Macbeth Shakespeare Unlocked

If it were done when 'tis done,

then 'twere well it were done quickly,

if the assassination

could trammel up the consequence and catch with his surcease success,

that but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all, here,

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

But in these cases,

we still have judgement here,

that we but teach bloody instructions, which, being taught,

return, to plague th'inventor,

this even-handed justice commends

the ingredients of our poisoned chalice, to our own lips.

He's here in double trust.

First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,

strong both against the deed, then, as I am his host,

who should against his murderer shut the door,

not bear the knife myself.

Besides...

This Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek,

hath been so clear in his great office,

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 this horrid deed in every eye,

that tears shall drown the wind.

I have no spur

to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition,

which o'erleaps itself and falls on the other.

-How now? What news?

-He has almost supped.

Why have you left the chamber?

-Hath he asked for me?

-Know you not he has?

We will proceed no further in this business. He hath honoured me of late,

and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people,

which would be worn now in their newest gloss, not cast aside so soon.

Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself?

Hath it slept since?

And wakes it now, to look so green and pale at what it did so freely?

From this time such I account thy love.

Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour

as thou art in desire?

Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,

And live a coward in thine own esteem,

letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would",

-like the poor cat i'th'adage?

-Prithee, peace.

I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares do more is none.

What beast was't, then, that made you break this enterprise to me?

When you durst do it, then you were a man.

And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.

Nor time nor place did then adhere,

and yet you would make both.

They have made themselves, and that,

their fitness now does unmake you.

I have given suck,

and know how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me.

I would, while it was smiling in my face,

have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,

and dash'd the brains out,

had I so sworn as you have done to this.

If we should fail?

We fail!

But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail.

When Duncan is asleep,

whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey soundly invite him,

his two chamberlains will I with wine and wassail so convince,

that memory, the warder of the brain, shall be a fume,

and the receipt of reason a limbeck only.

When in swinish sleep their drenched natures lies as in a death,

what cannot you and I perform upon the unguarded Duncan?

What not put upon his spongy officers,

who shall bear the guilt of our great quell?

Bring forth men-children only,

for thy undaunted mettle should compose nothing but males.

Will it not be received,

when we have marked with blood those sleepy two of his own chamber

and used their very daggers, that they have done it?

Who dares receive it other,

as we shall make our griefs and clamour

-roar upon his death?

-I am settled,

and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat.

Away, and mock the time with fairest show.

False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

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

Macbeth starts off as the brightest and best

and the nearest and the dearest to Duncan

and then he falls.

This first soliloquy,

it reminds me of To Be Or Not To Be in a way,

it's another of those brilliant Shakespeare should I, shouldn't I?

If it were done when 'tis done,

then 'twere well it were done quickly,

if the...assassination...

..could trammel up the consequence...

I would like to ask you, just in that go

there was a little moment before "assassination".

It's because it's an odd word to choose

but he chooses it very carefully.

This isn't murder.

Yeah. It's a euphemism. It's a...

-It's not murder.

-It's a nicer word than murder.

It's an assassination, everybody.

That's all it is.

My grandfather did it.

It's a political move.

Macbeth's grandfather actually went and did it.

Killed the king, stole, got the crown

and then ruled for a long time and was very successful.

Macbeth's father, on the other hand, was a bit less successful

and I started getting this picture of Macbeth wanting to be more like his grandfather

and there is something about the drive of Macbeth

is about reclaiming the family name

as being revered and adored.

If the...assassination...

could trammel up the consequence

and catch with his surcease success.

Is this door open?

I'm just thinking, place the banquet very firmly in here.

Come out, shut the door,

-you had to get out of that room...

-Yeah.

..And just, and just you were going, you were going mental,

you had to escape and just you had to get your thoughts together

and so it's probably much, much, much faster, it's probably...

QUICKLY BEATS HIS CHEST

If it were done when 'tis done,

then 'twere well it were done quickly.

If the...assassination

could trammel up the consequence and catch with his surcease success.

It gave him much more...

..conflict, and much more kind of...

And vulnerability actually and kind of...

There was much more crisis somehow in him.

That but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all, here,

but here, upon this bank and shoal of time,

we'd jump the life to come.

