Macbeth Act 1 Accessible Play Script
Macbeth
Act 1 Script
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Scene 1
Thunder and lightning. Enter three WITCHES.
Thunder and lightning. Three WITCHES enter.
First Witch
When shall we three meet again? / In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
When should the three of us meet again? Will it be in thunder, lightning, or rain?
Second Witch
When the hurly-burly’s done, / When the battle’s lost and won.
We’ll meet when the noise of the battle is over, when one side has won and the other side has lost.
Third Witch
That will be ere the set of sun.
That will happen before sunset.
First Witch
Where the place?
Where should we meet?
Second Witch
Upon the heath.
Let’s do it in the open field.
Third Witch
There to meet with Macbeth.
We’ll meet Macbeth there.
All
Fair is foul, and foul is fair / Hover through the fog and filthy air.
Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Let’s fly away through the fog and filthy air.
Scene 2
Enter KING DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, with attendants, meeting a bleeding CAPTAIN.
DUNCAN enters with his sons. They meet a wounded CAPTAIN.
Duncan
What bloody man is that? He can report, / As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt / The newest state.
Who is this bloody man? Judging from his appearance, I bet he can tell us the latest news about the revolt.
Malcolm
This is the sergeant / Who like a good and hardy soldier fought / 'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
This is the brave sergeant who fought to keep me from being captured. Hail, brave friend!
Captain
Doubtful it stood, / As two spent swimmers that do cling together / And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald—
For a while you couldn’t tell who would win. The armies were like two exhausted swimmers clinging to each other and struggling in the water.
Captain
The multiplying villanies of nature / Do swarm upon him—from the Western Isles / Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied,
The villainous rebel Macdonwald was supported by foot soldiers and horsemen from Ireland and the Hebrides.
Captain
And fortune, on his damnèd quarrel smiling, / Showed like a rebel’s whore. But all’s too weak, / For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—
Lady Luck was with him, smiling at his enemies. But Luck and Macdonwald together weren’t strong enough for brave Macbeth.
Captain
Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, / Which smoked with bloody execution, / Like valor’s minion carved out his passage / Till he faced the slave;
Ignoring luck, with his smoking sword, he carved his way through until he faced the rebel.
Captain
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, / Till he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops, / And fixed his head upon our battlements.
He didn’t say goodbye or shake hands before he split him open from his belly to his jaw and stuck his head on our walls.
Duncan
O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!
My brave relative! What a worthy man!
Scene 3
Thunder. Enter the three WITCHES.
Thunder. The three WITCHES enter.
First Witch
Where hast thou been, sister?
Where have you been, sister?
Second Witch
Killing swine.
Killing pigs.
First Witch
A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap, / And munched, and munched, and munched. “Give me,” quoth I. / “Aroint thee, witch!” the rump-fed runnion cries.
A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap and munched away at them. “Give me one,” I said. “Get away from me, witch!” the fat woman cried.
Enter MACBETH and BANQUO.
Macbeth
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
I have never seen a day that was so good and bad at the same time.
Witches
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! / All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! / All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Glamis and Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, the future king!
Banquo
Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear / Things that do sound so fair?
My dear Macbeth, why do you look so startled and afraid of these nice things they’re saying?
WITCHES vanish. Enter ROSS and ANGUS.
Ross
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor:
The king told me to call you the thane of Cawdor.
Scene 4
Enter KING DUNCAN, MALCOLM, and attendants.
DUNCAN and his attendants enter.
Duncan
There’s no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face. / He was a gentleman on whom I built / An absolute trust.
There’s no way to read a man’s mind by looking at his face. I trusted Cawdor completely.
Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSS, and ANGUS.
Duncan
O worthiest cousin, / The sin of my ingratitude even now / Was heavy on me.
My worthiest kinsman! I was feeling guilty for not having thanked you enough.
Macbeth
(Aside) The prince of Cumberland! That is a step / On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, / For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
(To himself) Malcolm is now the prince of Cumberland! To become king, I’ll have to step over him. Stars, hide your light...
Scene 5
Enter LADY MACBETH, reading a letter.
LADY MACBETH reads of the witches' prophecy.
Lady Macbeth
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be / What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness
You are thane of Glamis and Cawdor, and you’ll be king. But I worry you are too kind to seize the crown.
Lady Macbeth
Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty.
Come, spirits, make me less like a woman and more like a man. Fill me from head to toe with deadly cruelty!
Lady Macbeth
Look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under ’t.
You should look like an innocent flower, but be like the snake that hides underneath it.
Scene 6
Enter KING DUNCAN and attendants.
DUNCAN arrives at Macbeth's castle.
Duncan
This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air / Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself / Unto our gentle senses.
This castle is in a pleasant place. The air is sweet and appeals to my senses.
Lady Macbeth
All our service, / In every point twice done and then done double, / Were poor and single business to contend / Against those honors deep and broad...
Everything we’re doing for you is nothing compared to the honors you have brought to our family.
Scene 7
Enter MACBETH.
MACBETH wrestles with his conscience.
Macbeth
If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well / It were done quickly.
If this were over as soon as it was done, it would be best to get it over with quickly.
Macbeth
I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself / And falls on th' other.
I can’t spur myself to action. The only thing motivating me is ambition, which makes people rush ahead into disaster.
Enter LADY MACBETH.
Lady Macbeth
Was the hope drunk / Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since? / And wakes it now, to look so green and pale / At what it did so freely?
Were you drunk when you seemed so hopeful before? Have you woken up now looking green and pale with fear of this idea?
Lady Macbeth
But screw your courage to the sticking-place, / And we’ll not fail.
If you get your courage up, we can’t fail.
Macbeth
I am settled, and bend up / Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. / Away, and mock the time with fairest show. / False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
Now I’m decided. I’ll exert every muscle to commit this crime. Go now and pretend to be a friendly hostess. Hide your evil heart with a pleasant face.
