SCENE II. A camp near Forres. The Tragedy of Macbeth  Shakespeare homepage  |  Macbeth  | Act 1, Scene 2 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE II. A camp near Forres. 

 Alarum within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, with Attendants, meeting 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! 

 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 to be a rebel, for to that 

 The multiplying villanies 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 smoked with bloody execution, 

 Like valour's minion carved out his passage 

 Till he faced the slave; 

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

 Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, 

 And fix'd his head upon our battlements. 

 DUNCAN  O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! 

 Sergeant  As whence the sun 'gins his reflection 

 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, 

 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. 

 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 memorise 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. 



 Exit Sergeant, attended  Who comes here? 



 Enter ROSS  MALCOLM  The worthy thane of Ross. 

 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 camest thou, worthy thane? 

 ROSS  From Fife, great king; 

 Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky 

 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, 

 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 

 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 

 Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death, 

 And with his former title greet Macbeth. 

 ROSS  I'll see it done. 

 DUNCAN  What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won. 



 Exeunt  Shakespeare homepage  |  Macbeth  | Act 1, Scene 2 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene 