Text of Act 2 Scene 1 in Macbeth
Scene 1
Enter Banquo, and 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 ’tis later, sir.
BANQUO
Hold, take my sword.
He gives his sword to Fleance.
There’s husbandry in heaven;
Their candles are all out. Take thee that too.
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
And yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers,
Restrain in me the cursèd thoughts that nature
Gives way to in repose.
Enter Macbeth, and a Servant with a torch.
Give me my sword.—Who’s
there?
MACBETH A friend.
BANQUO
What, sir, not yet at rest? The King’s abed.
He hath been in unusual pleasure, and
Sent forth great largess to your offices.
This diamond he greets your wife withal,
By the name of most kind hostess, and shut up
In measureless content.
(He gives Macbeth a jewel.)
MACBETH Being unprepared,
Our will became the servant to defect,
Which else should free have wrought.
BANQUO All’s well.
I dreamt last night of the three Weïrd Sisters.
To you they have showed 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 ’tis,
It shall make honor for you.
BANQUO So I lose none
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
I shall be counseled.
MACBETH Good repose the while.
BANQUO Thanks, sir. The like to you.
Banquo and Fleance exit.
MACBETH
Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready,
She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed.
Servant exits.
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch
thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation
Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
He draws his dagger.
Thou marshal’st me the way that I was going,
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o’ th’ 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-half world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate’s off’rings, and withered murder,
Alarumed 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 whereabouts
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.
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.
He exits.
Translated Text of Act 2 Scene 1
Scene 1
Enter Banquo, and Fleance with a torch before him.
BANQUO What time is it?
FLEANCE
I don’t know, but the moon has gone down.
BANQUO And the moon sets at twelve.
FLEANCE I believe it’s later, sir.
BANQUO
Take my sword.
He gives his sword to Fleance.
There’s husbandry in heaven;
All of their candles are all out. Take my belt too.
I am tired,
But I don’t want to sleep. Oh my,
What horrible dreams
I have been having.
Enter Macbeth, and a Servant with a torch.
Give me my sword.—Who’s
there?
MACBETH A friend.
BANQUO
What, sir, why are you not yet in bed? The King is in bed.
He has had a wonderful time, and
Hasn’t stopped talking about you.
This is for your wife,
Who he called a very good hostess, and he has gone to bed
In content.
(He gives Macbeth a diamond.)
MACBETH We are too unprepared,
For the king’s visit,
To properly entertain him.
BANQUO Everything’s fine.
Last night I dreamt of the three Weïrd Sisters.
They have told you some truths about yourself.
MACBETH I don’t think about
them.
We can talk about it,
When we have the time,
If you want.
BANQUO Whatever you want.
MACBETH
If you stay with me, there will be something
In it for you when the time comes.
BANQUO I don’t see why
I shouldn’t help,
As long as my conscious is clear.
MACBETH See you soon.
BANQUO Thanks, sir, you too.
Banquo and Fleance exit.
MACBETH
Go and tell your mistress to strike the bell,
When my drink is ready. Get yourself to bed.
Servant exits.
Is this a dagger I see in front of me,
With its handle pointing toward my hand? Come, let me hold
you.
I don’t have you, but I can still see you.
Fateful apparition, can’t I touch you as well as see you?
Or are you nothing more than a
dagger created by my mind, a
hallucination from my fevered brain?
I can still see you, and you look as real
as this dagger that I have now.
(He draws his dagger.)
You’re leading me toward the place I was heading,
and I was planning on using a weapon just like you.
My eyesight must be the sense that is not working,
Otherwise it is the only one that is. I still see you,
And I see spots of blood on your blade and handle,
That weren’t there before. There is no dagger.
It is the murder I am about to commit that makes
Me think I see a dagger. Now half of the world
Is asleep, and being haunted by
Wicked dreams. Witches offer
Hecate sacrifices, and old murder,
Wakened by the howls of his wolf,
Walkes in a swift and stealthy pace,
Moving like Tarquin, towards his destination
As quiet as a ghost. Firm and hard ground,
Do not hear the direction of my steps, because
I don’t want you to echo where I am
And break the horror-filled stillness of this moment,
A silence which suits what I am about to do. While I talk, Duncan lives.
The more I talk, the more my courage flees.
A bell rings.
I go, and the murder is as good as done. The bell taunts me.
Do not listen to the bell, Duncan, because it
Summons you to either heaven or to hell.
He exits.