The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated)
Page 577
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
Is this a dagger I see before me with the handle
pointing toward my hand? Let me hold it.
It is not here, and yet I see it.
Is it possible to touch you, dagger, as well as see you?
Or are you just a hallucination, a false vison
coming from a fever in my brain?
You look as real as this dagger I have here.
You are guiding me to the place that I was going,
and you are like the dagger I was going to use.
My eyes are either not working as well as the rest
of my senses, or they work better than them all.
I still see you, and on your blade and handles I see
drops of blood which were not there before.
There’s no such thing: it is the brutal act
I am about to do that causes me see these things.
The night world is dark now and nightmares
are haunting sleep. Witches are making blood sacrifices,
and thin ghost-like murder is awoken by his wolf’s
cries. Murder strides toward his target like Tarquin,
as silently as a ghost. Firm and certain earth beneath
my feet—pay no attention to my steps or the way I walk.
I fear the stones beneath my feet will reveal where I am
going and make the time less perfect for the murder
to occur. While I stand here talking, he lives, and the
talking lessens my resolve to act.
A bell rings
I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
I might as well go and do it. The bell
is inviting me to do so. Don’t listen
to the bell, Duncan. It is summoning you
to heaven or to hell.
Exit
The Same
Enter LADY MACBETH
LADY MACBETH
That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold;
What hath quench'd them hath given me fire.
Hark! Peace!
It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman,
Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it:
The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms
Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg'd
their possets,
That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they live or die.
What has made them drunk has made me bold,
and what have quenched them has put me on fire.
Listen! Quiet!
I heard an owl shriek like a bellman delivering
a message of death. Macbeth is doing the deed:
the doors to the chamber are open and the drunken
guards are snoring so loudly it makes their job
a joke. I put so many drugs in their drinks that
they sleep as if they are dead.
MACBETH
[Within] Who's there? what, ho!
[Inside] Who’s there? What is that?
LADY MACBETH
Alack, I am afraid they have awaked,
And 'tis not done. The attempt and not the deed
Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready;
He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done't.
Oh no, I’m afraid the guards have woken up
and the murder has not been completed! If we
were to get caught in the attempt, it would ruin us.
Listen! I put their daggers where Macbeth
could easily find them. Had he not looked
so much like my father sleeping, I would have
killed the king myself.
Enter MACBETH
My husband!
My husband!
MACBETH
I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?
I have done the deed. Did you hear a noise?
LADY MACBETH
I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.
Did not you speak?
I heard an owl shriek and I heard the crickets chirp.
Didn’t you say something?
MACBETH
When?
When?
LADY MACBETH
Now.
Just now.
MACBETH
As I descended?
As I came downstairs?
LADY MACBETH
Ay.
Yes.
MACBETH
Hark!
Who lies i' the second chamber?
Listen to that!
Who is in the other bedroom?
LADY MACBETH
Donalbain.
Donalbain.
MACBETH
This is a sorry sight.
This is a sorry sight.
Looking on his hands
LADY MACBETH
A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.
That’s a foolish thing 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.
One of the guards laughed in his sleep, and the other
cried ‘Murder!’ They woke each other up. I stood
and listened to them. But they said their prayers
and went back to sleep.
LADY MACBETH
There are two lodged together.
There are two sleeping in the same room.
MACBETH
One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the other;
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands.
Listening their fear, I could not say 'Amen,'
When they did say 'God bless us!'
One cried ‘God bless us!’ and the other cried ‘Amen.’
It was as if they had seen my bloody hands.
When I heard their fear, I could not say ‘Amen’
when they said ‘God bless us.’
LADY MACBETH
Consider it not so deeply.
Don’t think about it too much.
MACBETH
But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'?
I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen'
Stuck in my throat.
But why couldn’t I say ‘Amen?’
I was more in need of blessing than ever
but the word ‘Amen’ stuck in my throat.
LADY MACBETH
These deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad.
We must not think abo
ut all of this so much.
It will make us crazy.
MACBETH
Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve 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,--
I thought I heard a voice cry out ‘Wake up!
Macbeth does murder sleep!’ Innocent sleep,
that takes all cares away. The rest at the end
of the day, respite from hard work, peace
for worried minds, the part of the day’s feast,
which nourishes us so we may live—
LADY MACBETH
What do you mean?
