The Tragedy of Macbeth Part II Read online

  NURSE (aside) ’Tis not possible. But yesterday I had been certain ’twas a just mission; now in her I see the likeness of my own daughter. O wretched task! To avenge the one I must harm the other. Alas: I am yet but young in deed. (to Lady Malcolm) Pray let these ornaments stay for just this night, so that the people do not see the honors of your royal office disdained on their initiation day. Exit Nurse.

  LADY MALCOLM Would I were uninitiated still. Such sights did not move me a day before. O hideous crown! Stare not at me so. Pray God, let me look elsewhere; for whilst in such proximity it sits, I cannot ignore. (Lady Malcolm approaches and touches the crown) Thou dost feel like any other metal; yet thine elements run deep. Too deep, I fear, for a novice queen. O! Macbeth! Can one simple jewel change thy nature? O! Iona! Where hast thou gone? Exit.

  SCENE II

  Dunsinane. Dining hall.

  Enter Malcolm, Lady Malcolm, Macduff, Seyton, Siward,

  Syna, Nurse, various Nobles and Attendants.

  MALCOLM Friends, nobles. Tonight we raise a glass unto the resurrection of Macbeth: a new Macbeth, more virtuous by far than would the name imply. A true queen for our land, and a lady I beam to call wife. To Lady Malcolm!

  ALL To Lady Malcolm!

  MALCOLM Fortune smiles upon the heels of such unhappy prologue. Reports spread fast of our queen’s virtues, and the land begins to brim with cheer. We shall vanquish imprudent Norway, and I will yield to Scotland heirs!

  ALL Hear, hear!

  MALCOLM My queen? Add you to the general speech?

  LADY MALCOLM Your speech does me too great a service. Naught is fit to add, but only to subtract.

  SYNA Surely, our newfound queen, you can bolster your husband’s words?

  LADY MALCOLM A husband’s words do not need bolstering, nor should a lady presume to amend.

  MALCOLM Well spoken. A day to mark all days. I only wish it were not marred by the death of my dear brother. Sirrah!

  ATTENDANT Yes, my lord?

  MALCOLM How stands my brother’s statue?

  ATTENDANT The sculptors work on it throughout the night, as you have instructed.

  MALCOLM Add a score more to their company.

  ATTENDANT Yes, my lord. Attendant exits.

  MALCOLM To my beloved brother, who died a hero’s death. They raise their glasses and drink.

  MALCOLM A drop has fallen on my cuff. It settles, see. It will not wash for all the world.

  Enter Ghost of Donalbain. Malcolm stares, frozen.

  MACDUFF Your highness?

  LADY MALCOLM What is it, my lord? Why stare you so?

  MALCOLM ’Tis not possible.

  MACDUFF Why do you gape at but a vacant seat?

  MALCOLM Vacant? Vacant!? If so, then half the world is uninhabited. Speak, brother! Rebuke me, as befits. Siward draws.

  SIWARD What, Donalbain? Where?

  MACDUFF My lord, you invent.

  MALCOLM Speak, dear brother: chastise me in your rage. What? Not even this? Not a word for your former self?

  LADY MALCOLM My lord, you are unwell. I pray you—

  MALCOLM What, Duncan, too? His crown still crooked, blood pouring from his wounds. Forgive me, Father: I have erased your better half. What, Macbeth, too? And his lady? What a bloody feast is this! Ghouls aligned to hate one more ghoulish than they. Vacant! Ha! This table is too full. ’Tis yours. I’d rather sup in the midnight air. Exit Malcolm.

  LADY MALCOLM I pray your patience. My lord is exceedingly tired. Exit Lady Malcolm. Exuent others.

  SCENE III

  Balcony.

  Malcolm, pacing.

  Enter Lady Malcolm.

  LADY MALCOLM My lord? You are unwell.

  MALCOLM I shall never be well, so long as I wear this blood of Donalbain’s. See, it won’t come out.

  LADY MALCOLM ’Tis not your brother’s blood, my lord. ’Tis but a drop of wine.

  MALCOLM Then what a potent drop it is! I will not set foot in that room again.

  LADY MALCOLM Nor need you, ever.

  MALCOLM I begin to calm, with you here by my side. This night air does me rightful good. Already the scene begins to lift.

  LADY MALCOLM You are well in health but not in spirit. I charge you: light a candle for your dear brother, and join me in my nightly prayers. Tomorrow we’ll to the chapel, where you can make rightful amends.

