TPTT The Tragedy of Macbeth: ACT I
Introduction
ACT I
SCENE I. A desert place.
SCENE II. A camp near Forres.
SCENE III. A heath near Forres.
SCENE IV. Forres. The palace.
SCENE V. Inverness. Macbeth's castle.
SCENE VI. Before Macbeth's castle.
SCENE VII. Macbeth's castle.
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
About the Play
Feedback
  Search:   
for:

Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More
SCENE II. A camp near Forres.
Alarum within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant
DUNCAN
      What bloody man is that? He can report,
      As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
      The newest state.
MALCOLM
      This is the sergeant
5     Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
      'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
      Say to the king the knowledge of the broil
      As thou didst leave it.
Sergeant
      Doubtful it stood;
10    As two spent swimmers, that do cling together
      And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald--
      Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
      The multiplying villanies of nature
      Do swarm upon him--from the western isles
15    Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;
      And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
      Show'd like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak:
      For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--
      Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
20    Which smoked with bloody execution,
      Like valour's minion carved out his passage
      Till he faced the slave;
      Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
      Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
25    And fix'd his head upon our battlements.
DUNCAN
      O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
Sergeant
      As whence the sun 'gins his reflection
      Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,
      So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come
30    Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark:
      No sooner justice had with valour arm'd
      Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
      But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage,
      With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men
35    Began a fresh assault.
DUNCAN
      Dismay'd not this
      Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Sergeant
      Yes;
      As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
40    If I say sooth, I must report they were
      As cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they
      Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
      Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
      Or memorise another Golgotha,
45    I cannot tell.
      But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
DUNCAN
      So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;
      They smack of honour both. Go get him surgeons.

Exit Sergeant, attended

      Who comes here?
Enter ROSS
MALCOLM
50    The worthy thane of Ross.
LENNOX
      What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look
      That seems to speak things strange.
ROSS
      God save the king!
DUNCAN
      Whence camest thou, worthy thane?
ROSS
55    From Fife, great king;
      Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
      And fan our people cold. Norway himself,
      With terrible numbers,
      Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
60    The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;
      Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,
      Confronted him with self-comparisons,
      Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm.
      Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude,
65    The victory fell on us.
DUNCAN
      Great happiness!
ROSS
      That now
      Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition:
      Nor would we deign him burial of his men
70    Till he disbursed at Saint Colme's inch
      Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
DUNCAN
      No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
      Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,
      And with his former title greet Macbeth.
ROSS
75    I'll see it done.
DUNCAN
      What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.
Exeunt
Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene