DAVINA: Welcome back, everybody. We're at the Macbeth castle, where King Duncan is being hosted for a visit—a kind of celebration, I suppose, for winning the war and defeating the enemies of Scotland, both foreign and domestic. Did I get that right? 

MACBETH: I suppose that's right. 

DAVINA: And you too have a lot to celebrate as the hero of the battle who is now also the newly named Thane of Cawdor. Congratulations. 

MACBETH: Thanks. 

DAVINA: Oh, my. This is a surprise. 

SERVER: Appetizer? 

MACBETH: Don't mind if I do. 

SERVER: This is bear liver paste. 

DAVINA: Bear liver. I didn't know there were bears in Scotland. 

SERVER: There's just a couple left. That's why it's a delicacy. The bear liver paste is nestled on a bed of beard moss and autumn flapwort with a little bit of shaved dried tuber on top. One of them, of course, has a little bit of insane root mixed in, but we'll let that be a surprise for whoever takes it. Just fair warning, in case you didn't know the custom. 

DAVINA: You know what? I'm just going to skip it. 

SERVER: Oh, are you sure? 

DAVINA: Yeah, I've got this interview, and—you know what? I'll join the party later. 

SERVER: Sir? 

MACBETH; Stay in the banquet area. 

SERVER: Yes sir, of course. 

DAVINA: We were expecting your wife to join us, though I suppose one of you needs to be in there with the guests. You are the hosts, after all. Is it okay that we've got you here? 

MACBETH: It's fine. I need some time to think. 

DAVINA: Well, yes, now that you mention it, you seem a little tense, a little distracted. You'd think this would be a happy time for you. 

MACBETH: You'd think. 

DAVINA: Now, the last time I talked to you, you were having some trouble getting that thought out of your head—you know, of killing the king. 

MACBETH: Yes. Well, that's what my wife thinks we're doing tonight. 

DAVINA: Oh, my. Well, I see how that could be troubling. Hard to put on a party face when you're planning a murder, especially if you're not sure about it. Is that the problem? Are you not sure? 

MACBETH: If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly. 

DAVINA: Uh, let's see—"if it were done when 'tis done"—Oh, I get it. You mean if it were done done, like over when you did it, if you just did it and it was done, then you may as well do it soon. You know, it's interesting how you put that. You use the word "done" twice, and you would think a word is just a word, but that same word has two different meanings in that sentence. But that is what you mean, right? 

MACBETH: If the assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch with his surcease success—

DAVINA: So I was right. You're mostly concerned about the consequences. You're thinking that if his death—his surcease, as you say—could just be the end of the story, and then you'd have what you want, and everybody goes on their merry way. Something like that? 

MACBETH: That but this blow might be the be-all and end-all here—

DAVINA: Exactly. Be-all and end-all. We have that expression too. You want the murder—the blow—to be its own self-contained little thing. But what do you mean here, to be-all and end-all here? 

MACBETH: But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, we'd jump the life to come. 

DAVINA: "Upon this bank and shoal of time." That's a beautiful phrase, by the way. "This bank and shoal of time." So kind of like in a river, a river bank, because a shoal is a kind of sand bank, right? So it sounds like you're saying that here is just the here and now, this moment in time, which is like a sandbank in a moving river, just this little resting spot we're on. But then you said, "We'd jump the life to come." Let's see. Do you just mean you'd jump to some point in the future if you could kill him without consequences, or is "the life to come" the afterlife, where you might get judged for your sins? Killing a king would be a really big sin, if you don't mind me saying. In fact—if I could just interject here—I'm not sure that imagining a world where actions don't have consequences is the best way to think about this. It doesn't seem realistic. 

MACBETH: But in these cases, we still have judgment here. 

DAVINA: Exactly. Now you're talking. You should consider the consequences. 

MACBETH: That we but teach bloody instructions—

DAVINA: Oh, you mean that consequence—that if you kill the king, you've set an example. 

MACBETH: —which, being taught, return to plague the inventor. 

DAVINA: Good point. The inventor is you, I assume. So what you're saying is, if you teach people to kill the king by killing the king, then that puts you in danger when you become king of someone killing you. 

MACBETH: This even-handed justice commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice to our own lips. 

DAVINA: You know, we have a saying. "What goes around, comes around." Sounds to me like that's the point you're making. If you kill the king to become king, you may as well have killed yourself. I'm with you on this one, but I have to say, are consequences really the only way to think about this? Are consequences the only reasons why we don't do bad things? 

MACBETH: He's here in double trust—

DAVINA: Yes, exactly! That kind of thing—I think. What do you mean, "double trust"? 

MACBETH: —first, as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed. 

