Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Thunder. Enter the three Witches. FIRST WITCH Where hast thou been, sister? SECOND WITCH Killing swine. THIRD WITCH Sister, where thou? FIRST WITCH
A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap
And munched and munched and munched. “Give 5
me,” quoth I.
“Aroint thee, witch,” the rump-fed runnion cries.
Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o’ th’ Tiger;
But in a sieve I’ll thither sail,
And, like a rat without a tail, 10
I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do. | The three witches meet again on the heath and check in about what everyone's been up to. Oh, the usual witchy stuff: one was killing swine; another has been making some poor sailor's life miserable. |
SECOND WITCH
I’ll give thee a wind. FIRST WITCH
Th’ art kind. THIRD WITCH
And I another. FIRST WITCH
I myself have all the other, 15
And the very ports they blow;
All the quarters that they know
I’ th’ shipman’s card.
I’ll drain him dry as hay.
Sleep shall neither night nor day 20
Hang upon his penthouse lid.
He shall live a man forbid.
Weary sev’nnights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.
Though his bark cannot be lost, 25
Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.
Look what I have. | Her sisters are going to help her by depriving him of sleep and by "drain[ing] him dry as hay," which means the sailor's going to have some serious gastro-intestinal problems and/or that he's going to be unable to father children. |
SECOND WITCH Show me, show me. FIRST WITCH
Here I have a pilot’s thumb,
Wracked as homeward he did come. Drum within. 30 THIRD WITCH
A drum, a drum!
Macbeth doth come.
ALL, dancing in a circle
The Weïrd Sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about, 35
Thrice to thine and thrice to mine
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Peace, the charm’s wound up. | Witch #1 also came back with a pilot's thumb, a convenient rhyme for "Macbeth doth come," heralded by "a drum." Hearing Macbeth's approach, the witches dance around in a circle to "wind up" a "charm." |
Enter Macbeth and Banquo. MACBETH
So foul and fair a day I have not seen. | Macbeth and Banquo show up, and Macbeth mentions how this day has been both fair and foul. Hmm. Where have we heard that line before? |
BANQUO
How far is ’t called to Forres?—What are these, 40
So withered, and so wild in their attire,
That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ Earth
And yet are on ’t?—Live you? Or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand
me 45
By each at once her choppy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so. | Banquo notices the witches (they're kind of hard to miss) and speaks to them, using some variety of "You're not from here, are you?" The witches put their fingers to their lips, but that does not deter the perceptive Banquo from noticing their beards. (Yes. Beards. Remember, in Shakespeare's day, men played all the roles, so they wouldn't even have needed any stage make-up to pull this off.) |
MACBETH Speak if you can. What are you? 50 FIRST WITCH
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! SECOND WITCH
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! THIRD WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! | Macbeth tells them to speak, and they hail Macbeth first as Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor, and finally as future King. |
BANQUO
Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair?—I’ th’ name of truth, 55
Are you fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly you 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. 60
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 favors nor your hate. | |
FIRST WITCH Hail! 65 SECOND WITCH Hail! THIRD WITCH Hail! FIRST WITCH
Lesser than Macbeth and greater. SECOND WITCH
Not so happy, yet much happier. THIRD WITCH
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. 70
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! FIRST WITCH
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail! | The witches hail Banquo and give him three tidbits of information: he'll be both lesser and greater than Macbeth; he won't be too happy, but he'll be happier than Macbeth; and he'll be a father to kings, though he will not be a king himself. |
MACBETH
Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more.
By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis.
But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives 75
A prosperous gentleman, and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way 80
With such prophetic greeting. Speak, I charge you. Witches vanish. | Macbeth finally finds his voice. He says he's already the Thane of Glamis but it's hard to imagine becoming Thane of Cawdor, especially because the current Thane of Cawdor is alive. He demands to know where the witches got their information, but, being witches, they don't respond. They just vanish into the foggy, filthy air. |
BANQUO
The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,
And these are of them. Whither are they vanished? MACBETH
Into the air, and what seemed corporal melted,
As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed! 85 BANQUO
Were such things here as we do speak about?
