TEXT:
SCENE VI. Forres. The palace.
Enter LENNOX and another Lord
LENNOX
My former speeches have but hit your thoughts,
Which can interpret further: only, I say,
Things have been strangely borne. The gracious Duncan
Was pitied of Macbeth: marry, he was dead:
And the right-valiant Banquo walked too late;
Whom, you may say, if't please you, Fleance killed,
For Fleance fled: men must not walk too late.
Who cannot want the thought how monstrous
It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain
To kill their gracious father? Damnéd fact!
How it did grieve Macbeth! Did he not straight
In pious rage the two delinquents tear,
That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep?
Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too;
For 'twould have angered any heart alive
To hear the men deny't. So that, I say,
He has borne all things well: and I do think
That had he Duncan's sons under his key -
As, an't please heaven, he shall not - they should find
What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance.
But, peace! For from broad words and 'cause he failed
His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear
Macduff lives in disgrace. Sir, can you tell
Where he bestows himself?
Lord
The son of Duncan,
From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth
Lives in the English court, and is received
Of the most pious Edward with such grace
That the malevolence of fortune nothing
Takes from his high respect: thither Macduff
Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid,
To wake Northumberland and warlike Siward:
That, by the help of these - with Him above
To ratify the work - we may again
Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights,
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives,
Do faithful homage and receive free honours:
All which we pine for now. And this report
Hath so exasperate the king that he
Prepares for some attempt of war.
LENNOX
Sent he to Macduff?
Lord
He did: and with an absolute 'Sir, not I,'
The cloudy messenger turns me his back,
And hums, as who should say 'You'll rue the time
That clogs me with this answer.'
LENNOX
And that well might
Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance
His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel
Fly to the court of England and unfold
His message ere he come, that a swift blessing
May soon return to this our suffering country
Under a hand accursed!
Lord
I'll send my prayers with him.
Exeunt
NOTES:
Fact
Lennox plays hard and fast with the truth in this scene, seeming to deliver the “official” version of events from Macbeth’s court. But these ‘damned’ pieces of information are not facts, since we in the audience have seen what really happened!
Pious Edward
Edward the Confessor (c.1004-1066) was an Anglo-Saxon king of England, so pious that he was eventually canonised as Saint Edward the Confessor. He was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Queen Emma of Normandy. Edward’s sobriquet was given to him because he frequently received the sacrament of confession, and was not to be confused with his uncle, King Edward the Martyr. Among Edward’s pious contributions to English life (and we will hear more of them later in the play) the greatest was probably the construction of Westminster Abbey. This took decades to build, and one of the earliest major religious ceremonies held there was Edward’s own funeral in 1066.
Tyrant
This is the first instance of this word in the play. There will be several more, but this almost casual mention is the first we hear. Shakespeare has his characters talking about someone else - Macduff - but Macbeth’s banquet is referred to as the tyrant’s feast. Even in Shakespeare’s time the word was synonymous with greed for power and cruelty. In a time of so much equivocation, the speaker might get away with explaining that it came from an Ancient Greek word ‘tyrannos’ - for a leader who stepped in when a country was in crisis and led them out of it. But, of course, then the Greek tyrant would be expected to step down - which we can assume Macbeth won’t do without a fight.