of custom : 't is no other ;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.
Macbeth. What man dare, I dare :
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, 100
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger;
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble : or be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword ;
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me 105
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow !
Unreal mockery, hence ! [Ghost vanishes']
Why, so : being gone,
I am a man again. Pray you, sit still.
Lady Macbeth. You have displac'd the mirth, broke the
good meeting,
With most admir'd disorder.
101. the Hyrcan | th' Hircan F1F2. 107. [Ghost . . . | Exit F2F3F4
105. inhabit then Fi | inhabit, after shadow | Fi omits. — being
then F2F3F4 I inhibit, then Pope | gone F1F2 I be gone F3F4.
inhibit thee Malone | inhabit there 109-110. broke . . . disorder | one
Delius conj. line in Ff.
95. speculation: power of vision. Cf. Othello, I, iii, 271.
101. arm'd: armoured with his thick hide. — Hyrcan: Hyrcanian.
Cf. The Merchant of Venice, II, vii, 41 ; Hamlet, II, ii, 472.
104-106. " Dare me to the desert with thy sword ; if then I do not
meet thee there ; if trembling I stay in my castle, or any habitation ;
if I then hide my head, or dwell in any place through fear, protest
me the baby of a girl." — Home Tooke. Milton uses 'inhabit' in
a similar sense, Paradise Lost, VII, 162 : " Meanwhile inhabit lax, ye
powers of heaven." Some editors take 'inhabit' in the sense of 'put
on as a garment' (cf. Psalms, xxii, 3). — protest me: declare me to
scene iv MACBETH 89
Macbeth. Can such things be, no
And overcome us like a summer's cloud,
Without our special wonder? You make me strange
Even to the disposition that I owe,
When now I think you can behold such sights,
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, 115
When mine is blanch'd with fear.
Ross. What sights, my lord ?
Lady Macbeth. I pray you, speak not ; he grows worse
and worse ;
Question enrages him. At once, good night :
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once.
Lennox. Good night; and better health 120
Attend his majesty !
Lady Macbeth. A kind good night to all !
[Exeunt all but Macbeth and Lady Macbeth]
Macbeth. It will have blood; they say blood will have
blood :
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;
114. When now Ff | Now when 121. [Exeunt . . . ] Dyce | Exit
Hanmer. Lords Ff.
116. sights Fi I signes F2F3 I 122. Two lines in Ff.
signs F4.
be. — baby of a girl. ' Puny offspring ' and ' doll ' have been suggested
as the meaning here. Perhaps the expression simply means 'babyish
girl.' Cf. 'wonder of a man' for 'wonderful man.'
in. Pass over us as a casual summer cloud, unregarded.
113. disposition that I owe : the bent of character I possess. 'Dis-
position' is used by Shakespeare "not only in its modern sense of
settled character, ^0os, but also in the sense of temporary mood, and
in this latter sense we think it is used here." — Clar.
no. Stay not to go out according to order of precedence.
90 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi
Augures and understood relations have
By magot-pies and choughs and rooks brought forth 125
The secret'st man of blood. What is the night?
Lady Macbeth. Almost at odds with morning, which is
which.
Macbeth. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his
person
At our great bidding?
Lady Macbeth. Did you send to him, sir?
Macbeth. I hear it by the way, but I will send : 130
There 's not a one of them but in his house
I keep a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow,
And betimes I will, to the weird sisters :
More shall they "speak ; for now I am bent to know,
By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good 135
All causes shall give way : I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er :
124. Augures Ff | Augurs Theo- 133. weird Theobald | weyard Fi
bald. I wizard F2F3F4.
124. Augures: auguries, divinations. — understood relations : knowl-
edge by the initiated of the secret relation between things and incidents.
125. magot-pies: magpies. — choughs. Cf. King Lear, IV, vi, 13.
129. By 'our great bidding' is meant, not any particular request
or order to Macduff, but the general invitation implied in the very
purpose of the banquet. Macbeth has heard of his refusal only 'by
the way,' that is, incidentally, or through a 'servant fee'd.'
131-132. He has paid spies lurking and prowling about in the fami-
lies of all the noblemen, and using the advantage of their place as
servants to get information for him. The meanest and hatefullest
practice of a jealous tyrant ! " Makbeth had in euery noble man's
house one slie fellow or other in fee with him, to reueale all that was
said or doone within the same." — Holinshed.
scene v MACBETH 91
Strange things I have in head that will to hand,
Which must be acted ere they may be scann'd. 140
Lady Macbeth. You lack the season of all natures, sleep.
Macbeth. Come, we '11 to sleep. My strange and self-
abuse
Is the initiate fear that wants hard use :
We are yet but young in deed. [Exeunt]
Scene V. A heath
Thunder. Enter the three Witches, meeting Hecate
1 Witch. Why, how now, Hecate ! you look angerly.
Hecate. Have I not reason, beldams as you are,
Saucy and overbold ? How did you dare
To trade and traffic with Macbeth
In riddles and affairs of death ; 5
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of all harms,
Was never call'd to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?
And, which is worse, all you have done 10
144. in deed Theobald | indeed Scene V | Scene VI Pope |
Ff I in deeds Hanmer. Scene IV Rowe. — A heath \ Ff omit.
141. the season: seasoning, that which preserves from decay.
142-143. self-abuse Is the initiate fear: self-delusion is the fear of
the novice. Macbeth now knows that the Banquo he has just seen
was but a Banquo of the mind.
Scene V. This scene is usually regarded as an interpolation, its
witches being unlike those of the earlier scenes, and their relation to
Macbeth being different from what it was before.
1. angerly. "The ' -ly ' represents 'like.'" — Abbott, § 447.
7. close contriver : secret plotter. 'Close' often has this sense,
92 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act hi
Hath been but for a wayward son,
Spiteful and wrathful ; who^ as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for you.
But make amends now : get you gone,
And at the pit of Acheron 15
Meet me i' the morning : thither he
Will come to know his destiny :
Your vessels and your spells provide,
Your charms, and every thing beside.
I am for th' air ; this night I '11 spend 20
Unto a dismal and a fatal end :
Great business must be wrought ere noon :
Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vaporous drop profound ;
I '11 catch it ere it come to ground : 25
And that distill 'd by magic sleights
Shall raise such artificial sprites
As by the strength of their illusion
Shall draw him on to his confusion :
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear 30
His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear ;
And you all know security
Is mortals' chiefest enemy.
[ Music, a?id a Song]
26. sleights I slights Ff. 27. raise Fi | rise F2.
24. vaporous drop. " The virus lunare of the ancients, a foam
which the moon was supposed to shed, when strongly solicited by
enchantment." — Steevens. — profound: having magic qualities.
32. security: over-confidence, presumption, carelessness. Often so.
33> 35- These are the stage directions of the Folios. The song re-
ferred, to is found in Middleton's The Witch, III, iii, and, with some
SCENE VI
MACBETH
93
Hark ! I am call'd ; my little spirit, see,
Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me. [Exit]
[Sing within : 'Come away, come away,' etc.]
i Witch. Come, let 's make haste ; she '11 soon be back
again. [Exeunt
I
Scene VI. Forres. The palace
Enter Lennox and another Lord
Lennox. My former speeches have but hit your thoughts,
Which can interpret farther : only, I say
Things have been strangely borne£/The gracious Duncan
36. Two lines in Ff.
Scene VI | Scene VII Pope |
Scene V Rowe. — Forres Capell | Ff
**?££
omit. — The palace Camb | Ff omit.
1. Two lines in Ff.
3. borne F1F2F3 I born F4.
changes, in the D'Avenant Quarto of Macbeth. Here is the whole
song, or musical dialogue, as it is in The Witch :
Song above.
Come away, come away,
Hecate, Hecate, come away !
I come, I come, I come, I come,
With all the speed I may,
With all the speed I may.
Where 's Stadlin ?
Here.
Where 's Puckle ?
Here ;
And Hoppo too, and Hellwain too;
We lack but you, we lack but you :
Come away, make up the count.
I will but 'noint, and then I mount.
[A Spirit like a cat descends]
There 's one come's down to fetch his dues,
A kiss, a coll, a sip of blood;
And why thou stay'st so long,
I muse, I muse,
Since the air 's so sweet and good.
Hecate.
Voice above.
Hecate.
Voice above.
Hecate.
Voice above.
94 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act in
Was pitied of Macbeth : marry, he was dead :
And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late ; 5
Whom, you may say, if 't please you, Fleance kill'd,
For Fleance fled : men must not walk too late.
Who cannot want the thought, how monstrous
It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain
To kill their gracious father? damned fact ! 10
How it did grieve Macbeth ! did he not straight,
In pious rage, the two delinquents tear,
That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep?
Was not that nobly done ? Ay, and wisely too ;
For 'twould have anger'd any heart alive 15
To hear the men deny 't. So that, I say,
Hecate. O, art thou come ?
What news, what news ?
Spirit. All goes still to our delight :
Either come, or else
Refuse, refuse.
Hecate. Now I 'm furnish'd for the flight.
Fire. Hark, hark ! the cat sings a brave treble in her own language.
Hecate, [going up\ Now I go, now I fly,
Malkin my sweet spirit and I.
O what a dainty pleasure 't is
To ride in the air
When the moon shines fair,
And sing and dance, and toy and kiss !
Over woods, high rocks, and mountains,
Over seas, our mistress' fountains,
Over steep towers, and turrets,
We fly by night, 'mongst troops of spirits :
No ring of bells to our ears sounds,
No howls of wolves, no yelps of hounds ;
No, not the noise of water's breach,
Or cannon's throat our height can reach.
Voices above. No ring of bells, etc.
8. Who cannot want the thought : who can fail to think.
10. In Elizabethan English ' fact ' usually means an ' evil deed.'
scene vi MACBETH 95
He has borne all things well : and I do think
That, had he Duncan's sons under his key —
As, and 't please heaven, he shall not — they should find
What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance. 20
But, peace ! for from broad words, and 'cause he fail'd
His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear,
Macduff lives in disgrace. Sir, can you tell
Where he bestows himself?
Lord. The son of Duncan,
From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth, 25
Lives in the English court ; and is receiv'd
Of the most pious Edward with such grace
That the malevolence of fortune nothing
Takes from his high respect. Thither Macduff
Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid 30
To wake Northumberland and warlike Siward ;
That by the help of these, with Him above
To ratify the work, we may again
Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights ;
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives, 35
Do faithful homage and receive free honours ;
All which we pine for now : and this report
Hath so exasperate the king, that he
Prepares for some attempt of war.
Lennox. Sent he to Macduff?
24. son Theobald I Sonnes Fi 38. exasperate Ff | exasperated Rowe.
F2F3 I Sons F4. — the king Hanmer | their king Ff.
19. and't: if it. 'And,' meaning 4if,' is now usually spelled 'an.'
21. from broad words : on account of free outspoken words.
38. exasperate: exasperated. So 'articulate' in / Henry IV, V, i,
72. See Abbott, § 342.
96 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act in
Lord. He did : and with an absolute ' Sir, not 1/ 40
The cloudy messenger turns me his back,
And hums, as who should say, ' You '11 rue the time
That clogs me with this answer.'
Lennox. And that well might
Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance
His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel 45
Fly to the court of England and unfold
His message ere he come ; that a swift blessing
May soon return to this our suffering country
Under a hand accurs'd !
Lord. I '11 send my prayers with him.
\JE,xeunf\
41. cloudy : frowning. 'Foreboding, ominous.' — Delius. — me. The
ethical dative; often used for emphasis. Cf. Julius desar, I, ii, 267.
42. as who : like one who. Cf . The Merchant of Venice, I, i, 93.
43. It appears, at the close of the third scene of this act, that
Macbeth did not give Macduff a special and direct invitation to the
banquet ; but his attendance was expected as a matter of course ;
and his failure to attend made him an object of distrust and suspi-
cion to the tyrant. We are to suppose that Macbeth learned, from
the paid spy and informer whom he kept in Macduff's house, that
the latter had declared he would not go to the feast. So that the
messenger here spoken of was probably not sent to invite Macduff,
but to call him to account for his non-attendance.
48-49. The order is, " our country suffering under a hand aceurs'd."
^
/W^
&
V-
/V^
m^
ACT IV
Scene I. A cavern, In the middle, a boiling cauldron
Thunder. Enter the three Witches
i Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 Witch. Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 Witch. Harpier cries ; 't is time, 't is time,
i Witch. Round about the cauldron go ;
In the poison 'd entrails throw. 5
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
ACT IV I Actus Quartus Fi
Actus Quintus F2F3F4.
A cavern. In the middle . . . | Ff
omit.
1. brinded: brindled, dark brown streaked with black. See Murray.
2. The Folio punctuation adopted in the text is faithful to the
tradition that only odd numbers are magical. 'Thrice ' has reference
probably to the mewing of the 'brinded cat'; the 'hedge-pig' ('hedge-
hog') whining but once. Or 'thrice and once' maybe put for 'four'
to avoid the calling of unlucky even numbers.
3. Harpier. The name of one of the familiars. See note, I, i, 8.
Steevens suggested that the word is a misprint for ' harpy.' Harpier's
cry is the signal, showing that it is time to begin the mystic rites.
6. cold. To be so prolonged as to have the time of two syllables.
8. Swelter'd: sweated, exuded. — venom. "All manner of Toads,
both of the earth and of the water, are venomous." — Topsell, History
of Serpents, 1608. Cf. As You Like It, II, i, 13.
97
98
THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
All. Double, double toil and trouble ;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
2 Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake ;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
All. Double, double toil and trouble ;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
3 Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark ;
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
IO
iS
20
25
16. fork: forked tongue. — blind-worm's sting. The .Harmless slow-
worm was regarded of old as poisonous. It is called " eyeless venom'd
worm" in Tim on of Athens, IV, iii, 1S2. Cf. A Midsummer Night's
Dream, II, ii, 9-12 :
You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen ;
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,
Come not near our fairy queen.
