The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated)
Page 578
and it makes one sleep and urinate a lot.
It causes lust, but it takes away lust, as well.
meaning, it causes one to feel lustful but takes
away the ability to do anything about it. Lots
of drinking makes a man feel lustful, but it
renders him useless, in this regard. It turns his on,
and it turns him off. It makes him have an erection,
but the erection does not stay. Drink makes a man dream
of having sex, but then drink knocks the man down,
and the dream leaves.
MACDUFF
I believe drink gave thee the lie last night.
I believe drink knocked you down 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.
That it did, sir. Drink got me in the very throat. But I
got back at him for knocking me down. I was too strong
for him. Although he made my legs unsteady, I vomited
him up again.
MACDUFF
Is thy master stirring?
Is Macbeth awake?
Enter MACBETH
Our knocking has awaked him; here he comes.
Our knocking woke him up; here he comes.
LENNOX
Good morrow, noble sir.
Good morning, noble sir!
MACBETH
Good morrow, both.
Good morning to both of you!
MACDUFF
Is the king stirring, worthy thane?
Is the king awake yet, worthy thane?
MACBETH
Not yet.
Not yet.
MACDUFF
He did command me to call timely on him:
I have almost slipp'd the hour.
He commanded me to wake him up early.
I almost missed the hour he wanted me here.
MACBETH
I'll bring you to him.
I’ll take you to him.
MACDUFF
I know this is a joyful trouble to you;
But yet 'tis one.
I know this is a joyful trouble to you
to have him here, but trouble all the same.
MACBETH
The labour we delight in physics pain.
This is the door.
The effort we enjoy overcomes the pain.
Here is the door.
MACDUFF
I'll make so bold to call,
For 'tis my limited service.
I will go in and wake him,
since it is my job to do so.
Exit
LENNOX
Goes the king hence to-day?
Does the king leave today?
MACBETH
He does: he did appoint so.
He does, that is what he planned.
LENNOX
The night has been unruly: where we lay,
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 confused events
New hatch'd to the woeful time: the obscure bird
Clamour'd the livelong night: some say, the earth
Was feverous and did shake.
The night has been stormy; where we slept
our chimneys were blown down and people are saying
they heard laments and cries in the night, and strange
screams of death, and voices speaking in other languages
predicting terrible events and a sad time to come.
The veiled bird called out all night long: some say the earth
was feverish and trembled.
MACBETH
'Twas a rough night.
It was a rough night.
LENNOX
My young remembrance cannot parallel
A fellow to it.
In my short lifetime I cannot remember
another like it.
Re-enter MACDUFF
MACDUFF
O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart
Cannot conceive nor name thee!
Oh, horror, horror, horror! There are no words
to describe the unbelievable thing I have just seen!
MACBETH LENNOX
What's the matter.
What’s the matter?
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!
Confusion has created his masterpiece!
A sacrilegious murderer has broken
into the temple and has stolen its life!
MACBETH
What is 't you say? the life?
What are you saying? What do you mean, ‘the life?’
LENNOX
Mean you his majesty?
Do you mean the king?
MACDUFF
Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight
With a new Gorgon: do not bid me speak;
See, and then speak yourselves.
Go into the bedroom and witness the awful sight
yourselves. What is there will make you freeze in horror.
Do not ask me to describe it.
Go and see for yourselves and then you can describe it.
Exeunt MACBETH and LENNOX
Awake, awake!
Ring the alarum-bell. Murder and treason!
Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake!
Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit,
And look on death itself! up, up, and see
The great doom's image! Malcolm! Banquo!
As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites,
To countenance this horror! Ring the bell.
Wake up! Wake up! Murder and treason!
Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm! Wake up!
Shake off your sleep that is like death,
and look at death itself! Get up, get up,
and see the face of death! Malcolm! Banquo!
Get out of your grave-like beds and walk like spirits
to witness 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!
What’s going on? What causes that hideous
trumpet to wake the sleepers of the house?
Speak! Tell me!
MACDUFF
O gentle lady,
'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak:
The repetition, in a woman's ear,
Would murder as it fell.
Oh, gentle lady, it is not for you to hear
what I cannot speak. To repeat it, in a woman’s
ear, would kill as the words were spoken.
Enter BANQUO
O Banquo, Banquo,
Our royal master 's murder'd!
Oh, Banquo, Banquo,
Our royal master has been murdered!
LADY MACBETH
Woe, alas!
What, in our house?
Oh, no! How awful!
Here, in our house?
BANQUO
Too cruel any where.
Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself,
And say it is not so.
It would be too cruel no matter where it happened.
Dear Duff, please, say you are lying.
Say it is not so.
Re-enter MACBETH and LENNOX, with ROSS
MACBETH
Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time; for, from this
instant,
There 's nothing serious in mortality:
All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.
