Macbeth: Act I, Scene vii
Macbeth. Act 1, Scene 7. Macbeth
(This text is featured in our interview with Maria-Christina Oliveras and Nance Williamson)
(This text is also featured in our interview with Ty Jones)
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- 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’ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
- We still have judgment here; that we but teach
- Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
- To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
- Commends the ingredients of our poison’d 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 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 the 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.
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