"We'd jump the life to come" means

if I knew, if I knew that everything would be all right,

here on earth, after I killed him,

I would risk what happens to me after.

He knows if he does go ahead and do it and kills Duncan

that the outcome will be eternal damnation,

Purgatory, horrible hell.

And what he is saying here is,

if I could just reign as king brilliantly for the rest of my life

as a result of this blow

then I will risk what happens to me after, I think.

But the problem with your reading is,

if there were no consequences of the murder

then you wouldn't be risking anything.

We'd risk the life to come, we wouldn't be risking.

No, he's talking, he's talking about, what's going to happen here

because the next line is

"but in these cases, but in these cases we still have judgement here."

Somebody is going to kill me for what I've done,

that's what he's saying.

If it was only about risking

what was going to happen after life, then he'd do it.

-Do you reckon?

-If he... Yeah.

He's here in double trust.

First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,

strong both against the deed,

then, as I am his host,

who should against his murderer shut the door,

not...

..bear the knife myself.

Just heard the word...

It's interesting to note how the word murder does creep back in.

"Should against the murderer shut the door,

"not bear the knife myself"

i.e. be the murderer.

It is deeply wicked to murder a king.

You're going to be damned.

It is even more wicked to murder a good king,

whom everyone knows is good.

And it is even more wicked to murder that good king when he is sleeping.

I have no spur

to prick the sides of my intent,

but only vaulting ambition.

Why is ambition, vaulting ambition,

why is that the term of abuse on yourself at the end?

Because we're talking about murder.

-But it's using the word ambition though.

-Yeah, I know.

What's wrong with ambition? It's good to be ambitious.

Nowadays everybody is told

if you are not ambitious then somehow you are under achieving.

No, but it's good to be ambitious, what he is saying is that,

is that his ambition in this case

is the only thing that is driving him to kill one of his best friends.

Yes, but what's wrong with the ambition?

Well, that's what he is saying, that is the only thing I have

and it's not good enough, I have no spur.

It's not, it's not..

But you could be ambitious to succeed Duncan,

to be the next in line.

Yes, he is ambitious to succeed Duncan, that's the thing,

what he is saying in that moment is,

is that, that surely isn't enough, in the eyes of God.

Macbeth achieves complete clarity that he must not do this thing

of seizing the crown, usurping the crown,

murdering a sacred king.

I have no spur...

..to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition,

which o'erleaps itself and falls on the other.

I dare do all that may become a man.

Who dares do more is none.

What beast was't, then, that made you break this enterprise to me?

When she finds me, and she's like, "What are you doing?"

And Macbeth says, er,

"We are not going to go through with this, I've decided.

"We're not going to kill him."

Um, and that...

And Lady Macbeth has these extraordinary kind of...

She mounts this extraordinary attack on him,

everything about him essentially,

but mainly his manhood.

When you durst do it, then you were a man.

"Then you were a man" could be more aggressive,

then you could instinctively decide to make up.

Don't we do things, we say horrible things

and actually bouncing straight off that we go into,

"No I didn't mean, I didn't mean to hurt you."

When you durst do it, then you were a man.

And, to be more than what you were,

you would be so much more the man.

One thing that I am definitely going to be looking for

is the moment when Macbeth stops going,

"I'm not going to do it, I'm not going to do it" -

when is the moment of deciding again that he is going to do it.

Nor time nor place did then adhere, and yet you would make both.

They have made themselves,

and that, their fitness, now does unmake you.

For some reason, in the workshop,

she got to me with her...

goading, and I hit her.

I didn't hit her, like that.

They have made themselves,

and that, their fitness, now does unmake you.

And I thought, "Well, I wonder now,

"does she, is she going to use...? She will use this then."

I have given suck,

and know how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me.

What the slap did, was took her to that place.

Took her to the place where she could realistically,

very truthfully, very naturally,

go, "Sod you."

I would, while it was smiling in my face,

have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,

and dashed the brains out.

The turning point in the scene is when she brings up the baby,

she pulls that up and she knows it's a massive trump card.

Bringing the discussion of this child in

is strong enough to stop Macbeth from leaving.

-She tries everything else.

-Everything else has failed.

