Macbeth Thrift Study Edition

William Shakespeare

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780486475752
• eBook ISBN: 9780486112718
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Shakespeare Drama
• Index: Literature

Ambition overpowers loyalty in this drama of a Scottish noble's rise to power. Goaded by his scheming wife, Macbeth realizes too late that "blood will have blood," as each monstrous crime demands the reinforcement of another, sending him further and further down the path to his own destruction.

Shakespeare's drama of treason and doom features a fast-paced plot, tumultuous action, and a cast of compelling characters, including a trio of fortune-telling witches.

A definitive survey, this Dover Thrift Study Edition offers the drama's complete and unabridged text, plus a comprehensive study guide. Created to help readers gain a thorough understanding of Macbeth's content and context, the guide includes:

• Scene-by-scene summaries
• Explanations and discussions of the plot
• Question-and-answer sections
• Shakespeare biography
• List of characters and more
Dover Thrift Study Editions feature everything that students need to undertake a confident reading of a classic text, as well as to prepare themselves for class discussions, essays, and exams.
A selection of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

Macbeth

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Contents

Dramatis Personæ
Act I

Scene I
Scene II
Scene III
Scene IV
Scene V
Scene VI
Scene VII

Act II

Scene I
Scene II
Scene III
Scene IV

Act III

Scene I
Scene II
Scene III
Scene IV
Scene V
Scene VI

Act IV

Scene I
Scene II
Scene III

Act V

Scene I
Scene II
Scene III
Scene IV
Scene V
Scene VI
Scene VII
Scene VIII

Dramatis Personae

DUNCAN, king of Scotland

FLEANCE, son to Banquo.
SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces.
YOUNG SIWARD, his son.
SEYTON, an officer attending on Macbeth.
BOY, son to Macduff.
An English Doctor.
A Scotch Doctor.
A Sergeant.
A Porter.
An Old Man.

Lady MACBETH.
Lady MACDUFF.
Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth.

HECATE.
Three Witches.
Apparitions.

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Attendants, and
Messengers.

SCENE: Scotland; England.

ACT I.

SCENE I. A desert place.

Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches.

FIRST WITCH.

When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

SEC. WITCH. When the hurlyburly’s done,

When the battles lost and won.

THIRD WITCH.

That will be ere the set of sun.

FIRST WITCH.

Where the place?

SEC. WITCH.

Upon the heath.

THIRD WITCH.

There to meet with Macbeth.

FIRST WITCH.

I come, Graymalkin.¹

ALL.

Paddock² calls:—anon! Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
Hover through the fog and filthy air.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. A camp near Forres.

Alarum within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant.

DUN.

What bloody man is that? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.

MAL.

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.

SER.

Doubtful 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 gallowglasses³ 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,⁴
And fix’d his head upon our battlements.

DUN.

O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!

SER.

As 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, ⁵
With furbish’d arms and new supplies of men,
Began a fresh assault.

DUN.

Dismay’d not this

Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

SER.

Yes;

As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
If I say sooth, I must report they were
As cannons overcharged with double cracks;
So they
Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha,⁶
I cannot tell—
But I am faint; my gashes cry for help.

DUN.

So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;
They smack of honour both. Go get him surgeons.

[Exit Sergeant, attended.

Who comes here?

Enter ROSS.

MAL.

The worthy thane of ROSS.

LEN.

What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look That seems to speak things strange.

ROSS.

God save the king!

DUN.

Whence camest thou, worthy thane?

ROSS.

From Fife, great king;

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
And fan our people cold.
Norway himself, with terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal⁷ conflict;
Till that Bellona‘s⁸ bridegroom, lapp’d in proof,⁹
Confronted him with self-comparisons,¹⁰
Point against point rebellious, arm ’gainst arm,
Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude,
The victory fell on us.

DUN.

Great happiness!

ROSS.

That now
Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition;¹¹

Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme’s inch,^1...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Publisher’s Note
• Table of Contents
• Macbeth - WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
• Study Guide
• Bibliography
• DOVER • THRIFT • EDITIONS