If I had died just an hour before this happened,
I would have had a blessed life. But from this moment on,
there’s nothing serious that makes life worthwhile.
Everything is of little importance: the famous and graceful
king is dead. The wine of life has been poured, and all that
is left in the barrel to speak of is dregs.
Enter MALCOLM and DONALBAIN
DONALBAIN
What is amiss?
What’s wrong here?
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.
You are, and do not know it:
the spring, the head, the fountain of your blood
has stopped. The very source of it has stopped.
MACDUFF
Your royal father 's murder'd.
Your royal father has been murdered.
MALCOLM
O, by whom?
Oh? Who did it?
LENNOX
Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done 't:
Their hands and faces were an badged with blood;
So were their daggers, which unwiped we found
Upon their pillows:
They stared, and were distracted; no man's life
Was to be trusted with them.
The guards of his bedroom, it seems, have done it.
Their hands and faces were marked with blood.
So were their daggers, which we found, un-wiped,
upon their pillows: they stared at us, 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.
I regret now that I was so furious I killed them.
MACDUFF
Wherefore did you so?
Why did you go and do that?
MACBETH
Who can be wise, amazed, temperate and furious,
Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man:
The expedition my violent love
Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan,
His silver skin laced with his golden blood;
And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature
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 kno wn?
Who can be wise, shocked, fair and furious,
loyal and neutral, all at the same time? No man can:
my violent reaction was born out of love and it outran
my reason. There lay Duncan, his white skin covered
with his royal blood, and the gashes stabbed in him
looked like a sin against nature, allowing for death
to make such a wasteful entry. There were the murderers,
steeped in the guilt of their act, with their discourteous
daggers covered with blood. Who that loved Duncan
could keep himself from doing what I did?
LADY MACBETH
Help me hence, ho!
Help me out of here now!
MACDUFF
Look to the lady.
Take care of the lady.
MALCOLM
[Aside to DONALBAIN] Why do we hold our tongues,
That most may claim this argument for ours?
[Aside to DONALBAIN] Why are we not saying anything
when we could say so much, being his sons?
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;
Our tears are not yet brew'd.
[Aside to MALCOLM] What could we say here,
where our fate, hidden in a drilled hole,
could rush out at any moment and seize us?
Let’s get out of here.
We are not ready to cry yet.
MALCOLM
[Aside to DONALBAIN] Nor our strong sorrow
Upon the foot of motion.
[Aside to DONALBAIN] And we are not ready
to put our strong sorrow into action yet.
BANQUO
Look to the lady:
Take care of 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,
To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us:
In the great hand of God I stand; and thence
Against the undivulged pretence I fight
Of treasonous malice.
When we have dressed for the day let’s meet
and try to figure out this murderous act so that
we may understand what happened. We are shaken
by fear and doubt. By God’s hand I plan to fight
against this secret plot of treason and malice.
MACDUFF
And so do I.
I do, too.
ALL
So all.
We all do.
MACBETH
Let's briefly put on manly readiness,
And meet i' the hall together.
Let’s get properly dressed
and meet in the hall together.
ALL
Well contented.
That sounds good.
Exeunt 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'll to England.
What are you going to do? Let’s not meet with them.
It’s easy to show sorrow you don’t really feel
if you are a liar. I’ll go to England.
DONALBAIN
To Ireland, I; our separated fortune
Shall keep us both the safer: where we are,
There's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood,
The nearer bloody.
I’ll go to Ireland. We will have better luck
of staying safe if we separate. There are daggers
in men’s smiles here. Our relatives are the most
likely to kill us.
MALCOLM
This murderous shaft that's shot
Hath not yet lighted, and our safest way
Is to avoid the aim. Therefore, to horse;
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.
We may be in harm’s way, but it has not found us
yet. The safest thing to do it to avoid it. So, let’s
get on our horses and leave without goodbyes.
There’s no mercy here, and that is good reason to leave.
Exeunt
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 trifled former knowings.
I can remember the past seventy years.
In that time, I’ve seen dreadful times and strange things,
but this awful night has made that all seem like nothing.
ROSS
Ah, good father,
Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled
with man's act,
Threaten his bloody stage: by the clock, 'tis 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?
Oh, good father, you can see that the skies are troubled
and threaten the bloody earth. It is day, but darkness,
like the night, strangles the sun. Is it because night is stronger,
or because the day is so full of shame that darkness
overtakes the earth when the light of day should bless it?
Old Man
'Tis unnatural,
Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last,
A falcon, towering in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd.
It’s unnatural, just like the murder that has taken place.
Last Tuesday a falcon, circling in the sky with pride,
was killed by a hawk that usually only goes after mice.
ROSS
And Duncan's horses--a thing most strange and certain--
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race,
Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,