23. Mummy was much used as medicine ; a ' witch's,' of course,
had evil magic in it. " The Egyptian mummies, which Cambyses or
time hath spared, avarice now consumeth. Mummie is become mer-
chandise, Mizraim cures wounds, and Pharaoh is sold for balsams."
— Sir Thomas Browne, On Urn-burial. — gulf: that which swallows
up anything. Cf. The Shepheards Calender, Septcniber, 1S5-186: "A
wicked wolfe that with many a Lambe had glutted his gulfe."
24. ravin'd. Either ' ravenous ' or ' glutted with prey.'
scene i MACBETH 99
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe 30
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab :
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For th' ingredients of our cauldron.
All. Double, double toil and trouble •, 35
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
2 Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
Enter Hecate to the other three Witches
Hecate. O, well done ! I commend your pains ;
And every one shall share i' th' gains : 40
And now about the cauldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in.
[ Music, a?id a Song, ' Black spirits,' etc.~\
[Exit Hecate]
39. Enter Hecate to . . . Globe 43. [Exit Hecate] Dyce | Hec-
Camb I Enter Hecat, and . . . Ff. ate retires Globe Camb | Ff omit.
28. A lunar eclipse was held to be fraught with evil magic of the
highest intensity. Cf. Paradise Lost, I, 597-598.
32. slab : viscous, slimy. Connected etymologically with Gaelic
staid, 'mud.' Cf. 'slobbery' in Henry V, III, v, 13.
33. chaudron: entrails, especially as used for food. See Murray.
43. Music, and a Song. Here is the ' Song ' as in Middleton's The
Witch, V, ii, 68-77 =
Black spirits and white, red spirits and gray,
Mingle, mingle, mingle, you that mingle may!
Titty, Tiffin,
Keep it stiff in;
100 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
2 Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes : 45
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks !
Enter Macbeth
Macbeth. How now, you secret, black, and midnight
hags !
What is 't you do ?
All. A deed without a name.
Macbeth. I conjure you, by that which you profess, 50
Howe'er you come to know it, answer me :
Though you untie the winds and let them fight
Against the churches ; though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up ;
Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown down ; 55
Though castles topple on their warders' heads ;
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
46-47. One line in Ff. 48. Scene II Pope.
Firedrake, Puckey,
Make it lucky ;
Liard, Robin,
You must bob in.
Round, around, around, about, about !
All ill come running in, all good keep out\
This is substantially as it is in the D'Avenant Quarto of Macbeth.
44. " It is a very ancient superstition that all sudden pains of the
body which could not naturally be accounted for were presages of
somewhat that was shortly to happen." — Steevens.
53 yesty: frothy, foamy. It is a variant form of 'yeasty.'
55. bladed: in the blade. — lodg'd: laid flat. Cf. Richard II, III,
iii, 162. The word in this sense is still in common use.
scene I MACBETH IOI
Their heads to their foundations ; though the treasure
Of nature's germens tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken ; answer me 60
To what I ask you.
1 Witch. Speak.
2 Witch. Demand.
3 Witch. We '11 answer.
1 Witch. Say, if thou 'dst rather hear it from our mouths,
Or from our masters?
Macbeth. Call 'em, let me see 'em.
1 Witch. Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten
Her nine farrow; grease that 's sweaten 65
From the murderer's gibbet throw
Into the flame.
All. Come, high or low;
Thyself and office deftly show !
Thunder. First Apparition, an armed Head
Macbeth. Tell me, thou unknown power, —
1 Witch. He knows thy thought :
Hear his speech, but say thou nought. 70
59. nature's Pope | Natures Ff. — germens Theobald | germaine F1F2.
59. germens : seeds, germs. Cf. King Lear, III, ii, 8.
65. nine farrow : litter of nine pigs. ' Nine ' was a magic number.
Ci. King Lear, III, iv, 126. — sweaten. An irregularly formed parti-
ciple. See Abbott, § 344.
69. an armed Head. A symbolical representation of Macbeth's
own head presented to Malcolm by Macduff. See V, viii, 53.
70. Silence was necessary during all incantations. Cf. The Tem-
pest, IV, i, 126: "Hush and be mute, Or else our spell is marr'd,"
102 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
i Apparition. Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth ! beware
Macduff ;
Beware the thane of Fife. — Dismiss me : enough.
\_Descends\
Macbeth. Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution,
thanks ;
Thou hast harp'd my fear aright : but one word more, —
i Witch. He will not be commanded : here 's another,
More potent than the first. 76
Thunder. Second Apparition, a bloody Child
2 Apparition. Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth !
Macbeth. Had I three ears, I 'd hear thee.
2 Apparition. Be bloody, bold, and resolute ; laugh to
scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born 80
Shall harm Macbeth. \Descends\
Macbeth. Then live, Macduff : what need I fear of thee?
But yet I '11 make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate : thou shalt not live ;
That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, 85
And sleep in spite of thunder.
ft. Two lines in Ff. 83. assurance | assurance: Ff.
79. Two lines in Ff. 86-87. One line in Ff .
72. Spirits thus evoked were supposed to be impatient of being
questioned. This line must be spoken with strong pauses. " The
rhythm is full of omen." — Liddell.
77. The second Apparition represents Macduff. See V, viii, 16.
78. The stress is on ' ears,' not on ' three.' Cf. the common ex-
pression, " To listen with all one's ears."
84. take a bond of fate : bind fate itself to the performance of the
promise. By killing Macduff he will make the promise irrevocable.
scene I MACBETH 103
Thunder. Third Apparition, a Child crowned, with a
tree in his ha?id
What is this,
That rises like the issue of a king,
And wears upon his baby brow the round
And top of sovereignty ?
All. Listen, but speak not to 't.
3 Apparition. Be lion-mettl'd, proud; and take no care
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are : 91
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him. [Descends"]
Macbeth. That will never be :
Who can impress the forest; bid the tree 95
Unfix his earth-bound root ? Sweet bodements ! good !
Rebellion's head, rise never till the wood
Of Birnam rise, and our high-plac'd Macbeth
90. lion-mettl'd I Lyon metled Ff. 97 Rebellion's head Hanmer | Re~
93. Dunsinane | Dunsmane Fi. bellious dead Ff.
94. [Descends]Rowe Descend Ff. 98. Birnam F4 | Byrnan Fi.
86. The third Apparition represents 'royal Malcolm.' See V, iv, 4.
88-89. The • round ' is that pari: of a crown which encircles the
head : the ' top ' is the ornament symbolical of sovereign power.
93. • Dunsinane ' is here rightly accented on the penult ; elsewhere
in the play it is accented wrongly on the last syllable. Both pro-
nunciations occur in Wyntoun's Cronykil (see Introduction). Pope
attempted to make the pronunciation here conformable to that in
the later scenes by reading ' Dunsinane's high.' "A certeine witch,
whom hee had in great trust, had told that he should neuer be slaine
with man borne of anie woman, nor vanquished till the wood of
Bernane came to the castell of Dunsinane." — Holinshed.
95. impress : force to serve as soldiers. Cf. 1 Henry IV, I, i, 21.
104 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath
To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart ioa
Throbs to know one thing : tell me, if your art
Can tell so much : shall Banquo's issue ever
Reign in this kingdom ?
All. Seek to know no more.
Macbeth. I will be satisfied : deny me this,
And an eternal curse fall on you ! Let me know : 105
Why sinks that cauldron ? and what noise is this ?
[Hautboys']
1 Witch. Show !
2 Witch. Show I
3 Witch. Show !
All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; 110
Come like shadows, so depart !
A show of eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand ;
Banquo's Ghost following
Macbeth. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo ; down !
Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs. And thy hair,
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first :
A third is like the former. Filthy hags ! 115
Why do you show me this? A fourth ! Start, eyes !
What, will the line stretch out to th' crack of doom?
4
112. A show . . . the last . . . Ghost last, with a glasse in his hand Ff.
following I A shew . . . and Banquo 113. hair | haire Ff | air Warburton.
99-100. Live the full time allotted and die a natural death.
112. The eight kings are supposed to be Robert II, Robert III,
and the six Jameses. Mary Stuart, daughter of James V, is passed
over, as the Witches' prediction had reference only to kings.
117. crack of doom. This now proverbial expression has been
taken to mean specifically either the thunder-peal announcing the
scene I MACBETH 105
Another yet ! A seventh ! I '11 see no more :
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass
Which shows me many more; and some I see 12a
That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry :
Horrible sight ! Now I see 't is true ;
For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his. What, is this so?
1 Witch. Ay, sir, all this is so; but why 125
Stands Macbeth thus amazedly?
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites,
And show the best of our delights :
I '11 charm the air to give a sound,
119. eighth F3F4 I eight F1F2.
Judgment-day or the blast of the last trumpet. Why should it not
connote both ? See Murray.
119. A magic glass, or charmed mirror, representing and revealing
future events, was and is a common method of divination. Cf.
Measure for Measure, II, ii, 94-95. Such was the "brood mirour of
glas " which the "king of Arabie and of Inde " sent to the " Tartre
Cambinskan " as told by Chaucer in The Squieres Tale. But the
most wonderful glass of this kind in literature is that which
The great Magitien Merlin had deviz'd,
By his deepe science and hell-dreaded might.
The Faerie Queene, III, ii, 18.
121. This line is usually regarded as a marked compliment to
James I. The two balls or globes probably symbolized the two inde-
pendent crowns of England and Scotland; the three sceptres, the
kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Scott, in Quentin
JDurward, when Charles the Bold has Louis of France in his power,
makes Comines say to the King : " It is his (the Duke's) purpose to
close his ducal coronet with an imperial arch, and surmount it with
a globe, in emblem that his dominions are independent."
123. blood-bolter'd : having hair matted with blood. "The norma]
forms of the word are 'baltered,' 'baultered.' " — Liddell.
106 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
While you perform your antic round; 130
That this great king may kindly say
Our duties did his welcome pay.
[ Music. The Witches dance, and vanish zvith Hecate]
Macbeth. Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious
hour
Stand aye accursed in the calendar !
Come in, without there S
Enter Lennox
Lennox. What 's your grace's will? 135
Macbeth. Saw you the weird sisters?
Lennox. No, my lord.
Macbeth. Came they not by you?
Lennox. No, indeed, my lord.
Macbeth. Infected be the air whereon they ride,
And damn'd all those that trust them ! I did hear
The galloping of horse : who was 't came by? 140
Lennox. 'T is two or three, my lord, that bring you word
Macduff is fled to England.
Macbeth. Fled to England !
Lennox. Ay, my good lord.
130. antic I antick Theobald | an- 133. Two lines in Ff.
tique Ff. 136. weird | weyard Fi | wizard
132. with Hecate | Ff omit. F2F3 I wizards F4.
130. antic : quaint. The same word as ' antique ' (' old-fashioned '
and so ' quaint '). In Shakespeare the accent is invariably on the
first syllable.
138-139. Cf. Paradise Lost, II, 662-663. Milton's indebtedness to
Richard III arid. Macbeth is very marked. ' Macbeth ' is one of the
subjects from British history which he jotted down in 1 639-1 640 as
the theme of a possible poem. See Masson's Life of Milton, II, 11$.
scene ii MACBETH 107
Macbeth. [Aside"] Time, thou anticipat'st my dread
exploits :
The flighty purpose never is o'ertook 145
Unless the deed go with it : from this moment
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand. And even now,
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done :
The castle of Macduff I will surprise; 150
Seize upon Fife ; give to the edge o' the sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool ;
This deed I '11 do before this purpose cool :
But no more sights ! Where are these gentlemen? 155
Come, bring me where they are. [Exeunt]
Scene II. Fife. Macduff's castle
Enter Lady Macduff, her Son, and Ross
Lady Macduff. What had he done, to make him fly the
land?
Ross. You must have patience, madam.
144. [Aside] Johnson | Ff omit. Lady Macduff Rowe | Mac-
Scene II I Scene III Pope.— duffe's Wife Ff.
Fife . . . castle | Ff omit.
144. anticipat'st : dost prevent. So in Sonnets, cxvni, 9.
145. flighty : swift to take flight. The original meaning.
155. sights : visions. As ' portents ' the word is used in Julius
Ccesar, I, iii, 138 ; II, ii, 16. Macbeth is greatly disturbed by what he
has seen in the cavern.
Scene II. " To omit this scene, as is usually the case on the
stage, is to present Macbeth's character in a far more favorable light
than Shakespeare intended, and to weaken the force of Macduff's
-. v '•
108 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act IV
Lady Macduff. He had none ;
His flight was madness : when our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.
Ross. You know not
Whether it was his wisdom or his fear. 5
Lady Macduff. Wisdom ! to leave his wife, to leave his
babes,
His mansion, and his titles, in a place
From whence himself does fly ! He loves us not ;
He wants the natural touch : for the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight, 10
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love ;
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason.
Ross. My dearest coz,
I pray you, school yourself : but, for your husband, 15
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
The fits o' the season. I dare not speak much further :
But cruel are the times, when we are traitors
14. coz Rowe I Cooz F1F2 I Couz F3F4*
cry of agony, and Lady Macbeth's heart-piercing question in the
sleep-walking scene." — Bodenstedt.
4. make us : make us out to be. When our actions do not con-
vict us of being traitors, our fears do. Lady Macduff is apprehen-
sive that her husband's flight will be construed as proceeding from
guilty fear.
7. titles : possessions. The things to which he has a ' title.'
9. natural touch: natural affection, sensibility of nature. Cf. ' only
touch of love,' The Two Gentlemen of Verona, II, vii, 18 ; ' touch o£
nature," Troilns and Cressida, III, iii, 175.
17. fits o' the season : exigencies, dangers, of the time.
scene ii MACBETH 109
And do not know ourselves ; when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear, 20
But float upon a wild and violent sea
Each way and move. I take my leave of you;
Shall not be long but I '11 be here again.