I would, while it was smiling in my face,

have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,

and dashed the brains out.

It's not just the horror of her bringing up our baby, our dead baby.

-It's also...

-You're inspired by it.

-I am inspired.

I am going, "Wow, you really are resolved."

When Duncan is asleep, whereto the rather

shall his day's hard journey soundly invite him,

his two chamberlains will I with wine and wassail so convince,

that memory, the warder of the brain, shall be a fume.

There's a moment when Duncan is asleep, you've got him back...

It's the first time in a long time

that we've absolutely been on the same page.

And this is now the actual plan,

we no longer have to persuade, it's kind of to do with the details.

When in swinish sleep

their drenched natures lie, as in a death,

what cannot you and I perform upon the unguarded Duncan?

What not put upon his spongy officers,

who shall bear the guilt of our great quell?

You are still the one going off to stab this man later on tonight.

With that insight that, after all this fighting,

it becomes like an even tighter, tighter, sexy conspiracy.

Who dares receive it other,

as we shall make our griefs and clamour roar upon his death?

You know, sometimes people get very, very friendly

and very, very passionate after a big row.

Is there anything else you two want to say about that last go?

For me, it came from he was back, you know, we were...

It was almost like we were able to...

I got my baby back. I got my baby back, yes.

-I mean, as in, my lover.

-Yeah.

I think it is worth giving it one more go.

I am settled,

and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat.

Away,

and mock the time with fairest show.

False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

You ended up going off towards the banquet again

as young lovers who've snuck off for a snog round the corner

and sort of slightly flushed going back into the public space

and there is something really strong about that I think.

She has got him back. They are at their closest.

Quite simply, that gives us a little view

into maybe how connected these two people were.

Hark.

It was the owl that shrieked,

the fatal bellman that gives the stern'st goodnight.

He is about it.

The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms

do mock their charge with snores.

I have drugged their possets,

that death and nature do contend about them whether they live or die.

Who's there? What ho?

Alack, I am afraid they have awaked, and 'tis not done,

th'attempt and not the deed confounds us.

SCREAMING

Hark!

I laid their daggers ready, he could not miss 'em.

Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done't.

My husband!

I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?

I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did not you speak?

-When?

-Now!

-As I descended?

Hark!

Who lies i' the second chamber?

Donalbain.

This is a sorry sight.

A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.

There's one did laugh in's sleep, and one cried, "Murder!"

That they did wake each other, I stood and heard them.

But they did say their prayers, and addressed them again to sleep.

There are two lodged together.

One cried "God bless us" and "Amen" the other,

as they had seen me with these hangman's hands.

List'ning their fear, I could not say Amen,

-when they did say, "God bless us."

-Consider it not so deeply.

But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'?

I had most need of blessing, and Amen stuck in my throat.

These deeds must not be thought after these ways,

so, it will make us mad.

Methought I heard a voice cry "Sleep no more,

"Macbeth does murder sleep."

HE LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY

The innocent sleep, sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care,

the death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,

balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,

-chief nourisher in life's feast...

-What do you mean?

Still it cried, "Sleep no more!" to all the house. Glamis hath murdered sleep,

"and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more."

Who was it that thus cried?

Why, worthy thane, you do unbend your noble strength

to think so brainsickly of things.

Go get some water and wash this filthy witness from your hand.

Why did you bring these daggers from the place?

They must lie there.

-Go carry them and smear the sleepy grooms with blood.

-I'll go no more.

I am afraid to think what I have done. Look on't again I dare not.

Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers.

The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures,

'tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil.

If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal,

for it must seem their guilt.

DISTANT KNOCKING

Whence is that knocking?

HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

How is't with me, when every noise appals me?

What hands are here?

Ha?

They pluck out mine eyes.

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?

No,

this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine,

making the green one red.

My hands are of your colour,

but I shame to wear a heart so white.

DISTANT KNOCKING

I hear a knocking at the south entry, retire we to our chamber.

A little water clears us of this deed, How easy is it, then!

Your constancy hath left you unattended.

KNOCKING CONTINUES

Hark! More knocking.

Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us and show us to be watchers.

Be not lost so poorly in your thoughts.

To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself.

Wake Duncan with thy knocking!

I would thou couldst!

