The Tragedy of Macbeth Part II Page 6

  MALCOLM My chamber? Wherefore?

  NURSE To sit in your very throne. Startled at the sight, I inquired of her motive. In order, she answered, that she might feel her future.

  MALCOLM On this very throne?

  Enter Guards.

  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.

  FOURTH CROWD MEMBER What’s this? The sun is covered.

  SECOND CROWD MEMBER A blot upon the heavens! ’Tis unnatural!

  FIFTH CROWD MEMBER ’Tis said to be thus when a saint doth die.

  Bedroom.

  Malcolm watches from the window, weeping. Exuent all.

  SCENE VI

  Scottish shore.

  Enter Fleance, Ross, Lennox, Angus and Soldiers.

  FLEANCE The fog rolls out to greet us, whilst our ship has barely touched the shore. A good sign. For the fog is to advantage when so greatly outmanned.

  ROSS Then Scotland comes to its own defense, in helping to oust its tyrant.

  LENNOX Look! In the fog!

  ANGUS What apparition’s this?

  ROSS It takes the form of your dead father.

  FLEANCE Banquo it is, come to greet his wayward son, to help conclude what he could not.

  ROSS What’s there? Behind him!

  LENNOX ’Tis an illusion. I spot eight kings.

  ANGUS The last holds a glass.

  ROSS The sisters thus did prophesy. The seed of Banquo stirs.

  Enter Cawdor’s Son and Soldiers.

  ROSS You there! No further.

  LENNOX What sort of welcoming party is this?

  FLEANCE By your brandished arms it appears you hail in Malcolm’s cause.

  CAWDOR’S SON No, our good Fleance. Forgive this dangerous show, as these arms are but the outward sign of our love on your behalf. We have come to aid you in your mission.

  FLEANCE Whence hail you?

  CAWDOR’S SON From a place no son should hope. You, sir, have the good fortune to hail from an illustrious father, whose cause you champion with equal valor. I’ve a father of another kind: alas, his very name doth shame the air.

  FLEANCE Speak it, then. Our time is short.

  CAWDOR’S SON Pray you, by the father do not hate the son: Cawdor is my lineage.

  ROSS What? Another Macbeth?

  CAWDOR’S SON No. My father was Cawdor first, he who betrayed Scotland for Norway in our time of need.

  LENNOX A traitor was he! Hanged by righteous Duncan.

  CAWDOR’S SON And rightfully so. I do not contest. Rather, I beseech, good Fleance, give me one chance to clear my family’s name. ’Tis the only name I own, and a father does not always a son make.

  ANGUS Do not trust him. His father was a treacherous villain.

  ROSS Such depth of treachery cannot erase in but a single generation. You’d risk all our fates to trust one so poor bred.

  FLEANCE What do you propose?

  CAWDOR’S SON I have here a hundredscore men, each one loyal, and each knowing I bear no likeness to my father. We offer to abet your cause.

  FLEANCE What have you in return?

  CAWDOR’S SON Should your grace see fit: to restore the Cawdor title to my family.

  ROSS Do not be swayed, my lord. For in the heat of battle, he will turn, as did his father, and ravage us the worst.

  LENNOX A trick or trap it c
ould be, contrived together with Malcolm.

  FLEANCE I, too, champion my father’s name, though I wish I’d done it sooner. I shall trust you, for it takes equal courage to trust as to live, and in these times we must learn to live again. A son must not be branded for his father’s deceit. Know you that we stand outmanned?

  CAWDOR’S SON Too well. But if this day should be my last, then it will be well spent. The number of our days matters not if we have no just cause to fill them.

  FLEANCE Then kneel. Cawdor’s Son kneels. Fleance knights him.

  FLEANCE And rise, Cawdor. For from this moment you shall wear that title, in anticipation of your valiant action on the field this day.

  CAWDOR God bless your grace. I shall not betray.

