The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (957 page)

but not for the time being.

Go on, then, tomorrow

you’ll hear from me again.

Exit Murderer

LADY MACBETH

My royal lord,

You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold

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

'Tis given with welcome: to feed were best at home;

From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony;

Meeting were bare without it.

My royal lord,

You have not given the toast.

The dinner feels taxing without frequent toasts.

Toasting makes the guests feel welcome.

They may as well be eating at home,

since the pleasure of dining out lies in the ritual of toasting.

It’s not the same without it.

MACBETH

Sweet remembrancer!

Now, good digestion wait on appetite,

And health on both!

It’s sweet of you to remind me!

Here’s to good digestion after your appetite!

May both be healthy!

LENNOX

May't please your highness sit.

Please, your highness, sit if you’d like.

The GHOST OF BANQUO enters, and sits in MACBETH's place

MACBETH

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

Were the graced person of our Banquo present;

Who may I rather challenge for unkindness

Than pity for mischance!

We would have all of our country’s

nobility here if Banquo graced

our presence. I would rather challenge

him for being rude than hear

that something bad happened to him.

ROSS

His absence, sir,

Lays blame upon his promise. Please't your highness

To grace us with your royal company.

He’s not here because he broke his promise, sir.

Please, your highness, join us.

MACBETH

The table's full.

The table’s full.

LENNOX

Here is a place reserved, sir.

Here is a place reserved for you, sir.

MACBETH

Where?

Where?

LENNOX

Here, my good lord. What is't that moves your highness?

Here, my good lord. What is wrong, your highess?

MACBETH

Which of you have done this?

Which one of you did this?

Lords

What, my good lord?

Did what, my good lord?

MACBETH

Thou canst not say I did it: never shake

Thy gory locks at me.

You can not say I did it. Do not shake

your bloody head at me.

ROSS

Gentlemen, rise: his highness is not well.

Gentlemen, stand up. His highness is not well.

LADY MACBETH

Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus,

And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat;

The fit is momentary; upon a thought

He will again be well: if much you note him,

You shall offend him and extend his passion:

Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man?

Sit back down, my good friends.

My lord is frequently like this and

has been  from his youth. Please,

stay seated. The fit is temporary,

in a moment he will be well again.

If you pay too much attention to him,

you will offend him and it will last longer.

Eat, and pay no attention to him.

Are you a man?

MACBETH

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

Which might appal the devil.

Yes, and a brave one that dares to look

at something that would shock the devil.

LADY MACBETH

O proper stuff!

This is the very painting of your fear:

This is the air-drawn dagger 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,

Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!

Why do you make such faces? When all's done,

You look but on a stool.

Oh, come on! This is a hallucination created by fear.

This is just like the dagger you said you saw

in the air—the one that led you to Duncan?

These sudden and passionate outbursts of yours

are like imposters of true fear. They would

be fit for a woman telling a story to her

grandmother in front of a winter fire.

It is shameful how you act!

Why do you have to make such faces?

When all is said and done, it’s just a stool

you are looking at.

MACBETH

Prithee, see there! behold! look! lo!

how say you?

Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.

If charnel-houses and our graves must send

Those that we bury back, our monuments

Shall be the maws of kites.

Please, look there! Look at that! See it? Look!

What do you have to say?

And why should I care? If you can nod, speak, too.

If our vaults and graves are going to send back

those we bury, they will end up in the stomachs of birds.

GHOST OF BANQUO vanishes

LADY MACBETH

What, quite unmann'd in folly?

What, are you undone by this foolishness?

MACBETH

If I stand here, I saw him.

As I stand here, I saw him.

LADY MACBETH

Fie, for shame!

I’m disappointed in you.

MACBETH

Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time,

Ere human statute purged the gentle weal;

Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd

Too terrible for the ear: the times have been,

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

And there an end; but now they rise again,

With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,

And push us from our stools: this is more strange

Than such a murder is.

In olden times, before laws were made,

a lot of blood was shed. And even since then,

murders too terrible to mention

have been committed. In the past,

when you beat a man’s brains out,

he died, and it was over. But now,

they rise again, with twenty fatal wounds

to the head, and push us out of our seat.

This is much more strange than any murder.

LADY MACBETH

My worthy lord,

Your noble friends do lack you.

My good lord, your friends miss your presence.

MACBETH

I do forget.

Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends,

I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing

To those that know me. Come, love and health to all;

Then I'll sit down. Give me some wine; fill full.

I drink to the general joy o' the whole table,

And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss;

Would he were here! to all, and him, we thirst,

And all to all.

I forgot about them. Do not pay much attention to me,

my most worthy friends, I have a strange illness

which is nothing to those who know me well.

Come, let’s drink a toast to love and health for all,

then I’ll sit down. Give me some wine—top it up!

I drink to the general joy of the whole table,

and to our dear friend Banquo, who I miss.

If only he were here! To all of you and to him,

let’s drink. Everybody, drink!

Lords

Our duties, and the pledge.

We pledge our best.

Re-enter GHOST OF BANQUO

MACBETH

Avaunt! and quit my sight! let the earth hide thee!

Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;

Thou hast no speculation in those eyes

Which thou dost glare with!

Go away! Leave my sight! Let your grave hold you!

Your bones have no marrow and your blood is cold.

You have no life in those eyes that you glare at me with!

LADY MACBETH

Think of this, good peers,

But as a thing of custom: 'tis no other;

Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.

Think of this, good friends, as a common behavior

in our house. It is nothing else, but it spoils the

fun we are having.

MACBETH

What man dare, I dare:

Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,

The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger;

Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves

Shall never tremble: or be alive again,

And dare me to the desert with thy sword;

If trembling I inhabit then, protest me

The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!

Unreal mockery, hence!

Whatever man has courage to do, I have courage to do.

You can approach me looking like a rugged Russian bear,

a horned rhinoceros, or an ancient Asian tiger.

Take any shape but the one you have, and my firm nerves

will not tremble. Come to life again, and dare me

in the desert to a sword fight. If I show any trembling,

then call me a child’s doll. Get out of here, horrible shadow!

Strange imitation, get out of here!

GHOST OF BANQUO vanishes

Why, so: being gone,

I am a man again. Pray you, sit still.

Now that it is gone, I am myself again.

Please, stay seated.

LADY MACBETH

You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting,

With most admired disorder.

You have disrupted the fun and broke up the party

with most amazing confusion.

MACBETH

Can such things be,

And overcome us like a summer's cloud,

Without our special wonder? 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,

When mine is blanched with fear.

How can such sights overcome us like a cloud

on a sunny day without making us stop

and wonder? You make me feel strange

and not like myself when I see how you

can witness such sights and keep the color

in your face, while mine is white with fear.

ROSS

What sights, my lord?

What sights, my lord?

LADY MACBETH

I pray you, speak not; he grows worse and worse;

Question enrages him. At once, good night: