[Stage Direction]:The sound of oboes playing. Torches light the stage. A butler enters, followed by several servants carrying utensils and dishes of food. Then MACBETH enters.
[MACBETH]:If this will really all be over once it's done, then it would be best to get it over with quickly. If killing the king could trap all consequences inside the act itself, then the murder would be the beginning and end of the whole affair. I'd do it and risk the afterlife.But crimes always bring consequences here on earth. Violent acts teach others violence, and their violence comes back to punish us. Justice forces the poisoned cup we give others back to our own lips.
The king trusts me twice: first because I'm his kinsman and his subject, and second because I'm his host — the one who should be protecting him, not killing him. And Duncan has been such a humble, honest, moral king that his goodness will cry out like angels against his murder.
Pity, like an innocent newborn baby or a heavenly angel riding the wind, will spread the news everywhere until the whole land is weeping. I have no motivation except ambition — which makes people jump too far and fall on their faces.
[Stage Direction]:LADY MACBETH enters.
[MACBETH]:What's the news?
[LADY MACBETH]:He's almost finished dinner. Why did you leave the dining room?
[MACBETH]:Has he asked for me?
[LADY MACBETH]:Don't you know he has?
[MACBETH]:We're not going through with this. He recently honored me, and I've earned the respect of many people. I should be enjoying this new honor, not throwing it away so quickly.
[LADY MACBETH]:Were you drunk when you were so hopeful earlier? Did you sleep it off and wake up scared of what we planned?From now on I'll judge your love by this.Are you afraid to act on your desires? Will you take what you want most in life? Or will you be a coward in your own mind — always pairing "I want to" with "I can't"?You're like the cat who wants fish but won't get its feet wet.
[MACBETH]:Please, stop. I dare do whatever is proper for a man to do. Anyone who does more is not a man at all.
[LADY MACBETH]:Then what kind of creature were you when you first told me this plan?When you dared to do it, that's when you were a man. Following through would make you even more of one.Before, the time and place weren't right — yet you were still willing. Now the time and place are perfect, and suddenly you're terrified.
I have breastfed a baby, and I know how sweet it is to love a nursing child. But even while it was smiling at me, I would have pulled it from my breast and smashed its head in if I had sworn to do it — the way you swore to do this.
[MACBETH]:But what if we fail?
[LADY MACBETH]:Fail?Just hold on to your courage, and we won't fail.When Duncan is asleep — and he will be sound asleep after today's long journey — I'll make his two servants so drunk on wine and ale that they remember nothing. Their senses will shut down completely.
When they're passed out like pigs, practically dead, nothing will stop us from killing Duncan. And nothing will stop us from blaming it on his drunken servants.
[MACBETH]:May you only give birth to boys — your fearless spirit could only produce males.Are you sure that if we smear the servants with Duncan's blood and use their daggers, everyone will believe they did it?
[LADY MACBETH]:Who would dare think otherwise? We'll scream and cry in grief when we discover his body.
[MACBETH]:I'm decided. I'll use all my strength to carry out this terrible act.Now go — put on your best welcoming face.A false face must hide what the false heart knows.
[Stage Direction]:They exit.