Macbeth meets up with the witches, who are busy making potions and casting spells. He tells them he wants to learn more about his future. They tell him three key things: He should keep an eye on Macduff. He won’t face any harm from anyone “of woman born." He won’t be conquered until Birnam Wood marches to Dunsinane. Macbeth thinks this is all good news—after all, since when can forests march? And Macduff is definitely of woman born, right? Still, he thinks it’s a good idea to kill Macduff anyway, just in case. Everything seems to be working out well for Macbeth until the witches share with him one final vision: a long line of kings who all look just like Banquo. Once the witches depart, Lennox arrives to tell Macbeth that Macduff has gone to England. Since Macduff himself is out of reach, Macbeth opts to go after his family.
First Witch
Three times the striped cat has meowed.
Second Witch
Three times and once more the porcupine has whined.
Third Witch
Harpier, my familiar, cries out, “It’s time, it’s time”.
First Witch
Around the cauldron we go, and throw in poisoned entrails. A toad, captured while sleeping, that sweat venom under a cold stone for thirty-one days. It’s first to be boiled in the magic pot.
All
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch
Here’s the slice of a swamp snake to boil and bake in the cauldron. Add a newt’s eye, a frog’s toe, some bat’s hair, and a dog’s tongue, a viper’s forked tongue, a snake’s stinger, a lizard's leg and baby owl’s wing. For a spell of powerful evil, boil and bubble like a soup from Hell.
All
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Third Witch
A dragon’s scale, a wolf’s tooth, a witches' mummy, the stomach of a gutted shark, a hemlock root dug up at night when it’s the most poisonous. The liver of a blasphemous Jew, the bile of a goat, slivers from a yew tree cute during a lunar eclipse, a Turk’s nose, a Tartar’s lips. Add the finger of a baby strangled by her prostitute mother after being delivered in a ditch - all these should make the potion thick and dense. Add in a tiger's intestines, and that’s it for the ingredients in our pot.
All
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch
Cool it with baboon’s blood, then the magic spell is fixed and ready.
Hecate
Oh well done! I approve of your labor, and everyone will share in the rewards. Now dance around the cauldron and sing, like elves and fairies in a ring, to enchant what’s in the pot.
Second Witch
I can feel a tingling in my thumbs, which must mean something wicked is coming this way. Open, locked doors, to whoever knocks!
Macbeth
What’s this, you secret, evil hags of midnight! What are you doing?
All
Some unnameable deed.
Macbeth
I charge you in the name of whatever gives you your powers to answer me, however you know the answer. Even if you let loose harsh winds to batter churches, even if you smash ships and sink them with storms. Even if you beat down cornfields and trees, even if you let castles topple on the heads of those guarding them. Even if palaces and pyramids collapse, even if all the seeds in nature get mixed together, even if you make destruction itself sick, answer what I ask you!
First Witch
Speak.
Second Witch
Ask.
Third Witch
We'll answer.
First Witch
Would you rather hear it from us, or hear it from our masters?
Macbeth
Call them. Let me see them.
First Witch
Pour in the blood of a sow that ate her nine piglets, and throw the grease from a hanged murderer into the flame.
All
Come, spirits great or small. Show yourselves and your purposes!
Macbeth
Tell me, you unknown spirit –
First Witch
He knows what you’re thinking. Listen to him, but don’t say a word.
First Ghost
Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff;
Beware the Lord of Fife. Let me depart, that’s enough.
Macbeth
Whatever you are, thanks for your warning. You’ve given voice to my exact fear. But one more word –
First Witch
You can’t give him orders. Here's another, more powerful than the first.
Second Ghost
Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!
Macbeth
If I had three ears, I would hear you.
Second Ghost
Be bloody, bold and decisive. You can be scornful of any man’s power, for no one who was born from a woman can ever hurt you, Macbeth.
Macbeth
Go ahead and live, Macduff! Why should I be afraid of you? But, just as a double guarantee, I’ll kill you anyway. That way I’ll prove my fears are groundless, and I’ll be able to sleep soundly.
Why what’s this? It looks like a king’s child, and it has a crown on its baby head!
All
Listen, but don’t speak to it.
Third Ghost
Be as brave and proud as a lion; and don’t worry about the discontents and conspirators in your kingdom. You won’t be defeated until Birnam Wood itself comes up Dunsinane Hill to march on your castle.
Macbeth
That’ll never happen! Who can command a forest, order trees to pull up roots and march? These are sweet promises! You rebellious dead spirits, you can’t rise until Birnam Wood rises. King Macbeth will live out his life, breathing until his time comes and he dies a natural death. But I must know one more thing. Tell me if you can: will Banquo’s descendants ever rule this kingdom?
All
Don’t ask anything more.
Macbeth
I will have my questions answered! If you deny me this, I’ll curse you for eternity! Tell me! Why is the cauldron sinking into the ground? What’s that noise?
First Witch
Show him!
Second Witch
Show him!
Third Witch
Show him!
All
Show him, and make his heart grieve.
Come like phantoms, and disappear the same way.
Macbeth
You look too much like Banquo’s ghost. Go away!
Your crown burns my eyes. And your hair, as gold as the crown you wear, is just like the first one’s.
A third one just like the others. You filthy hags! Why are you showing me this? A fourth! My eyes are coming out of their sockets! What, does this line of kings keep going on until doomsday? Another one. A seventh! I won’t watch any more. But now an eighth one appears, carrying a mirror in which I see many more. Many are carrying double orbs and triple scepters, indicating they will be king of both England and Scotland. What a horrible sight! Now I see it’s all true. That blood-spattered Banquo is smiling at me and indicating they are all his descendants.
What? Can this be true?
First Witch
Yes, sir, it’s all true. But why is Macbeth standing there looking so shocked? Come, sisters, let’s cheer him up! Show him the best we have to offer. I'll put a spell on the air to make music, while you perform your fantastical dance. This way the King will kindly say that we did our duty and gave him a good welcome.
Macbeth
Where are they? Gone? Let this horrible date be cursed forever in the calendar! You out there, come in!
Lennox
What can I do for you, sir?
Macbeth
Did you see the witches?
Lennox
No, my lord.
Macbeth
Didn’t they go past you?
Lennox
No, indeed, my lord.
Macbeth
Let the air they fly through be infected, and damn everyone who trusts them! I heard a horse galloping; who was that?
Lennox
It was two or three men, my lord, who came to tell you that Macduff has fled to England.
Macbeth
Fled to England?
Lennox
Yes, my good lord.
Macbeth
[Aside] Time, you anticipate my every bloody move.
Intentions are formed quickly, but are not carried out unless action occurs just as rapidly. From now on, the first thing in my mind will be the first thing I do. I’ll start now by crowning my thoughts with action – no sooner said than done.
I’ll go unexpectedly to Macduff’s castle and seize Fife, kill his wife and children, and anyone else unfortunate enough to be related to him. I won’t brag like an idiot. I’ll just do it before my resolve fades. But no more strange visions! – Where are these messengers? Bring me to them.