REPEATED KNOCKING

My husband!

I have done the deed.

We're right at the nub of it

here, where he has steeled himself

to the point where he is capable of doing this terrible act,

which all of us would find very difficult, murder,

he's consciously closed his eyes to what's wrong about what he's doing

and he's gone in and he's committed the deed.

My husband!

I have done the deed.

"I have done the deed" is there palpably in front of her.

Didst thou not hear a noise?

But very, very quickly it's obvious to her that he has done the deed

but the fallout is now becoming evident.

'And he's crumbling, which cannot happen.'

I had most need of blessing, and Amen stuck in my throat.

These deeds must not be thought after these ways,

so, it will make us mad.

He's terrified, his status has plummeted from being

the brightest of the bright to being something halting,

hesitating, stuttering

and self-hating.

Can we try...

both of you maybe major on

quite how appalling this is

and quite how terrifying it is to have murdered a king,

and see what that does.

Consider it not so deeply.

But wherefore could not I pronounce Amen?

I had most need of blessing, and Amen stuck in my throat.

These deeds must not be thought after these ways,

so, it will make us mad.

I was entering into the same hysteria,

which is something that she can't do.

What she feels and what she can show, don't tally.

So let's put you back into your sort of iron maiden of confidence

that you've got to be in, main thing we're thinking about this time

is the sort of clash between her super-competency

and his unravelling.

Consider it not so deeply.

But wherefore could not I pronounce Amen?

I had most need of blessing, and Amen stuck in my throat.

These deeds must not be thought after these ways,

so, it will make us mad.

She starts by trying to support him,

maintain the front of lover,

quite maternal lover almost, very supportive lover.

Still it cried, "Sleep no more" to all the house.

"Glamis hath murdered sleep,

"and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more."

Who was it that thus cried?

Why, worthy thane, you do unbend your noble strength

to think so brainsickly of things.

I genuinely felt there that if I don't care for this man now

he's going to go, and that was me being competent.

The more competent she tries to be, the more it becomes,

the more the scene is about, take this seriously.

Well, it was interesting that, wasn't it?

It's more, it becomes more about join me,

I need you to join me in my...

In how awful this is.

Eventually the strain of the situation does get to her

and she starts to blame him and indeed she resents him,

she's angry, she's impatient.

Then there's a massive moment, er, where you see that, like a fool,

he's brought, for the first time you notice, he's brought the daggers,

from the room, when the whole point is they've got to be left

with the guards so that they are assumed to have done the killing.

Go get some water and wash this filthy witness from your hand.

Why did you bring these daggers from the place?

They must lie there.

Go carry them and smear the sleepy grooms with blood.

Could we try this time, I love you, kiss, I love you, kiss,

you poor thing, the way we do look after our lovers

if they're in a terrible state, you don't just go there, there,

you kiss, you reassure, sensually as well,

and then let's just say, just as an exercise

you, you, the realisation about the daggers, damn you,

goes from, "I love you, I care for you, it's all right, darling"

to "Damn you!"

Go get some water and wash this filthy witness from your hand.

Why did you bring these daggers from the place?

They must lie there.

Go carry them and smear the sleepy grooms with blood.

This is her highest point,

she'll never be quite so high again,

she's carried him through the devastating act of murder

in order to get the crown on her head and on his.

Give me the daggers.

Macbeth has constantly been talking about

we're going to have to pay for this,

she has always put that out of mind

and she will pay for it later with her mental collapse.

The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures,

'tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil.

If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal,

for it must seem their guilt.

That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold.

The iambic pentameter. De dum de dum de dum de dum.

The tum the tum the tum the tum the tum.

The heartbeat, the de dum, de dum.

It's how we all, it's how we communicate to each other now.

And the understood structure here is based on this ten-beat line.

Ten beats and five, five stresses, er,

I don't know,

that WHICH hath MADE them DRUNK hath MADE me BOLD,

that's a very, very regular line.

That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold.

What hath quenched them hath given me fire.

The truth is

that we very often speak in iambic pentameters just naturally.

I'd really LIKE to have a cup of TEA. Right.

Now, nobody says

I'd REALLY like to HAVE a cup of TEA. Do they?

