Macbeth: Act 2, Scene 3
PORTER: gatekeeper.
Enter a PORTER. Knocking within.
Porter
1 Here's a knocking indeed! If a man were
2. old turning the key: plenty of occasions to turn the key [to let in sinners].
2 porter of Hell Gate, he should have old turning the
3 key. (Knock.) Knock, knock, knock! Who's there,
4-5. a farmer ... plenty: i.e., a hoarder.
4 i' the name of Beelzebub? Here's a farmer, that hang'd
5. Come in time!: you have come at a good time! 6. Have napkins ... for't: i.e., be sure to carry plenty of handkerchiefs because here in hell you'll sweat for what you did. 8-11. an equivocator ... to heaven: i.e., a believable equivocator who couldn't talk his way into heaven. <More.>
5 himself on th' expectation of plenty. Come in time!
6 Have napkins enow about you; here you'll sweat for't.
7 (Knock.) Knock, knock! Who's there, in the other
8 devil's name? Faith, here's an equivocator, that could
9 swear in both the scales against either scale, who com-
10 mitted treason enough for God's sake, yet could
11 not equivocate to heaven. O, come in, equivocator.
12 (Knock.) Knock, knock, knock! Who's there? Faith,
13. an English tailor come hither, for stealing
out of a French hose: Some types of "French hose" (we would call the garment "breeches") were very baggy; a dishonest tailor might try to steal some of the cloth supplied to him and produce hose that was only baggy instead of extra-baggy. 15. roast your goose: A "tailor's goose" is a type of pressing iron, and "his goose is cooked" is slang for "he's done for."
13 here's an English tailor come hither, for stealing
14 out of a French hose: come in, tailor; here you may
15 roast your goose. (Knock.) Knock, knock! Never
16 at quiet! What are you? But this place is too
17 cold for hell. I'll devil-porter it no further: I had
18 thought to have let in some of all professions that go
19 the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire. (Knock.)
20. remember the porter: This is a request for a tip.
20 Anon, anon! [Opens the gate.] I pray you, remember
21 the porter.
 | Sydney Bromley as the Porter Macbeth movie, 1971 |
Enter MACDUFF and LENNOX.
MACDUFF
22 Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed,
23 That you do lie so late?
Porter
24. the second cock: i.e., three a.m..
24 'Faith sir, we were carousing till the second cock;
25 and drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things.
MACDUFF
26 What three things does drink especially pro-
27 voke?
Porter
28. Marry: indeed. nose-painting: reddening of the nose through drink.
28 Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine.
29 Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes
30 the desire, but it takes away the performance. There-
31 fore, much drink may be said to be an equivocator
32 with lechery: it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him
33 on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and dis-
34. stand to: perform [sexually].
34 heartens him; makes him stand to, and not stand to; in
35. equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him: deceives him [i.e., "lechery"] in a dream, and, telling him that he is a liar, abandons him.
35 conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him
36 the lie, leaves him.
MACDUFF
37. I believe drink gave thee the lie last night: To "give the lie" is to tell someone that he is a liar, but Macduff probably also means that drinking knocked the porter out, making him lie down in sleep. 38. i' the very throat on me: To "give the lie in the throat" was particularly insulting; we would say "tell him he's a liar to his face." requited him: paid him back. 40. though he took up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him: though he put me off balance a few times, I found a trick to throw him. The porter is using wrestling terms. Also, he is probably joking that although drinking made him unsteady on his feet, he solved the problem by throwing up.
37 I believe drink gave thee the lie last night.
Porter
38 That it did, sir, i' the very throat on me; but I re-
39 quited him for his lie; and, I think, being too strong
40 for him, though he took up my legs sometime, yet I
41 made a shift to cast him.
MACDUFF
42 Is thy master stirring?
Enter MACBETH.
43 Our knocking has awaked him; here he comes.
LENNOX
44 Good morrow, noble sir.
MACBETH
Good morrow, both.
MACDUFF
45 Is the king stirring, worthy thane?
MACBETH
Not yet.
MACDUFF
46. timely: early.
46 He did command me to call timely on him:
47. slipp'd the hour: missed the time.
47 I have almost slipp'd the hour.
MACBETH
I'll bring you to him.