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
To what they were before. My pretty cousin, 25
Blessing upon you !
Lady Macduff. Father'd he is, and yet he 's fatherless.
Ross. I am so much a fool, should I stay longer,
It would be my disgrace and your discomfort :
I take my leave at once. [Exit]
Lady Macduff. Sirrah, your father 's dead : 30
And what will you do now? How will you live?
Son. As birds do, mother.
Lady Macduff. What, with worms and flies?
27. Two lines in Ff. 29. [Exit | Exit Rosse Ff.
19-20. Fear makes us credit rumor, yet we know not what to
fear, because ignorant when we offend. A condition wherein men
believe the more, because they fear, and fear the more, because they
cannot foresee the danger.
22. and move. An awkward expression. Upwards of twenty emen-
dations have been suggested (see Furness and Clar), but the general
meaning is obvious. 'Move' may be either (1) a noun meaning
'direction,' or (2) a verb with the sense of ' are tossed about.'
24. The worse a disease becomes, the sooner there will be either
death or recovery. The very excess of an evil often starts a reaction,
and thence a return to a better state.
29. Disgrace myself and make you uncomfortable by weeping.
30. Sirrah. Often used as a form of address to inferiors, or to
young people.
32. Son. A peculiar pathos attaches to all Shakespeare's por-
traits of children. Cf. Prince Arthur in King John and Mamillius in
HO THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
Son. With what I get, I mean ; and so do they.
Lady Macduff. Poor bird ! thou 'dst never fear the net
nor lime,
The pitfall nor the gin. 35
Son. Why should I, mother ? Poor birds they are not
set for.
My father is not dead, for all your saying.
Lady Macduff. Yes, he is dead : how wilt thou do for
a father?
Son. Nay, how will you do for a husband ?
Lady Macduff. Why, I can buy me twenty at any market.
Son. Then you '11 buy 'em to sell again. 41
Lady Macduff. Thou speak'st with all thy wit; and yet
i' faith,
With wit enough for thee.
Son. Was my father a traitor, mother?
Lady Macduff. Ay, that he was. 45
Son. What is a traitor?
34, 36, 38. Two lines in Ff. 42-43- and yet ... for thee | One
42. with all I withall Fi. line in Ff.
The Winter's Tale. His own little boy Hamnet died in 1596. Web-
ster caught the spirit of this pathos in The White Devil in the scenes
between Brachiano and his little son Giovanni. " This scene, dread-
ful as.it is, is still a relief, because a variety, because domestic, and
therefore soothing, as associated with the only real pleasures of life.
The conversation between Lady Macduff and her child heightens
the pathos, and is preparatory for the deep tragedy of their assas-
sination." — Coleridge.
36. Traps are not set for the poor but for the rich ; not for chil-
dren, but for important, grown-up men.
44. " The broken metre gradually merges into prose, here as in
II, hi, used by Shakespeare for purposes of dramatic relief." —
E. K. Chambers.
scene ii MACBETH 1 1 1
Lady Macduff. Why, one that swears and lies.
Son. And be all traitors that do so?
Lady Macduff. Every one that does so is a traitor, and
must be hang'd. 5°
Son. And must they all be hang'd that swear and lie?
Lady Macduff. Every one.
Son. Who must hang them?
Lady Macduff. Why, the honest men. 54
Son. Then the liars and swearers are fools ; for there are
liars and swearers enow to beat the honest men and hang
up them.
Lady Macduff. Now, God help thee, poor monkey ! But
how wilt thcu do for a father? 59
Son. If he were dead, you 'd weep for him : if you would
not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have a new
father.
Lady Macduff. Poor prattler, how thou talk'st !
Enter a Messenger
Messenger. Bless you, fair dame ! I am not to you
known,
Though in your state of honour I am perfect. 65
49-50, 58-59. Two lines ot verse 63. Lady Macduff | Wife Fi
In Ff. Pope printed as prose. F3F4 I Son F2.
64. "This messenger was one of the murderers employed by
Macbeth to exterminate Macduff's family ; but who, from emotions
of pity and remorse, had outstripped his companions, to give timely
warning of their approach." — Heath. " This messenger may come
from Lady Macbeth." — Libby. " The messenger is a dramatic
device to represent Macbeth's murderous net closing around Lady
Macduff."— Liddell.
65. Perfectly acquainted with your honorable rank and character.
112 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
I doubt some danger does approach you nearly:
If you will take a homely man's advice,
Be not found here; hence, with your little ones.
To fright you thus, methinks I am too savage ;
To do worse to you were fell cruelty, 70
Which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you !
I dare abide no longer. \_Exif]
Lady Macduff. Whither should I fly?
I have done no harm. But I remember now
I am in this earthly world; where to do harm
Is often laudable, to do good sometime 75
Accounted dangerous folly : why then, alas,
Do I put up that womanly defence,
To say I have done no harm ? — What are these faces ?
Enter Murderers
1 Murderer. Where is your husband?
Lady Macduff. I hope, in no place so unsanctified 80
Where such as thou mayst find him.
1 Murderer. He 's a traitor.
Son. Thou liest, thou shag-ear'd villain !
1 Murderer. \_Stabbi?ig him~\ WThat, you egg !
Young fry of treachery !
Son. He has kill'd me, mother :
Run. away, I pray you ! \_Dies~\
\_Exit Lady Macduff, crying ' Murder ! '
Exeu?it Murderers, following her\
78. Two lines in Ff. 84. [Dies] Capell | Ff omit. —
82. [Stabbing him-] Rowel Ff omit. [Exit \ Exit crying Murther Ff.
82. shag-ear'd : with shaggy, hairy ears. For this, the Folio reading,
Steevens suggested ' shag-hair'd,' Cf. 2 Henry VI, III, i, 367.
SCENE' ill MACBETH 113
Scene III. England. Before the King s palace
Enter Malcolm and Macduff
Malcolm. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there
Weep our sad bosoms empty.
Macduff. Let us rather
Hold fast the mortal sword, and, like good men,
Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom. Each new morn
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows 5
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out
Like syllable of dolour.
Malcolm. What I believe, I'll wail;
What know, believe ; and what I can redress,
As I shall find the time to friend, I will. 10
What you have spoke, it may be so perchance.
This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,
Was once thought honest : you have lov'd him well ;
He hath not touch'd you yet.- I am young; but something
Scene III I Scene IV Pope. — 4. down-fall'n Globe | downfall
England . . . palace Dyce | Ff omit. F1F.2F3.
4. Bestride : bravely defend. To stand over a fallen comrade and
defend him was a special bravery of friendship. Cf . / Henry IV, V, i,
122 ; 2 Henry IV, I, i, 207 ; Comedy of Errors, V, i, 192. — birthdom :
native land. Some take it in the sense of ' birthright.'
8. Like syllable of dolour : a similar cry of pain.
10. to friend: friendly, favorable. Cf. Julias Ca?sar, III, i, 143.
14-16. You may see what sort of a man Macbeth is from my sad
experience, and learn from me the wise policy of offering up, etc.
Most modern editors have accepted Theobald's change of the text.
But " ' deserve ' for • discern ' makes nonsense out of the latter part
of the passage. ' I am young,' which is in contrast to the thought
114 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
You may discern of him through me, and wisdom 15
i
To Offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb
T' appease an angry god.
Macduff. I am not treacherous.
Malcolm. But Macbeth is.
A good and virtuous nature may recoil
In an imperial charge. But I shall crave your pardon ; 20
That which you are, my thoughts cannot transpose :
Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell :
Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace,
Yet grace must still look so.
Macduff. I have lost my hopes.
Malcolm. Perchance even there where I did find my
doubts. 25
15. discern F3F4 I discerne F1F2 1 me, and Ff | me; and Camb | me;
deserve Theobald Globe Camb. — 't is Hanmer.
25. Two lines in Ff.
which ' but ' introduces, is meaningless with ' But you deserve some-
thing through me.' The normal contrast with Malcolm's youth and
innocency would be a characteristic of age and experience ; this we
have if we take ' discern ' in its Elizabethan sense, ' to learn by dis-
cernment ' ; the word in this sense is usually followed by ' of.' " —
Liddell. In earlier editions of Hudson's Shakespeare, Theobald's
reading was adopted with this interpretation: You may purchase or
secure his favor by sacrificing me to his malice ; and to do so would
be an act of worldly wisdom on your part, as I have no power to
punish you for it.
19-20. May recede or fall away from goodness and virtue under
the temptations of a man so powerful to resent or to reward.
21. transpose : transform, change. Cf. A Midsummer Night's
Drea?n, I, i, 233.
23-24. Though all bad things should counterfeit the looks of
goodness, yet goodness must still wear its own looks.
25. Though Macduff claims to have fled his home to avoid the
tyrant's blow, he has left his wife and children in the tyrant's power.
scene in MACBETH 1 15
Why in that rawness left you wife and child,
Those precious motives, those strong knots of love,
Without leave-taking? I pray you,
Let not my jealousies be your dishonours, ■
But mine own safeties : you may be rightly just, 30
Whatever I shall think.
Macduff. Bleed, bleed, poor country !
Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure,
For goodness dare not check thee ; wear thou thy wrongs ;
The title is affeer'd ! Fare thee well, lord :
I would not be the villain that thou think'st 35
For the whole space that 's in the tyrant's grasp,
And the rich East to boot.
Malcolm. Be not offended :
I speak not as in absolute fear of you.
I think our country sinks beneath the yoke ;
It weeps, it bleeds ; and each new day a gash 40
Is added to her wounds : I think withal
There would be hands uplifted in my right ;
33. dare F1F2 I dares F3F4. Malone. — affeer'd Hanmer | affear'd
34. The Ff I His Pope | Thy F1F2 I afear'd F3 I afeard F4.
This makes the prince distrust his purpose and suspect him of being
a secret agent of Macbeth. And so, when he says, " I have lost my
hopes," the prince replies, Perhaps the cause which has destroyed
your hopes is the very same that leads me to distrust you ; that is,
perhaps you have hoped to betray me, and this is just what I fear.
26. rawness: unprovided condition. Cf. Hen?y V, IV, i, 147.
33. wear thou thy wrongs. Does ' thou ' refer to ' country,' to
'tyranny,' or to Malcolm? 'Tyranny' is probably the object ad-
dressed, and the meaning will be, Enjoy the place and honors gained
by your wrong-doing.
34. The title is affeer'd : the title you put forward is confirmed.
Il6 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act rv
And here from gracious England have I offer
Of goodly thousands : but, for all this,
When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head, 45
Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country
Shall have more vices than it had before ;
More suffer, and more sundry ways than ever,
By him that shall succeed.
Macduff. What should he be?
Malcolm. It is myself I mean ; in whom I know 50
All the particulars of vice so grafted,
That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth
Will seem as pure as snow ; and the poor state
Esteem him as a lamb, being compar'd
With my confineless harms.
Macduff. Not in the legions 55
Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd
In evils to top Macbeth.
Malcolm. I grant him bloody,
Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful,
Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin
That has a name : but there 's no bottom, none, 60
In my voluptuousness ; your wives, your daughters,
Your matrons, and your maids, could not fill up
The cistern of my lust, and my desire
59. smacking Fi | smoaking F2 63. cistern F3F4 | Cesterne F1F2.
F3F4.
43. gracious England : Edward the Confessor, then King of Eng-
land. Cf. King John, III, iv, 8, " bloody England into England."
55. confineless harms: boundless vices. Cf. Othello, III, iii, 173,
" But riches fineless is as poor as winter."
57. top: surpass. Cf. King Lear, I, ii, 21 ; Coriolanus, II, i, 23.
scene in MACBETH 117
All continent impediments would o'erbear,
That did oppose my will. Better Macbeth 65
Than such an one to reign.
Macduff. Boundless intemperance
In nature is a tyranny ; it hath been
Th' untimely emptying of the happy throne,
And fall of many kings. But fear not yet
To take upon you what is yours : you may 70
Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty,
And yet seem cold, the time you may so hoodwink.
We have willing dames enough ; there cannot be
That vulture in you, to devour so many
As will to greatness dedicate themselves, 75
Finding it so inclin'd.
Malcolm. With this there grows,
In my most ill-compos 'd affection such
A stanchless avarice that, were I king,
I should cut off the nobles for their lands,
Desire his jewels and this other's house : 80
And my more-having would be as a sauce
To make me hunger more, that I should forge
Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal,
Destroying them for wealth.
Macduff. This avarice
Sticks deeper, grows with more pernicious root 85
Than summer-seeming lust, and it hath been
86. -seeming Ff | -teeming Theobald | -seeding Steevens.
71. Convey: obtain in secrecy. Cf. Richard II, IV, i, 317.
80. his : one man's. Cf. The Merchant of Venice, IV, i, 54.
86. summer-seeming : summer-resembling. The passion that burns
awhile like summer and like summer passes away is contrasted with
Il8 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
The sword of our slain kings : yet do not fear ;
Scotland hath foisons to fill up your will
Of your mere own : all these are portable,
With other graces weigh'd. 90
Malcolm. But I have none : the king-becoming graces,
As justice, verity, temperance, stableness,
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness,
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,
I have no relish of them ; but abound 95
In the division of each several crime,
Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,
Uproar the universal peace, confound
All unity on earth.
Macduff. O Scotland, Scotland ! 100
88. foisons I foysons F1F2 I poison F3F4.
the other passion, avarice, which grows stronger and stronger to
the end of life. Malone calls attention to " winter-seeming summer's
night " in Donne's Love's Alchemy.
87. Either (1) the sword that has slain our kings, or (2) the evil
that has caused our kings to be slain with the sword. " For that crime
the most part of our kings have been slaine and brought to their
final end." — Holinshed.
88. foisons : plenty, abundance. See Murray. Cf. Sonnets, liii, 9.
