Macbeth (The Annotated Shakespeare) - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300106548 ISBN 13: 9780300106541

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2005

Synopsis

The Annotated Shakespeare series enables readers to fully understand and enjoy the plays of the world’s greatest dramatist
 
“To be able to read Macbeth with the eye of one of our profession’s top linguists and scholars is a treat for the heart as well as the mind.”―Tita French Baumlin, Southwest Missouri State University
 
Perhaps no other Shakespearean drama so engulfs its readers in the ruinous journey of surrender to evil as does Macbeth. A timeless tragedy about the nature of ambition, conscience, and the human heart, the play holds a profound grip on the Western imagination. This extensively annotated edition makes Macbeth completely accessible to twenty-first-century readers and provides a rich resource for students, teachers, and general readers.
 
Burton Raffel’s on-page annotations offer generous help with vocabulary and usage of Elizabethan English, pronunciation, prosody, and alternative readings of phrases and lines. And in his introduction he provides religious and social contexts that increase the reader’s understanding of the play. In a concluding essay, Harold Bloom argues that Macbeth―his favorite of Shakespeare’s high tragedies―is the playwright’s most internalized drama.

About this title

About the Author

Burton Raffel (1928–2015) was Distinguished Professor of Arts and Humanities Emeritus and professor of English emeritus, University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Among his many edited and translated publications are Poems and Prose from the Old English, Cligès, Lancelot, Perceval, Erec and Enide, and Yvain. Harold Bloom (1930–2019) was Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University and Berg Professor of English at New York University, and was the author of many books, including The Western Canon, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, and Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?

From the Back Cover

The Annotated Shakespeare series enables readers to understand and enjoy the plays of the world’s greatest dramatist

Through the Annotated Shakespeare series, today’s readers have immediate access to the tools they need to help them better comprehend the plays of Shakespeare and explore their many possible interpretations. Each volume includes an informative introduction by the editor, Burton Raffel, a critical essay by Harold Bloom, and comprehensive on-page annotations that assist with vocabulary, pronunciation, prosody, and alternative readings of phrases and lines. Handsome and affordable, these paperback editions invite every reader to get to know—or become reacquainted with—the genius of Shakespeare.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare

Yale University Press

Copyright © 2005 Burton Raffel
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-300-10654-1

Contents

About This Book................................................ixIntroduction...................................................xixSome Essentials of the Shakespearean Stage.....................xxxixMacbeth........................................................1An Essay by Harold Bloom.......................................169Further Reading................................................205Finding List...................................................209

Chapter One

CHARACTERS (DRAMATIS PERSONAE)

Duncan (king of Scotland) Malcolm (the king's older son and heir) Donalbain (the king's younger son) Macbeth (Scottish nobleman and a general of the king's army) Banquo (Scottish nobleman and a general of the king's army) Fleance (Banquo's son) Macduff (Scottish nobleman) Boy (Macduff's son) Lennox (Scottish nobleman) Ross (Scottish nobleman) Menteith (Scottish nobleman) Angus (Scottish nobleman) Caithness (Scottish nobleman) Siward (Earl of Northumberland and English general) Young Siward (his son) Seyton (servant to Macbeth) Doctor (English) Doctor (Scottish) Soldier Porter Old Man Murderers Lady Macbeth Lady Macduff Gentlewoman (servant to Lady Macbeth) Hecat (Hecate) Witches Apparitions Lords, Soldiers, Servants, Messengers

Act 1 SCENE 1 An open place, near Forres

LIGHTNING AND THUNDER. ENTER Three Witches

Witch 1 When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Witch 2 When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won.

Witch 3 That will be ere the set of sun. 5

Witch 1 Where the place?

Witch 2 Upon the heath.

Witch 3 There to meet with Macbeth.

Witch 1 I come, Graymalkin!

Witch 2 Paddock calls.

Witch 3 Anon!

All Fair is foul, and foul is fair. 10 Hover through the fog and filthy air.

EXEUNT

SCENE 2

A battlefield camp, near Forres

ALARUM WITHIN. ENTER Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with Servants and a bleeding Sergeant

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. 5 Say to the king the knowledge of the broil As thou didst leave it.

Sergeant Doubtful it stood, As two spent swimmers, that do cling together And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald- Worthy o be a rebel, for to that 10

The multiplying villainies of nature Do swarm upon him-from the western isles Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied, And Fortune, on his damnd quarrel smiling, Showed like a rebel's whore. But all's too weak, 15 For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, Which smoked with bloody execution, Like valor's minion carvd out his passage Till he faced the slave-Which 20 ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseamed him from the nave to th'chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements.

Duncan O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!

Sergeant As whence the sun 'gins his reflection, 25 Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break, So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark: No sooner justice had, with valor armed, Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels, But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage, With furbished arms and new supplies of men Began a fresh assault.

Duncan Dismayed not this Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

Sergeant Yes - As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. 35 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, 40 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 honor both. Go get him surgeons.

EXIT Sergeant, attended ENTER Ross, with Angus

Who comes here?

Malcolm The worthy Thane of Ross. 45

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

Ross God save the king!

Duncan Whence cam'st thou, worthy Thane?

Ross From Fife, great king, Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky And fan our people cold. 50 Norway himself, with terrible numbers, Assisted by that most disloyal traitor, The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict, Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapped in proof, Confronted him with self comparisons, 55 Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm, Curbing his lavish spirit - and, to conclude, The victory fell on us.