Listening their fear I could not say Amen.

Listening their fear I could not say Amen.

Actors, students, you know,

they go round doing this da dum, da dum, and it's very difficult,

once you've got it so rigidly in your head, to let go of it.

Because the truth is, you have to let go of it.

Whatever, whatever... Of whatever interest it is,

it is no longer interesting when you can still hear it

when an actor is saying it. It just gets in the way

and it stops people from understanding what you are saying.

Still it cried, "Sleep no more" to all the house.

"Glamis hath murdered sleep,

"and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more.'

"I have drugged their possets,

"that death and nature do contend about them"

and then you've got the beginning of a short line,

"Whe-ther they live or die",

and then there's another short line from Macbeth of,

"Who's there, what ho", so actually that does make up ten beats,

so it suggests it probably should - bam - come in,

and, and flow like a line.

I have drugged their possets,

that death and nature do contend about them

whether they live or die.

Who's there? What ho?

There are a lot of shared lines in this scene.

I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?

I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did not you speak?

-When?

-Now!

-As I descended?

-Ay.

The sharing of the lines

in the bloody daggers or post-murder scene...

..I think allows us to hear

how urgent the need to communicate is between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

at that point, they don't have a great deal of time,

it's almost as if time is...

Has escalated, that they, there isn't time for pause,

they are coming in on each other's lines

because of panic, rising panic.

-As I descended?

-Ay.

Hark! Who lies i' the second chamber?

Donalbain.

This is a sorry sight.

In this scene the heartbeat is da-da da-da da-da da-da da-da.

And yet you are sharing those da-da,

so you've got da-da da-da da-da da-da.

I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did not you speak?

-When?

-Now!

-As I descended?

-Ay.

Hark! Who lies i' the second chamber?

-Donalbain.

-This is a sorry sight.

A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.

When anybody is in that kind of heightened state,

people start to talk very, very quickly with each other,

finish each other's sentences, come in very...

It's a very heightened way of communicating

and I think that's what Shakespeare is doing in this scene.

It ends...

..with a complete line from

"a foolish thought to say a sorry sight,"

with a complete line from you, you're, you're,

-you're sharing lines...

-Uh-huh.

..in that bump, bump, bump, bump bit,

and then you almost put a stop to it with

"let's get back to proper lines."

-OK.

-I mean obviously she's not thinking that but...

-Yeah.

..But it, it marks the moment

when you're trying to bring it back to, to sanity, to reason.

I could smell fear on them more clearly

as their heart rate and their language accelerated.

My husband!

I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?

I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did not you speak?

-When?

-Now!

-As I descended?

-Ay.

Hark! Who lies i' the second chamber?

Donalbain.

This is a sorry sight.

A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.

KNOCKING

Whence is that knocking?

How is't with me, when every noise appals me?

Macbeth is obsessed, throughout this scene,

with the things that he has heard.

Hark!

Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth suddenly stop various times

to listen to noises,

they stop in their tracks.

It adds to the jerky rhythm,

the unsettling rhythm of the scene that unsettles us as we watch it.

Hark!

Who lies i' the second chamber?

Donalbain.

Then apparently people are speaking in Macbeth's head

as he's in the corridors after he's just murdered Duncan.

There's one did laugh in's sleep, and one cried, "Murder!"

That they did wake each other, I stood and heard them.

But they did say their prayers, and addressed them again to sleep.

Are they, the noises,

are they words from real people in a bedroom next door,

are they supernatural noises and so on.

The business of you hearing voices in the corridor as you come through,

what's in your brain as you're saying those lines

or thinking about that, as you come from having stabbed Duncan?

In my head,

I am absolutely in a paranoid fear

that it is either Duncan's spirit revenging

or coming back to haunt me,

or it's God, or the devil,

basically coming and saying, "You are now damned."

Damned, so "Sleep no more" means sort of everlasting,

that's the kind of hell that you're imagining.

It's the beginning of my journey towards eternal damnation.

One did laugh in's sleep, and one cried, "Murder!"

That they did wake each other, I stood and heard them.

But they did say their prayers, and addressed them again to sleep.

There are two lodged together.

One cried, "God bless us" and "Amen" the other, as they had seen me.

