The Tragedy of Macbeth Part II Read online

  MALCOLM Those words I long to hear, not by my voice but by yours, for love a single voice cannot create. The witches said I would love Macbeth. I knew not what it meant until this day.

  MACBETH Speak not to me of witches. They are things of darkness.

  MALCOLM They tricked me to take my brother’s life; yet they also led me unto you.

  MACBETH And now you are a murderer.

  MALCOLM Please, use not that word so freely.

  MACBETH You’ll needn’t hear it soon enough, as I shall be silenced by the gallows.

  MALCOLM I shall arrange your release.

  MACBETH Upon what condition?

  MALCOLM None. As I am king.

  MACBETH Then I shall humbly thank you and take my leave. What, my lord? Why do you block the gate?

  MALCOLM Every woman in Scotland has petitioned me to marry. Do you scorn what others crave?

  MACBETH I crave naught but piety, which I’ll not find in a murderer’s arms.

  MALCOLM You know me only as this. Before today I was a wise and valiant king, who dearly loved the brother he so rashly slayed. O Donalbain! Malcolm weeps.

  MACBETH ’Tis a heavy deed you have committed. Yet penance is possible for all of God’s children.

  MALCOLM Then there is hope?

  MACBETH There is always hope.

  MALCOLM E’en for my hand?

  MACBETH I am not a queen, my lord. I would not crave the title.

  MALCOLM ’Tis why it should be yours. I pray you, my lady, consider what I propose: Scotland needs an heir. If you desire penance for your parents’ past deeds, then you have found the place. You need not love me yet. Just take my hand in marriage and let time teach the rest.

  MACBETH ’Tis folly, my lord. Would you have your subjects convert their most hated villain into their beloved queen?

  MALCOLM My people are but an extension of my will—they shall be pleased by that which pleases me. My lady, I vow to repent deeply my actions past; to renounce all violence; and to ne’er again seek the witches. I will become the king I was.

  MACBETH My life was took with the news of my unhappy origin. You would wed but an empty shell.

  MALCOLM They say that shells encase the secrets of the deep. I’d rather such shell than the oyster-laden pearl.

  MACBETH Then, as you will. They kiss. Exeunt.

  SCENE II

  Dunsinane.

  Enter Malcolm, Macduff, Siward, Seyton and Attendants.

  MACDUFF My lord, she must be hanged! Stand you by whilst a Macbeth is here set free?

  MALCOLM I am king, and she is free.

  SEYTON My liege, Macduff speaks true. Our soil is still stained by the reign of the Macbeths. If the past the future paints, this rose you now release will one day show its thorns, pricking not just you but our entire court.

  MALCOLM The key’s long lost; she roams freely. Further, she is now my guest in Dunsinane. I’ve given her parents’ quarters to her, and you shall know that I mean to make of her my queen.

  SEYTON Queen!

  SIWARD What!

  MACDUFF Queen Macbeth!

  MALCOLM “Lady Malcolm” shall she be called—not Macbeth.

  SEYTON How will the people abide?

  MALCOLM Have they not hoped for an heir? Now they can be content.

  MACDUFF An heir—not a Macbeth!

  MALCOLM A Malcolm.

  SEYTON Have we then ousted the parents only to grant dominion to the seed?

  MALCOLM By this royal act the growing multitude distresssed over my brother’s death will also be distracted. Including myself.

  SIWARD Donalbain defied your decree and breached our shores with brandished arms. Sure as he stepped foot on Scottish soil, death became him.

  MALCOLM Say again, traitor, and you will hang. My brother shall be enshrined as the hero he was; a statue is being erected as we speak. He died a hero; it shall be spoke no other.

  MACDUFF Do you think it wise, my lord, to let a Macbeth gain control of half the throne?

  MALCOLM Kings control thrones, not queens.

  SEYTON Then to let the bloodline of Macbeth be heir to Scotland’s throne?

  MALCOLM Evil does not always come by blood.

  SEYTON Yet evil of such proven depth cannot filter with ease.

  MALCOLM The prophecy for succession lies in the seed of Banquo, not Macbeth. I see no harm thereby. Therefore, occupy yourselves with the preparation. We marry tomorrow: Saint Andrew’s Day.

  MACDUFF Think you now the most opportune time for a wedding? Norway prepares.

  SEYTON And we shall lose the chase with Lennox, Angus and Ross.