What are you saying?
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.'
The voice kept crying out ‘Sleep no more!’ to the whole house.
‘Glamis has killed sleep and so Cawdor will not be able
to sleep. Macbeth will not be able to sleep.’
LADY MACBETH
Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane,
You do unbend your noble strength, to think
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?
They must lie there: go carry them; and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.
Who was it that said all of this? Why, my good thane,
do you weaken yourself by thinking of such crazy
things? Go get some water and wash the blood
from your hands. Why did you bring these daggers
with you? They have to stay in the room. Take them back
and smear Duncan’s blood over the sleeping guards.
MACBETH
I'll go no more:
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again I dare not.
I can’t go back in there.
I am afraid to think about what I have done
let alone look at it again.
LADY MACBETH
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal;
For it must seem their guilt.
You coward! Give me the daggers.
The sleeping and the dead are like pictures.
Only a child would be afraid of such things.
If Duncan is bleeding, I’ll paint the faces
of the guards with his blood so they
will look guilty.
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
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
Where’s that knocking coming from?
Why is it that every noise is making me so nervous?
Whose hands are these? They make my eyes hurt,
looking at them. Could all of the water in the oceans
wash this blood from my hands? No, it won’t.
The blood on my hands would turn the green seas to red.
Re-enter LADY MACBETH
LADY MACBETH
My hands are of your colour; but I shame
To wear a heart so white.
My hands are the same color as yours, but I would
be ashamed of myself to have such a weak heart.
Knocking within
I hear a knocking
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.
I hear knocking at the south entrance. Let’s
go to our bedroom. A little water will clean
off this blood. The rest of this is easy!
Your resolve has left you.
Knocking within
Hark! more knocking.
Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us,
And show us to be watchers. Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.
Listen! More knocking.
Get into your pajamas in case someone
sees that we are awake. Snap out of it!
You are lost in a daze!
MACBETH
To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself.
Knowing what I have done, I wish I did not know myself.
Knocking within
Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!
Wake Duncan with your knocking! I would if I could.
Exeunt
The Same
Knocking within. Enter a Porter
Porter
Here's a knocking indeed! If a
man were porter of hell-gate, he should have
old turning the key.
This is a lot of knocking! If a man were the keeper
of hell’s gate, he would grow old opening
the door so often.
Knocking within
Knock,
knock, knock! Who's there, i' the name of
Beelzebub? Here's a farmer, that hanged
himself on the expectation of plenty: come in
time; have napkins enow about you; here
you'll sweat for't.
Knock, knock, knock. Who in the Devil’s name
is there? It’s a famer who hanged himself
when the crops did not grow. Come in, and
have plenty of napkins on you because you’ll
be sweating a lot.
Knocking within
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.
Knock, knock, knock. Who’s there, in the other
devil’s name? Oh, it’s a smooth talking man
who committed treason in God’s name, yet
could not smooth talk his way into heaven.
Come on in, smooth talker.
Knocking within
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.
Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there? I believe
it’s an English tailor who didn’t put enough fabric
into a pair of French hose. Come in, tailor—
it’s hot enough to roast your goose in here!
Knocking within
Knock,
knock; never at quiet! What are you? But
this place is too cold for hell. I'll devil-porter
it no further: I had thought to have let in
some of all professions that go the primrose
way to the everlasting bonfire.
Knock, knock—it’s never quiet! What are you?
But this place is too cold to be hell. I won’t
be the devil-porter any longer. I had it in mind
to let in some all of the professions that
eventually go to hell.
Knocking within
/> Anon, anon! I pray you, remember the porter.
I’m coming, I’m coming! Please be good to the porter.
Opens the gate
Enter MACDUFF and LENNOX
MACDUFF
Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed,
That you do lie so late?
Did you go to be so late, friend, that you
decided to sleep in?
Porter
'Faith sir, we were carousing till the
second cock: and drink, sir, is a great
provoker of three things.
It’s true, sir, we were partying until
three in the morning, and drink, sir,
causes three things.
MACDUFF
What three things does drink especially provoke?
What three things does drink cause?
Porter
Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and
urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes;
it provokes the desire, but it takes
away the performance: therefore, much drink
may be said to be an equivocator with lechery:
it makes him, and it mars him; it sets
him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him,
and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and
not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him
in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.
Well, sir, it causes the nose to turn red