An adaptation/translation of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
I don't know if it was because I took some time off or what, but this scene was work! The last line I'm still not sure of. It stays as is for now because of how nice and final it sounds, though the sense of it is not precise, contemporary-wise. I must go out now, so comments, if any, I'll have to address later. Hope you enjoy.
ACT 4, SCENE 3
(England. Before the King's palace.
Enter Malcolm and Macduff.)MALCOLM
Let's find some shade to sit and grieve.MACDUFF
Each new morning new widows howl, new orphans cry, and new
sorrows strike heaven on its face--its wail resounds with
those of Scotland.MALCOLM
I'll mourn, and what I can set right my friend, I shall.
What you've said may be true--that this tyrant whose name
blisters our tongues was once honest. He has not yet looked
to you, and you may gain his favor by betraying me. It's
sometimes most wise to offer up a lamb to appease an angry
god.MACDUFF
I'm not treacherous in that way.MALCOLM
But Macbeth is, and even a good and virtuous subject may bend
to the pressure from a king. Forgive me, what I think will
not change what you are. Even though some of the brightest
have fallen, there are bright angels, still. Even though all
wickedness attempts to appear as virtue, virtue does not
change its looks.MACDUFF
I've lost my hopes.MALCOLM
Why did you abandon your wife and child--those strong knots
of love--without a farewell? Perhaps that's why I have
suspicions about you; but don't allow them to dishonor you,
you may well have had your reasons.(Beat.)
MACDUFF
(to the skies)
Bleed! Bleed, poor country, bleed!(Beat.)
MACDUFF (CONT'D)
(to the skies)
Lay your foundations great tyranny! Justice dares not check
your advance! Wear your crown of deceit, the courts shall
stand behind you!(Beat.)
MACDUFF (CONT'D)
(to Malcolm)
I wouldn't play the villain for all the tyrant has in his
grasp--not even the riches of the east to boot.MALCOLM
Don't be offended. I do not doubt your honor. It's that our
country sinks beneath the yoke, it weeps and bleeds, as each
day adds a new wound.(Beat.)
MALCOLM (CONT'D)
Still, there are many who would fight in my name. Gracious
England has offered us thousands. But for all this, when I
have the tyrant's head under foot, or upon my sword, the pour
country will have more vices than it had before. It will
suffer in many more ways under the new king.MACDUFF
Who do you mean?MALCOLM
I mean myself. Vice is so grafted that, if opened, black
Macbeth will seem pure as snow next to me. The country could
regard him as a lamb compared to the harm I would cause.MACDUFF
Not from the legions of hell could come a devil more damned
than Macbeth.MALCOLM
Granted he is cunning, bloody, treacherous, greedy, and
smacking of every sin which has a name, but there is no
bottom to the depths of mine: your wives, your daughters,
matrons or maids could not fill the cistern of my lust.MACDUFF
A boundless appetite for sex is a tyranny which has emptied
the throne of many kings. But don't worry about taking what
is yours; you can indulge in your pleasures privately, we
have enough willing dames to quench even the mightiest of
lusts.MALCOLM
Besides that, my greed is equally as fierce. Were I king I'd
execute nobles for their lands, their riches, this castle,
that house. Each acquisition would be a sauce to cause the
appetite to grow more ravenous. I'd hatch disputes against
the good and loyal to destroy them for their wealth.MACDUFF
Greed is a sword which has slain many a king. They say this
vice grows deeper, that its root is more robust than even
that of lust. Yet, do not fear. Scotland has enough to fill
up such emptiness, and these vices have less heft than the
virtues they can be weighed against.MALCOLM
But I have none. The king-becoming graces, such as truth,
justice, temperance, stability, generosity, perseverance,
mercy, humility, devotion, patience, courage--I have none. I
revel in the finer points of treachery!
Had I power I'd pour its sweet milk into the cauldrons of
hell, uproot peace, and destroy whatever unity might be found
on earth.(Beat.)
MACDUFF
Oh--Scotland! Scotland!MALCOLM
If one like myself is fit to govern, say it. I am what I've
confessed.MACDUFF
(to the skies)
Oh miserable nation! A bloody tyrant at the helm, the
rightful heir confessed to blasphemy of the breed--will we
ever see wholesome days again?!(Beat.)
MACDUFF (CONT'D)
(to Malcolm)
But your royal father the king, was so saintly; your mother
the queen was more often found at prayer than anywhere else-
she died every day she lived.(Beat.)
MACDUFF (CONT'D)
I'm afraid this new knowledge of you has now banished me from
Scotland. My hope has reached its end. Fare thee well.(He prepares to go.)
MALCOLM
Nobel Macduff, hold. This passion of yours, this solid
conviction, has blown off dark suspicions and confirmed my
thoughts about your honor. Devilish Macbeth has sought to
win me over with similar tests, but simple common sense
prevented me from going astray so easily.(Beat.)