He has heard voices, but even the fact that she says to him,

"There are two people there",

so, you know, you have only...

What she's saying is "you have only heard two real people,"

but the point is, one of them has said, "God bless us",

one of them has shouted "Amen", one of them has shouted "Murder."

Lady Macbeth is anxious to make it, "it's all right, it's just normal."

Although that's not particularly normal, "they were awake!"

-"Next door while I was doing that," that's alarming too.

-Yeah.

There is no, there is no way of taming this to normal

because if the, if it was just...

"It's just two people saying, "God bless us" and "Amen" " -

-"you mean they were awake?!"

-Yes.

That, that raises the stakes appallingly.

Every time I come up with something,

she tries to explain it in a rational, pragmatic way.

But, but I take it one step further, it's like nothing,

nothing is going to comfort me.

OK, all right, so what if it is two people in a chamber,

then why wasn't I able to say Amen?

Why could I...

But I couldn't say amen, why couldn't I then, so it's every time and then,

and then she says, "Ah, don't worry about it, we shouldn't think about these things",

and then I'm on to this other voice, this disembodied voice,

which is telling me not to sleep,

so it's kind of like I'm continually just ratcheting up

-the stakes of what I went through.

-Of anxiety, yes.

But wherefore could not I pronounce Amen?

I had most need of blessing, and Amen stuck in my throat.

These deeds must not be thought after these ways,

so, it will make us mad.

Methought I heard a voice cry, "Sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep."

And then there is the knocking of the door,

which turns out to be Macduff and Ross arriving to wake up the king,

as they had promised him,

but of course it takes on a much more sinister quality

to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

KNOCKING

Whence is that knocking?

How is't with me, when every noise appals me?

If it was a practical thing of,

"There is somebody at the door," then that is,

that is a very practical consideration,

but he doesn't seem to take that forward into the next line,

if you know what I mean,

he goes from... GASPS

..to "God, I'm getting so, I'm so jumpy."

My hands are of your colour,

but I shame to wear a heart so white.

KNOCKING

I hear a knocking at the south entry, retire we to our chamber.

A little water clears us of this deed. How easy is it, then!

Your constancy hath left you unattended.

Hark! More knocking.

Macbeth at that point, in that state of mind, that's God.

God's at the door. He's coming for me.

KNOCKING

Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!

KNOCKING

You are now on the road to hell.

I have two nights watched with you,

but can perceive no truth in your report.

Besides her walking, what, at any time, have you heard her say?

That, sir, which I will not report after her.

You may to me, and 'tis most meet you should.

Neither to you nor anyone, having no witness to confirm my speech.

How came she by that light?

Why, it stood by her. She has light by her continually,

'tis her command.

You see her eyes are open.

Ay, but their sense are shut.

Look how she rubs her hands.

Yet here's a spot.

Hark, she speaks. I will set down what comes from her,

to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.

Out, damned spot!

Out, I say!

One, two, why then, 'tis time to do it.

Hell is murky.

Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard?

What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?

Yet who would have thought the old man

to have had so much blood in him?

Do you mark that?

The Thane of Fife had a wife,

where is she now?

What, will these hands ne'er be clean?

No more o'that, my lord, no more o'that,

you mar all with this starting.

Go to, go to, you have known what you should not.

She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of it,

heaven knows what she has known.

Here's the smell of the blood still.

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.

O, O, O!

What a sigh is there! The heart is sorely charged.

I would not have such a heart in my bosom

for the dignity of the whole body.

Well,

well, well.

Pray God it be, sir.

This disease is beyond my practice.

Wash your hands, put on your nightgown, look not so pale.

I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried,

-he cannot come out on's grave.

-Even so?

To bed, to bed. There's knocking at the gate.

What's done cannot be undone.

To bed,

to bed,

to bed.

Will she go now to bed?

Directly.

Foul whisp'rings are abroad.

Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles,

infected minds to their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets.

More needs she the divine than the physician. God, God forgive us all!

Look after her. Remove from her the means of all annoyance,

and still keep eyes upon her.

So, goodnight. My mind she has mated, and amazed my sight.

I think, but dare not speak.

Goodnight, good doctor.

What, at any time, have you heard her say?

