THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Act 2 Scene 1

(Enter Banquo and Fleance, with a torch before him)
l1l	Banquo	 How goes the night, boy?
l2l	Fleance	The moon is down. I have not heard the clock.
l3l	Banquo	And she goes down at twelve.
	Fleance	I take ’t ’tis later, sir.
l4l	Banquo	(giving Fleance his sword)
		 Hold, take my sword. There’s husbandry in heaven,
l5l		Their candles are all out. Take thee that, too.
l6l		A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
l7l		And yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers,
l8l		Restrain in me the cursèd thoughts that nature
l9l		Gives way to in repose.
		(Enter Macbeth, and a servant with a torch)
		 Give me my sword. Who’s there?
l10l	Macbeth	A friend.
l11l	Banquo	What, sir, not yet at rest? The King’s a-bed.
l12l		He hath been in unusual pleasure, and
l13l		Sent forth great largesse to your offices.
l14l		This diamond he greets your wife withal
l15l		By the name of most kind hostess, and shut up
l16l		In measureless content.
	Macbeth	Being unprepared
l17l		Our will became the servant to defect,
l18l		Which else should free have wrought.
	Banquo	All’s well.
l19l		I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters.
l20l		To you they have showed some truth.
	Macbeth	I think not of them#
l21l		Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,
l22l		We would spend it in some words upon that business
l23l		If you would grant the time.
	Banquo	At your kind’st leisure.
l24l	Macbeth	If you shall cleave to my consent when ’tis,
l25l		It shall make honour for you.
	Banquo	So I lose none
l26l		In seeking to augment it, but still keep
l27l		My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
l28l		I shall be counselled.
l29l	Macbeth	Good repose the while.
l30l	Banquo	Thanks, sir. The like to you.
		(Exeunt Banquo and Fleance)
l31l	Macbeth	(to the Servant)
		 Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready,
l32l		She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed.
		(Exit Servant)
l33l		Is this a dagger which I see before me,
l34l		The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
l35l		I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
l36l		Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
l37l		To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
l38l		A dagger of the mind, a false creation
l39l		Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?
l40l		I see thee yet, in form as palpable
l41l		As this which now I draw.
l42l		Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going,
l43l		And such an instrument I was to use.
l44l		Mine eyes are made the fools o’ th’ other senses,
l45l		Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still,
l46l		And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
l47l		Which was not so before. There’s no such thing.
l48l		It is the bloody business which informs
l49l		Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half-world
l50l		Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
l51l		The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates
l52l		Pale Hecate’s offerings, and withered murder,
l53l		Alarumed by his sentinel the wolf,
l54l		Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
l55l		With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design
l56l		Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
l57l		Hear not my steps which way they walk, for fear
l58l		Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
l59l		And take the present horror from the time,
l60l		Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives.
l61l		Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
		(A bell rings)
l62l		I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.
l63l		Hear it not, Duncan# for it is a knell
l64l		That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
		(Exit)