Or have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner? | Needless to say, Banquo and Macbeth are a little weirded out by the weird sisters sudden disappearance. Banquo suggests that maybe they're tripping on some strange herb. |
MACBETH
Your children shall be kings. BANQUO You shall be king. 90 MACBETH
And Thane of Cawdor too. Went it not so? BANQUO
To th’ selfsame tune and words.—Who’s here? | Conversation quickly moves on to the big news about their own fates, as promised by the witches. |
Enter Ross and Angus. ROSS
The King hath happily received, Macbeth,
The news of thy success, and, when he reads
Thy personal venture in the rebels’ fight, 95
His wonders and his praises do contend
Which should be thine or his. Silenced with that,
In viewing o’er the rest o’ th’ selfsame day
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, 100
Strange images of death. As thick as tale
Came post with post, and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom’s great defense,
And poured them down before him. ANGUS We are sent 105
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 honor,
He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor, 110
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane,
For it is thine. | Ross and Angus, two noblemen sent by Duncan (the King), break up the party. Ross passes on that the King is pleased with Macbeth's battle successes of the day, and announces that the King would like to see him, and also that Macbeth is the new Thane of Cawdor. |
BANQUO What, can the devil speak true? MACBETH
The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me
In borrowed robes? 115 ANGUS Who was the Thane lives yet,
But under heavy judgment bears that life
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was
combined
With those of Norway, or did line the rebel 120
With hidden help and vantage, or that with both
He labored in his country’s wrack, I know not;
But treasons capital, confessed and proved,
Have overthrown him. | Wait—what? It's true, Angus says. Yes, the Thane is still alive, but he's being convicted of treason, so his title is up for grabs. And it's Macbeth's. |
MACBETH, aside Glamis and Thane of Cawdor! 125
The greatest is behind. To Ross and Angus. Thanks
for your pains.
Aside to Banquo. Do you not hope your children
shall be kings,
When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me 130
Promised no less to them? BANQUO That, trusted home,
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But ’tis strange.
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, 135
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray ’s
In deepest consequence.—
Cousins, a word, I pray you. They step aside. MACBETH, aside Two truths are told 140
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.—I thank you, gentlemen.
Aside. This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success 145
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
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
Against the use of nature? Present fears 150
Are less than horrible imaginings.
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man
That function is smothered in surmise,
And nothing is but what is not. 155 | Macbeth does some private ruminating. On the one hand, the sisters' first prophecy that Macbeth will be named Thane of Cawdor can't be evil, since it's true. On the other hand, the witch's prophecy could be evil, especially since it's got Macbeth thinking about something naughty. This is where we get the first inkling that Macbeth might be down for a little regicide (fancy word for killing a king). He says he's just had a really awful and disgusting thought about "murder" that's made him feel a little panicky. |
BANQUO Look how our partner’s rapt. | While Macbeth is deep in thought, Banquo comments to Ross and Angus that Macbeth seems "rapt," in a trancelike state. |
MACBETH, aside
If chance will have me king, why, chance may
crown me
Without my stir. BANQUO New honors come upon him, 160
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold
But with the aid of use. MACBETH, aside Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. | Macbeth concludes his dramatic musings and says that he's just going to leave things to "chance." If "chance" wants him to be king, then he will be. |
BANQUO
Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure. 165 MACBETH
Give me your favor. My dull brain was wrought
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains
Are registered where every day I turn
The leaf to read them. Let us toward the King.
Aside to Banquo. Think upon what hath chanced, 170
and at more time,
The interim having weighed it, let us speak
Our free hearts each to other. BANQUO Very gladly. MACBETH Till then, enough.—Come, friends. 175
They exit. | Banquo gently nudges Macbeth with an, "Ahem, we're waiting for you, buddy." Macbeth apologizes for being so distracted and says he's ready to go now. In an aside to Banquo, he suggests they talk about what just went down later, in private. Banquo agrees, and they all head toward Duncan's castle. |