The stage is set for a banquet. MACBETH enters with LADY MACBETH, ROSS, LENNOX, LORDS, and their attendants.
MACBETH
You know your own ranks, so you know where to sit. Sit down. From the highest to the lowest of you, I bid you a hearty welcome.
The LORDS sit down.
LORDS
Thanks to your majesty.
MACBETH
I will walk around and mingle with all of you, playing the humble host. My wife will stay in her royal chair, but at the appropriate time I will have her welcome you all.
LADY MACBETH
Say welcome to all of our friends for me, sir, for in my heart they are all welcome.
The FIRST MURDERER appears at the door.
MACBETH
And they respond to you with their hearts as well. The table is full on both sides. I will sit here in the middle. Be free and happy. Soon we will toast around the table.
(approaching the door and speaking to the MURDERER) There's blood on your face.
FIRST MURDERER
Then it must be Banquo's.
MACBETH
I'd rather see his blood splattered on your face than flowing through his veins. Did you finish him off?
FIRST MURDERER
My lord, his throat is cut. I did that to him.
MACBETH
You are the best of the cutthroats. But whoever did the same to Fleance must also be good. If you cut both their throats, then you are the absolute best.
FIRST MURDERER
Most royal sir, Fleance has escaped.
MACBETH
Now I'm scared again. Otherwise I would have been perfect, as solid as a piece of marble, as firm as a rock, as free as the air itself. But now I'm all tangled up with doubts and fears. But Banquo's been taken care of?
FIRST MURDERER
Yes, my good lord. He's lying dead in a ditch, with twenty deep gashes in his head, any one of which would have been enough to kill him.
MACBETH
Thanks for that. The adult snake lies in the ditch. The young snake that escaped will in time become poisonous and threatening, but for now he has no fangs. Get out of here. I'll talk to you again tomorrow.
The FIRST MURDERER exits.
LADY MACBETH
My royal lord, you're not entertaining the guests. If you don't make your guests know they're welcome, they'll feel like they're paying for their meal. When you just want to eat, it's better to do that at home. When you're eating out with people, you need to have a little more ceremony. Otherwise dinner parties would be boring.
MACBETH
It's nice of you to remind me. (raising a glass to toast his guests) Since good digestion requires a good appetite, and good health requires both of those, here's to good appetites, good digestion, and good health!
LENNOX
Why don't you have a seat, your highness?
The GHOST OF BANQUO enters and sits in MACBETH's place.
MACBETH
We would have all the nobility of Scotland gathered under one roof, if only Banquo were here. I hope it turns out that he's late out of rudeness, and not because something bad has happened to him.
ROSS
His absence means he's broken his promise, sir. If it pleases you, your highness, why don't you sit with us and grace us with your royal company?
MACBETH
The table's full.
LENNOX
Here's an empty seat, sir.
MACBETH
Where?
LENNOX
(pointing to where the GHOST sits) Here, my good lord. What's wrong, your highness?
MACBETH
(seeing the GHOST) Which one of you did this?
LORDS
What, my good lord?
MACBETH
(to the GHOST) You can't say I did it. Don't shake your bloody head at me.
ROSS
Gentlemen, stand up. His highness is not well.
LADY MACBETH
Sit down, worthy friends. My husband is often like this, and he has been since he was a child. Please stay seated. This is just a brief fit. In a moment he'll be well again. If you pay too much attention to him you'll make him angry, and that will make his convulsions go on longer. Eat your dinner and pay no attention to him. (speaking so that only MACBETH can hear) Are you a man?
MACBETH
Yes, and a brave one, who dares to look at something that would frighten the devil.
LADY MACBETH
Oh, that's nonsense! This is just another one of the hallucinations you always get when you're afraid. This is like that floating dagger you said was leading you toward Duncan. These outbursts of yours don't even look like real fear. They're more like how you would act if you were a woman telling a scary story by the fireside in front of her grandmother. Shame on you! Why are you making these faces? When the vision passes, you'll see that you're just looking at a stool.