  MALCOLM Cawdor alone can touch. But I am he.

  LADY MALCOLM My lord?

  MALCOLM I must know how it ends.

  LADY MALCOLM What ends, my lord?

  MALCOLM Why, my life. Or, rather, Cawdor’s. They spoke of Birnam, and so it was. They spoke of Ireland; from there he came.They must amend my prophecy!

  LADY MALCOLM Heaven forfend! Did you not vow to ne’er see them again?

  MALCOLM An oath I made in haste. I needs must know that I cannot be touched. Forgive, my love: their drug sits deep. I crave yet one last dose.

  LADY MALCOLM Vile creatures! Satan’s puppets! I pray you, do not break your vow on our wedding night.

  MALCOLM I will promise other things, and those I will keep. Hark! The bell invites. We will have other nights. Exit Malcolm.

  LADY MALCOLM I fear not as many as we may wish. Exit.

  SCENE IV

  Witches’ place.

  Enter Malcolm.

  MALCOLM This place is too cold for hell. Cursed sisters! Where hide you?

  VOICE Here, Malcolm!

  MALCOLM A voice! As the breath of a demon crossed with a dog’s. From whence came this? The fog my vision blinds.

  VOICE Descend, Malcolm!

  MALCOLM The trail leads down.

  Cavern.

  MALCOLM What place is this? ’Tis darker than the depths of night.

  Enter Three Witches, with torch.

  FIRST WITCH Hail, King of Scotland!

  SECOND WITCH Thane of Cawdor, hail!

  THIRD WITCH Hail, Malcolm, who shall be touched by no man but Cawdor!

  MALCOLM (aside) Again do they speak thus. I feel settled already. (to them) No man, say you?

  FIRST WITCH Bid us summon our devils and you shall know further.

  MALCOLM I bid you.

  Enter First Apparition.

  MALCOLM What awful illusion is this? It squirms as a snake, yet wears the head of a man-child.

  FIRST APPARITION Fleance will attack. But you shall find him first. Exit First Apparition.

  MALCOLM Find him first? Then I’ll stop him! What else have you, ladies? I bid, summon!

  Enter Second Apparition.

  MALCOLM What’s this? A horned helmet with no face?

  SECOND APPARITION Norway shall invade, but will not win. You shall be greater than she, yet lesser. Exit Second Apparition.

  MALCOLM Greater yet lesser? Strange indeed. Yet Norway shall not win—’tis all that counts.

  FIRST WITCH Are ye satisfied?

  MALCOLM Tell me of my lady…. Will there be an heir?

  SECOND WITCH We bid you not press further.

  MALCOLM Summon! I charge you!

  THIRD WITCH Thane, some mirrors are best turned round.

  MALCOLM I demand!

  Enter Third Apparition.

  MALCOLM Send it back! This two-headed beast scorns with a visage borrowed from my father and brother both! Send it back I tell you!

  THIRD APPARITION Your union shall not last. Torn asunder it shall be, by man of no woman born. Exit Third Apparition.

  MALCOLM How dreadful such things exist! Whence summoned you this creature?

  FIRST WITCH ’Tis not for your knowledge.

  MALCOLM Shall not last? Why, ’tis false. Man of no woman born? Macduff only. But he would not—she would not—’tis foolery. Tell me more!

  SECOND WITCH You have overstayed your welcome, Scotland.

  ALL By the pricking of our thumbs, something wicked this way comes. Witches vanish.

  MALCOLM Stay! I charge you, stay! Exit.

  SCENE V

  Dunsinane. Dining hall.

 
Seyton, Siward and Macduff, seated.

  SIWARD ’Tis as if Macbeth were resurrected. I fear he is unwell.

  SEYTON Do you fear it? I fear something greater.

  MACDUFF Of what do you speak?

  SEYTON Do you think such a sudden shift in nature hails unprovoked? That it hath no tutor?

  SIWARD Pray, who?

  SEYTON Why, our new queen.

  MACDUFF ’Tis false.

  SEYTON Her nurse informed me of a plot—

  MACDUFF Villain! You lie! Lady Malcolm is the very portrait of virtue—she will not be touched. The cause of Malcolm’s malady lies in his sudden grief.

  SEYTON ’Tis as I heard.

  MACDUFF I will not hear more of this. And speak not of it further. Exit Macduff.

  SIWARD A defensive soul.

