Macbeth — Act 3, Scene 4in modern English, side by side

The same. A Room of state in the Palace · Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Ross, Lennox, Lords, Attendants, First Murderer, Ghost of Banquo

Macbeth hosts his first state banquet as king, having secretly sent murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance on their way to it. As the guests take their seats, one of the killers appears at the door to report on the job.

Confused by a different line? Paste any Shakespeare — any play, any edition — and get it in modern English.

Matching colours pair each sentence with its translation. Hover (or tap) any word to light up the words that match it on the other side — archaic words show their meaning.

A banquet prepared. Enter Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Ross, Lennox, Lords

and Attendants

Macbeth

You know your own degrees, sit down.

You know your own ranks — sit accordingly.

At first

And last the hearty welcome.

To the first and the last of you, a hearty welcome.

Lords

Thanks to your Majesty.

Macbeth

Ourself will mingle with society,

And play the humble host.5

We will mingle with the company ourselves and play the humble host.

Our hostess keeps her state; but, in best time,

We will require her welcome.

Our hostess will keep her seat of state, but at the right moment we'll ask her to give her welcome.

Lady Macbeth

Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends;

Say it for me, sir, to all our friends

For my heart speaks they are welcome.

— for my heart tells me they are welcome.

Enter first Murderer to the door

Macbeth

See, they encounter thee with their hearts’ thanks.10

See — they answer you with their hearts' thanks.

Both sides are even:

Both sides of the table are even;

here I’ll sit i’ th’ midst.

I'll sit here in the middle.

Be large in mirth;

Be generous with your merriment;

anon we’ll drink a measure

The table round.

in a moment we'll drink a toast around the whole table.

There’s blood upon thy face.

— There's blood on your face.

Murderer

’Tis Banquo’s then.

It's Banquo's, then.

Macbeth

’Tis better thee without than he within.15

Better outside you than inside him.

Is he dispatch’d?

Is he dispatched?

Murderer

My lord, his throat is cut.

That I did for him.

I did that much for him.

Macbeth

Thou art the best o’ th’ cut-throats;

Yet he’s good that did the like for Fleance:

You're the best of the cut-throats — though whoever did the same for Fleance is good too.

If thou didst it, thou art the nonpareil.20

If you did both, you have no equal.

Murderer

Most royal sir,

Fleance is ’scap’d.

Most royal sir — Fleance has escaped.

Macbeth

Then comes my fit again:

Then my fit comes over me again.

I had else been perfect;

Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,

As broad and general as the casing air:25

Otherwise I would have been perfect: whole as marble, solid as rock, as free and boundless as the surrounding air.

But now I am cabin’d, cribb’d, confin’d, bound in

To saucy doubts and fears.

But now I'm caged, cramped, confined — penned in by insolent doubts and fears.

But Banquo’s safe?

But Banquo's taken care of?

Murderer

Ay, my good lord.

Yes, my good lord —

Safe in a ditch he bides,

With twenty trenched gashes on his head;

The least a death to nature.30

resting safe in a ditch, with twenty deep gashes in his head, the smallest of them enough to kill a man.

Macbeth

Thanks for that.

There the grown serpent lies;

There lies the full-grown serpent.

the worm that’s fled

Hath nature that in time will venom breed,

No teeth for th’ present.—

The young snake that fled has a nature that will breed venom in time, though it has no fangs yet.

Get thee gone;

Get going —

tomorrow

We’ll hear, ourselves, again.35

tomorrow we'll hear from you again.

_Exit Murderer._

Lady Macbeth

My royal lord,

You do not give the cheer:

My royal lord, you're not giving the toast.

the feast is sold

That is not often vouch’d, while ’tis a-making,

’Tis given with welcome.

A feast feels like something sold, not given, if the host doesn't keep assuring his guests they're welcome while it's going on.

To feed were best at home;

If it's only about eating, that's better done at home;

From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony;40

away from home, ceremony is the sauce to the meat,

Meeting were bare without it.

and a gathering is bare without it.

The Ghost of Banquo rises, and sits in Macbeth’s place

Macbeth

Sweet remembrancer!—

Sweet reminder!

Now, good digestion wait on appetite,

And health on both!

Now may good digestion wait on appetite, and health on both!

Lennox

May’t please your Highness sit.45

May it please your Highness to sit?

Macbeth

Here had we now our country’s honour roof’d,

Were the grac’d person of our Banquo present;

We would have all our country's honor gathered under one roof right now, if only our gracious Banquo were present.

Who may I rather challenge for unkindness

Than pity for mischance!

I hope I'll get to scold him for rudeness rather than pity him for some accident!

Ross

His absence, sir,50

Lays blame upon his promise.

His absence, sir, puts the blame on his promise.

Please’t your Highness

To grace us with your royal company?

Would it please your Highness to grace us with your royal company?

Macbeth

The table’s full.

The table's full.

Lennox

Here is a place reserv’d, sir.

Here is a place reserved, sir.

Macbeth

Where?55

Where?

Lennox

Here, my good lord.

What is’t that moves your Highness?

What is it that troubles your Highness?

Macbeth

Which of you have done this?

Which of you has done this?

Lords

What, my good lord?

Done what, my good lord?

Macbeth

Thou canst not say I did it.

You can't say I did it.

Never shake

Thy gory locks at me.60

Don't shake your bloody hair at me.

Ross

Gentlemen, rise; his Highness is not well.

Lady Macbeth

Sit, worthy friends.

My lord is often thus,

And hath been from his youth:

My lord is often like this, and has been since his youth.

pray you, keep seat;

Please, keep your seats.

The fit is momentary; upon a thought

He will again be well.65

The fit is momentary; in an instant he'll be well again.

If much you note him,65

You shall offend him, and extend his passion.

If you stare at him too much, you'll offend him and make the fit last longer.

Feed, and regard him not.—

Eat, and pay him no attention.

Are you a man?

— Are you a man?

Macbeth

Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that

Which might appal the devil.

Yes — and a bold one, who dares to look at something that might terrify the devil himself.

Lady Macbeth

O proper stuff!70

What perfect nonsense!

This is the very painting of your fear:

This is the air-drawn dagger which you said,

Led you to Duncan.

This is a picture painted by your fear, just like that dagger floating in the air which, you said, led you to Duncan.

O, these flaws, and starts

(Impostors to true fear), would well become

A woman’s story at a winter’s fire,75

Authoris’d by her grandam.

Honestly, these outbursts and flinches — cheap imitations of real fear — would suit a woman's ghost story told by a winter fire, with her grandmother's word for proof.

Shame itself!

Shame on you!

Why do you make such faces?

Why are you making such faces?

When all’s done,

You look but on a stool.

When all is said and done, you're staring at a stool.

Macbeth

Pr’ythee, see there!

Please — look there!

Behold! look! lo!80

Look! See! There! —

how say you?80

What do you say now?

Why, what care I?

Why, what do I care?

If thou canst nod, speak too.—

If you can nod, then speak too.

If charnel houses and our graves must send

Those that we bury back, our monuments

Shall be the maws of kites.

If burial vaults and graves send back the people we bury, then the bellies of scavenging birds will have to be our tombs.

_Ghost disappears._

Lady Macbeth

What, quite unmann’d in folly?85

What — has folly completely unmanned you?

Macbeth

If I stand here, I saw him.

As surely as I stand here, I saw him.

Lady Macbeth

Fie, for shame!

Shame on you!

Macbeth

Blood hath been shed ere now, i’ th’ olden time,

Ere humane statute purg’d the gentle weal;

Blood has been shed before now — in the old days, before humane laws civilized the commonwealth and made it gentle;

Ay, and since too, murders have been perform’d90

Too terrible for the ear:

yes, and since then too, murders have been committed too terrible for the ear.

the time has been,

That, when the brains were out, the man would die,

And there an end;

There was a time when, once a man's brains were out, he died, and that was the end of it.

but now they rise again,

With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,

And push us from our stools.95

But now they rise again with twenty fatal wounds on their heads and push us off our stools.

This is more strange95

Than such a murder is.

This is stranger than the murder itself.

Lady Macbeth

My worthy lord,

Your noble friends do lack you.

My worthy lord, your noble friends are missing your company.

Macbeth

I do forget.—

I forget myself.

Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends.100

Don't wonder at me, my most worthy friends.

I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing

To those that know me.

I have a strange affliction, which is nothing to those who know me.

Come, love and health to all;

Come — love and health to all!

Then I’ll sit down.—

Now I'll sit down.

Give me some wine, fill full.—

Give me some wine; fill it to the top.

I drink to the general joy o’ th’ whole table,

And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss:105

I drink to the joy of the whole table, and to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss.

Would he were here.

If only he were here!

Ghost rises again

Macbeth

To all, and him, we thirst,

And all to all.

To him, and to everyone, we drink with a will — and every good wish to all.

Lords

Our duties, and the pledge.

Our duty to you — and the toast.

Macbeth

Avaunt! and quit my sight!110

Away! Get out of my sight!

let the earth hide thee!110

Let the earth hide you!

Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;

Your bones have no marrow, your blood is cold;

Thou hast no speculation in those eyes

Which thou dost glare with!

there is no sight in those eyes you're glaring with!

Lady Macbeth

Think of this, good peers,

But as a thing of custom:115

Good peers, think of this as nothing but a habit of his.

’tis no other,115

Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.

That's all it is — only it spoils the pleasure of the evening.

Macbeth

What man dare, I dare:

Whatever a man dares, I dare.

Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,

The arm’d rhinoceros, or th’ Hyrcan tiger;

Come at me in the shape of the rugged Russian bear, the armored rhinoceros, or the Hyrcanian tiger

Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves120

Shall never tremble:

— take any shape but that one, and my steady nerves will never tremble.

or be alive again,

And dare me to the desert with thy sword;

Or be alive again, and challenge me with your sword to a duel in some deserted place;

If trembling I inhabit then, protest me

The baby of a girl.

and if I stay home trembling then, you can declare me a little girl's doll.

