Macbeth walks in on his waiting wife with bloody daggers in his hands. The deed has been done, and Macbeth is horrified by his actions. Plus he’s managed to mess up the plan by bringing the daggers away from the scene of the crime (he was supposed to leave them there to point the finger at Duncan’s drunk servants). Since Macbeth is too shaken up to do anything, Lady Macbeth takes charge, calls him a wimp, and hauls the daggers back to Duncan’s chambers. When she comes back, she tells a still distraught Macbeth to snap out of it, wash the blood off his hands, and put on his nightgown, in case someone finds them awake.
Lady Macbeth
What made them drunk made me brave, what made them unconscious has set me on fire. Listen! Shhh! It was an owl that just shrieked like a night watchman, delivering a cruel message of death. He’s doing it, the doors are open and the drunk servants are making a mockery of their responsibilities with their snoring. The drugs I put in their drink were so strong that they seem as dead as alive.
Macbeth
[Inside] Who's there? What!
Lady Macbeth
Oh no, I’m afraid they’ve woken up, and the murder’s not done. If that’s the case, we’d be ruined for merely the attempt--not the deed. Listen! I laid their daggers right there; Macbeth couldn’t miss them. If the sleeping king hadn’t reminded me of my father, I would have done the deed myself.
Lady Macbeth
My husband!
Macbeth
I’ve done the deed. Did you hear a noise?
Lady Macbeth
I heard the owl scream and the crickets chirping. Didn’t you say something?
Macbeth
When?
Lady Macbeth
Now.
Macbeth
As I came downstairs?
Lady Macbeth
Yes.
Macbeth
Listen! Who’s sleeping in the second chamber?
Lady Macbeth
Donalbain.
Macbeth
This is a terrible sight.
Lady Macbeth
What a stupid thing to say, “A terrible sight.”
Macbeth
One of them laughed in his sleep, and one cried 'Murder!', and that woke them both up. I stood there, and listened, but they just said their prayers and then went back to sleep.
Lady Macbeth
But there are two of them sleeping in the same room.
Macbeth
One cried 'God bless us!' and the other cried ‘Amen’, as if they’d seen me with these killer’s hands. After hearing them so afraid, I couldn’t say 'Amen,' after they said 'God bless us!'
Lady Macbeth
Don’t think about it so much.
Macbeth
But why couldn’t I say 'Amen'? I was the one most in need of a blessing, and 'Amen' just got stuck in my throat.
Lady Macbeth
We can’t think about what we did like this - it’ll drive us crazy!
Macbeth
I thought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth murders sleep!’ Innocent sleep, that takes all our cares away, the death of each day, a bath to wash after our hard labor, a healer of hurt minds, the main course in life’s feast, that gives us nourishment...
Lady Macbeth
What are you talking about?
Macbeth
The voice kept crying out 'Sleep no more!' to the whole house. 'The Lord of Glamis has murdered sleep, and therefore the Lord of Cawdor shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more.'
Lady Macbeth
Who was crying out like this? Why, my good lord, you’re sapping your strength by thinking crazily like this.
Go get some water, and wash this filthy evidence off your hands. Why did you bring these daggers out of the room? They have to stay there. Go, take them back, and smear some blood on the sleeping servants.
Macbeth
I won’t go back again. I’m afraid to think about what I’ve done. I don’t dare to look at it.
Lady Macbeth
You useless coward! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are like pictures, and only children are afraid of pictures of the devil. If he’s still bleeding, I’ll paint the servants’ faces with blood so they’ll look guilty.
Macbeth
Where is that knocking coming from? What’s going on with me, every sound makes me cringe. Whose hands are these? Ah! they make my eyes hurt, like I’d ripped them out! Would the entire ocean be enough water to wash my hands clean from all this blood? No, washing my hands in the green sea would simply turn it all red.
Lady Macbeth
My hands are the same color as yours, but I’d be ashamed to have such a white, cowardly heart.
I hear someone knocking at the south entry. Let’s go back to our room.
A little water will wash away what we’ve done: how easy this is! Your resolve has deserted you.
Listen! more knocking. Go put on your nightclothes in case someone sees that we have been awake. Snap out of it! You’re lost in your thoughts.
Macbeth
Knowing what I have done, it would be better not to know myself.
Wake up Duncan with your knocking! I wish you could!
