Macbeth. William Shakespeare

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      As two spent swimmers that do cling together

      And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald –

      Worthy to 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 damned quarrel smiling,

      Show’d like a rebel’s whore. But all’s too weak; 15

      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; 20

      Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,

      Till he unseam’d him from the nave to th’ chaps,

      And fix’d 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 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, 30

      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?

       Sergeant

      Yes;

      As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. 35

      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, 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 honour both. – Go get him surgeons.

      [Exit SERGEANT, attended. Enter ROSS.]

      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 50

      And fan our people cold.

      Norway himself, with terrible numbers,

      Assisted by that most disloyal traitor

      The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict,

      Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapp’d in proof, 55

      Confronted him with self-comparisons,

      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 60

      Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition;

      Nor would we deign him burial of his men

      Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme’s Inch,

      Ten thousand dollars to our general use.

       Duncan

      No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive 65

      Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death,

      And with his former title greet Macbeth.

       Ross

      I’ll see it done.

       Duncan

      What be hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.

       [Exeunt.]

      SCENE II

      The second scene deals mainly with the report of the battle in which the ‘Macbeth’ we have already heard about, and another man, Banquo, have excelled. However, the feeling of uncertainty is maintained, because the outcome of the battle is left in doubt by the Sergeant. He nevertheless presents Macbeth as the decisive factor, and Ross gives the same impression from his point of view when he provides СКАЧАТЬ