Hence, horrible shadow!

Away, horrible shadow!

Unreal mock’ry, hence!125

Unreal mockery — away!

_Ghost disappears._

Macbeth

Why, so;—being gone,

I am a man again.—

There — now that it's gone, I am a man again.

Pray you, sit still.

— Please, stay seated.

Lady Macbeth

You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting

With most admir’d disorder.

You have driven out the good cheer and broken up the gathering with this astonishing outburst.

Macbeth

Can such things be,130

And overcome us like a summer’s cloud,

Without our special wonder?

Can such things happen — can they pass over us like a summer cloud — without astonishing us?

You make me strange

Even to the disposition that I owe,

When now I think you can behold such sights,

And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,135

When mine are blanch’d with fear.

You make me feel like a stranger to my own nature, when I see that you can look at such sights and keep the natural color in your cheeks while mine are white with fear.

Ross

What sights, my lord?

Lady Macbeth

I pray you, speak not;

Please, don't speak to him;

he grows worse and worse;

he grows worse and worse.

Question enrages him.

Questions enrage him.

At once, good night:—

Stand not upon the order of your going,140

But go at once.

Good night to you all, right now — don't stand on ceremony about leaving in order of rank, just go, all at once.

Lennox

Good night; and better health

Attend his Majesty!

Good night — and better health attend his Majesty!

Lady Macbeth

A kind good night to all!

_Exeunt all Lords and Attendants._

Macbeth

It will have blood, they say, blood will have blood.145

It will have blood, they say — blood will have blood.

Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak;

Augurs, and understood relations, have

By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth

The secret’st man of blood.—

fortune-tellers, reading hidden connections through magpies and jackdaws and rooks, have exposed the most deeply hidden murderer.

What is the night?

— How far gone is the night?

Lady Macbeth

Almost at odds with morning, which is which.150

It's almost arguing with morning over which of them it is.

Macbeth

How say’st thou, that Macduff denies his person

At our great bidding?

What do you say to the fact that Macduff refuses to appear at our royal command?

Lady Macbeth

Did you send to him, sir?

Did you send for him, sir?

Macbeth

I hear it by the way; but I will send.

I heard of it secondhand — but I will send.

There’s not a one of them but in his house155

I keep a servant fee’d.

There is not one of them whose house doesn't hold a servant in my pay.

I will tomorrow

(And betimes I will) to the Weird Sisters:

Tomorrow — and early — I will go to the Weird Sisters.

More shall they speak;

They shall tell me more;

for now I am bent to know,

By the worst means, the worst.

for now I am determined to know the worst, by the worst possible means.

For mine own good,

All causes shall give way:160

Every other concern must give way to my own good.

I am in blood160

Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more,

Returning were as tedious as go o’er.

I have stepped so far into this river of blood that if I stopped wading now, going back would be as exhausting as crossing to the other side.

Strange things I have in head, that will to hand,

Which must be acted ere they may be scann’d.

I have strange things in my head that are pressing toward my hand — things that must be acted on before they can be examined too closely.

Lady Macbeth

You lack the season of all natures, sleep.165

You lack what preserves every living creature: sleep.

Macbeth

Come, we’ll to sleep.

Come, we'll go to sleep.

My strange and self-abuse

Is the initiate fear that wants hard use.

This strange self-deception of mine is only a beginner's fear that needs hardening through practice.

We are yet but young in deed.

We are still just young in deeds like this.

_Exeunt._

Famous lines in this scene

“Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake Thy gory locks at me.” line 59

Seeing Banquo's ghost in his own seat, Macbeth blurts out a self-betraying denial: "You can't say I did it" — technically true, since hired murderers did the killing. The line is famous for its guilty legalistic logic and for the image of the ghost's blood-matted hair shaking in accusation.

“But now I am cabin’d, cribb’d, confin’d, bound in To saucy doubts and fears.” line 26

Learning that Fleance escaped, Macbeth says he is boxed in — "cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd" — by doubts and fears. The hammering alliteration is one of Shakespeare's most quoted rhythms, and it captures how each murder narrows Macbeth's world instead of freeing him, since the prophecy about Banquo's heirs still stands.

“It will have blood, they say, blood will have blood.” line 145

Alone after the ruined banquet, Macbeth voices the old belief that murder always demands payment: the victim's blood calls out for the killer's. The proverb-like line is famous as the play's law of consequences — violence breeds violence — and it marks Macbeth's decision to wade deeper rather than turn back.

“I am in blood Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” line 161

Macbeth pictures himself wading a river of blood: he is so far across that turning back would be as exhausting as continuing. The image is famous for explaining why he keeps killing — no longer ambition, but the sunk-cost reasoning of a man who believes it is too late to be good.

Confused by a different line? Paste any Shakespeare — any play, any edition — and get it in modern English.

Studying the language itself? Our Shakespearean English course teaches thou/thee, the verbs, and the meter — free through Unit 2. Or try the Shakespearean English translator.