89. mere : absolutely. Cf.linei52. — portable: endurable. Ci.Hing
Lear, III, vi, 115 : " How light and portable my pain seems now."
92. verity : honesty. Cf. As Yon Like Lt, III, iv, 25. — temperance :
restraint. Cf. Hamlet, III, ii, 8; Measure for Measure, III, ii, 251.
93. perseverance. Accented on second syllable. The Elizabethan
pronunciation. Similarly the verb 'persever' was accented on the
penult, rhyming with ' ever' in Spenser's Amoretti.
96. division: variation. A musical term. Cf. Romeo and Juliet,
III, v, 29, and 'ravishing division' in 1 Henry IV, III, i, 21 1.
99. Uproar: fill with tumult. — confound: destroy. Cf. II, ii, 11.
scene in MACBETH 1 19
Malcolm. If such a one be fit to govern, speak :
I am as I have spoken.
Macduff. Fit to govern !
No, not to live. O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter'd,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again, 105
Since that the truest issue of thy throne
By his own interdiction stands accurs'd,
And does blaspheme his breed? Thy royal father
Was a most sainted king : the queen that bore thee,
Of tener upon her* knees than on her feet, 1 10
Died every day she liv'd. Fare thee well !
These evils thou repeat' st upon thyself
Hath banish'd me from Scotland. O my breast,
Thy hope ends here !
Malcolm. Macduff, this noble passion,
Child of integrity, hath from my soul 115
Wip'd the black scruples, reconcil'd my thoughts
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth
By many of these trains hath sought to win me
102-103. One line in Ff. iog. sainted king | Sainted-King
107. accurs'd | accurst F2F3F4 I F1F2F3 I Sainted King F4.
accust Fi. 113. Hath Ff | Have Rowe.
106. Since that. 'That' as a conjunctional affix. Cf. line 185.
See Abbott, § 287.
in. Cf. 1 Corinthians, xv, 31, "I die daily." "Every day of her
life was a preparation for death." — Clar.
118. trains : lures, devices of circumvention. " A technical term
both in hawking and hunting : in hawking, for the lure thrown out
to reclaim a falcon given to ramble . . . and in hunting, for the bait
trailed along the ground, and left exposed, to tempt the animal from
his lair or covert, and bring him fairly within the power of the lurk-
ing huntsman." — T. S. Baynes.
120 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
Into his power ; and modest wisdom, plucks me
From over-credulous haste : but God above 120
Deal between thee and me ! for even now
I put myself to thy direction, and
Unspeak mine own detraction; here abjure
The taints and blames I laid upon myself,
For strangers to my nature. I am yet 125
Unknown to woman, never was forsworn,
Scarcely have coveted what was mine own,
At no time broke my faith, would not betray
The devil to his fellow, and delight
No less in truth than life : my first false speaking 130
Was this upon myself. What I am truly,
Is thine and my poor country's to command ;
Whither, indeed, before thy here-approach,
Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men,
Already at a point, was setting forth : 135
Now we '11 together ; and the chance of goodness
Be like our warranted quarrel ! Why are you silent?
126. woman Fi | women F2F3F4. 135. Already Ff | All ready Rowe.
133. thy F2F3F4 I they Fi. — forth : | foorth : Fi | foorth ? F2.
128-129. If he would not betray the devil to his friend, much less
would he betray him to his enemy.
133. here-approach. Cf.'here-remain,' line 148. See Abbott, § 429.
134. " In the mean time, Malcolme purchased such fauor at King
Edwards hands, that old Siward earle of Northumberland, wras ap-
pointed with ten thousand men to go with him into Scotland to
support him in this enterprise." — Holinshed.
135. at a point: ready, prepared. Cf. Hamlet, I, ii, 200, "Armed
at point exactly, cap-a-pe " ; Ki)ig Lear, I, iv, 347.
136-137. May the chance for virtue to succeed be as good, as well
warranted, as our cause is just. For ' quarrel ' in the sense of ' cause '
cf. 2 Henry IV, IV, v, 169.
scene in MACBETH 121
Macduff. Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
'Tis hard to reconcile.
Enter a Doctor
i
Malcolm. Well ; more anon. — Comes the king forth, I
pray you? 140
Doctor. Ay, sir ; there are a crew of wretched souls
That stay his cure : their malady convinces
The great assay of art ; but at his touch,
Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand,
They presently amend.
Malcolm. I thank you, doctor. 145
\Exit Doctor]
Macduff. What 's the disease he means ?
Malcolm. 'Tis call'd the evil :
A most miraculous work in this good king ;
Which often, since my here-remain in England,
I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven,
Himself best knows : but strangely- visited people, 150
All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,
140. Scene V Pope.
142. convinces : overcomes. Cf . I, vii, 64.
143. assay : attempt, effort. See Murray. — art : professional skill.
146-159. This episode, really irrelevant to the action of the play,
is usually construed as a courtly compliment to James I, who was
always pleased to exercise the power of ' touching ' for the ' king's
evil,' as scrofula was called. The description of Edward the Con-
fessor is from Holinshed : " As hath bin thought he was enspired
with the gift of Prophecie, and also to haue hadde the gift of heal-
ing infirmities and diseases. Namely he vsed to help those that were
vexed with the disease, commonly called the Kyngs euill, and left
that vertue as it were a portion of inheritance vnto his successors
the Kyngs of this Realme."
122 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
The mere despair of surgery, he cures,
Hanging a golden stamp about their necks,
Put on with holy prayers : and 't is spoken,
To the succeeding royalty he leaves 155
The healing benediction. With this strange virtue,
He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy,
And sundry blessings hang about his throne,
That speak him full of grace.
Enter Ross
Macduff. See, who comes here ?
Malcolm. My countryman ; but yet I know him not. 160
Macduff. My ever-gentle cousin, welcome hither.
Malcolm. I know him now. Good God, betimes remove
The means that makes us strangers !
Ross. Sir, amen.
Macduff. Stands Scotland where it did?
Ross. Alas, poor country,
Almost afraid to know itself ! It cannot 165
i5g. Scene VI Pope.
153. " Each person touched received a gold coin. Sir Thomas
Browne wrote sixty years later, ' The King's Purse knows that the
King's Evil grows more common.' " — Herford. In Shakespeare's
day the coin given (the ' evil-gold ') was an ' angel.' Cf. The Merchant
of Venice, II, vii, 55-57 :
They have in England
A coin that bears the figure of an angel
Stamped in gold.
162-163. Malcolm at first distrusts Ross, just as he had before
distrusted Macduff : but he has given his confidence unreservedly to
Macduff, and now he h?.s full faith in Ross as soon as he sees how
Macduff regards him. The passage is very delightful. — means:
cause. Either singular or plural in Elizabethan English.
scene in MACBETH 123
Be call'd our mother, but our grave : where nothing,
But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile ;
Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air,
Are made, not mark'd ; where violent sorrow seems
A modern ecstasy : the dead man's knell 170
Is there scarce ask'd for who ; and good men's lives
Expire before the flowers in their caps,
Dying or ere they sicken.
Macduff. O, relation
Too nice, and yet too true !
Malcolm. What 's the newest grief ?
Ross. That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker ; 175
Each minute teems a new one.
Macduff. How does my wife?
Ross. Why, well.
Macduff. And all my children ?
Ross. Well too.
Macduff. The tyrant has not batter'd at their peace?
168. rend Rowe | rent Ff. 173. ere Ff | e'er Rowe.
170. dead man's Johnson | Dead- 173-174. 0, relation . . . too true
mans F1F2 I Dead-man's F3F4. I one line in Ff.
170. modern ecstasy : ordinary, common, disturbance of mind.
174. nice : particular, elaborate. Having too much an air of study
and art, and so not like the frank utterance of deep feeling. See
Murray.
175. That which is but an hour old seems out of date, and causes
the narrator to be denounced as tedious.
177-179. This use of 'well,' not as a mere equivoque, but as a
euphemism for 'dead,' is illustrated in Antony and Cleopatra, II, v,
3J-33:
Messenger. First, madam, he is well.
Cleopatra. Why, there 's more gold.
But, sirrah, mark, we use
To say the dead are well.
124 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
Ross. No ; they were well at peace when I did leave 'em.
Macduff. Be not a niggard of your speech : how goes 't ?
Ross. When I came hither to transport the tidings 181
Which I have heavily borne, there ran a rumour
Of many worthy fellows that were out ;
Which was to my belief witness'd the rather,
For that I saw the tyrant's power a-foot : 185
Now is the time of help ; your eye in Scotland
Would create soldiers, make our women fight,
To doff their dire distresses.
Malcolm. Be 't their comfort
We are coming thither : gracious England hath
Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men; 190
An older and a better soldier none
That Christendom gives out.
Ross. Would I could answer
This comfort with the like ! But I have words
That would be howPd out in the desert air,
Where hearing should not latch them.
Macduff. What concern they ?
195. they? Theobald I they, Ff.
183. out : in arms, in open revolt. " He was out wi' the Hieland-
men in Montrose's time." — Sir Walter Scott, 'Wandering Willie's
Tale,' Redgauntlet. What follows means that the ' rumour ' is con-
firmed by the fact that Macbeth has put his troops in motion.
188 doff : put away. ' Doff ' is from 'do off ' as ' don ' from ' do
on.' Cf. ' dup ' {Hamlet, IV, v, 53) from ' do up.'
192. gives out: shows. This expression with this meaning occurs
often in Shakespeare. Cf. Twelfth Night, III, iv, 203 ; Othello, III,
Hi, 209; The Winter's Tale, IV, iv, 149.
195. latch : catch. Cf. Sonnets, CXIII, 6. But ' latch ' in A Mid-
summer Night's Dream, III, ii, 36, is probably a different word, mean-
ing ' moisten.' See Murray under ' latch ' and ' leach.'
scene in MACBETH 125
The general cause? or is it a fee-grief 196
Due to some single breast?
Ross. No mind that 's honest
But in it shares some woe ; though the main part
Pertains to you alone.
Macduff. If it be mine,
Keep it not from me, quickly let me have it. 200
Ross. Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever,
Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound
That ever yet they heard.
Macduff. Hum ! I guess at it.
Ross. Your castle is surpris'd ; your wife and babes
Savagely slaughter'd : to relate the manner, 205
Were, on the quarry of these murder 'd deer,
To add the death of you.
Malcolm. Merciful heaven !
What, man ! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows ;
Give sorrow words : the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break. 210
Macduff. My children too ?
Ross. Wife, children, servants, all
That could be found.
Macduff. And I must be from thence !
My wife kill'd too?
Ross. I have said.
Malcolm. Be comforted :
203. Hum ! Rowe | Humh : Ff | 211-213. Wife ... too? I two lines
Humph! Malone | Ha! Hunter. in Ff, first ending found.
196. fee-grief: private, individual sorrow. "A grief held 'in fee 'by a
single owmer." — Herf ord. Another of the many legal terms in Macbeth.
206. quarry : heap of slain. See note, I, ii, 14. Cf. Hamlet, V, ii, 375.
126 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act iv
Let 's make us medicines of our great revenge,
To cure this deadly grief. 215
Macduff. He has no children. — All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite ! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?
Malcolm. Dispute it like a man.
Macduff. I shall do so ; 22c
But I must also feel it as a man :
I cannot but remember such things were,
That were most precious to me. Did heaven look on,
And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff,
They were all struck for thee ! naught that I am, 225
Not for their own demerits, but for mine,
Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now !
Malcolm. Be this the whetstone of your sword : let grief
Convert to anger ; blunt not the heart, enrage it.
Macduff. O, I could play the woman with mine eyes, 230
And braggart with my tongue ! But, gentle heavens,
225. struck Rowe | strooke F1F2.
216. He has no children. This is most likely said of Malcolm, and
with reference to what he has just spoken, though it is commonly
taken as referring to Macbeth, and in the idea that, as he has no
children, there can be no adequate revenge upon him. But the true
meaning probably is, that if Malcolm were a father, he would know
that such a grief cannot be healed with the medicine of revenge.
Cf. King John, III, iv, 91. Besides, it would seem that Macbeth has
children, elss why should he strain so hard to have the regal suc-
cession " stand in his posterity" ? And Lady Macbeth knows "how
tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me " (I, vii, 55).
220. Dispute it : strive against it, resist it.
225. naught: wicked, worthless. Not to be confounded with
'nought.' Cf. 'naughty' in The Merchant of Venice, V, i, 91.
scene in MACBETH 1 27
Cut short all intermission ; front to front
Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself;
Within my sword's length set him ; if he scape,
Heaven forgive him too !
Malcolm. This tune goes manly. 235
Come, go we to the king; our power is ready;
Our lack is nothing but our leave. Macbeth
Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above
Put on their instruments. Receive what cheer you may :
The night is long that never finds the day. \_Exeunt\
235. tune Rowe | time Ff.
235. The little word ' too ' is so used here as to intensify, in a very
remarkable manner, the sense of what precedes. Put him once
within the reach of my sword, and if I don't kill him, then I am as
bad as he, and may God forgive us both ! — tune. Liddell defends the
Folio reading here, but as has been often pointed out, ' time ' and
'tune' would be very easily confused in Elizabethan manuscript. —
manly. Adjectives ending in -ly are used as adverbs in Elizabethan
English without any change of form.
237. Nothing remains to be done but to take our leave.
239. Put on their instruments : set their agents to work.
ACT V
Scene I. Dunsinane. Ante-room in the castle
Enter a Doctor of Physic and a Waiting- Gentlewoman
Doctor. I have two nights watch'd with you, but can per-
ceive no truth in your report. When was it she last walk'd?
Gentlewoman. Since his majesty went into the field, I
have seen her rise from her bed, throw her night-gown upon
her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon 't,
read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed ; yet all
this while in a most fast sleep. 7
Doctor. A great perturbation in nature, to receive at
once the benefit of sleep, and do the effects of watching !
