Macbeth — Act 1, Scene 5in modern English, side by side

Inverness. A Room in Macbeth’s Castle · Lady Macbeth, Messenger, Macbeth

At Inverness, Lady Macbeth reads her husband's letter describing the witches' prophecy and his new title, Thane of Cawdor. Before Macbeth even arrives home, word comes that King Duncan will spend tonight under their roof.

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Enter Lady Macbeth, reading a letter

Lady Macbeth

“They met me in the day of success;

“They met me on the day of my victory,

and I have learned by the

perfect’st report they have more in them than mortal knowledge.

and I have learned on the most reliable evidence that they have more than mortal knowledge in them.

When I

burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves air,

into which they vanished.

When I burned with desire to question them further, they turned themselves into air and vanished into it.

Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came

missives from the King, who all-hailed me, ‘Thane of Cawdor’;5

While I stood dazed with wonder at it, messengers arrived from the King, who hailed me ‘Thane of Cawdor’

by which5

title, before, these Weird Sisters saluted me, and referred me to the

coming on of time, with ‘Hail, king that shalt be!’

— the very title these Weird Sisters had greeted me with earlier, before pointing me toward the future with ‘Hail, king that shall be!’

This have I thought

good to deliver thee (my dearest partner of greatness) that thou

might’st not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what

greatness is promis’d thee.10

I thought it right to share this with you, my dearest partner in greatness, so that you wouldn't lose your rightful share of the rejoicing by not knowing what greatness is promised you.

Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.”10

Take it to heart, and farewell.”

Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be

What thou art promis’d.

You are Glamis, and Cawdor — and you will be what you were promised.

Yet do I fear thy nature;

It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness

To catch the nearest way.

But I'm afraid of your nature: it's too full of the milk of human kindness to take the shortest way.

Thou wouldst be great;

Art not without ambition, but without15

The illness should attend it.

You want to be great, and you're not without ambition — but you lack the wickedness that should go with it.

What thou wouldst highly,

That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,

And yet wouldst wrongly win.

What you want badly, you want to get virtuously: you won't cheat, and yet you'd happily win what isn't rightly yours.

Thou’dst have, great Glamis,

That which cries, “Thus thou must do,” if thou have it;

Great Glamis, you want the thing that cries out 'This is what you must do' if you're going to have it

And that which rather thou dost fear to do,20

Than wishest should be undone.

— the thing you're more afraid of doing than you truly wish undone.

Hie thee hither,

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,

And chastise with the valour of my tongue

All that impedes thee from the golden round,

Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem25

To have thee crown’d withal.

Hurry home, so I can pour my spirit into your ear and drive out, with the courage of my tongue, everything that stands between you and the golden crown — the crown that fate and supernatural help both seem to intend for you.

Enter a Messenger

Lady Macbeth

What is your tidings?

What news do you have?

Messenger

The King comes here tonight.

Lady Macbeth

Thou’rt mad to say it.

You'd have to be mad to say that.

Is not thy master with him?30

Isn't your master with him?

who, were’t so,30

Would have inform’d for preparation.

If it were true, he would have sent word so we could prepare.

Messenger

So please you, it is true.

If it please you, it's true.

Our thane is coming.

Our thane is on his way.

One of my fellows had the speed of him,

Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more

Than would make up his message.35

One of my fellow servants rode ahead of him, and arrived so nearly dead for breath that he barely had enough left to gasp out his message.

Lady Macbeth

Give him tending.

Take good care of him —

He brings great news.

he brings great news.

_Exit Messenger._

Lady Macbeth

The raven himself is hoarse

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan

Under my battlements.40

Even the raven that croaks Duncan's fatal entrance under my battlements has croaked itself hoarse.

Come, you spirits40

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,

And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full

Of direst cruelty!

Come, you spirits that wait on deadly thoughts: unsex me here — strip everything soft and womanly out of me — and fill me from head to toe, brim-full, with the direst cruelty.

make thick my blood,

Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse,

That no compunctious visitings of nature45

Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between

Th’ effect and it!

Thicken my blood; block every opening and channel where remorse might pass, so that no natural pang of conscience shakes my deadly purpose or steps in between the purpose and the deed.

Come to my woman’s breasts,

And take my milk for gall, your murd’ring ministers,

Wherever in your sightless substances

You wait on nature’s mischief!50

Come to my woman's breasts, you murdering agents, and take my milk in exchange for bitter gall, wherever you wait — invisible — to do nature's mischief.

Come, thick night,50

And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell

That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,

Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark

To cry, “Hold, hold!”

Come, thick night, and wrap yourself in the darkest smoke of hell, so that my sharp knife can't see the wound it makes, and heaven can't peek through the blanket of the dark to cry, 'Stop! Stop!'

Enter Macbeth

Lady Macbeth

Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor!55

Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor!

Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!

And greater than both, by the 'all hail' still to come!

Thy letters have transported me beyond

This ignorant present, and I feel now

The future in the instant.

Your letter has carried me beyond this ignorant present, and I can feel the future in this very instant.

Macbeth

My dearest love,60

Duncan comes here tonight.

My dearest love — Duncan comes here tonight.

Lady Macbeth

And when goes hence?

And when does he leave?

Macbeth

Tomorrow, as he purposes.

Tomorrow — that's his plan.

Lady Macbeth

O, never

Shall sun that morrow see!65

Oh, the sun will never see that tomorrow!

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men

May read strange matters.

Your face, my thane, is like a book where men can read strange things.

To beguile the time,

Look like the time;

To deceive the world, look the way the world expects:

bear welcome in your eye,

Your hand, your tongue:

carry welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue.

look like the innocent flower,

But be the serpent under’t.70

Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent hiding under it.

He that’s coming70

Must be provided for;

The guest who's coming must be provided for

and you shall put

This night’s great business into my dispatch;

— and you're going to put tonight's great business into my hands.

Which shall to all our nights and days to come

Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

This one night will give absolute royal power and mastery to all our nights and days to come.

Macbeth

We will speak further.75

We'll talk about it further.

Lady Macbeth

Only look up clear;

To alter favour ever is to fear.

Just keep your face clear and untroubled — changing your expression is always a sign of fear.

Leave all the rest to me.

_Exeunt._

Famous lines in this scene

“It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness” line 13

Lady Macbeth's diagnosis of her husband: he is ambitious, but too naturally humane to seize the crown 'the nearest way' — murder. The nursing image starts the scene's running milk imagery, which she later inverts by asking spirits to 'take my milk for gall,' trading nurture for poison.

“Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here” line 41

Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to strip away her womanhood — which she equates with pity and remorse — and fill her with 'direst cruelty' so nothing can interrupt the murder. The invocation is the play's most famous statement of its gender theme: she treats compassion as female weakness and cruelty as strength.

“look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t.” line 69

Lady Macbeth's coaching for greeting Duncan compresses the play's appearance-versus-reality theme into a single image: a welcoming surface hiding a killer. The serpent recalls the tempter in Eden, coloring the coming murder as a kind of original sin, and it pairs with her order to 'look like the time' — act exactly as expected.

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