Macbeth — Act 3, Scene 5in modern English, side by side

The heath · First Witch, Second Witch, Third Witch, Hecate

Banquo is dead but his son Fleance has escaped, and a shaken Macbeth has resolved to seek out the witches again to learn the worst. Before he arrives, Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, confronts the three witches about the prophecies they gave him without her.

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Thunder. Enter the three Witches meeting Hecate

First Witch

Why, how now, Hecate?

Why, what's the matter, Hecate?

you look angerly.

You look angry.

Hecate

Have I not reason, beldams as you are,

Saucy and overbold?

Don't I have reason, you hags — insolent and overbold as you are?

How did you dare

To trade and traffic with Macbeth

In riddles and affairs of death;5

And I, the mistress of your charms,

The close contriver of all harms,

Was never call’d to bear my part,

Or show the glory of our art?

How did you dare to trade and traffic with Macbeth in riddles and matters of death, while I, the mistress of your spells, the secret designer of every harm, was never called on to play my part or display the glory of our art?

And, which is worse, all you have done10

Hath been but for a wayward son,

Spiteful and wrathful; who, as others do,

Loves for his own ends, not for you.

And what's worse, everything you've done has been for a self-willed son — a spiteful, wrathful man who, like all the rest, loves our arts for his own ends, not for you.

But make amends now:

But make amends now.

get you gone,

And at the pit of Acheron15

Meet me i’ th’ morning:

Be off, and meet me in the morning at the pit of Acheron;

thither he

Will come to know his destiny.

he will come there to learn his destiny.

Your vessels and your spells provide,

Your charms, and everything beside.

Prepare your cauldrons and your spells, your charms and everything else.

I am for th’ air;20

I'm off into the air;

this night I’ll spend20

Unto a dismal and a fatal end.

I'll spend this night working toward a dismal and fatal end.

Great business must be wrought ere noon.

Great business must be finished before noon.

Upon the corner of the moon

There hangs a vap’rous drop profound;

On the corner of the moon there hangs a heavy drop of magical vapor;

I’ll catch it ere it come to ground:25

I'll catch it before it reaches the ground,

And that, distill’d by magic sleights,

Shall raise such artificial sprites,

As, by the strength of their illusion,

Shall draw him on to his confusion.

and once it is distilled by magic arts, it will raise up spirits of illusion so convincing that their tricks will draw him on to his own ruin.

He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear30

His hopes ’bove wisdom, grace, and fear.

He will spurn fate, scorn death, and carry his hopes above wisdom, grace, and fear.

And you all know, security

Is mortals’ chiefest enemy.

And as you all know, a false sense of security is mortals' greatest enemy.

_Music and song within, “Come away, come away” &c._

Hecate

Hark!

Listen!

I am call’d;

I'm being called.

my little spirit, see,

Sits in a foggy cloud and stays for me.35

See — my little spirit sits in a foggy cloud, waiting for me.

_Exit._

First Witch

Come, let’s make haste;

Come, let's hurry;

she’ll soon be back again.

she'll soon be back again.

_Exeunt._

Famous lines in this scene

“And you all know, security Is mortals’ chiefest enemy.” line 32

Here "security" means overconfidence — a false sense of safety, not protection. Hecate plans to conjure illusions that make Macbeth feel invulnerable, because feeling safe is exactly what destroys people. The line is famous as the thesis of the apparition scene to come: the prophecies ruin Macbeth by reassuring him.

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.