MACDUFF
48 I know this is a joyful trouble to you;
49 But yet 'tis one.
MACBETH
50. physics pain: takes away the pain.
50 The labour we delight in physics pain.
51 This is the door.
MACDUFF
I'll make so bold to call,
52. limited service: appointed duty.
52 For 'tis my limited service.
Exit Macduff.
LENNOX
53 Goes the king hence today?
MACBETH
53. He did appoint so: i.e., he's already made the schedule.
He does; he did appoint so.
Ghost Owl
LENNOX
54 The night has been unruly: where we lay,
55 Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say,
56 Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death,
57 And prophesying with accents terrible
58. combustion: tumult.
58 Of dire combustion and confused events
59. obscure bird: bird of darkness, i.e., the owl. The owl was thought to be a prophet of death and destruction.
59 New hatch'd to the woeful time: the obscure bird
60 Clamour'd the livelong night: some say, the earth
61. Was feverous and did shake: had a fever and shook [with chills].
61 Was feverous and did shake.
MACBETH
'Twas a rough night.
LENNOX
62-63. My young remembrance cannot parallel / A fellow to it: my young memory cannot recall anything like it.
 | Illustrator: H.C. Selous |
62 My young remembrance cannot parallel
63 A fellow to it.
Enter MACDUFF.
MACDUFF
64 O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart
65 Cannot conceive nor name thee!
MACBETH and LENNOX
What's the matter?
MACDUFF
66. Confusion: chaotic destruction, utter ruin.
66 Confusion now hath made his masterpiece!
67. ope: open.
67 Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
68 The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence
69 The life o' th' building!
MACBETH
What is 't you say—the life?
LENNOX
70
Mean you his Majesty?
MACDUFF
71 Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight
 |
72 With a new Gorgon: do not bid me speak;
73 See, and then speak yourselves.
Exeunt Macbeth and Lennox.
Awake, awake!
74 Ring the alarum-bell! Murder and treason!
75 Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake!
76 Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit,
77 And look on death itself! Up, up, and see
78. The great doom's image: exact image of Doomsday.
78 The great doom's image! Malcolm! Banquo!
79-80. walk like sprites, / To countenance this horror: walk like ghosts in keeping with the sight of this horror.
79 As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites,
80 To countenance this horror! Ring the bell.
Bell rings.
Enter LADY [MACBETH].
LADY MACBETH
81 What's the business,
82 That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
83 The sleepers of the house? Speak, speak!
MACDUFF
O gentle lady,
84 'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak:
85. repetition: report, telling.
85 The repetition, in a woman's ear,
86. Would murder as it fell: would murder the instant it was heard.
86 Would murder as it fell.
Enter BANQUO.
O Banquo, Banquo,
87 Our royal master's murder'd!
LADY MACBETH
Woe, alas!
88 What, in our house?
BANQUO
Too cruel any where.
89 Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself,
90 And say it is not so.
Enter MACBETH, LENNOX, ROSS.
MACBETH
91. chance: stroke of fate.
91 Had I but died an hour before this chance,
92 I had lived a blessed time; for, from this instant,
93. serious in mortality: worthwhile in human life.
93 There 's nothing serious in mortality:
94. toys: trifles.
94 All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;
95. drawn: emptied out.
95 The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
96. this vault: i.e., this world. The world, with the vaulted sky as its roof, is metaphorically represented as an empty wine-vault.
96 Is left this vault to brag of.
Enter MALCOLM and DONALBAIN.
DONALBAIN
97 What is amiss?
MACBETH
You are, and do not know't:
98 The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood
99 Is stopp'd; the very source of it is stopp'd.
MACDUFF
100 Your royal father's murder'd.
MALCOLM
O, by whom?
LENNOX
101 Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done 't:
102. badged: marked with large spots that look like badges.
102 Their hands and faces were all badged with blood;
103 So were their daggers, which unwiped we found
104 Upon their pillows. They stared, and were distracted;
105 No man's life was to be trusted with them.
MACBETH
106 O, yet I do repent me of my fury,
107 That I did kill them.
MACDUFF
Wherefore did you so?
MACBETH
108 Who can be wise, amazed, temperate and furious,
109 Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man.