MALCOLM (CONT'D)
As God is our witness here and now, I pledge myself to the
direction of your course. I renounce all the taints I've
laid upon my responsibilities--actually they are strangers to
my nature: I've yet to know women; I've scarcely desired what
is rightfully mine; I've never broken my faith; I do not
betray the truth, but delight in it as much as life itself.(Beat.)
MALCOLM (CONT'D)
I offer up to you my country and my true self to command.
Before you arrived Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men
fully equipped, was about to set out. Now we'll advance
together, and our goodness combined with our resolve shall
match the justness of this cause!(Macduff is taken aback.)
MALCOLM (CONT'D)
Why are you silent?MACDUFF
My heart and mind needs a moment to take all this in.(Enter a DOCTOR.)
MALCOLM
(to Macduff)
We'll go over details soon. (To Doctor.) Is the king on his
way out?DOCTOR
Ay, sir. A group of wretched folk wait on his cures again.
Their maladies are unmoved, and they await the king's touch
as cure.MALCOLM
I thank you, doctor.(The Doctor bows/exits.)
MACDUFF
What's that about?MALCOLM
There is a miraculous gift this king has. I've witnessed it
often since I arrived. How he solicits heaven, only he
knows, but he's able to cure the things the surgeons have no
remedies for. He hangs a coin of gold around the sufferer's
neck and prays. They say he'll leave this knowledge to the
succeeding royalty.(Beat.)
MALCOLM (CONT'D)
And besides this heavenly gift, he has one of prophecy as
well. His reign is one of grace.(Enter Ross.)
MACDUFF
Look who's here!MALCOLM
One of my countrymen, but I do not know him.MACDUFF
(to Ross)
My ever-gentle cousin--welcome!MALCOLM
I know you not, but may the heavens remove that which makes
us strangers.ROSS
Amen to that, sir.MACDUFF
How does Scotland stand?ROSS
The poor country, rife with divisions, conflicts, and
corruption--it hardly knows itself. A country in name only,
it should be called our grave. The ignorant smile, while the
sighs, groans, and shrieks which rend the air go unaddressed.
Violence and sorrow at every turn, no one asks any longer for
whom the bells toll. All across the land good men's lives
expire before their time.MACDUFF
Oh nation bereft of faithful governance!(Beat.)
MALCOLM
What's the latest grief?ROSS
One an hour old hisses at the speaker, each minute brings
something else to rue.MACDUFF
Do you have any word from my wife?ROSS
Well....MACDUFF
And my children? The tyrant has left them in peace?ROSS
They were in peace when I did leave them last.MALCOLM
Tell us all you know.ROSS
As I came here to deliver the latest, there was rumor of a
group of good men gathering to rebel. I suspect there's
truth to this as I saw the tyrant's forces on the march. Now
is the time to show yourself noble lord. Word of your
appearance would create an army. Even the women would join
the fight to topple the distress which besets us all.MALCOLM
To their comfort, we're on our way. Gracious England has
lent us good Siward and ten thousand men.ROSS
I wish I could answer that with more comfort, but I have
other news.MALCOLM
Public affairs, or private grief?ROSS
(to Macduff)
It pertains to you noble Macduff.(Beat.)
MACDUFF
I can guess. Don't keep it from me.ROSS
Your castle has been taken, and your family slain.(Macduff reacts.)
MALCOLM
Heavens! Give sorrow words man! Grief that does not speak
only breaks the heart into other pieces!MACDUFF
My children too?ROSS
Wife, children, servants, all that could be found.MACDUFF
I had to be away!MALCOLM
We'll make medicine to cure this grief. Our revenge will be
great.MACDUFF
All my children! Oh hell-kite! All my pretty birds and
their hen at one fell swoop!MALCOLM
Withstand this like a man brave Macduff.MACDUFF
I will, and I'll feel it like a man too. They were precious
to me.(Beat.)
MACDUFF (CONT'D)
Did heaven look on and offer no defense?!(Beat.)
MACDUFF (CONT'D)
Sinful Macduff they were struck down for you! Not for their
sins--slaughter fell upon their souls for mine!MALCOLM
Heaven holds them now. Let this be the stone to sharpen your
sword. Let your grief become a wrath--blunt not the heart,
enrage it.(Beat.)
MACDUFF
I could weep and rant like a woman, but let there be no delay
in my preparations. Bring this fiend of Scotland before me
face to face! Set him at sword's length, and if he escapes
may heaven forgive us both.MALCOLM
Come, to the king we go. We're ready, our lack is nothing
but our leave. Macbeth is ripe for defeat and the powers
above will provide the way. Take what comfort from this that
you will, but the night is long that never finds the day.
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