Prompt Pages

Definitions of obscure or difficult words:

broil (line 6)—a battle

kerns and gallowglasses (line 13)—Lightly armed Irish foot soldiers and heavy armed soldiers.

furbished (line 32)—Improved or repaired, made to look new

dismayed (line 33)—Upset or shocked about something surprising that has happened.

bridegroom (line 54)—A man who is getting married, or has recently gotten married.

deign (line 60)—show disapproval

disbursed (line 61)—having payed out money from a fund

Act 1 Scene 2 Lines 1-67

Scene 2. [A camp.]

Script is written in black

Comments and stage and character directions are written in blue

Before the scene starts, the Captain lays against a rock (which is represented by a backpack) center stage. The Captain is holding a bloody rag to his right side and dagger is stuck in his right thigh to emphasize that he is wounded by the battle.

Because there were not enough actors, Donalbain was not portrayed in the scene.

Alarum within. Enter King [Duncan], Malcolm,

Donalbain, Lennox, with Attendants, meeting

a bleeding Captain .

King. What bloody man is that? He can report,

The King and his attendants approach the Captain stage left

As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt

The newest state.

Malcolm. This is the sergeant

The Captain addresses the king and tells him the story of the battle in a clear voice. The King listens, stopping occasionally to murmur something to his attendant There is also a slight bit of haste and fatigue in the Captain’s voice and he even lets out a slight grunt twice during this speech from the pain of his wounds.

While the Captain tells his story to the king, Connor and McHenry play two soldiers and act out a fight scene which follows the story of the Captain.

Who like the good and hardy soldier fought

‘Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!

Malcolm steps forward

Say to the king knowledge of the broil

As thou didst leave it.

Captain. 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 villainies of nature

Do swarm upon him—from the Western Isles

Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;

And fortune on this damned quarrel smiling,

Showed like a rebel’s whore: but all’s too weak:

For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,

Which smoked with bloody execution,

Like valor’s minion carved out his passage

Till he faced the slave;

The King gives a slight smirk at hearing of Macbeth’s exploits

Which nev’r shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,

Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops,

And fixed his head upon our battlements.

The King steps out and yells to the audience and Malcolm and Lennox reenter stage right

King. O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!

Captain. As whence the sun ‘gins his reflection

Shipwracking storms and direful thunders break,

So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come

The King listens intently to the Captain’s next words

Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark:

No sooner justice had, with valor armed,

Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels

Here the Captain adds a slight tone of disgust in his voice and the King becomes worried.

But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,

With furbished arms and new supplies of men,

Began a fresh assault.

The King speaks rather nervously and reservedly

King. Dismayed not this

Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

Captain: Yes;

The Captain becomes excited and slightly hastens his speech and raises the volume of his voice as he talks about the climatic moments of the battle

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,

The Captain pauses to catch his breath. He speaks normally but emphasizes “gashes”.

Or memorize another Golgotha,

I cannot tell—

But I am faint; my gashes cry for help.

An attendant helps the Captain stand up and guides him to the stage left exit. Captain limps. The King, Malcolm, and Lennox speak amongst themselves.

King. So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;

They smack of honor both. Go get him surgeons.

[Exit Captain, attended.]

Peter, who played the attendant, re-enters stage left as Ross and walks toward center stage to meet the rest of the group, disrupting their conversation. There was no actor to play Angus, so he does not appear in this scene

Enter Ross and Angus

Who comes here?

Since Lennox and Malcolm now have lines, Connor and McHenry change from soldiers to Lennox and Malcolm.

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!

King. Whence cam’st 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,

The King makes an effort to remember the Thane of Cawdor

Assisted by that most disloyal traitor

The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;

Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapped in proof,

Confronted him with self-comparisons,

The King suddenly feels more at ease and begins to smile and he yells to the audience in joy.

Point against point, rebellious arm ‘gainst arm,

Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude,

The victory fell on us.

King. Great happiness!

Ross. That now

Sweno, the Norway’s king, craves composition;

Nor would we deign him burial of his men

Till he disbursed, at Satin Colme’s Inch,

Ten thousand dollars to our general use.

King. No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive

The King becomes more serious and speaks more gravely.

Out bosom interest: go pronounce his present

death,

And with his former title greet Macbeth.

The King turns to the audience.

Ross. I’ll see it done.

King. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.

The King, Lennox, Malcolm, and Ross all exit through stage left.

Exeunt