  FLEANCE Men. On this day we fight to set wrongs right, to oust a tyrant, and restore the throne of Scotland. Do you wish to live your years in Ireland, hiding as cowards? Do you wish to live as exiles, banished from your homes, in order to appease a tyrant’s ambition?

  ALL No! Never!

  FLEANCE Then ride with me this day. Hold high your swords, and ever after it shall be recalled that on this day few fought against many, and with valor challenged tyranny!

  ALL Hail, Fleance! Scotland’s rightful king! Exeunt.

  SCENE VII

  Dunsinane. Courtyard.

  Enter Porter. A knocking.

  PORTER Knock, knock! Shall this pounding ever cease? If not the wind, then ’tis some lonely soul, thinking he’ll find grace behind these walls. Knock, knock! Patience is a virtue lost by all but me. It takes proper time to open a door; ’tis an art missed by those ignorant of the craft. Knock! By my slow tread I make you knock some more, and anticipate the opening. ’Tis what a good porter does: for it is the anticipation that brings the visitor most joy. Porter opens the door.

  MESSENGER An army comes through the shades of Birnam Wood! I must to the king! Exit Messenger.

  PORTER Without me, this door would not have opened, and thus this messenger would not have passed. News would not spread. Armies would not prepare. Ah, the life of a porter! I am the keeper of all there is. An army approaches? I’ve seen many an army pass by this gate. One will be the victor, the other, vanquished. One day the victor, too, will be vanquished. But I shall always remain. For the victor will always need a door. And that door will always need a porter! Exit.

  SCENE VIII

  Dunsinane. Malcolm’s chamber.

  Malcolm, seated. Enter Doctor and Siward.

  SIWARD He’s not moved from this window since the death of his brief wife. ’Tis as if he’s frozen.

  DOCTOR He is not frozen; only the thoughts have within him froze. He is beyond physic.

  SIWARD But you must intervene. You are a doctor. And he is king.

  DOCTOR Even doctors cannot heal a mind diseased. Our good king has supped from the root of sorrow; once ingested, ’tis not quick to leave the blood.

  Enter Messenger.

  MESSENGER My king! An army doth approach, with Fleance at its head!

  SIWARD What, to Dunsinane?

  MESSENGER My king? Dost hear?

  SIWARD Go to, sirrah! Exit Messenger.

  SIWARD My king! We must defend! Grant me authority to summon our men. Merely nod your head—

  Enter Nurse.

  DOCTOR What now, nurse?

  NURSE I swear, it was not me. ’Twas the brutal lady.

  SIWARD Shall maladies never cease? She walks as she sleeps, and speaks as she walks.

  DOCTOR ’Tis the sign of a mind disturbed.

  NURSE Forgive me, Lady Malcolm. A saint more righteous I’d not seen.

  SIWARD E’en so?

  NURSE ’Twas Seyton, and his daughter. You were but the stepping stone. I spoke false! O! Forgive!

  MALCOLM False?

  SIWARD The king rouses!

  DOCTOR O unlikely physic! One malady heals another.

  MALCOLM Speak again, nurse.

  NURSE Forgive! Malcolm has been sore deceived. O forgive! Malcolm rises and stabs her. She dies.

  MALCOLM Prepare my army. Exit Siward.

  DOCTOR My liege, I joy to see you roused.

  MALCOLM I do not. Better I had sunk unto the depths. O black nurse! Evil Seyton! They dragged my queen onto the gallows—whilst I, their donkey, was by them led. Nothing is but what is not.

  DOCTOR And now?

  MALCOLM If half a man, I’d take my own life. I am Cawdor, after all: so who more fit? Yet e’en for this, I lack resolve. Thus, to Fleance. Let his men do what I cannot. Exit Malcolm.

  DOCTOR And I, anywhere but here. Farewell, Dunsinane. Your walls I pray to never see again. Exit.

  SCENE IX

  Dunsinane. Corridor.

  Enter Malcolm.

  Seyton and Syna approach.

  SEYTON My king, may I present my daughter—Malcolm stabs and kills them both.

  MALCOLM Present her to my Lady Malcolm. Exit.

  SCENE X

  Witches’ place.

  Enter Malcolm, Siward and Soldiers.

  Malcolm dismounts, carrying the corpse of Lady Malcolm.

  MALCOLM Rouse you, hags! Rise up from your foul depths, and lend me a potion to revive my lady. Answer, I say! Witches’ laughter.

  SOLDIER What wretched noise is this! As if the earth were torn in two.

  SIWARD They mock, my lord.

  MALCOLM Then I, too, will mock: Cawdor shall not Cawdor take. I’ll see myself slain by some other—any other—but by myself, and thereby prove their prophecy false. Donalbain, be patient: your brother comes to visit! Exeunt.

  SCENE XI

  Scotland. Battlefield.

  Enter Malcolm, Siward, and Soldiers.

  Enter Fleance’s soldiers. They fight.

  MALCOLM Donalbain! Where art thou?

  SIWARD This fog rolls in so thick, I cannot see who we fight.

  MALCOLM ’Tis the witches’ breath, come to confuse. You there! Fight your king! Malcolm kills a Soldier.

  MALCOLM And you! Malcolm kills another.

  MALCOLM And you!

  ROSS ’Tis Ross you taunt.

  MALCOLM Traitor! The better for my sword. They fight. Malcolm kills him.

  ROSS Alas! Slain by the monster. Donalbain, forgive. Thee I did not avenge. Ross dies.

  MALCOLM Donalbain! Dare you invoke my brother’s name? Malcolm stabs Ross’s corpse repeatedly.

  MALCOLM Who else? Who else shall die by Cawdor’s hand? For none but Cawdor can touch, and on this bloody day. I shall not kill myself! Malcolm kills several soldiers.

  Battlefield. Elsewhere.

  FLEANCE You there! Turn and fight!

  SIWARD I shall not fight a boy!

  FLEANCE A man who is your king!

  SIWARD Worm of prophecy! Coward who fled his father’s death!

  FLEANCE Coward who fled his young son’s death!

  SIWARD Villain! Young Siward died a soldier’s death. You shall die a traitor’s. They fight. Fleance wounds him.

  SIWARD Slain by one so young! Age, thou art deception. Siward dies.

  Battlefield. Elsewhere.

  Cawdor kills several of Malcolm’s soldiers.

  Enter Malcolm.

  MALCOLM You there! Art thou ready now to meet thy maker?

  CAWDOR Not by your hand. And not today. They fight.

  MALCOLM What? My sword does not pierce. What man art thou? They fight.

  CAWDOR Cawdor.

  MALCOLM Liar! I am Cawdor!

  CAWDOR But my father was before you—and I, after! Cawdor stabs and wounds Malcolm.

  MALCOLM At least in this, the sisters speak true. My lady, forgive your husband. Malcolm dies.

  Enter Fleance, Lennox, Angus and all Soldiers.

  FLEANCE Thus the tyrant falls. But our day’s work is yet undone.

  Enter Soldiers, escorting the Three Murderers.

  FLEANCE Here stand before us three of the most heinous creatures e’er to stain our Scottish soil: these three who murdered first my father, then Macduff’s
beloved wife and son; who took from me my fair Fiona. Murderers, what say you? Nothing. ’Tis fitting. Then let it come down! Fleance stabs and kills all three. The crowd cheers.

  ALL Hail, Fleance! All hail the boy king! Exeunt.

  Finis.

  THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH, PART II

  THE SEED OF BANQUO

  Copyright © 2008 by Noah Lukeman

  Pegasus Books LLC

  45 Wall Street, Suite 1021

  New York, NY 10005

  First Pegasus Books cloth edition 2008

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper, magazine, or electronic publication; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

  ISBN: 978-1-605-98079-9

  ISBN: 978-1-681-77003-1 (e-book)

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  Printed in the United States of America

  Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company