  SIWARD We must stop them before they reach the Irish shore.

  MALCOLM I have spoken. Go to. Exeunt all but Macduff.

  MACDUFF My lord, if you recall that fateful day, ’twas I who found your father’s bloody corpse, carved cruelly at the hand of a Macbeth. No seed of such a monster can be pure.

  MALCOLM When you found him, did you know it was the work of Macbeth?

  MACDUFF I suspected thus.

  MALCOLM Yet I knew it the moment the bell tolled. We fled; yet you remained.

  MACDUFF I was not certain.

  MALCOLM But I was. Just as I am now; and just as you again are not. You have proved a wise and loyal friend; but counsel me not on the nature of my Lady Malcolm. Go to.

  MACDUFF (aside) I cannot abide while he builds a ladder for a Macbeth’s ascent. If too clouded by love to guard himself, then I must for him. I will confont the evil offspring, and dissuade her from this place. If not, I’ll bring a dagger, and perform the task myself. Better I should hang, than Scotland slowly strangle. Exeunt.

  SCENE III

  Seyton’s castle.

  Enter Seyton and Syna.

  SYNA Marriage! To a Macbeth!

  SEYTON Calm, my child—

  SYNA Calm! Calm! Malcolm is mine! By your word, I am set to marry! Not to be passed over for a harlot from Iona, a fake monk stealing into Dunsinane to snatch away my ring! I will be queen!

  SEYTON Malcolm had never consented to your—

  SYNA I had consented! What need I from him? You pretend to have his ear. Fool! You have only influence enough to make a mockery of your own flesh: to see me, your own issue, thus debased.

  SEYTON I did not—

  SYNA Or are you so powerless you cannot sway a feeble king to glance at your own seed, to behold the best beauty in his land?

  SEYTON I petitioned many times. He promised an audience. But not to wed. He was against marriage—

  SYNA Against! Against! He is clearly for. Just not for you.

  SEYTON There is little I can do. He is set to marry tomorrow.

  SYNA Never shall sun that morrow see! What, do you plan to sit idly by and have a stranger make your daughter husbandless? Make you bereft of royal lineage? Have you lost all desire for the crown?

  SEYTON I have desire—

  SYNA Then act on that desire!

  SEYTON I have tried. He is resolved.

  SYNA You’ve not tried hard enough. Malcolm cannot marry a corpse.

  SEYTON Do not speak thus. Suspicion of the deed would fall on us. Malcolm, unhinged, would then never marry. I have a better way. I know a certain nurse who, for a sum, will attend our newfound queen, and report to me her private doings. I can then inform our Malcolm of his lady’s true intent, and thereby convert him ’gainst his false beloved. Then you, my willful Syna, will I present to him.

  SYNA A fair plan. I begin to calm. But what if this nurse finds no evil in this ugly, villainous thing?

  SEYTON Better to find in her an ounce of the real thing; but if there’s none, why, we shall create. I know just the woman: a servant who suffered greatly by the hand of Macbeth. But, my daughter, if we should fail—

  SYNA We fail? How your weakness sickens me! You are Syna’s father. Act in kind! Fail me again, and I shall tell Malcolm of all your machinations, and see you hang, e’en if my head rolls with yours. The queen’s throne lies in my grasp; I s
hall not rest until it’s mine. Exeunt.

  SCENE IV

  Dunsinane. Macbeth’s bedroom.

  Macbeth, seated. Enter Macduff.

  MACDUFF (aside) What illusion is this? She sits so soft, prayer beads on knuckles white, as if to shame me for holding this hidden means of death. But I must not steer from the required course. And surely she feigns. No Macbeth would e’er embrace a rosary, unless to pray for greater treachery. (to her) Lady Macbeth. Or shall I dub thee Lady Malcolm?

  MACBETH For a few hours more I am Macbeth, yet you may dub me as you wish. Who, pray, are you? Why such silent entrance?

  MACDUFF I am Macduff, husband of the slain Lady Macduff, father of the boy Macduff: all my pretty ones, all butchered by your parents’ hand.

  MACBETH Alas! Reports of their tyranny do not seem to cease. I will include your child and lady in my long list of abridged souls. I pray for your forgiveness.

  MACDUFF (aside) Is such piety practiced? Is she more skilled in the art of deception than even her parents? I will out her yet. (to her) You needn’t pray on your father’s behalf. I’ve already sent him to Hades, dispatched him with this very sword: I am the man of no woman born.

