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

  ACT III

  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 my-

  self, 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 scroll)

  Signatures of fivescore villagers who witnessed my

  Furnishing of the bracelt. 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 recom-

  pense 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 frightful 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.

  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.
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  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.

  Exeunt others.