In this slumbery agitation, besides her walking and other
actual performances, what, at any time, have you heard
her say? 12
Dunsinane Capell | Ff omit. — Ante-room in the castle Globe | Ff omit.
3. went into the field. Steevens calls this one of Shakespeare's
oversights. In the preceding scene, Macbeth was said to have his
" power a-foot " (line 185) against " many worthy fellows that were
out" (line 183). Probably the coming of the English forces induced
him to withdraw his troops from the field and put them within the
strong fortress of Dunsinane.
4. night-gown : dressing-robe. Cf. II, ii, 70.
9. do the effects of watching : act as in her waking hours. Shake-
speare often uses 'effects' for 'actions.' Cf. King Lear, I, i, 188;
Hamlet, III, iv, 129. See Schmidt.
128
scene I MACBETH 1 29
Gentlewoman. That, sir, which I will not report after her.
Doctor. You may to me ; and 't is most meet you should.
Gentlewoman. Neither to you nor any one ; having no
witness to confirm my speech. 16
Enter Lady Macbeth, with a taper
Lo you, here she comes ! This is her very guise ; and,
upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her ; stand close.
Doctor. How came she by that light? 19
Gentlewoman. Why, it stood by her : she has light by
her continually; 't is her command.
Doctor. You see, her eyes are open.
Gentlewoman. Ay, but their sense are shut.
Doctor. What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs
her hands. 25
Gentlewoman. It is an accustom'd action with her, to
seem thus washing her hands ; I have known her continue
in this a quarter of an hour.
Lady Macbeth. Yet here 's a spot. 29
17. Enter Lady Macbeth . . . | 23. sense are Ff | sense is Rowe.
Enter Lady . . . Ff. 24-25. Ff print as verse.
14. " The speeches of the Doctor . . . have a certain cadence
verging on blank verse, without quite gliding into it." — Delius.
18. stand close : keep concealed. Cf. Julius Ccesar, I, hi, 131.
20. Contrast this with her invocation, " Come, thick night, And
pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell," I, v, 48-49. So the " wash-
ing her hands ... a quarter of an hour " as compared with " A little
water clears us of this deed," II, ii, 67.
23. sense are. This, the Folio reading, is usually changed to 'sense
is,' the 'are' being regarded as a printer's repetition of 'are' just
above. But 'sense' is a plural in Sonnets, cxn, 10. Cf. 'balance'
as a plural in The Merchant of Venice, IV, i, 255. See Abbott, § 471.
130 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v
Doctor. Hark ! she speaks : I will set down what comes
from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.
Lady Macbeth. Out, damned spot ! out, I say ! — One,
two ; why, then 't is time to do 't. — Hell is murky ! — Fie,
my lord, fie ! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who
knows it, when none can call our power to account ? — Yet
who would have thought the old man to have had so much
blood in him? 37
Doctor. Do you mark that?
Lady Macbeth. The thane of Fife had a wife ; where is
she now? — What, will these hands ne'er be clean? — No
more o' that, my lord, no more o' that : you mar all with
this starting. 42
Doctor. Go to, go to ; you have known what you
should not. 44
Gentlewoman. She has spoke what she should not, I am
sure of that : heaven knows what she has known.
Lady Macbeth. Here 's the smell of the blood still : all
the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh,
oh, oh ! 49
35. account F3F4 I accompt F1F2. 47. the blood F1F2 I bloud F3F4
43-44. Ff print as two lines of verse. Rowe.
33. Hell is murky ! Some commentators, following Steevens, think
that Lady Macbeth imagines her husband to utter these words, and
repeats them after him as in ridicule or reproach of his fears.
41-42. She is alluding to the terrors of Macbeth on seeing the
Ghost of Banquo in the banquet scene, III, iv, 63.
47-48. Upon this passage, Verplanck, after remarking how fertile
the sense of smell is in the gentler charms of poetry, comments :
But the smell has never been successfully used as the means of impressing
the imagination with terror, pity, or any of the deeper emotions, except in
this dreadful sleep-walking of the guilty Queen, and in one parallel scene
of the Greek Drama, as wildly terrible as this. It is that passage of the
scene i MACBETH 13 1
Doctor. What a sigh is there ! The heart is sorely
charg'd.
Gentlewoman. I would not have such a heart in my
bosom for the dignity of the whole body.
Doctor. Well, well, well, —
Gentlewoman. Pray God it be, sir. 55
Doctor. This disease is beyond my practice : yet I have
known those which have walk'd in their sleep who have died
holily in their beds. 58
Lady Macbeth. Wash your hands j put on your night-
gown ; look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo 's
buried ; he cannot come out on 's grave.
Doctor. Even so? 62
Lady Macbeth. To bed, to bed ; there 's knocking at
the gate : come, come, come, come, give me your hand :
what 's done cannot be undone : to bed, to bed, to bed.
\_Exit]
Doctor. Will she go now to bed?
Gentlewoman. Directly. 67
53. the dignity F1F2 I dignity F3F4.
Agamemnon of /Eschylus, where the captive prophetess Cassandra, wrapt
in visionary inspiration, scents first the smell of blood, and then the vapours
of the tomb breathing from the palace of Atrides, as ominous of his approach-
ing murder. These two stand alone in poetry; and Fuseli, in his Lectures,
informs us that when, in the kindred art of painting, it has been attempted
to produce tragic effect through the medium of ideas drawn from this ' squeam-
ish sense,' even Raphael and Poussin have failed, and excited disgust instead
of terror and compassion. He justly remarks that 'taste and smell,' as
sources of tragic emotion, seem scarcely admissible in art or in the theatre.
55. Does the Gentlewoman misunderstand the Doctor's " Well,
well, well," or does she mean this as a further hint how dreadful the
thing is ? At all events, this may be regarded as one of Shake-
speare's quiet, unobtrusive master-strokes of delineation.
132 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v
Doctor. Foul whisperings are abroad : unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles : infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets : 70
More needs she the divine than the physician.
God, God forgive us all ! Look after her ;
Remove from her the means of all annoyance,
And still keep eyes upon her. So, good night :
My mind she has mated, and amaz'd my sight : 75
I think, but dare not speak.
Gentlewoman. Good night, good doctor.
[Exeunt]
Scene II. The country near Dunsinane
Drum and colours. Enter Menteith, Caithness, Angus,
Lennox, and Soldiers
Menteith. The English power is near, led on by
Malcolm,
His uncle Siward, and the good Macduff :
Revenges burn in them ; for their dear causes
Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm
Excite the mortified man.
Angus. Near Birnam wood 5
Shall we well meet them ; that way are they coming.
The country near Dunsinane Capell | Ff omit.
73. annoyance: doing violence to herself. Cf. Richard Zf, HI,ii, 16;
Troilus and Cressida, I, iii, 48. See Murray. This foreshadows the
"taking off" her life "by self and violent hands," V, viii, 70-71.
75. mated : bewildered. Still used in ' check-mated.' See Skeat.
4-5. Would rouse aud impel even a hermit to the war, to the
signal for carnage and horror. By ' the mortified man ' is meant • a
scene II MACBETH 133
Caithness. Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother?
Lennox. For certain, sir, he is not : I have a file
Of all the gentry : there is Siward's son,
And many unjoiigh.^ouths, that even now 10
Protest their first of manhood.
IMenteith. What does the tyrant?
Caithness. Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies :
Some say he 's mad ; others, that lesser hate him,
Do call it valiant fury : but, for certain,
He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause 15
Within the belt of rule.
Angus. Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands ;
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach ;
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love : now does he feel his title 20
Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.
10. unrough Theobald | vnruffe F1F2 | unruff F3F4.
religious man,' one who has mortified his passions, is dead to the
world. Cf. Love's Labour's Lost, I, i, 28-31.
8. file: list, catalogue. Cf. 'the valued file,' III, i, 94, 101.
10. unrough: beardless, smooth-faced. Cf. The Tempest, II, i, 250.
11. Protest. Cf. Ill, iv, 105. — first of manhood. Cf. Ill, i, 117.
12. " But after that Makbeth perceiued his enimies power to in-
crease, by such aid as came to them foorth of England with his
aduersarie Malcolme, he recoiled backe into Fife, there purposing to
abide in campe fortified, at the castell of Dunsinane." — Holinshed.
15. He cannot keep his disorganized party within control. For
the metaphor, cf. Troilus and Cressida, II, ii, 30. In previous edi-
tions of Hudson's Shakespeare, Collier's emendation of ' course '
(i.e. ' course of action ') for ' cause ' was adopted.
18. minutely : occurring every minute. Accent on first syllable.
134 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v
Menteith. Who then shall blame
His pester'd senses to recoil and start,
When all that is within him does condemn
Itself for being there ?
Caithness. Well, march we on, 25
To give obedience where 't is truly ow'd :
Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal ;
And with him pour we in our country's purge
Each drop of us.
Lennox. Or so much as it needs
To dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds. 30
Make we our march towards Birnam. [Exeunt, marching\
Scene III. Dunsinane. A room in the castle
Ente?- Macbeth, the Doctor, and Attendants
Macbeth. Bring me no more reports ; let them fly all :
Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane
I cannot taint with fear. What 's the boy Malcolm ?
27. medicine I Med'cineFf | med'- Dunsinane. A room in the castle
cin Hanmer I medecin Steevens. Capell I Ff omit.
31. Birnam | Birnan Fi. 2. Birnam F3F4 I Byrnane Fi.
23. pester'd : troubled. Another word that has degenerated in
meaning. — to recoil and start. Infinitive used gerundively.
27. medicine. This undoubtedly refers to Malcolm, but is the
word to be taken as meaning 'physician' (Fr. medecin ; cf. AWs Well
that Ends Well, II, i, 75), or ' remedy,' as the next line seems to
suggest ? Probably the word is used in the double sense here ; cf.
' sovereign,' in line 30, in the sense of ' royal ' and ' powerful remedy.'
Malcolm was the lawful prince, and in the olden time the best
remedy for the evils of tyranny, or the greater evils of civil war, was
thought to be a king with a clear and unquestioned title.
3. taint : be infected. A transitive verb used intransitively.
scene in MACBETH 1 35
Was he not born of woman ? The spirits that know
All mortal consequences have pronounc'd me thus : 5
' Fear not, Macbeth ; no man that 's born of woman
Shall e'er have power upon thee.' Then fly, false thanes,
And mingle with the English epicures :
The mind I sway by and the heart I bear
Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear. 10
Enter a Servant
The devil damn thee black, thou cream-fac'd loon !
Where got'st thou that goose look?
Servant. There is ten thousand —
Macbeth. Geese, villain?
Servant. Soldiers, sir.
Macbeth. Go prick thy face, and over-red thy fear,
Thou lily-liver 'd boy. What soldiers, patch? 15
Death of thy soul ! those linen cheeks of thine
Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face?
11. loon F3 I Loone F1F2 | Lown F4. 12. goose look | Goose-looke Ff.
5. An Alexandrine verse. — me. Probably an ethical dative.
8. Cf. this passage from Holinshed :
For manie of the people abhorring the riotous manners and superfluous
gormandizing brought in among them by the Englyshemen were willing
inough to receive this Donald for their King . . . bicause he had beene
brought up in the lies, with old customes and maners of their ancient nation
without tast of the English likerous delicates.
11. loon. This word of uncertain origin is still in common use in
Scotland and the north of England in the sense of ' lad ' or ' loafer.'
In the sixteenth century it often meant ' a man of low birth,' as in
the phrase ' lord and loon '; cf. Pericles, IV, vi, 19.
15. lily-liver'd : cowardly. Falstaff in 2 He?iry IV, IV, iii, 110-
114, says: "The second property of your excellent sherris is the
136 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v
Servant. The English force, so please you.
Macbeth. Take thy face hence. \Exit Servant]
Seyton ! — I am sick at heart,
When I behold — Seyton, I say ! — This push 20
Will cheer me ever, or disseat me now.
I have liv'd long enough : my way of life
Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf ;
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, 25
I must not look to have ; but, in their stead,
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would vain deny, and dare not.
Seyton !
19. [Exit Servant] Ff omit. chair Percy Dyce. — disseat Steevens
21. cheer F3F4 I cheere F1F2 I I dis-eate Fi | disease F2F3F4.
warming of the blood; which, before cold and settled, left the liver
white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice."
Cf. The Merchant of Venice, III, ii, 86; King Lear, II, ii, 17; IV,
ii, 50. — patch: clown, fool. Cf. The Tempest, III, ii, 71.
21. One of the textual cruces. But the reading of the text makes
satisfactory sense, Will bring comfort to me for the rest of my life,
or will dethrone me now, once for all. Furness would hyphenate the
' disease ' of the later Folios, and interpret, Will bring at once per-
manent relief or affliction. In previous editions of Hudson's Shake-
speare, Percy's substitution of ' chair ' for ' cheer ' was adopted, with
the interpretation, Will seat me firmly on the throne, or else unseat
me utterly.
22. my way of life : the course of my life. Johnson suggested 'May'
for ' way,' and, as a parallel, Clar quotes Richard II, III, iv, 48-49.
23. Cf. Sonnets, LXXin, 1-4 :
That time of year thou may'st in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare, ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
scene in MACBETH 1 37
Enter Seyton
Seyton. What 's your gracious pleasure?
Macbeth. What news more?
Seyton. All is confirm'd, my lord, which was reported.
Macbeth. I '11 fight, till from my bones my flesh be
hack'd. 32
Give me my armour.
Seyton. 'T is not needed yet.
Macbeth. I '11 put it on.
Send out moe horses, skirx:the country round ; 35
Hang those that talk of fear. Give me mine armour.
How does your patient, doctor ?
Doctor. Not so sick, my lord,
As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies,
That keep her from her rest.
Macbeth. Cure her of that.
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, 40
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
32. be Fi I is F2F3F4. 39. Cure her F2F3F4 I Cure Fi. —
35. moe F1F2 I more F3F4. Of F1F2 I from F3F4.
