The Tragedy of Macbeth, Part II: The Seed of Banquo Read online

GUARDS My liege?

  MALCOLM Go to.

  Exit Guards.

  NURSE She states further that she by birth is rightful Cawdor,

  and that you, usurper, are but the lowly

  son of a slain Duncan, are but a vain

  pretender to the crown.

  MALCOLM Pretender? I?

  NURSE She has it in her sights to avenge both

  her parents’ deaths. Her plan is to finish

  you this very night, whilst you lie

  in sleep. She’s procured a poisoned root,

  which sits e’en now beside your bed.

  MALCOLM Enough!

  Be gone! Both of you!

  Exit Seyton and Nurse.

  MALCOLM O excellent treachery! O practiced piety!

  Most true Macbeth! The grandest deceit

  saved for the grandest villain of them all.

  She urged me to avoid the witches. Why?

  So she could not be prophesied against.

  She was the cause of my killing Macduff:

  for her sake did I slay my loyal friend.

  Her father was indeed Cawdor. Yes:

  through this lens, perhaps she is Cawdor, too.

  ’Tis now all clear. A poisoned root?

  Alas, dear love, could you not at least

  have used a dagger? Could you not

  have met your eyes to mine in that fatal moment,

  as I did for Macduff, as your father

  did for Duncan? If just one ounce of honor

  had descended this Macbeth line; but no—

  the next of kin have multiplied deceit,

  have learned to mask treachery with most

  expert subtlety.

  O practiced nun! O false monk!

  I’ll to our bed and see if such root

  exists. If so, she’ll meet her own deathly

  embrace. O most vile treachery!

  O most true Macbeth!

  Exit.

  SCENE IV

  Dunsinane. Bedroom.

  Lady Malcolm, sleeping.

  Enter Malcolm.

  MALCOLM There is not light enough for the deed,

  though I do not think light enough exists

  to point the way. Here crawls the sun, and still

  the morning bird is silent, as if forgetting

  night has left.

  Perchance the nurse speaks false. My lady’s face

  doth shine with such divinity, I can scarce

  conceive it hides ambition.

  Still, I’ve heard it said aspirers

  sleep soundest of all. Perhaps ’tis but

  yet another tool in her arsenal

  of deceit. And yet I see no root. Perchance—

  Malcolm steps on the root.

  MALCOLM O violent herb!

  What evil shape your branches take, their reach

  aimed right for me. Patience: your poison will flow

  soon enough. But not in my veins.

  I’ll feed my lady this midnight sacrament

  she meant for me, and at least one of us

  will wake absent of earthly worries.

  Malcolm goes to put the root in her mouth.

  MALCOLM Yet, I cannot. Her mouth so sweetly sleeps,

  I dare not feed.

  Then I shall use this dagger, raise it high

  and plunge it quickly, thus not to think upon

  the deed until ’tis done.

  Malcolm raises the dagger.

  MALCOLM Yet, I cannot. The metal shakes, and for all

  the world would not reach her heart.

  Then these hands must do. These hands, so stained,

  must one last time perform.

  Malcolm places his hands around her throat.

 

  MALCOLM Yet, I cannot. The skin is too soft;

  these hands could only stroke her face. What then?

  Allow my would-be murderer to inhabit

  my bed? If I let her live, I murder

  myself. Yet I’ve not the will to be her taker.

  Guards!

  Enter Two Guards.

  MALCOLM Take her away.

  FIRST GUARD Whence, my lord?

  MALCOLM To the gallows.

  SECOND GUARD My lord?

  MALCOLM Do not delay!

  The Guards grab one arm and pull Lady Malcolm out of bed.

  She wakes as they drag her from the room.

  LADY MALCOLM My king! Help me!

  Exeunt all but Malcolm. He weeps.

  SCENE V

  Dunsinane. Courtyard.

  Enter Seyton, Syna, Nurse, Siward, Nobles, Soldiers,

  Attendants, Hangman and a Crowd.

  Enter Lady Malcolm, blindfolded and dragged to the gallows.

  SEYTON Our most treacherous queen, the very mirror

  of her mother, here stands charged with conspiracy

  against our throne. Therefore, by the king’s

  decree, we sentence her to death by hanging.

  The crowd cheers. Lady Malcolm is put on the gallows,

  a rope put about her neck.

  NURSE (aside to Seyton) My lord, I can’t stand by. Already

  I regret my role.

  SEYTON (aside) Be silent!

  NURSE (aside) I had

  supposed my actions would lead to her banishment

  only. My lord, I beg! She resembles too much

  my daughter!

  SYNA (aside) Speak again, old woman, and my

  dagger will speak for you.

  HANGMAN Final words?

  LADY MALCOLM I pray that God may heal your souls, and

  mine;

  and that my parents be remembered as what

  they were, not what they had become.

  ALL Hang her!

  NURSE My lady!

  Lady Malcolm is hanged. Crowd cheers. Nurse weeps.

  SYNA (aside) O throne! Thou art but a ladder step away.

  FIRST CROWD MEMBER See, she invoked her parents. ’Tis

  certain she was evil.

  SECOND CROWD MEMBER ’Twas never any doubt, from the

  moment she aspired.

  THIRD CROWD MEMBER Now can Scotland rest.