110. expedition: haste. violent: passionate.
110 Th' expedition of my violent love
111. Outrun: outran. pauser: that which makes us pause and consider. 112. golden blood: Blood was often referred to as golden. 113. a breach in nature: a gaping wound in all that sustains all life. 114. wasteful: wantonly destructive.
111 Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan,
112 His silver skin laced with his golden blood;
113 And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature
114 For ruin's wasteful entrance: there, the murderers,
115 Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers
116. Unmannerly breech'd with gore: rudely clothed in gore. The bloody gore is imagined as a pair of sloppy breeches on the blades of the daggers. Cleanth Brooks authored a famous study of this image; use this link to view a review of his article.
116 Unmannerly breech'd with gore. Who could refrain,
117 That had a heart to love, and in that heart
118 Courage to make's love known?
LADY MACBETH
Help me hence, ho!
[LADY MACBETH swoons.]
MACDUFF
119 Look to the lady.
MALCOLM [Aside to DONALBAIN.]
Why do we hold our tongues,
120. argument:topic, reason [for expressing horror and grief]. Malcolm asks his brother why everyone else is making more noise about King Duncan's murder than they are; he may be implying that Macbeth's speech and Lady Macbeth's fainting are suspiciously melodramatic. 122. auger-hole: An auger is a drill. An "auger-hole" is a hole made by an auger, and also, metaphorically, a tiny hiding-place. 124-125. brew'd: i.e., ready to spring forth. our strong sorrow / Upon the foot of motion: our strong sorrow converted into action [to avenge our father's death].
120 That most may claim this argument for ours?
DONALBAIN [Aside to MALCOLM.]
121 What should be spoken here, where our fate,
122 Hid in an auger-hole, may rush, and seize us?
123 Let's away;
124 Our tears are not yet brew'd.
MALCOLM [Aside to DONALBAIN.]
Nor our strong sorrow
125 Upon the foot of motion.
BANQUO
Look to the lady.
[LADY MACBETH is carried out.]
126-127. when we have our naked frailties hid, / That suffer in exposure: when we have clothed our weak bodies, which suffer from being exposed [to the cold]. Apparently all except Macduff and Lennox are wearing only nightclothes. Although people in Shakespeare's time did sleep in the nude, it seems unlikely that the actors were literally "naked." 128. question: discuss. 129. Fears and scruples shake us: fears and doubts unsettle us. 130-132. In the great hand of God ... malice: under the protection of God I stand, and from there I [will] fight against the secret plot of [whoever had] treasonous enmity [against the dead king].
126 And when we have our naked frailties hid,
127 That suffer in exposure, let us meet,
128 And question this most bloody piece of work,
129 To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us.
130 In the great hand of God I stand; and thence
131 Against the undivulged pretence I fight
132 Of treasonous malice.
MACDUFF
And so do I.
ALL
So all.
MACBETH
133. Let's briefly put on manly readiness: let's quickly put on manly clothes [and adopt manly attitudes, suitable for discussing this important matter].
133 Let's briefly put on manly readiness,
134 And meet i' the hall together.
ALL
Well contented.
Exeunt [all but Malcolm and Donalbain].
MALCOLM
135. consort with: keep company with.
135 What will you do? Let's not consort with them;
136. office: task.
136 To show an unfelt sorrow is an office
137 Which the false man does easy. I'll to England.
DONALBAIN
138 To Ireland, I; our separated fortune
139 Shall keep us both the safer. Where we are,
140-141. the near in blood, / The nearer bloody: the nearer in bloodline [anyone is to King Duncan], the nearer they are to being murdered.
140 There's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood,
141 The nearer bloody.
MALCOLM
141. shaft: arrow.
This murderous shaft that's shot
142. lighted: finished its course.
142 Hath not yet lighted, and our safest way
143. avoid the aim: avoid being a taget.
143 Is to avoid the aim. Therefore, to horse;
144. dainty of leave-taking: particular about saying goodbye.
144 And let us not be dainty of leave-taking,
145. shift away: stealthily disappear. warrant: justification.
145 But shift away. There's warrant in that theft
146 Which steals itself, when there's no mercy left.
Exeunt.