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In: Opera·Plays/Films/Dramas·Classics of Literature
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #1533.
This work is a tragedy that opens on a bleak, storm‑tossed heath where three witches chant “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” and summon Macbeth to their meeting. Their cryptic prophecies, “All hail, Macbeth! … that shalt be king hereafter”, are heard by the newly titled Thane of Glamis, who is also praised for his valor in a recent battle against Norwegian forces. The play quickly moves to a royal camp where King Duncan learns of Macbeth’s triumph, and the traitorous Thane of Cawdor is sentenced to death, his title transferred to Macbeth. The opening scenes establish a world of looming conflict, supernatural intrigue, and the swift rise of a warrior whose ambition is already being kindled by ominous foretelling.
Shakespeare’s language is dense with Elizabethan verse, rich in metaphor and rhythmic iambic pentameter, while the dialogue crackles with the urgency of war and the unsettling allure of destiny. Readers who relish complex characters, moral ambiguity, and the stark interplay of fate and free will will find this dramatic tapestry compelling, especially those who appreciate poetry that balances brutal realism with the eerie cadence of the uncanny.
The opening · free to read
Alarum within. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.
DUNCAN. What 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.
SOLDIER. 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 villainies 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 smok’d with bloody execution, Like Valour’s minion, carv’d out his passage, Till he fac’d the slave; Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseam’d him from the nave to the chops, And fix’d his head upon our battlements.
DUNCAN. O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
SOLDIER. As whence the sun ’gins his reflection Shipwracking 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.
DUNCAN. Dismay’d not this Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
SOLDIER. Yes; As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. If I say sooth, I must report they were As cannons overcharg’d with double cracks; So they Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe: Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, Or memorize another Golgotha, I cannot tell— But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
DUNCAN. So well thy words become thee as thy wounds: They smack of honour both.—Go, get him surgeons.
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