DAVINA: Right. I mean, you've said yourself that it's your duty to serve him. And oh, right, you're related to him. I'd say those are slam dunks right there for reasons not to kill him. 

MACBETH: Then, as his host, who should against the murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself. 

DAVINA: Excellent point. Sounds to me like you're building a rock-solid case against murder. I'm glad you're sorting this out. 

MACBETH: Besides, this Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office—

DAVINA: He does seem like a nice guy and a good king. 

MACBETH: —that his virtues will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against the deep damnation of his taking-off; and pity, like a naked new-born babe, striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed upon the sightless couriers of the air, shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, that tears shall drown the wind. 

DAVINA: I think you're right. I think people would be very upset if Duncan died. It would be a big shock. You know, I have to say, I'm very proud of you. You had this crazy idea to do something pretty awful, but you thought it through and you found very good reasons for not doing it. Almost makes you wonder why you thought it would be a good idea in the first place. 

MACBETH: I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on the other. 

LADY MACBETH: There you are. 

DAVINA: Oh, dear. 

LADY MACBETH: Duncan's almost finished with dinner. What are you doing here? 

MACBETH: Has he asked for me? 

LADY MACBETH: Of course he has. 

MACBETH: Would you mind if we just had a second? 

DAVINA: Not at all. I think you should share what's on your mind. 

MACBETH: You're not going through with this business. He made me Thane of Cawdor. He picked our castle to celebrate the end of the war. Everybody is telling me how great I am. I think I should enjoy that for a little while. 

LADY MACBETH: Are you kidding me? What—were you drunk when we talked about these things before, and now you've woken up like some guy with a hangover who feels sick about what he did so freely the night before? Listen to me. What you decide to do from this point forward will be the only measure of whether you love me or not. 

DAVINA: Whoa, okay. Hold up for a second. It sounded like you said he doesn't love you if he doesn't do this. If you don't mind me saying—

LADY MACBETH: I do mind. Stay out of it. So has my big, brave warrior been afraid to act on what he desires? Do you want the crown more than anything else in life, but then would live like a coward, letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would," like the poor cat i' the adage? 

DAVINA: I'm sorry, just a point of clarification. I didn't catch that last part. 

MACBETH: We have a saying. The cat wants to eat the fish but dares not get her feet wet. She's saying I'm like the cat. But I think you need to calm down. I do everything that a real man would do. Whoever does more is not a man. 

DAVINA: Well, that's a good question. What is it to be a real man? Just because you do something bold, does that necessarily make you a man? 

LADY MACBETH: Fine. Then what beast was it, then, that made you suggest this in the first place? 

DAVINA: Did he suggest it? 

LADY MACBETH: When you were willing to do it, that's when you were a man. And to be greater than what you are now, you would be so much more the man. Look, when you suggested it, it seemed like an impossible thing to accomplish, but at least you were willing to try. 

DAVINA: I'm sorry, I don't remember that part. Have you two talked about killing the king before? Like, even before the war? 

LADY MACBETH: And now it's in our laps, and you don't want anything to do with it? It doesn't make any sense. Look at me. I know what it's like to love the baby that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums and dash'd the brains out if I had sworn to do so, just as you have sworn to this. 

DAVINA: If I could sneak in just one more little question. That baby you mentioned. Did the two of you have a baby? 

LADY MACBETH: Zip it! 

MACBETH: What if we fail? 

LADY MACBETH: We fail? Just screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail. 

DAVINA: Sorry. [LAUGHING] Just another point of clarification. I am almost afraid to ask. "Screw your courage to the sticking place"? 

MACBETH: You know, just where the screw stops. The sticking place. Like screwing the cord back on a crossbow. 

DAVINA: I'll take your word for it. 

LADY MACBETH: Duncan's had a long day. He's exhausted, right? He's going to sleep like a rock. And it'll be easy to get his guards drunk out of their minds. Everyone's having a good time. Then we can do whatever we want, and it will be easy to put the blame on the guards themselves. 

MACBETH: If she has kids, they're all going to be boys. A lot of masculine energy going on right here. 

DAVINA: I suppose. But is this ruthless courage really the best measure of masculinity? You said yourself, you're already as much of a man as anybody. I think you should bring that point up again. 

MACBETH: Do you really think we could pin it on the guards? I suppose we could use their daggers to kill him, and then wipe his blood on them. 

LADY MACBETH: Yes! Who would dare suggest it was anybody but the guards, when we all wail with grief at news of his death? Can't control the consequences. Plague the inventor. You're his cousin and his host. Vaulting ambition! 

MACBETH: I've decided. I will put all my strength and energy toward this terrible feat. 

LADY MACBETH: Really? I knew you would. 

MACBETH: Time to put on our party faces. False face must hide what the false heart doth know. 

DAVINA: You can't say I didn't try.