  MACBETH A Gabriel sent to an unrepentant Sodom. As my father’s taker, I cannot offer you my thanks; but as courier of the One above, I will accept your decree.

  MACDUFF (aside) What? Does not e’en this taunt her to true color? ’Tis unnatural to not show the least sign of enmity. I falter in my resolve. Out with it, then. (to her) Lady, to the point: as I have known your father and mother both too well, I know you better than you know yourself. If you truly be their issue, then we need only wait ’til the day you hatch and subvert us all, when your latent ambition will, and must, reach beyond these castle walls. To prevent, I demand you take your leave at once, and tell our Malcolm you will not marry. For to protect him is my sworn duty, and by my honor, I shall not allow him to be vanquished by one so close.

  MACBETH You perform your duty well. Would that I had such a trusted friend. Yet I cannot concede. I answer only to the Lord above, and I do now believe He has put me here to atone for my parents’ sins.

  MACDUFF Have I slain your father only to kneel to his seed?

  MACBETH Kneel not to me, but to God.

  MACDUFF I stopped kneeling the day He took from me all that was dear: my whole life stole in one fateful missive. All I have left is a hardened heart, and guilt for my cowardice. O! Would that I had stayed! Macduff weeps. Macbeth rises from the throne and embraces him.

  MACBETH O terrible fortune! Most foul Macbeth. Detestable thy name! A name I’ll change in a few hours more; yet I do not think a simple service will wipe clean the sins of my lineage. If punishing myself would lessen your great loss, I would it gladly undergo. Macduff reaches up to embrace her, and his knife falls to the floor. Macbeth backs away.

  MACDUFF O my lady! Forgive! ’Twas a dagger meant for you—a dagger I shall never use! Now I see that thou art not the stamp of thine own parents, but a true seraph. Punish your would-be murderer: if thou desirest now my hanging, I shall hasten to the gallows.

  MACBETH I desire nothing but the lifting of thy guilt.

  MACDUFF Can it be? I’m shamed to the neck. Thou art my true, sworn queen; I vow to serve thee ever after. If I could not protect Lady Macduff, at least I can shield you. What a fortunate king Malcolm shall be! What a fortunate land Scotland! Exit Macduff.

  MACBETH Not as fortunate as thou dost think. I spoke to Malcolm that I’d ne’er known love, and ’twas true. Yet not anymore: Macduff, thou hast educated. It is a wisdom I wish I lacked. O faithless queen! O Dunsinane! Can your walls so quickly corrupt? Exeunt.

  SCENE V

  Dunsinane. Courtyard.

  A lavish wedding ceremony.

  Enter Malcolm, Macbeth, Macduff, Siward, various Nobles and Attendants.

  Enter Nurse.

  NURSE Such ceremony stands me right on edge. Good flowers torn to shreds; ’twill be a mess to clean. And flower girls, dressed in such finery: frivoling the time when they could be at home, mending clothes and scrubbing floors, as I did at their age. When I was wed, no one came to gape. My husband paid but half a pence, and they cheered us with a pint of ale. Such was our marriage ceremony. No flowers lived in that place; no silks or brocade, as I was the only lady there.

  Enter Seyton.

  SEYTON ’Tis an odd turn in events. I cannot recall in kind. But yesterday this rabble cried for her head; now they cheer her crowning. Art thou studied on the business to be done?

  NURSE But look: how they lavish her with sparkling jewels, promote her with a royal crown. When I was married, I was handed a stick to beat back fleas, crowned with a net to hold back lice—

  SEYTON I say, nurse, art thou clear? For I will not part with this treasure ’til you parrot back my purpose. If not, I’ll find another.

  NURSE Clear? Why, yes, of course: clear as a day in Scotland when the fog lifts, clear as a—

  SEYTON Nurse!

  NURSE The business is simple enough. I will attend our newly minted queen, present myself as nurse to her, and use this pretense to catch her words and malign her to the king.

  SEYTON To me. You will report to me. You’ll not report to Malcolm ’cept—

  NURSE Yes, yes, clear enough.

  SEYTON And if you witness no vices, what then?

  NURSE Then I shall encourage.

  SEYTON And if without success?

  NURSE Then I’ll invent.

  SEYTON Thou art artful in thy craft.

  NURSE ’Tis hardly a craft demanding art. For treachery is our oldest profession. One need summon naught but instinct, that warder of the brain, and let it freely work. Besides, I hardly lack for motive: Lady Macbeth daily used me as her whipping thing. She carved these scars upon my back; still not satisfied, she turned then to my daughter, and had her lynched for spying. I vowed revenge yet never it fulfilled. In death I cannot touch the mother; but here her daughter I can reach. Revenge so imperfect imperfectly sates, yet satisfies more than none at all.

  SEYTON Here’s the purse. Perform your business quickly. We cannot allow this vine to take its root too deep, past the point we cannot extract. Exit Seyton.

  NURSE You needn’t tutor me, old man. I am so practiced in my craft, that this new queen comes as a lamb to slaughter. She shall meet her new nurse—and crave physic thereafter. Exit.

  SCENE I

  Dunsinane. Queen’s chamber.

  Lady Malcolm, seated on throne, with Attendants, and Nurse.

  Enter First Petitioner.

  FIRST PETITIONER Your Majesty: I petition for my mother. Our estate was seized at your parents’ hands, and we live now on but a portion of what we once were. I have tried to entreat the king but cannot gain audience. God bless you for seeing me on this auspicious day.

  LADY MALCOLM Where is the plot?

  FIRST PETITIONER By Edinburgh, near the sea. My mother is frail, and the reinstatement of this place where she was born would grant years more to her virtuous life.

  LADY MALCOLM Have you proof of your claim?

  FIRST PETITIONER Here, my lady. Hands her scroll.

  LADY MALCOLM So it reads. I shall petition the king on your behalf and urge him to set wrongs right. Please pardon my parents’ faults.

  FIRST PETITIONER God save the Queen! Exit First Petitioner.

  NURSE (aside) What’s this? A fair Macbeth? The ears deceive. Surely it is for show; she’ll tear that scroll when the moment suits. O graceful cunning! True compatriot!

  Enter Second Petitioner.

  SECOND PETITIONER Your Highness, if your gracious spirit would extend to yet another, I entreat you hear my case. The jewels you wear about your wrist were hewed by myself, a gift for my daughter on her wedding day. Your mother spied them on her way to court and claimed them as her own.

  LADY MALCOLM A daughter bereft of a wedding jewel! Forgive. Have you proof of what you claim?

  SECOND PETITIONER Here, my lady. (hands her scro
ll) Signatures of fivescore villagers who witnessed my furnishing of the bracelet. Here, too— (hands her a jewel) —a jewel not included. You can see from the fashion it could have been made by no other.

  LADY MALCOLM So it is. Lady Malcolm takes off the bracelet and hands it to Second Petitioner.

  SECOND PETITIONER Heaven forfend I should deprive you of your wedding gift on your wedding day! I do not mean to take that which is already yours, but to ask for recompense in some lesser form.

  LADY MALCOLM It is an ancient tradition to hear petitions on a nuptial day, and thus you do me more service. I would not wear this bracelet for half the world. Accept it, please, with a humble plea that you my mother pardon.

  SECOND PETITIONER God save Her Highness! Most noble Macbeth! Exit Second Petitioner.

  NURSE (aside) Even so? O royalty! How well thou sits when not driven by base desire. Much have my eyes seen, but such displays of justice I could not predict. I waver in my resolve. Then for the sake of my dead daughter, I shall offer jewels which no woman can reject, and therein begin the lady’s corruption.

  LADY MALCOLM As we have now concluded a long line of requests, I ask that you all leave me. Retire, please, to your own rooms, and there attend to your own needs. I have no need for servants. Exeunt all Attendants, but Nurse.

  NURSE My lady, it seems there is one piece of business that you have missed.

  LADY MALCOLM Which piece?

  NURSE Why, the crown. Why did you thrust it off so soon? I’ve brought it here to regain its rightful seat.

  LADY MALCOLM Thanks, dear nurse, but I am content unadorned. I’ve no desire for such frighftul ornaments. Pray, return the crown to its storage place, from my sight hid.

  NURSE But, my queen—

  LADY MALCOLM Is there yet more?

  NURSE Why, the very scepter of your mother. Borne for centuries by Scottish queens, it never left their side. ’Tis fit that you now brandish it, in display of regal privilege.

  LADY MALCOLM My privilege lies only in God’s good grace. I pray you, store this with the other, there to remain until beckoned by one more regal-like. Now, good nurse, I pray you, leave me so that I may execute the evening’s prayers.