Duncan Great happiness!

Ross That now Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition, Nor would we deign him burial of his men 60 Till he disbursd, at Saint Colme's Inch, Ten thousand dollars to our general use.

Duncan No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death, And with his former title greet Macbeth. 65

Ross I'll see it done.

Duncan What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.

EXEUNT

SCENE 3 A heath

THUNDER. ENTER THE THREE Witches

Witch 1 Where hast thou been, sister?

Witch 2 Killing swine.

Witch 3 Sister, where thou?

Witch 1 A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap, And munched, and munched, and munched. 5 "Give me," quoth I. "Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed ronyon cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o'the Tiger, But in a sieve I'll thither sail, And, like a rat without a tail, 10 I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

Witch 2 I'll give thee a wind.

Witch 1 Th'rt kind.

Witch 3 And I another.

Witch 1 I myself have all the other, 15 And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I' the shipman's card. I'll drain him dry as hay. Sleep shall neither night nor day 20 Hang upon his penthouse lid. He shall live a man forbid, Weary sev'n nights nine times nine Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine. Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest tossed. 25 Look what I have.

Witch 2 Show me, show me.

Witch 1 Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wrecked as homeward he did come. 30

DRUM WITHIN

Witch 3 A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come.

All The weyward sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about. 35 Thrice to thine and thrice to mine, And thrice again, to make up nine. Peace: the charm's wound up.

ENTER Macbeth and Banquo

Macbeth So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

Banquo How far is't called to Forres? (sees Witches) What are 40 these, So withered and so wild in their attire, That look not like th'inhabitants o'the earth, And yet are on't? (to Witches) Live you? Or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying 45 Upon her skinny lips. You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so.

Macbeth Speak, if you can. What are you?

Witch 1 All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!

Witch 2 All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! 50

Witch 3 All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!

Banquo Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair? (to Witches) In th'name of truth, Are ye fantastical, or that indeed Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner 55 You greet with present grace and great prediction Of noble having and of royal hope, That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not. If you can look into the seeds of time And say which grain will grow and which will not, 60 Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear Your favors nor your hate.

Witch 1 Hail.

Witch 2 Hail.

Witch 3 Hail. 65

Witch 1 Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

Witch 2 Not so happy, yet much happier.

Witch 3 Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

Witch 1 Banquo and Macbeth, all hail! 70

Macbeth Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more. By Sinel's death I know I am Thane of Glamis, But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman, and to be king Stands not within the prospect of belief, 75 No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence You owe this strange intelligence? Or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.

Witches vanish

Banquo The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, 80 And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?

Macbeth Into the air, and what seemed corporal melted As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed.

Banquo Were such things here as we do speak about? Or have we eaten on the insane root 85 That takes the reason prisoner?

Macbeth Your children shall be kings.

Banquo You shall be king.

Macbeth And Thane of Cawdor too. Went it not so?

Banquo To the selfsame tune and words. Who's here?

ENTER Ross and Angus

Ross The king hath happily received, Macbeth, 90 The news of thy success, and when he reads Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, His wonders and his praises do contend Which should be thine or his. Silenced with that, In viewing o'er the rest o'the selfsame day, 95 He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, Strange images of death. As thick as hail Came post with post, and every one did bear Thy praises in his kingdom's great defense, 100 And poured them down before him.

Angus We are sent To give thee from our royal master thanks, Only to herald thee into his sight, Not pay thee.

Ross And, for an earnest of a greater honor, He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor - In 105 which addition, hail, most worthy Thane, For it is thine.

Banquo What, can the devil speak true?

Macbeth The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me In borrowed robes?

Angus Who was the Thane lives yet, But under heavy judgment bears that life 110 Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined With those of Norway, or did line the rebel With hidden help and vantage, or that with both He labored in his country's wrack, I know not, But treasons capital, confessed and proved, 115 Have overthrown him.

Macbeth (aside) Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor. The greatest is behind. (to Ross and Angus) Thanks for your pains. (to Banquo) Do you not hope your children shall be kings, When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me Promised no less to them?

Banquo (aside to Macbeth) That trusted home 120 Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange. And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray's 125 In deepest consequence. (to Ross and Angus) Cousins, a word, I pray you.

Macbeth (aside) Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme. - (to Ross and Angus) I thank you, gentlemen. (aside)This supernatural soliciting 130 Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill, Why hath it given me earnest of success, Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor. If good, why do I yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair 135 And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, Against the use of nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings. My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man that function 140 Is smothered in surmise, and nothing is But what is not.

Banquo (to Ross and Angus) Look, how our partner's rapt.

Macbeth (aside) If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir.

Banquo (to Ross and Angus) New honors come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold 145 But with the aid of use.

Macbeth (aside) Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.

Banquo Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.

Macbeth Give me your favor. My dull brain was wrought With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains 150 Are registered where every day I turn The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king. (to Banquo) Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time, The interim having weighed it, let us speak Our free hearts each to other.

Banquo Very gladly. 155

Macbeth Till then, enough. (to the others) Come, friends.

EXEUNT

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Macbethby William Shakespeare Copyright © 2005 by Burton Raffel. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300106548
• ISBN 13: 9780300106541
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256