That, sir, which I will not report after her.

Let's try concentrating on the Lady in Waiting

and on the Doctor,

to look at what they do about watching this sleepwalking queen.

Lady Macbeth will probably still be smiling in the daytime to people

and going through the motions, but we see her at night unconscious,

completely unconscious, defenceless, revealing her true state of mind.

You don't necessarily know at the start of the scene what the secret might be.

The audience do know what the secret might be,

and we don't know how much you know.

In the text, the Lady in Waiting says, "Stand close."

In a sense, for a modern audience stand close would suggest,

stand close to her,

but actually what it means in Elizabethan English is

stand in a close, hidden.

Um, let's try, first of all, hiding.

What, at any time, have you heard her say?

That, sir, which I will not report after her.

I think the danger for the doctor and gentlewoman is to,

to act too sharply or to, you know,

do anything to shock her out of her dream.

How came she by that light?

Why, it stood by her.

She has light by her continually, 'tis her command.

-You see her eyes are open.

-Ay, but their sense are shut.

When I come in initially

I accept that I'm sort of in the lower position,

I accept that, you know, I'm not going to...

-He can threaten you.

-OK.

You start off weak, because you are quite threatening.

Are you accusing our king and queen of something?

What right do you have to know any of these secrets,

you impertinent junior person?

I have two nights watched with you,

but can perceive no truth in your report.

Besides her walking, what, at any time, have you heard her say?

That, sir, which I will not report after her.

You may to me, and 'tis most meet you should.

Neither to you nor anyone.

I had to make a sort of conscious decision

not to see, not to see anyone,

until there's the line that's delivered to the doctor.

Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard?

What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?

Yet who would have thought the old man

to have had so much blood in him?

What about the moment where she does see you?

Or sees Macbeth in you?

Like being rushed at by an animal.

It felt more potentially as if she could lash out at that point.

Go to, go to, you have known what you should not.

She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that.

Heaven knows what she has known.

Here's the smell of the blood still.

It's perfectly clear now that the Macbeths murdered Duncan.

Go to, go to, you have known what you should not.

She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of it.

It's a dangerous time for everybody.

If someone at a court knows a secret

that could bring a king and queen down,

they may be in danger.

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.

O, O, O!

This secret is gunpowder, is dangerous,

they are holding a bomb in their hands.

Then he suddenly loses status, loses his confidence...

And then suddenly I become more powerful in the sense that I say,

"Well, we've got to do something about it, what are we going to do?"

So you've started off going, "Oh, my God, oh, my God"

and he's now, "Oh, my God, oh, my God"

and you're going, "It's too late for oh, my God, oh, my God."

You are implicated now,

therefore you have to be my ally and my protector.

Well, well, well.

Pray God it be, sir.

This disease is beyond my practice.

'The danger for this is that it will become common knowledge.'

The doctor says in the scene, "Foul whisperings are abroad,"

so there are rumours of all this stuff that's gone on,

but this is proof, and proof is always dangerous.

The English forces are massing, Malcolm is massing with his forces.

People who are associated with this are going to be in serious trouble.

Put on your nightgown, look not so pale.

I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried,

he cannot come out on's grave.

Even so?

To bed, to bed. There's knocking at the gate.

-How came she by that light?

-Why, it stood by her.

She has light by her continually, 'tis her command.

I'd like to try the scene in the dark.

The night is scary from childhood onwards

and all the rest of it, and this does take place at night.

Let's disappear down to a very narrow patch of light

-and just see what that gives us.

-We just had like a pool of light

and we could all sort of go in the light or out of the light

but always someone had to be in the middle.

We slightly cheated in that we had one spot coming down

but the concept was that her world was as extensive as the light

that the candle would give out.

I have two nights watched with you,

but can perceive no truth in your report.

And you could just see like Chris' face coming in to the light

and coming out, and it all felt very slightly horror.

How came she by that light?

Why, it stood by her.

She has light by her continually, 'tis her command.

The dark version made the actors come really close to each other,

creating a strange intimacy between two people who could see her

but she couldn't see them.

You see her eyes are open.

And if she did see them suddenly for a moment

-she was seeing something else.

-Look how she rubs her hands.

Yet, here's a spot.