36. talk of Fi I stand in F2F3F4. 42. Raze F1F2 I Raise F3 I Rase F4.
35. moe : more. Middle and Elizabethan English ' mo ' or ' moe '
(from Anglo-Saxon ma) usually indicated number ; ' more ' (from
Anglo-Saxon mar a) had specific reference to size. — skirr: scour.
In Henry V, IV, vii, 64, the verb is used intransitively.
42. Delius notes that this figure occurs in Hamlet, I, v, 98-103.
43. oblivious: causing forgetfulness. Cf. Paradise Lost, I, 266-267:
The associates and co-partners of our loss,
Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pooL
138 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE Act V
Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?
Doctor. Therein the patient 45
Must minister to himself.
Macbeth. Throw physic to the dogs, I '11 none of it.
Come, put mine armour on ; give me my staff.
Seyton, send out. Doctor, the thanes fly from me.
Come, sir, dispatch. If thou couldst, doctor, cast 50
The water of my land, find her disease,
And purge it to a sound and pristine health,
I would applaud thee to the very echo,
That should applaud again. Pull 't off, I say.
What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug, 55
Would scour these English hence? Hear'st thou of them?
Doctor. Ay, my good lord ; your royal preparation
Makes us hear something.
Macbeth. Bring it after me.
I will not be afraid of death and bane,
Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane. 60
Doctor. [Aside'] Were I from Dunsinane away and clear,
Profit again should hardly draw me here. [Exeunt]
44. stuff'd I stufft Fi I stuft F2 55. senna F4 I Cyme Fi | Caeny
F3F4 I full Pope. — stuff F3F4 I stuffe F2F3 | clysme Badham conj. | sene
F1F2 I grief Collier. Wellesley conj. | sirrah Bulloch conj.
46. to Fi I unto F2F3F4. 60. Birnam | Birnane Fi.
48. mine F1F2F3 I my F4. 61. [Aside] Hanmer | Ff omit.
44. stuff'd . . . stuff. Such a repetition is thoroughly Shakespearian.
48. staff. Either 'general's baton' (Clar) or 'lance' (Schmidt).
50. Come, sir, dispatch. Spoken to the armorer. — cast: inspect.
54. Pull 't off. To the armorer. The " Bring it after me " of line 58
has reference to this piece of armor just ordered to be pulled off.
These orders, so effective in stage representation, show Macbeth's
agitation and impatience.
scene iv MACBETH 1 39
Scene IV. Country near Birnam wood
Drum a?id colours. Enter Malcolm, old Siward and his
Son, Macduff, Menteith, Caithness, Angus, Lennox,
Ross, and Soldiers, marching
Malcolm. Cousins, I hope the days are near at hand
That chambers will be safe.
Menteith. We doubt it nothing.
Siward. What wood is this before us?
Menteith. The wood of Birnam.
Malcolm. Let every soldier hew him down a bough,
And bear 't before him : thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host, and make discovery
Err in report of us.
Soldiers. It shall be done.
Siward. We learn no other but the confident tyrant
Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure
Our sitting down before 't.
Malcolm. 'T is his main hope : 10
Country near . . . Globe | Ff omit.
2. chambers will be safe. This refers, probably, to the spies and
informers whom Macbeth keeps in the noblemen's houses, prowling
about their private chambers, and listening at their key-holes. Or it
may have reference simply to Duncan's murder.
4-5. Holinshed thus describes the incident :
Malcome following hastilie after Makbeth, came the night before the
battell vnto Birnane wood, and when his armie had rested a while there to
refresh them, he commanded every man to get a bough of some tree or other
of that wood in his hand, as big as he might beare, and to march foorth
therewith in such wise, that on the next morrow they might come closelie
and without sight in this manner within viewe of his enimies.
140 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v
For, where there is advantage to be given,
Both more and less have given him the revolt,
And none serve with him but constrained things,
Whose hearts are absent too.
Macduff. Let our just censures
Attend the true event, and put we on 15
Industrious soldiership.
Siward. The time approaches
That will with due decision make us know
What we shall say we have and what we owe.
Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate,
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate ; 20
Towards which advance the war. \_Exeunt, marchi?ig~\
Scene V. Dunsinane. The castle
Enter Macbeth, Seyton, a?id Soldiers, with drum a?id colours
Macbeth. Hang out our banners on the outward walls ;
The cry is still, ' They come.' Our castle's strength
Will laugh a siege to scorn ; here let them lie
n. given Ff I gone Capell | got Dtnisinane. The castle | Ff omit.
Steevensconj.|takenKeightley(Ched- i. banners on the outward walls ;
worth conj.) | ta'en "Walker Dyce. ' j Banners on the outward walls, Ff
14-15. just censures Attend Fi| | banners! on the outward walls
best Censures Before F2F3F4. Keightley.
11. Various substitutes for 'given' have been proposed. Prob-
ably ' to them ' should be supplied after ' given.'
12. more and less: high and low, nobles and commons.
14-15. Let our judgments wait for the actual result, the issue of the
contest, in order that they may be just. A proleptical form of speech.
18. What we have as rights and what are our duties.
19-20. There is no use speculating or talking about it ; nothing
but fighting will settle the matter.
scene v MACBETH
141
Till famine and the ague eat them up.
Were they not forc'd with those that should be ours, 5
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard,
And beat them backward home. [A cry of women withiri\
What is that noise ?
Seyton. It is the cry of women, my good lord. \_Exit]
Macbeth. I have almost forgot the taste of fears :
The time has been, my senses would have cool'd 10
To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in 't : I have supp'd full with horrors ;
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
Cannot once start me.
Re-enter Seyton
Wherefore was that cry? 15
Seyton. The queen, my lord, is dead.
Macbeth. She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, 20
8. [Exit] Dyce | Ff omit. 10. cool'd Ff | quail'd Collier.
5. forc'd: strengthened, reenforced. This sense of 'force' was
common in the sixteenth century. Collier suggested ' farced,' i.e.
'stuffed.' Cf. ' forcemeat,' corruption of 'farce-meat.'
11. To hear: at hearing. Infinitive used gerundively. — fell. The
original meaning of 'fell' is 'skin ' or ' hide ' of an animal, and thus
Shakespeare uses the word in King Lear, V, iii, 24.
12. dismal: tragic. Cf. I, ii, 53. — treatise: story. Cf. Much Ado
About Nothing, I, i, 317 ; Vettus and Adonis, 774.
17-19. If she had not died now, she would have died hereafter;
the time would have come when such intelligence had to be spoken.
142 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act V
To the last syllable of recorded time ;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle !
Life 's but a walking shadow ; a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage 25
And then is heard no more It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
E?iter a Messenger
Thou com'st to use thy tongue ; thy story quickly.
Messenger. Gracious my lord, 30
I should report that which I say I saw,
But know not how to do 't.
Macbeth. Well, say, sir.
Messenger. As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
The wood began to move.
Macbeth. Liar and slave ! 35
Messenger. Let me endure your wrath, if 't be not so :
Within this three mile may you see it coming ;
I say, a moving grove.
23. dusty Fi I study F2F8F4 Rowe 30. Gracious my Fi | My gracious
Pope Capell | dusky Hanmer (Theo- F2F3F4.
bald conj.). 37. may you F1F2 I you may F3F4.
21. recorded time : the record of time. A proleptical expression.
24-28. To these lines Coleridge prefixes this note :
Now all is inward with him; he has no more prudential prospective
reasonings. His wife, the only being who could have had any seat in his
affections, dies : he puts on despondency, the final heart-armour of the
wretched, and would fain think every thing shadowy and unsubstantial ; as
indeed all things are to those who cannot regard them as symbols of goodness.
scene v MACBETH 143
Macbeth. If thou speak'st false,
Upon the next tree shall thou hang alive,
Till famine cling thee : if thy speech be sooth, 40
I care not if thou dost for me as much.
I pull in resolution, and begin
To doubt th' equivocation of the fiend
That lies like truth : ' Fear not, till Birnam wood
Do come to Dunsinane ' ; and now a wood 45
Comes toward Dunsinane. Arm, arm, and out !.
If this which he avouches does appear,
There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here.
I 'gin to be a-weary of the sun,
42. pull Ff I pall Johnson conj. 48. nor flying F1F2 I no flying F3F4.
40. cling : wither, shrivel. See Murray. — sooth: truth. See Skeat.
42. In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare Johnson's con-
jecture 'pall in' was adopted in place of the 'pull in' of the Folios.
'Pull in' may be interpreted as either (1) 'check,' 'restrain,' the
probable meaning here ; or (2) ' draw back.' Cf. Fletcher's Sea
Voyage, III, i: "All my spirits, As if they had heard my passing-bell
go for me, Pull in their powers and give me up to destiny."
46-52. Dowden thus sums up his character study of Macbeth :
The soul of Macbeth never quite disappears into the blackness of dark-
ness. He is a cloud without water carried about of winds ; a tree whose fruit
withers, but not even to the last plucked up by the roots. For the dull
ferocity of Macbeth is joyless. All his life has gone irretrievably astray, and
he is aware of this. His suspicion becomes uncontrollable; his reign is a
reign of terror ; and, as he drops deeper and deeper into the solitude and the
gloom, his sense of error and misfortune, futile and unproductive as that
sense is, increases. . . . Finally his sensibility has grown so dull that even
the intelligence of his wife's death — the death of her who had been bound
to him by such close communion in crime — hardly moves him, and seems
little more than one additional incident in the weary, meaningless tale of
human life. . . . Macbeth remembers that he once knew there was such a
thing as human goodness. He stands a haggard shadow against the hand's-
breadth of pale sky which yields us sufficient light to see him.
144 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v
And wish th' estate o' the world were now undone. 50
Ring the alarum-bell ! Blow, wind ! come, wrack !
At least we '11 die with harness on our back. [Exeunt]
Scene VI. Dunsinane. Before the castle
Drum and colours. Enter Malcolm, old Siward, Macduff,
and their Army, with boughs
Malcolm. Now near enough ; your leavy screens throw
down,
And show like those you are. You, worthy uncle,
Shall, with my cousin, your right noble son,
Lead our first battle : worthy Macduff and we
Shall take upon 's what else remains to do, 5
According to our order.
Siward. Fare you well.
Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night,
Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight.
Macduff. Make all our trumpets speak ; give them all
breath, 9
Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death. [Exeunt]
[Alarums continued]
Dtmsinane. Before the castle | Ff omit. i. Two lines in Ff.
52. harness : armor. So ' harness'd ' in Troilus and Cressida,
I, ii, 8. Cf. 'joints of the harness,' / Kings, xxii, 34.
1. ' Leavy ' is the earlier and more normal form of ' leafy.' Cf . Much
Ado About Nothing, II, iii, 75 ; Pei-icles, V, i, 51. ' Leavy labyrinth'
occurs in Milton's Comus, line 278, as originally printed.
4. first battle: foreguard, vanguard. Cf. Julius Ccesar, V, i, 4, 16.
Holinshed uses 'battle' in the sense of ' battalions' : " When his whole
power was come together, he divided the same into three battels."
scene vii MACBETH 145
Scene VII. Another part of the field
Enter Macbeth
Macbeth. They have tied me to a stake ; I cannot fly,
But, bear-like, I must fight the course. What 's he
That was not born of woman? Such a one
Am I to fear, or none.
Enter young Siward
Young Siward. What is thy name ?
Macbeth. Thou 'It be afraid to hear it.
Young Siward. No ; though thou call'st thyself a hotter
name 6
Than any is in hell.
Macbeth. My name 's Macbeth.
Young Siward. The devil himself could not pronounce
a title
More hateful to mine ear.
Macbeth. No, nor more fearful.
Scene VII | Scena Septima Ff | Another part of the field Globe | Ff
Rowe Pope continue the scene. — omit.
2. the course. This was a phrase of bear-baiting, where the bear
was tied to a stake, and then the dogs set upon him; the poor bear
could not run, and so had no way but to fight it out. Cf . King Lear,
III, vii, 54 ; Julius Ccesar, IV, i, 48.
The end of Macbeth is savage, and almost brutal, — a death without
honour or loveliness. He fights now, not like ' Bellona's bridegroom lapp'd
in proof,' but with a wild and animal clinging to life. His followers desert
him ; he feels himself taken in a trap. The powers of evil in which he had
trusted turn against him and betray him. His courage becomes a desperate
rage. We are in pain until the horrible necessity is accomplished. — Dowden.
146 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v
Young Siward. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant ; with my
sword ic
I '11 prove the lie thou speak'st.
[They fight, and young Siward is slai?i\
Macbeth. Thou wast born of woman.
But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn,
Brandish'd by man that 's of -a woman born. \_Exit~\
Alarums. Enter Macduff
Macduff. That way the noise is. Tyrant, show thy
face !
If thou be'st slain, and with no stroke of mine, 15
My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still.
I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms
Are hir'd to bear their staves : either thou, Macbeth,
Or else my sword, with an unbatter'd edge,
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be ; 20
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited. Let me find him, fortune !
And more I beg not. [Exit. Alarums]
Enter Malcolm and old Siward
Siward. This way, my lord. The castle 's gently render'd :
The tyrant's people on both sides do fight; 25
The noble thanes do bravely in the war ;
The day almost itself professes yours,
And little is to do.
22. bruited : noised abroad. Cf. Hamlet, I, ii, 127 ; 1 Henry VI, II,
iii, 68. See Murray. Wherever Macbeth goes, he has a strong guard
or escort attending him; and the clattering of so many feet and
swords would indicate his approach.
scene vnr MACBETH 147
Malcolm. We have met with foes
That strike beside us.
Siw ard. Enter, sir, the castle. 29
\_Exeunt, Alarum~\
Scene VIII. Another part of the field
Enter Macbeth
Macbeth. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
On mine own sword? whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better upon them.
E?itcr Macduff
Macduff. Turn, hell-hound, turn !
