Alone, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband aloud. Like a good spouse, he tells her everything—including the witches’ prophecy—and she’s worried Macbeth doesn’t have it in him to actually kill the king. That means she’ll have to channel her own inner monster. When she hears that Duncan is coming for a visit, she asks for some help in the evil-doing department from supernatural spirits. By the time Macbeth arrives, she’s ready to take charge of the situation and bring about Duncan’s untimely, but convenient, demise.
Lady Macbeth
[Reading] 'They met me on the day of our victory in battle, and based on their amazing and accurate statements, I’m sure they know things an ordinary human could not know. I was dying to ask them more questions, but they vanished into thin air. I was too amazed to speak, and then two messengers came from the king. The messengers greeted me as 'Lord of Cawdor,' the same title by which the witches addressed me when they hinted that, with time, I would become King. I wanted to let you know all of this, my dearest partner in greatness, so as not to prevent you from joining me in celebrating all of the greatness that’s been promised to us. Consider this carefully, and farewell.’
You are the Lord of Glamis, and now Lord of Cawdor too, and you will be king as they promised you. But I’m worried about your character. I am afraid that you are too full of human kindness to take the direct route to this goal. You want to be great, and you don’t lack ambition, but you don’t have the ruthlessness that should go along with ambition. What you want most of all, you want to obtain in a virtuous manner. You would not lie or cheat, but you would accept something which is not justly yours. You know what must be done to achieve your goal, but you are afraid to take the necessary steps for fear that you would regret doing so later. Hurry home so I can give you some of my bold spirit. I will fix that part of you that stops you from attaining the crown, which both fate and the supernatural witches seem ready to give to you.
[Enter a Messenger]
Lady Macbeth
What news are you bringing?
Messenger
The king’s coming here tonight.
Lady Macbeth
But that’s crazy! Isn’t your master, Macbeth, with him? He would have informed me so that I could prepare for the king’s arrival.
Messenger
So help me, it’s true. Lord Macbeth is on his way here, but a faster messenger has just arrived who was so out of breath that he was barely able to get out his message.
Lady Macbeth
Go take care of him; he brings great news.
How appropriate that the messenger croaks like an ominous raven just as Duncan arrives in our fortress. Come, you evil spirits that influence human thoughts! Strip away my femininity and fill me from head to toe with cruelty! Make my blood so thick that it can’t carry any feeling of guilt to my heart. Make it so that no kind of natural pity can prevent my cruel intentions from being carried out.
Come suck at my breast, you murdering agents, and replace my mother’s milk with bile. Come, you invisible creatures, from wherever you are conducting evil harm. Come, thick night, cover yourself with the murkiest smoke in hell. Make it so that even my knife won’t see the wound it has made, and Heaven can’t see through the blanket of the dark to yell, ‘Stop, stop!’
Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor! But you’ll have a title even greater than those, according to the promise you got! Your note brought me far beyond the present moment, and I can already feel the future right now.
Macbeth
My dearest love, Duncan’s coming here tonight.
Lady Macbeth
And when is he leaving?
Macbeth
He plans to leave tomorrow.
Lady Macbeth
Oh, he’ll never see tomorrow’s sun.
Your face, my lord, is like a book in which men can read strange things. To deceive everyone right now, act appropriately for the present occasion. You must look, act, and speak like a welcoming host. You must look like an innocent flower, but act as evilly as the serpent underneath it. Preparations must be made for Duncan’s stay. You should leave me to carry out this night’s business, which shall allow us in the near future to reign over the kingdom.
Macbeth
We’ll talk about this later.
Lady Macbeth
Be sure to look relaxed; fear always shows in one’s appearance. Leave everything else to me.
