Macbeth — Act 3, Scene 6in modern English, side by side
Forres. A Room in the Palace · Lennox, Lord
Banquo's murder has followed Duncan's, and Scotland's nobles have privately stopped believing the official explanations for either. Macduff, having pointedly skipped Macbeth's banquet, has gone to England, where Duncan's son Malcolm is sheltered by King Edward.
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Enter Lennox and another Lord
Lennox
My former speeches have but hit your thoughts,
Which can interpret farther:
What I've said so far has only matched what you were already thinking — and you can draw the conclusions yourself.
only, I say,
Thing’s have been strangely borne.
All I'm saying is that things have been handled strangely.
The gracious Duncan
Was pitied of Macbeth:—marry, he was dead:—
The gracious Duncan was pitied by Macbeth — naturally, once he was dead.
And the right valiant Banquo walk’d too late;5
And the truly valiant Banquo went out walking too late;
Whom, you may say, if’t please you, Fleance kill’d,
For Fleance fled.
you may say, if you like, that Fleance killed him, since Fleance ran away.
Men must not walk too late.
Men really must not walk too late.
Who cannot want the thought, how monstrous
It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain
To kill their gracious father?10
And who can help thinking how monstrous it was of Malcolm and Donalbain to kill their gracious father?
damned fact!10
A damnable deed!
How it did grieve Macbeth!
How it grieved Macbeth!
did he not straight,
In pious rage, the two delinquents tear
That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep?
Didn't he immediately, in his pious rage, cut down the two culprits — who were slaves of drink and prisoners of sleep?
Was not that nobly done?
Wasn't that nobly done?
Ay, and wisely too;
For ’twould have anger’d any heart alive,15
To hear the men deny’t.
Yes, and wisely too, since it would have angered any living heart to hear the men deny it.
So that, I say,
He has borne all things well:
So, as I say, he has managed everything well.
and I do think,
That had he Duncan’s sons under his key
(As, and’t please heaven, he shall not) they should find
What ’twere to kill a father;20
And I think that if he had Duncan's sons under lock and key — which, please heaven, he never shall — they would find out what it costs to kill a father.
so should Fleance.20
And so would Fleance.
But, peace!—
But hush! —
for from broad words, and ’cause he fail’d
His presence at the tyrant’s feast, I hear,
Macduff lives in disgrace.
for speaking too freely, and for failing to appear at the tyrant's feast, Macduff, I hear, lives in disgrace.
Sir, can you tell
Where he bestows himself?
Sir, can you tell me where he's keeping himself?
Lord
The son of Duncan,25
From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth,
Lives in the English court and is receiv’d
Of the most pious Edward with such grace
That the malevolence of fortune nothing
Takes from his high respect.30
Duncan's son Malcolm — whose birthright this tyrant is withholding — lives at the English court, and is received by the most pious King Edward with such grace that his bad fortune takes nothing away from the high respect he is shown.
Thither Macduff30
Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid
To wake Northumberland, and warlike Siward
Macduff has gone there too, to beg the holy king for his help in rousing Northumberland and the warlike Siward,
That, by the help of these (with Him above
To ratify the work), we may again
Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights;35
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives,
Do faithful homage, and receive free honours,
All which we pine for now.
so that with their aid — and with God above to sanction the work — we may once again put food on our tables and sleep through our nights, free our feasts and banquets of bloody knives, pay homage owed to a rightful king, and receive honors freely given: all the things we are starving for now.
And this report
Hath so exasperate the King that he
Prepares for some attempt of war.40
This report has so enraged the King — Macbeth — that he is preparing for some kind of war.
Lennox
Sent he to Macduff?
Did he send for Macduff?
Lord
He did:
He did —
and with an absolute “Sir, not I,”
The cloudy messenger turns me his back,
and with a flat "Sir, not I," the scowling messenger turned his back on him
And hums, as who should say, “You’ll rue the time
That clogs me with this answer.”45
and hummed under his breath, as if to say, "You'll regret the day you loaded me down with this answer."
Lennox
And that well might
Advise him to a caution, t’ hold what distance
His wisdom can provide.
And that might well warn Macduff to be cautious — to keep whatever distance his wisdom can devise.
Some holy angel
Fly to the court of England, and unfold
His message ere he come, that a swift blessing50
May soon return to this our suffering country
Under a hand accurs’d!
May some holy angel fly ahead of him to the court of England and deliver his message before he arrives, so that a swift blessing may soon return to this suffering country of ours, crushed under an accursed hand!
Lord
I’ll send my prayers with him.
I'll send my prayers with him.
_Exeunt._
Famous lines in this scene
“Men must not walk too late.” line 7
Lennox's deadpan "moral" of Banquo's murder — as if the lesson were simply to avoid late-night walks — is the sharpest stroke in a speech of sustained sarcasm. The line is famous for showing how people talk under a tyrant: everyone knows Macbeth is guilty, but the truth can only be spoken in irony.
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Free side-by-side translation — polytranslator.com/shakespeare/macbeth/act-3-scene-6