Macbeth — Act 1, Scene 2in modern English, side by side
A Camp near Forres · Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, Soldier, Ross, Angus
Scotland's King Duncan is at war on two fronts: the rebel Macdonwald has risen against him, and Norway's king has invaded — helped by a Scottish traitor, the Thane of Cawdor. At Duncan's camp, a wounded officer and then the Thane of Ross arrive with news from the battlefield.
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Alarum within. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with
Attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain
Duncan
What bloody man is that?
Who is that bleeding man?
He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.
Judging by the state he's in, he can give us the latest news of the rebellion.
Malcolm
This is the sergeant
Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought5
’Gainst my captivity.
This is the sergeant who fought like a good, tough soldier to keep me from being captured.
Hail, brave friend!
Welcome, brave friend!
Say to the King the knowledge of the broil
As thou didst leave it.
Tell the King how the battle stood when you left it.
Soldier
Doubtful it stood;
As two spent swimmers that do cling together10
And choke their art.
For a while it hung in the balance, like two exhausted swimmers clinging to each other and dragging each other down.
The merciless Macdonwald
(Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villainies of nature
Do swarm upon him) from the Western Isles
Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;15
And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
Show’d like a rebel’s whore.
The merciless Macdonwald — a born rebel, since every villainy in nature swarms to him — was reinforced from the Western Isles with Irish light infantry and heavy-armed mercenaries, and Fortune smiled on his cursed cause like a rebel's whore.
But all’s too weak;
But none of it was enough.
For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name),
Disdaining Fortune,
Brave Macbeth — and he has earned that name — scorned Fortune.
with his brandish’d steel,
Which smok’d with bloody execution,20
Like Valour’s minion, carv’d out his passage,
Till he fac’d the slave;
With his drawn sword steaming with blood, like courage's own favorite, he carved his way through until he stood face to face with the wretch
Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam’d him from the nave to the chops,
And fix’d his head upon our battlements.25
— and he never shook hands or said goodbye until he had split him open from the navel to the jaw and stuck his head on our battlements.
Duncan
O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
O my brave cousin! A worthy gentleman!
Soldier
As whence the sun ’gins his reflection
Shipwracking storms and direful thunders break,
So from that spring, whence comfort seem’d to come
Discomfort swells.30
But just as shipwrecking storms and terrible thunder can break from the east, where the sun rises, so from the very source of our comfort came a new swell of trouble.
Mark, King of Scotland, mark:30
Listen, King of Scotland, listen:
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,
Began a fresh assault.35
no sooner had justice, armed with courage, forced those skirmishing Irish soldiers to run for it, than the King of Norway, seeing his chance, launched a fresh assault with polished weapons and fresh troops.
Duncan
Dismay’d not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Didn't that shake our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Soldier
Yes;
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
Yes — the way sparrows shake eagles, or a hare frightens a lion.
If I say sooth, I must report they were40
As cannons overcharg’d with double cracks;
So they
Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
To tell you the truth, they were like cannons loaded with a double charge of shot: they hammered the enemy with doubled and redoubled blows.
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha,45
I cannot tell—
Whether they meant to bathe in steaming wounds, or to make the battlefield as famous for death as Golgotha — the hill of skulls — I can't say.
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
But I'm growing faint; my wounds are crying out for help.
Duncan
So well thy words become thee as thy wounds:
Your words suit you as well as your wounds do:
They smack of honour both.
both of them smell of honor.
Go, get him surgeons.
Go — get him surgeons.
_Exit Captain, attended._
Enter Ross and Angus
Duncan
Who comes here?50
Who's this coming?
Malcolm
The worthy Thane of Ross.
The worthy Thane of Ross.
Lennox
What a haste looks through his eyes!
What urgency in his eyes!
So should he look
That seems to speak things strange.
That's how a man looks when he has strange news to tell.
Ross
God save the King!
God save the King!
Duncan
Whence cam’st thou, worthy thane?55
Where have you come from, worthy thane?
Ross
From Fife, great King,
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
And fan our people cold.
From Fife, great King, where the Norwegian banners mock our sky and fan our people cold with fear.
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:65
The King of Norway himself, with terrifying numbers and helped by that utterly disloyal traitor the Thane of Cawdor, began a grim battle — until Macbeth, like a bridegroom of Bellona, the goddess of war, clad in battle-proven armor, met him strength for strength, sword-point against sword-point, arm against rebellious arm, and broke his wild spirit.
and, to conclude,65
The victory fell on us.
To sum it up: the victory fell to us.
Duncan
Great happiness!
What great happiness!
Ross
That now
Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition;
So complete that Sweno, the king of Norway, is now begging for peace terms.
Nor would we deign him burial of his men70
Till he disbursed at Saint Colme’s Inch
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
We wouldn't even allow him to bury his men until he paid out ten thousand dollars at Saint Colme's Inch for our general treasury.
Duncan
No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest.
That Thane of Cawdor will never again betray my heart's trust.
Go pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.75
Go, announce his immediate execution — and greet Macbeth with the title that was his.
Ross
I’ll see it done.
I'll see it done.
Duncan
What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.
What he has lost, noble Macbeth has won.
_Exeunt._
Famous lines in this scene
“What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.” line 77
Duncan hands the executed traitor's title to Macbeth as a reward — but the line is remembered for its irony. Macbeth inherits not just Cawdor's thaneship but his role: the trusted insider who betrays the king. The new Thane of Cawdor will deceive Duncan exactly as the old one did.
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