Hark, she speaks.

You really felt that once you were in that light you were exposed.

You really felt how small the space was.

I will set down what comes from her,

to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.

Out.

I imagine the Macbeths' castle was massive,

but that kind of real intimacy

and that kind of real, "Seriously, this is what's happened,"

and kind of not wanting anyone to hear you, felt kind of scary.

Out, I say!

One, two,

why then, 'tis time to do't.

'It really gave me a sense of how small her world may be.'

It was claustrophobic, the universe became this sphere of light,

which is why she has light by her because her world is murky, morally,

and maybe she only wants to be out in the dark

with this amount of light because

look how much of the world I don't have to engage with.

Hell is murky.

-Hell is so close to me as well.

-Yeah, yeah.

You can't escape from it, with light you can't escape dark.

Here's the smell of the blood still.

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.

O, O, O!

She looked me directly in the eye, which was so...

I couldn't prepare for that.

O, O, O!

There was a bit when you were stood here

and you were really like so vulnerable

I just really wanted to embrace you and sshh you to sleep.

To bed, to bed. There's knocking at the gate.

Yet here's a spot.

Out, damned spot! Out!

'In this particular speech,'

although she is asleep, we hear what she is seeing,

what she is hearing, what she is sensing.

Let's just have a look at the number of times

you actually use this image of blood.

Now, if you beat the number of times you use the word

-or a word that is relating to it.

-Relating to blood.

Here's the smell of the blood still.

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.

O, O, O!

'The stamping of the feet is about simplifying.'

It made me realise how many references there were indeed

to blood, if I had to stamp my foot to any reference to blood.

You can sometimes be so busy working out the emotional state

that you don't see the obvious.

Yet who would have thought the old man

to have had so much blood in him?

'Shakespeare gives us these words over and over again.'

Blood isn't always referred to as blood.

Wash your hands, put on your nightgown, look not so pale.

I tell you yet again...

'But blood runs throughout the passage.'

"Wash your hands, put on your nightgown" relates to it in a way...

It does, oh it does.

..That I didn't absolutely think of until now.

Great, let's just try that now using the sense of impetus and change

that's in the punctuation - in the full stops, commas, anything at all.

So I'll beat whenever there is punctuation.

Yet here's a spot.

Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

One, two, why...

'What we are looking at is how we use'

written punctuation to actually signify a change in thought

or a development of an idea.

Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard?

What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?

Yet who would have thought the old man

to have had so much blood in him?

Try that again now, this time actually shifting,

moving, see if it makes a difference.

So if we put these two chairs together.

Just become very aware of when you are talking to yourself

and when you are talking to Macbeth.

She doesn't see the doctor, she doesn't see...

She sees Macbeth in a ghost-like form.

Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard?

What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?

Yet who would have thought the old man

to have had so much blood in him?

They're snippets of scenes she has had with Macbeth,

interjected with moments she has had on her own.

Yet who would have thought the old man

to have had so much blood in him?

The Thane of Fife had a wife, where is she now?

No more o'that, my lord, no more o'that,

no more o'that, my lord, no, no more o'that, my lord, no more of that,

you mar all with this starting.

Interesting - how did that feel to you?

There was a bit where I was,

it wasn't just a mistake, it was a pull between which it was,

and it's hard to know if she is remembering herself in that scene

do you know, remembering how she was,

a woman who was empowered, talking to Macbeth,

or if she is the broken woman, remembering the strength in Macbeth.

Yes, it's interesting though that she says some of the things

slightly differently, so Shakespeare doesn't give you the exact word,

again, do you remember what you say in the previous scene

when here you say, "What's done cannot be undone"?

-What's done, is done.

-Yes.

What's done cannot be undone.

So we get the feeling that this, the blood on her hands...

Will not, will not come off.

..Will not come off no matter how much she rubs it. What is done?

The deed. The deed is done because Macbeth says that too.

-I have done the deed.

-Yes, yes.

The deed suggests that it is final.

It hasn't repercussions and I think that's what she has hoped for.

That once the deed is done, that's it. That can be the end.

They can move on, they can do other things, yes.

But conscience has to play a part and it undoes her.

What's done cannot be undone.

To bed, to bed, to bed.

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