Publisher's Synopsis
One of the great Shakespearean tragedies, Macbeth is a dark and bloody drama of ambition, murder, guilt, and revenge. Prompted by the prophecies of three mysterious witches and goaded by his ambitious wife, the Scottish thane Macbeth murders Duncan, King of Scotland, in order to succeed him on the throne. This foul deed soon entangles the conscience-stricken nobleman in a web of treachery, deceit, and more murders, which ultimately spells his doom. Set amid the gloomy castles and lonely heaths of medieval Scotland, Macbeth paints a striking dramatic portrait of a man of honor and integrity destroyed by a fatal character flaw and the tortures of a guilty imagination.Thunder and lightning. Enter three WitchesFirst WitchWhen shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain?Second WitchWhen the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won.Third WitchThat will be ere the set of sun.First WitchWhere the place?Second Witch Upon the heath.Third WitchThere to meet with Macbeth.First WitchI come, Graymalkin!Second WitchPaddock calls.Third WitchAnon.ALLFair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.[Exeunt]SCENE IIA camp near Forres.Alarum within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding SergeantDUNCANWhat bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state.MALCOLM This is the sergeant Who like a good and hardy soldier fought 'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend! Say to the king the knowledge of the broil As thou didst leave it.SergeantDoubtful it stood; As two spent swimmers, that do cling together And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald- Worthy to be a rebel, for to that The multiplying villanies of nature Do swarm upon him-from the western isles Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied; And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, Show'd like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak: For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name- Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, Which smoked with bloody execution, Like valour's minion carved out his passage Till he faced the slave; Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, And fix'd his head upon our battlements.DUNCANO valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!SergeantAs whence the sun 'gins his reflection Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break, So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark: No sooner justice had with valour arm'd Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels, But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage, With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men Began a fresh assault.