  SEYTON Perhaps he and the queen each other know too well?

  SIWARD Think you?

  SEYTON Why else so heated o’er a stranger?

  SIWARD I hadn’t thought.

  SEYTON Be sure, the queen doth stand behind Malcolm’s descent. Morn ’til night she whispers in his ear, stirring him to greater ambition.

  SIWARD What greater ambition for a king?

  SEYTON Why, the safety of that kingship.

  SIWARD By what means?

  SEYTON The removal of all too close.

  SIWARD What!

  SEYTON Why else would Lady Macbeth orphan her child?

  SIWARD I hadn’t thought.

  SEYTON To ensure the safety of the Macbeths. She knew her fatal games could bring her early death and thus stowed her seed in reserve, that it might sprout whene’er the time was right.

  SIWARD O most treacherous lineage!

  SEYTON And when this new Macbeth has fulfilled her plan, Malcolm will have us buried far beneath the ground, Then she will poison Malcolm—as did her mother gracious Duncan—and claim the throne alone.

  SIWARD Ignoble scheme! O true heir to Macbeth!

  SEYTON Shall we wait for that dreadful day?

  SIWARD Never! Still crave I vengeance for the murder of my young Siward. Since her father lives no more, she can do the trick.

  SEYTON Then listen close, and we will oust her yet. Exeunt.

  SCENE I

  Dunsinane. Malcolm’s chamber.

  Enter Malcolm, by window.

  MALCOLM O Donalbain! Your statue rises tall. Stare not so marble-eyed upon your brother.

  Enter Ghost of Macbeth.

  How, say you? Why, ’tis not your throne. Exit Ghost of Macbeth. What, gone so soon? Macbeth, thy spirit taunts. Each morn thou perches owl-like on this sill, only to depart as sudden. The dead should not be granted such choice of place.

  Enter Ghost of Banquo.

  What, Banquo, too? You join in this parade of ghosts, yet I was not your taker. It is the walls of Dunsinane that have trapped you. Exit Ghost of Banquo. Then I am alone. Duncan and Donalbain dare not alight; I am too low for such high souls to see.

  Enter Macduff, Seyton, Siward, various Nobles and Attendants.

  SIWARD My lord, Fleance’s men have swelled and now do brandish arms.

  SEYTON They’ve massed on our Scottish shore and prepare the jump to Ireland. They’ll join with Ross and mount a joint attack.

  MALCOLM (aside) Fleance attack? Can the witches speak so expedient? I have become the puppet king, pulled on strings of prophecy. A fruitless crown have they placed on my head, teetering in the winds of prediction.

  SIWARD We must net this threat unto your throne, before it gains by doubled strength.

  MALCOLM Macduff? Have you of late attended my wife?

  MACDUFF No, my lord. I’ve only met with her once, before your wedding, that I might satisfy myself of her nature.

  MALCOLM Indeed? And were you satisfied?

  MACDUFF Quite. She is a model of virtue.

  SIWARD My lord, we waste the time. We must stop Fleance!

  MALCOLM (to Macduff) What think you of Fleance?

  MACDUFF As before: the boy is barely yet a man, and poses no real threat unto your throne.

  MALCOLM I’d rather around me such men than those too ripe with manhood.

  MACDUFF My lord?

  MALCOLM You seem keen to let young Fleance go.

  MACDUFF Keen only that you, supreme king, be sparing in your display of armed strength.

  MALCOLM We have let Fleance roam long enough. But I’ll not send an army to net a boy. He can be taken by a few brave hands. I know just the men: the very three villains who took his father’s life.

  SEYTON Pray, my lord, send not such lowly creatures to perform a soldier’s work. They missed Fleance already once, and the fate of the throne must not rest in their hands.

  MALCOLM The fate of the throne? What concern of yours is this?

  SEYTON Why, ’tis your fate too, my lord.

  MALCOLM The seed of Banquo is only a threat if you believe the witches speak true. Do you, Macduff?

  MACDUFF So it seems, my lord.

  MALCOLM True in all matters?

  MACDUFF So it seems.

  MALCOLM Well then, you have spoke it. Ho, thee!

  Enter Attendant.

  Summon those three men waiting outside my door. Exit Attendant. Now leave me. Exeunt Macduff, Seyton and Siward.

  MALCOLM He admits the witches speak true, and thus concedes his own betrayal. O! Treachery so close!

  Enter Three Murderers.