Macbeth. Of all men else I have avoided thee :
But get thee back ; my soul is too much charg'd 5
With blood of thine already.
Macduff. I have no words,
Scene VIII Dyce | Scene VII part of the field Globe | Ff omit.
Pope I Ff continue scene. — Another 2. whiles Ff | whilst Rowe.
29. That strike beside us : who take pains not to hit us, who
only sham as they fight against us, for their hearts are on our side.
Cf. j Henry VI, II, i, 129-132.
1. Brutus, Cassius, and Antony, in Shakespeare's great Roman
plays, commit suicide. Cf. Julius Casar, V, iii, 89, where Titinius, as
he kills himself, says, " This is a Roman's part." In the same play,
V, i, 101-103, Brutus, referring to the suicide of Marcus Cato, says:
Even by the rule of that philosophy
By which I did blame Cato for the death
Which he did give himself.
2-3. While I see living foes, it is better to be exercising my sword
upon them than upon myself.
148 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v
My voice is in my sword ; thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out ! [They fight\
Macbeth. Thou losest labour :
As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed : 10
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests ;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield
To one of woman born.
Macduff. Despair thy charm ;
And let the angel whom thou still hast serv'd
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb 15
Untimely ripp'd.
Macbeth. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cow'd my better part of man !
And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd,
That palter with us in a double sense ; 20
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope. I '11 not fight with thee.
Macduff. Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the show and gaze o' the time :
We '11 have thee, as our rarer monsters are, 25
8. [ Theyfight\ Malone | Fight : Alarum Ff.
9. intrenchant : indivisible. ' To trench 'is 'to cut.' Cf . ' the air
invulnerable,' Hamlet, I, i, 145. For active participles in a passive
sense, see Abbott, § 372.
12. charmed : secured against human assault by the might of
magic spells. Cf. Cymbeline, V, iii, 68-69.
20. palter : equivocate. Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, III, xi, 62-63.
25-27. An advertising practice of the time. Cf. Much Ado About
Nothing, I, i, 267 ; The Te?npest, II, ii, 28-34. " Therewithal he stept
unto him and slue him. Then cutting his head from his shoulders
he set it upon a pole and brought it unto Malcolm." — Holinshed.
scene viii MACBETH 1 49
Painted upon a pole, and underwrit,
1 Here may you see the tyrant.'
Macbeth. I will not yield,
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet,
And to be baited with the rabble's curse.
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, 30
And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last : before my body
I throw my warlike shield : lay on, Macduff ;
And damn'd be him that first cries, ' Hold, enough ! '
[Exeunt, fighting. Alarums~\
Retreat. Flourish. Enter with drum and colours, Malcolm,
old Siward, Ross, the other Thanes, and Soldiers
Malcolm. I would the friends we miss were safe arriv'd.
Siward. Some must go off; and yet, by these I see, 36
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
Malcolm. Macduff is missing, and your noble son.
Ross. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt :
He only liv'd but till he was a man ; 40
The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.
34. After Alarums Ff have Enter 35. Scene VIII Pope. — Retreat.
Fighting, and Macbeth slaine. | Retreat, and Ff .
34. him. "Perhaps 'let,' or some such word, was implied." —
Abbott, § 208. — " To cry ' hold ' " was an authoritative way of sepa-
rating combatants, according to the old military rules and regu-
lations. Cf. I, v, 52.
36. go off. A not unusual Elizabethan euphemism for ' die.'
42. unshrinking station : the place where he unshrinking fought.
150 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v
Siward. Then he is dead?
Ross. Ay, and brought off the field : your cause of sorrow
Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then 45
It hath no end.
«
Siward. Had he his hurts before?
Ross. Ay, on the front.
Siward. Why then, God's soldier be he !
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death :
And so his knell is knoll'd.
Malcolm. He 's worth more sorrow, 50
And that I '11 spend for him.
Siward. He 's worth no more :
They say he parted well, and paid his score ;
And so God be with him ! Here comes newer comfort.
Re-enter Macduff, with Macbeth 's head
Macduff. Hail, king ! for so thou art : behold, where
stands
Th' usurper's cursed head : the time is free. 55
54. Two lines in Ff.
47. This Spartan bearing is thus described by Holinshed :
When his father heard the newes, he demanded whether he receiued the
wound whereof he died, in the forepart of the bodie, or in the hinder part :
and when it was told him that he receiued it in the forepart : I reioise (saith
he) euen with all my heart, for I would not wish either to my sonne nor to
myselfe any other kind of death.
52. parted : departed. So " a parted ... at the turning o' the tide,"
He.nry V, II, iii, 12. — score : reckoning. The allusion is to a traveler
taking leave of an inn. The old inn accounts were commonly kept
either by marking down the items with chalk on a board, or by
cutting, 'scoring,' notches on a stick.
scene viii MACBETH 15 1
I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds ;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine :
Hail, King of Scotland !
All. Hail, King of Scotland ! [Flourish]
Malcolm. We shall not spend a large expense of time
Before we reckon with your several loves, Ci
And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour nam'd. What 's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time, 65
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny ;
Producing forth the cruel ministers
Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen,
56. pearl F3F4 I Pearle F1F2 I peers Rowe.
56. pearl : choicest ornament. ' Pearl ' is here a collective noun
and is used as such by Milton. The metaphor describing the worthi-
est nobles is a string of pearls encircling the neck, or the head, of
royalty. The expression seems to have been a not unusual one. In
Dunbar's The Thrissill and the Rose, 1503, we have:
Welcome to be our princes of honour,
Our perle, our plesans, and our paramour.
62-75. The matter of Malcolm's last speech is in this passage
from Holinshed :
Malcolme Cammore thus recouering the relme (as ye haue heard) by sup-
port of king Edward, in the 16 yeere of the same Edwards reigne, he was
crowned at Scone the 25 day of Aprill, in the yeere of our Lord 1057.
Immediatlie after his coronation he called a parlement at Forfair, in the
which he rewarded them with lands and liuingsthat had assisted him against
Makbeth, aduancing them to fees and offices as he saw cause, & commanded
that speciallie those that bare the surname of anie offices or lands, should
haue and inioy the same. He created manie earles, lords, barons, and knights.
152 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE act v
Who, as 't is thought, by self and violent hands 70
Took off her life ; this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place :
So, thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone. 75
^Flourish. Exeuni\
75. Exetini | Exeunt omnes Ff.
Manie of them that before were thanes, were at this time made earles, as
Fife, Menteth, Atholl, Leuenox, Murrey, Cathnes, Rosse, and Angus. These
were the first earles that haue beene heard of amongst the Scotishmen, (as
their histories doo make mention).
70. self: own. ' Self' is here used as an adjective. Cf. Ill, iv, 142.
71. For the ellipsis of ' there be ' after ' else,' see Abbott, § 286.
72. grace of Grace. " This is an expression that Shakespeare is
fond of." — Malone. Cf. Two Gentlemen of Verona, III, i, 146 ; AlPs
Well that Ends Well, II, i, 163.
74-75. " There can be little doubt that the actor, in speaking these
lines, addressed the audience rather than the dramatis per sonce, and
made this utterance of thanks serve as a sort of epilogue." — Manly.
INDEX
I. WORDS AND PHRASES
This Index includes the most important words, phrases, etc., explained in
the notes. The figures in heavy-faced type refer to the pages ; those in plain
type, to the lines containing what is explained.
acquaint you with the
perfect spy o' the
time: 74 129.
Act I, Scene II, au-
thenticity of : 5 l .
Act III, Scene V: an
interpolation: 91 1.
Act IV, Scene II, omis-
sion of: 107.
addition: 18 106,72 99.
address 'd: 49 24.
adhere: 39 52.
adjectives as adverbs:
62 124.
afeard: 18 96.
affeer'd: 115 34.
air nimbly and sweetly,
etc.: 32 1-3.
Alexandrine verse: 135
5.
all hail, Macbeth: 14
48-50.
all's: 6 15.
all things foul, etc. :
114 23-24.
all to all: 87 92.
all-thing: 68 13.
and't: 95 19.
angerly: 91 1.
annoyance: 132 73.
anon: 4 9.
antic: 106 130.
anticipat'st : 107 144.
approve : 32 4.
arm'd: 88 101.
armed head: 101 69.
aroint thee: 11 6.
art: 121 143.
as (as if) : 49 27.
as (inasmuch as) : 67 7.
as who : 96 42.
assay: 121 143.
at a point: 120 135.
attempt and not the
deed: 48 10.
auger-hole: 61 109.
augures: 90 124.
avouch it: 74 119.
baby of a girl: 88 106.
badg'd: 59 88.
bank: 36 6.
banners flout the sky,
etc. : 9 49.
Banquo (pronuncia-
tion) : 2, note 3.
beast: 38 47.
Beelzebub: 53 4.
Bellona's bridegroom :
9 54.
bend up : 41 79.
bestride : 113 4.
betray the devil to his
fellow: 120 128.
Birnamwood: 139 4-5.
birthdom: 113 4.
bladed : 100 55.
*53
blanket of the dark:
30 51.
blind-worm: 98 16.
blood-bolter'd: 105 123.
bond of fate: 102 84.
borne in hand: 71 80.
botches : 75 133.
brainsickiy: 50 46.
breach in nature: 6O100.
briefly: 62 120.
brinded: 97 l.
broken line: 31 59.
broken metre : 110 44.
bruited: 146 22.
buckle his distemper'd
cause, etc. : 133
15-16.
but (only) : 36 6.
but (unless) : 69 48.
by your leave: 34 31.
cadence in the doctor's
speeches : 129 14.
candles : 42 5.
captains (trisyllabic) :
8 34.
careless: 23 11.
casing air: 83 23.
cast: 55 27.
cast (inspect) : 138 50.
celebrates pale Hecate's
offerings: 45 51.
chambers will be safe :
139 2.
154 THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
champion me: 71 71.
chance of goodness, etc.:
120 136-137.
charmed life: 148 12.
chaudron: 99 33.
cheer . . . disseat: 136
21.
chops : 7 22.
choughs : 90 125.
chuck: 78 45.
cleave to my consent:
44 25.
clept: 72 93.
cling: 143 40.
clogs me with this
answer : 96 43.
cloister'd: 78 41.
close contriver: 91 7.
cloudy: 96 41.
coign of vantage : 33 7.
cold (as dissyllabic) :
97 6.
Colmekill: 65 33.
combustion: 56 44.
come, sir, dispatch :
138 50.
come in time: 53 s.
composition : 10 59.
compt: 34 26.
compunctious visitings
of nature: 29 43.
confineless harms : 1 1 6
55.
confound : 1 1 8 99.
confronted him with
self-comparisons: 10
55.
confusion: 57 52.
constancy hath left you
unattended: 52 68-
69.
convey: 117 71.
convince: 40 64, 121
142.
copy: 78 38.
corporal: 17 81.
countenance: 58 66.
crack: 8 37.
crack of doom : 1 04 117.
cross'd: 71 80.
curbing his lavish spir-
it: 10 57.
damn'dbehim: 149 34.
damned quarry: 6 14.
darkness . . . entomb:
63 9.
demi-wolves: 72 93.
desert place : 3 1.
died every day she
liv'd: 119 ill.
discern: 114 15.
dismal: 141 12.
dismiss me : 102 72.
disposition: 89 113.
dispute it: 126 220.
distance: 73 115.
division: 118 96.
division into acts and
scenes: 3 1.
do (work mischief) :
12 10.
do the effects of watch-
ing : 128 9.
doff: 124 188.
dollars: 10 62.
Dowden's estimate of
Macbeth: 143 46-52.
dress'd: 37 36.
dudgeon: 45 46.
dunnest smoke : 30 49.
Dunsinane: 103 93,
133 12.
duties : 24 24.
Earl of Essex: 22 1.
earls created : 2, note 4.
easy (adv.): 62 124.
ecstasy: 77 22.
eight kings: 104 112.
eminence: 77 31.
English epicures : 135
8.
enter the Ghost : 84 37.
enter three murderers :
80 1.
entrance (trisyllabic) :
29 37.
equivocate to heaven:
54 10.
equivocation: 54 8.
ere humane statute :
86 76.
eternal jewel: 70 67.
ethical dative: 135 5.
everlasting bonfire : 54
17-18.
exasperate: 95 38.
expedition: 60 97.
extend his passion: 85
57.
fact: 94 10.
faculties: 36 17.
fair is foul, etc. : 4 10.
falcon . . . owl: 64 12-
13.
fantastical: 15 53.
farmer that hang'd
himself, etc.: 53 4-5.
farrow: 101 65.
fatal bellman : 47 3.
favour: 22 149, 32 70.
fears (dangers) : 20 137.
feast is sold, etc. : 84
33-37.
fee-grief: 125 196.
fell: 141 11.
fight the course : 1 45 2.
file (list) : 133 8.
fil'd: 70 64.
filthy: 4 11.
first battle: 144 4.
first of manhood: 133
11.
fits o' the season: 108
17.
fix'd his head upon our
battlements: 7 23.
flattering streams: 78
33.
INDEX
155
flaws : 85 63.
Fleance: 81 13.
flighty: 107 145.
foisons: 118 88.
for (on account of) :
74 120.
forbid: 12 21.
forc'd: 141 5.
fork: 98 16.
from broad words : 95
21.
gallowglasses : 6 13.
genius : 70 55.
gentle my lord : 77 27.
germens: 101 59.
gild: 51 56.
give me the daggers
. . . devil : 51 53-55.
give thee a wind: 12
11.
given: 140 11.
gives out: 124 192.
glass (mirror) : 105
119.
go not my horse the
better: 68 25.
go off (die) : 149 36.
God be with you: 69
43.
God 'ild : 33 13.
golden round: 28 26.
golden stamp: 122 153.
Golgotha: 8 40.
good things of day, etc.:
79 52.
goose : 54 14.
gorgon: 57 57.
gospell'd : 72 87.
gouts: 45 46.
grace of Grace : 152 72.
gracious England : 1 1 6
43.
grave: 68 21.
