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1606 `
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THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH `
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by William Shakespeare `
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Dramatis Personae `
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DUNCAN, King of Scotland `
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MACBETH, Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, a general in the King's `
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army `
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LADY MACBETH, his wife `
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MACDUFF, Thane of Fife, a nobleman of Scotland `
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LADY MACDUFF, his wife `
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MALCOLM, elder son of Duncan `
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DONALBAIN, younger son of Duncan `
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BANQUO, Thane of Lochaber, a general in the King's army `
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FLEANCE, his son `
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LENNOX, nobleman of Scotland `
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ROSS, nobleman of Scotland `
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MENTEITH nobleman of Scotland `
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ANGUS, nobleman of Scotland `
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CAITHNESS, nobleman of Scotland `
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SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces `
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YOUNG SIWARD, his son `
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SEYTON, attendant to Macbeth `
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HECATE, Queen of the Witches `
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The Three Witches `
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Boy, Son of Macduff `
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Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth `
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An English Doctor `
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A Scottish Doctor `
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A Sergeant `
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A Porter `
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An Old Man `
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The Ghost of Banquo and other Apparitions `
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Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murtherers, Attendants, `
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and Messengers `
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SCENE: Scotland and England `
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ACT I. SCENE I. `
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A desert place. Thunder and lightning. `
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Enter three Witches. `
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FIRST WITCH. When shall we three meet again? `
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In thunder, lightning, or in rain? `
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SECOND WITCH. When the hurlyburly's done, `
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When the battle's lost and won. `
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THIRD WITCH. That will be ere the set of sun. `
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FIRST WITCH. Where the place? `
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SECOND WITCH. Upon the heath. `
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THIRD WITCH. There to meet with Macbeth. `
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FIRST WITCH. I come, Graymalkin. `
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ALL. Paddock calls. Anon! `
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Fair is foul, and foul is fair. `
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Hover through the fog and filthy air. Exeunt. `
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SCENE II. `
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A camp near Forres. Alarum within. `
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Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with Attendants, `
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meeting a bleeding Sergeant. `
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DUNCAN. What bloody man is that? He can report, `
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As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt `
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The newest state. `
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MALCOLM. This is the sergeant `
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Who like a good and hardy soldier fought `
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'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend! `
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Say to the King the knowledge of the broil `
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As thou didst leave it. `
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SERGEANT. Doubtful it stood, `
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As two spent swimmers that do cling together `
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And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald- `
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Worthy to be a rebel, for to that `
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The multiplying villainies of nature `
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Do swarm upon him -from the Western Isles `
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Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied; `
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And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, `
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Show'd like a rebel's whore. But all's too weak; `
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For brave Macbeth -well he deserves that name- `
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Disdaining Fortune, with his brandish'd steel, `
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Which smoked with bloody execution, `
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Like Valor's minion carved out his passage `
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Till he faced the slave, `
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Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, `
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Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, `
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And fix'd his head upon our battlements. `
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DUNCAN. O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman! `
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SERGEANT. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection `
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Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break, `
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So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come `
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Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark. `
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No sooner justice had, with valor arm'd, `
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Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels, `
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But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage, `
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With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men, `
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Began a fresh assault. `
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DUNCAN. Dismay'd not this `
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Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo.? `
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SERGEANT. Yes, `
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As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. `
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If I say sooth, I must report they were `
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As cannons overcharged with double cracks, `
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So they `
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Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe. `
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Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, `
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Or memorize another Golgotha, `
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I cannot tell- `
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But I am faint; my gashes cry for help. `
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DUNCAN. So well thy words become thee as thy wounds; `
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They smack of honor both. Go get him surgeons. `
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Exit Sergeant, attended. `
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Who comes here? `
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Enter Ross. `
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MALCOLM The worthy Thane of Ross. `
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LENNOX. What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look `
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That seems to speak things strange. `
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ROSS. God save the King! `
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DUNCAN. Whence camest thou, worthy Thane? `
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ROSS. From Fife, great King, `
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Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky `
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And fan our people cold. `
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Norway himself, with terrible numbers, `
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Assisted by that most disloyal traitor `
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The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict, `
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Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof, `
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Confronted him with self-comparisons, `
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Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm, `
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Curbing his lavish spirit; and, to conclude, `
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The victory fell on us. `
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DUNCAN. Great happiness! `
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ROSS. That now `
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Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition; `
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Nor would we deign him burial of his men `
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Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme's Inch, `
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Ten thousand dollars to our general use. `
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DUNCAN. No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive `
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Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death, `
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And with his former title greet Macbeth. `
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ROSS. I'll see it done. `
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DUNCAN. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won. `
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Exeunt. `
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SCENE III. `
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A heath. Thunder. `
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Enter the three Witches. `
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FIRST WITCH. Where hast thou been, sister? `
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SECOND WITCH. Killing swine. `
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THIRD WITCH. Sister, where thou? `
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FIRST WITCH. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap, `
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And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd. "Give me," quoth I. `
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"Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed ronyon cries. `
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Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master the Tiger; `
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But in a sieve I'll thither sail, `
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And, like a rat without a tail, `
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I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do. `
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SECOND WITCH. I'll give thee a wind. `
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FIRST WITCH. Thou'rt kind. `
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THIRD WITCH. And I another. `
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FIRST WITCH. I myself have all the other, `
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And the very ports they blow, `
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All the quarters that they know `
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I' the shipman's card. `
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I will drain him dry as hay: `
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Sleep shall neither night nor day `
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Hang upon his penthouse lid; `
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He shall live a man forbid. `
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Weary se'nnights nine times nine `
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Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine; `
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Though his bark cannot be lost, `
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Yet it shall be tempest-toss'd. `
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Look what I have. `
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SECOND WITCH. Show me, show me. `
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FIRST WITCH. Here I have a pilot's thumb, `
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Wreck'd as homeward he did come. Drum within. `
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THIRD WITCH. A drum, a drum! `
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Macbeth doth come. `
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ALL. The weird sisters, hand in hand, `
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Posters of the sea and land, `
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Thus do go about, about, `
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