  ALL My liege.

  MALCOLM You are the three that stopped the life of our dear Banquo.

  FIRST MURDERER By King Macbeth’s command.

  MALCOLM He spoke of you.

  SECOND MURDERER Who, my lord?

  MALCOLM Why, Banquo. What, speak you not?

  THIRD MURDERER He is in heaven, my lord.

  MALCOLM Then heaven is not far from here. There is another who needs sending. It is his son.

  FIRST MURDERER Worm of trickery!

  SECOND MURDERER He ’scaped by a mere hairskin, my lord.

  THIRD MURDERER The father fought well, to distract us from the son. A quick little boy was he, with a quicker horse.

  MALCOLM Because of you, this bane of prophecy has remained a thorn in Scotland’s side. Now you can right your misstep and conclude the task you failed before.

  FIRST MURDERER ’Twill be a privilege, my lord.

  MALCOLM He prepares his jump to Ireland. Move quick. Let Scotland down again, and you will hang, I swear. Go to. Exit Three Murderers.

  MALCOLM Thus tomorrow the prophecy shall end. If there lies no other seed of Banquo—and ’tis certain Fleance is the only one—then none other can claim my throne. Yet what of Macduff? Did not the sisters say he would divide? Macduff has been a loyal friend. But too many types of loyalty are able to comingle in a single person, allowing the friend who saves my life to also seduce my love and find no contradiction in the work, no breach of the word “loyalty.” Yes, Macduff. I see your plan. Why else let Fleance abscond? Why, to see me toppled and clear the way for yourself. Already he’s chopped off one king’s head, and is well-practiced in the art. He is, after all, a man of no woman born, and such a man can ne’er be trusted. Very well, then: on this day I’ll settle all accounts, and give Fleance company in his descent. Tonight I shall greet Macduff in his sleep, and reunite him with his loved ones. Exit.

  SCENE II

  Scotland. Forest.

  Fleance and Fiona, seated.

  FLEANCE Would this day were as my love, for then ’twould never end; ’twould keep its face turned to the sun, so that it never set.

  FIONA My love would stop the sun entire, hold it in its place so that a day would ne’er again be marked by a division.

  FLEANCE Alas! Night falls slow but thick, and we must make for the ship. I pray you, my lady, come with me.

  FIONA Ireland is a strange and foreign shore.

  FLEANCE But we shall be together. All else is geography.

  FIONA But my family here resides, and my departure bars return.

  FLEANCE We shall bu
ild a family of our own.

  FIONA As we could in Scotland, if you’d stay.

  FLEANCE While the tyrant Malcolm reigns, my days are marked by danger. He’s slain a loving brother—how shall he treat a ’magined threat?

  FIONA Then why not seize the throne, and live in peace?

  FLEANCE The throne is the least peaceful place in Scotland.

  FIONA But ’tis rightfully yours.

  FLEANCE By prophecy. Not by right.

  FIONA Prophecy has run the course of Scotland since Macbeth did claim it as his crowning tool. It is as much a right as any.

  FLEANCE I have no desire for the throne, and have no ambition for the walls of Dunsinane. Perhaps I would claim, if I felt the pull for kingly power or earthly gain. But I do not. I possess already all the jewels our earth can hold; for you have filled my desire for aught else. So: I pray you, come with me. ’Tis unsafe here. We must make to the ship, and I cannot abscond until you will consent.

  FIONA Would you force me to decide between abandoning my love and relinquishing my kin?

  FLEANCE Which love’s the stronger?

  FIONA They cannot be compared.

  FLEANCE The last light of sun doth darken my heart. ’Tis clear now that you mean to stay.

  FIONA I’ll come. They kiss.

  FIONA But I must first take leave of my kin.

  FLEANCE They’ll not assent.

  FIONA My mind’s made up.

  FLEANCE We haven’t time. My men wait for us.

  FIONA Go to them. Inform of my near arrival. I’ll to my family and bear the brunt of their tearful departure.

  FLEANCE I like it not. The night grows thick. I pray you, join me now, and let us be done with Scotland.

  FIONA I will not flee like a thief in the night. I must look one last time upon their faces.

  FLEANCE Then my hours will be heavy with waiting.

  FIONA This will keep them lighter. They kiss. Exuent.

  SCENE III

  Scotland. Forest.

  Enter Three Murderers.

  FIRST MURDERER Again the fate of Scotland twists in our hands.