MACBETH
Please, just look over there. Look! Look! See! (to the GHOST) What do you have to say? What do I care? If you can nod, then speak too. If the dead are going to return from their graves, then there's nothing to stop the birds from eating the bodies. So there's no point in our burying people.
The GHOST vanishes.
LADY MACBETH
What, has your foolishness paralyzed you completely?
MACBETH
As sure as I'm standing here, I saw him.
LADY MACBETH
Nonsense!
MACBETH
In ancient times, before there were laws to make the land safe and peaceful, a lot of blood was spilled. Yes, and since then murders have been committed that are too awful to talk about. It used to be that when you knocked a man's brains out he would just die, and that would be it. But now they rise from the dead with twenty fatal head wounds and push us off our stools. This haunting business is even stranger than murder.
LADY MACBETH
My worthy lord, your noble friends miss your company.
MACBETH
I forgot about them. (to the guests) Don't be alarmed on my account, my most worthy friends. I have a strange disorder, which no longer shocks those who know me well. (raising his glass to toast the company) Come, let's drink a toast: love and health to you all. Now I'll sit down. Give me some wine. Fill up my cup.
The GHOST OF BANQUO reappears in MACBETH's seat.
I drink to the happiness of everyone at the table, and to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss. I wish he were here! Let's drink to everyone here, and to Banquo. Now, everybody, drink
LORDS
Hear, hear.
They drink.
MACBETH
(to the GHOST) Go! And get out of my sight! Stay in your grave. There's no marrow in your bones, and your blood is cold. You're staring at me with eyes that have no power to see.
LADY MACBETH
Good friends, think of this as nothing more than a strange habit. It's nothing else. Too bad it's spoiling our pleasure tonight.
MACBETH
I am as brave as any other man. Come at me in the form of a rugged Russian bear, an armor-plated rhinoceros, or a tiger from Iran. Take any shape other than the one you have now and I will never tremble in fear. Or come back to life again and challenge me to a duel in some deserted place. If I tremble then, you can call me a little girl. Get out of here, you horrible ghost, you hallucination. Get out!
The GHOST vanishes.
Look, now that it's gone, I'm a man again. Please, remain seated.
LADY MACBETH
You have ruined our good cheer and disrupted the gathering by making a spectacle of yourself.
MACBETH
(to the guests) Can things like this happen so suddenly without making us all astonished? You make me feel like I don't know myself, when I see you looking at these terrible things and keeping a straight face, while my face has gone white with fear.
ROSS
What things, my lord?
LADY MACBETH
Please, don't speak to him. He's getting worse and worse. Talk makes him crazy. Everybody, please leave right now. Don't bother exiting in the order of your rank, but just leave right away.
LENNOX
Good night. I hope the king recovers soon!
LADY MACBETH
A kind good night to all!
Everyone leaves except MACBETH and LADY MACBETH.
MACBETH
There's an old saying: the dead will have their revenge. Gravestones have been known to move, and trees to speak, to bring guilty men to justice. The craftiest murderers have been exposed by the mystical signs made by crows and magpies. How late at night is it?
LADY MACBETH
It's almost morning. You can't tell whether it's day or night.
MACBETH
What do you think about the fact that Macduff refuses to come to me when I command him?
LADY MACBETH
Did you send for him, sir?
MACBETH
I've heard about this indirectly, but I will send for him. In every one of the lords' households I have a servant paid to spy for me. Tomorrow, while it's still early, I will go see the witches. They will tell me more, because I'm determined to know the worst about what's going to happen. My own safety is the only important thing now. I have walked so far into this river of blood that even if I stopped now, it would be as hard to go back to being good as it is to keep killing people. I have some schemes in my head that I'm planning to put into action. I have to do these things before I have a chance to think about them.
LADY MACBETH
You haven't slept.
MACBETH
Yes, let's go to sleep. My strange self-delusions just come from inexperience. We're still just beginners when it comes to crime.
They exit.