Graymalkin: 4 8.
great doom's image :
' 58 64.
great largess: 43 14.
guilt: 51 57.
gulf: 98 23.
had he not resembled
my father: 48 12-13.
hail (dissyllabic) : 5 5.
hangman : 49 27.
happy prologues : 20
128.
harbinger: 25 45.
harness: 144 52.
Harpier: 97 3.
he did appoint so: 56
39.
he has no children : 1 2 6
216.
heaven's cherubin: 36
22.
Hecate: 45 52.
hell is murky: 130 33.
here-approach : 1 20
133.
hermits : 34 20.
his (one man's): 117
80.
his wonders and his
praises do contend :
17 92.
historical present : 6
15, 9 49.
hold, enough! 149 34.
holp : 34 23.
home (thoroughly) :
19 120.
horses . . . turn'd wild :
64 14-16.
hose: 54 13.
housekeeper: 72 96.
human kindness: 27 15.
hurlyburly: 3 3.
husbandry : 42 4.
Hyrcan: 88 101.
I have no spur: 37 25.
I '11 to England : 62 124.
if it were done, etc.:
35 1-2.
if th' assassination . . .
success: 35 2-4.
if we should fail : 39 59.
illness: 27 18.
imperial theme : 20
129.
impress: 103 95.
in (on account of) :
69 48.
infinitive used gerun-
dively: 50 45, 13423,
141 11.
inhabit: 88 105.
initiate (adj.): 91 143.
insane: 17 84.
instant: 31 56.
instruments: 71 80.
interim having weigh'd
it: 22 154.
intrenchant: 148 9.
-ion (two syllables) :
6 18.
jump: 36 7.
just censures attend:
140 14-15.
jutty: 33 6.
keep peace . . . and
it : 29 44-45.
keeps her state: 82 5.
kerns: 6 13.
killing swine: 11 2.
king's evil: 121 146-
159.
knocking within : 51 57.
knowings : 63 4.
lac'd with his golden
blood: 60 99.
lack is nothing but our
leave: 127 237.
Lady Macbeth is car-
ried out: 61 112.
lapp'd in proof: 9 54.
latch: 124 195.
lated: 80 6.
lease of nature, etc.:
104 99-100.
156
THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
leavy: 144 1.
let . . . command: 68 15.
life 's but a walking
shadow, etc.: 142
24-28.
light by her continu-
ally: 129 20.
light thickens: 79 50.
like the poor cat i' the
adage: 38 45.
lily-liver 'd: 135 15.
limbeck: 40 67.
limited : 5 6 38.
line (strengthen) : 19
112.
lodg'd: 100 55.
loon: 135 11.
Lord's anointedtemple:
57 54.
loss of syllable after
pause : 45 51.
Macdonwald : 5 9.
magot-pies: 90 125.
make our faces vizards
to our hearts : 7 8 34.
make us : 108 4.
making the green one
red: 52 63.
Malcolm, Prince of
Cumberland: 25 38.
Malcolm's last speech:
151 62-75.
manly: 127 235.
manly readiness : 62
120.
mated: 132 75.
maws : 86 73.
me (eth. dat.): 96 41,
135 5.
means: 122 163.
medicine: 134 27.
meet, pause after: 3 7.
memory . . . shall be a
fume : 40 65-66.
mere : 1 1 8 89.
messenger: 111 64.
metaphysical: 28 27.
methought I heard a
voice cry: 50 35.
Middleton' s The Witch :
92 33, 99 43.
Milton's indebtedness:
106 138-139.
minion: 6 19.
minions: 64 15.
minutely: 133 18.
missives: 27 6.
mistrust: 80 2.
modern ecstasy: 123
170.
moe: 137 35.
monuments: 86 72.
moon's eclipse: 99 28.
more and less: 140 12.
mortal: 29 39.
mortality: 59 79.
mortified man: 132 5.
mousing: 64 13.
move : 109 22.
mummy: 98 23.
muse: 87 85.
music and a song: 92
33, 99 43.
my disgrace, etc. : 109
29.
naked frailties : 61 113.
napkins: 53 5.
natural touch: 108 9.
naught: 126 225.
nave (navel) : 7 22.
near (nearer): 62 127.
near'st of life: 73 117.
nice: 123 174.
night-gown: 52 70,
128 4.
nonpareil: 83 19.
note of expectation: 81
10.
nothing (adverbial) :
18 96.
nothing is but what is
not: 21 141.
notion: 71 82.
oblivious: 137 43.
obscure: 56 45.
of (with) : 6 13.
offices: 43 14.
old: 53 2.
on (of) : 17 84.
ornament of life : 3 8 42.
other (otherwise): 41
77.
our great bidding : 90
129.
out: 124 183.
overcome: 89 111.
owe (have): 16 76, 23io.
owl scream and the
crickets cry: 48 15.
owl . . . the fatal bell-
man: 47 3.
paddock: 4 9.
pall: 30 49.
palter: 148 20.
parted: 150 52.
pass'd in probation : 71
79.
patch: 135 15.
peak : 1 2 23.
peal: 78 43.
pearl: 151 56.
pent-house lid: 12 20.
perfect: 111 65.
perseverance: 118 93.
pester'd. 134 23.
play the Roman fool:
147l.
plenteous joys: 25 33.
point: 120 135.
point, rebellious: 10
56.
poor birds: 110 36.
portable: 118 89.
Porter's scene: 53 1.
posset: 47 6.
posters: 13 33.
present him eminence '
77 31.
INDEX
157
pretence : 62 118.
pricking of my thumbs :
100 44.
primrose way, etc. : 54
17-18.
profound: 92 24.
proportion both of
thanks and: 24 19.
prospect of belief: 16
74.
prosperous: 68 21.
prosperous gentleman:
16 73.
protest: 88 105, 133 11.
pull in: 143 42.
pull't off: 138 54.
purveyor: 34 22.
put on their instru-
ments: 127 239.
quarrel (cause): 120
137.
quarry: 6 14, 125 206.
quell : 40 72.
rat without a tail : 1 2
9.
ravell'd sleave: 50 37.
raven himself is hoarse:
29 36.
ravin up: 65 28.
ravin'd: 98 24.
rawness: 115 26.
raze out . . . troubles of
the brain: 137 42.
recoil (fall off) : 114 19.
recorded time: 142 21.
re-enter the Ghost: 87
89.
register'd: 22 151.
remembrance apply to :
77 30.
remorse: 29 42.
remove the means . . .
strangers: 122 162-
163.
require a clearness: 75
132.
respective construc-
tion: 15 55.
rest is labour: 25 44.
restrain in me the
cursed thoughts : 42
8.
ronyon: 11 6.
rooky: 79 51.
round and top : 103 88-
89.
rubs: 75 133.
rumour from what we
fear, etc.: 109 19-20.
rump-fed: 11 6.
safe toward your love
and honour : 24 27.
safest way: 63 129.
Saint Colme's inch: 10
61.
say thou nought: 101
70.
Scone: 65 31.
score: 150 52.
scotch'd: 76 13.
screw your courage to
the sticking-place :
39 60.
sear, the yellow leaf:
136 23.
season : 91 141.
second apparition: 102
77.
second cock: 55 22.
second course : 50 39.
security: 92 32.
seeling night: 79 46.
seems to (is about to) :
9 47, 28 27.
self: 152 70.
self-abuse: 91 142.
sennet: 67 11.
se'nnights: 12 22.
sense are: 129 23.
senses: 45 44.
sensible : 44 36.
sergeant: 5 3.
servant fee'd: 90 131.
servant to defect: 43
18.
sewer: 35 1.
shag-ear'd: 112 82.
shall (will): 85 57.
shard-borne: 78 42.
she should have died
hereafter: 141 17.
shipman's card: 12 17.
shoal: 36 6.
shook hands: 7 21.
shoughs: 72 93.
shut up: 43 16.
sieve: 11 8.
sightless: 30 47, 37 23.
sights (visions): 107
155.
since that: 119 106.
single (weak): 20 140,
33 16.
sirrah: 109 30.
Si ward: 120 134.
Siward's Spartan bear-
ing: 150 47.
skirr: 137 35.
slab : 99 32.
smell of blood: 130 47.
so fair and foul a day:
14 38.
solemn: 68 14.
sometime: 33 11.
son: 109 32.
sooth: 8 36, 143 40.
speculation: 88 95.
speeches shine: 67 7.
spongy: 40 71.
spy o' the time : 74 129.
staff: 138 48.
stand close: 129 18.
stand not, etc. : 89
119.
stars, hide your fires:
26 50.
still (always): 36 8,
6821.
158
THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE
stones prate of, etc. :
46 58.
strange images : 1 8 97.
strides : 46 55.
strike beside us : 147
29.
3tudied in his death:
23 9.
Stuff'd. . .stuff: 138
44.
success : 35 4.
suggestion: 20 134.
summer-seeming: 117
86.
surcease: 35 4.
surveying vantage : 8
31.
sweaten: 101 65.
swelter'd: 97 8.
sword of our slain
kings: 118 87.
syllable of dolour : 1 1 3
8.
taint: 134 3.
take my milk for gall :
30 46.
tale : 1 8 97.
tears shall drown the
wind: 37 25.
temperance: 118 92.
terrible dreams: 76 is.
thane of Cawdor: 34
20.
that (conjunctional
affix): 119 106.
that (so that): 10 58,
15 57, 36 8, 48 7.
that great bond : 79 49.
that of an hour's age,
etc.: 123 175.
that which cries . . .
have it : 28 si.
that which hath made
them drunk: 47 1.
thee without than him
within: 83 14.
there where I did find
my doubts: 114 25.
thick as tale: 18 97.
things at the worst,
etc.: 109 24.
things bad begun, etc. :
79 55.
third apparition: 103
86.
thoughts speculative,
etc.: 140 19-20.
three ears: 102 78.
thrice: 13 30, 97 2.
Tiger (name of ship) :
11 7.
time: 31 62.
time and hour: 21 147.
title is affeer'd: 115 34.
titles: 108 7.
to (compared with) :
85 64.
to (in addition to) : 70
51.
to alter favour . . .
fear: 32 70.
to friend: 113 10.
to hear: 141 11.
to know my deed,
'twere best, etc.: 52
73.
to that : 5 10.
to th' utterance : 71 71.
to write: 124 6.
too: 127 235.
top: 116 57.
torture of the mind:
77 si.
touch: 108 9.
tow'ring: 64 12.
tragic irony: 23 13.
trains: 119 118.
transitive verb used in-
transitively: 134 3.
transpose: 114 21.
travelling lamp: 63 7.
treatise: 141 12.
trifl'd : 63 4.
true, worthy Banquo:
26 54.
tugg'd with fortune:
73 111.
tune : 127 235.
twofold balls, etc.: 105
131.
understood relations :
90 124.
unlineal hand : 70 62.
unmannerly breached
with gore: 60 103.
unrough: 133 10.
unshrinking station ■
149 42.
uproar: 118 99.
use (custom) : 20 137.
valued file: 72 94.
vaporous drop: 92 24.
venom: 97 8.
verb omitted with ideas
of motion : 7 26.
verity : 1 1 8 92.
want the thought : 94
8.
wanton: 25 34.
was the hope drunk:
37 36.
wassail: 40 64.
watch: 46 54.
water rugs: 72 93.
way of life: 136 22.
wear thou thy wrongs :
115 33.
weird: 13 32.
we '11 have thee . . .
painted upon a pole :
148 25-27.
well: 123 177.
well, well, well, etc. :
131 54-55.
went into the field:
128 3.
what, in our house?
58 74.
INDEX
159
what needful else
(there be): 152
71.
when shall we three
meet again, etc. : 3
1-2.
which (who): 7 21.
while (until) : 69 43.
whiles I see lives, etc. :
147 2-3.
who (whom) : 74 122.
willall greatNeptune's
ocean, etc.: 51 60-61.
wine of life: 59 81.
wink at : 26 52.
witchcraft (trisyllabic):
45 51.
witches, first appear-
ance of: 3 1.
withal: 15 57, 51 56.
without all: 76 11.
woman's story . . . fire :
85 65.
worm (serpent) : 83 29.
wrought: 22 149.
yawning: 78 43.
yesty: 100 53.
you mar all, etc.: 130
41-42.
II. QUOTATIONS FROM HOLINSHED
all hail, Macbeth: 14
48.
Banquo summoned to
the feast: 74 128.
Birnam wood: 139 4-
5.
chamberlains . . . con-
vince: 40 63-64.
Duncan buried: 65 33-
34.
Duncan makes Malcolm
Prince of Cumber-
land : 25 38-39.
Duncan sent forth great
largess: 43 14.
dwindle, peak and pine :
12 23.
earls created by Mal-
colm: 2, note 4.
Edward the Confessor
and the king's evil:
121 146-159.
English epicures: 135
8.
Fleance escapes : 81 18.
kerns and gallow-
glasses: 6 13.
Macbeth employs
spies: 90 131-132.
Macbeth hears a voice :
50 35.
Macbeth invested at
Scone: 65 31-32.
Macbeth plans for clear-
ing himself: 75 131.
Macbeth retires to
Dunsinane: 133 12.
Macbeth's head: 148
25-27.
Macdonwald : 5 9; his
headless trunk: 7 23.
Malcolm crowned; cre-
ates many earls :
151 62.
Malcolm flees into Eng-
land: 62 124.
monstrous sights seen:
64 12-18.
night's predominance:
63 8.
Norweyan lord: 8 31.
Saint Colme's inch: 10
61.
sergeant: 5 3.
Siward hears of his
son's death: 150 47.
Siward sent to support
Malcolm: 120 134.
sword of our slain
kings: 118 87.
weird sisters : 1 3 32.
wild in their attire : 14
40.
witch's prophecy: 103
92-93.