No Fear Shakespeare: Macbeth: Act 3, scene iv

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	FIRST MURDERER
	My lord, his throat is cut. That I did for him.

FIRST MURDERER

My lord, his throat is cut. I did that to him.

	MACBETH
	Thou art the best o' th' cutthroats:
	Yet he's good that did the like for Fleance.
20	If thou didst it, thou art the nonpareil.

MACBETH

You are the best of the cutthroats. But whoever did the same to Fleance must also be good. If you cut both their throats, then you are the absolute best.

	FIRST MURDERER
	Most royal sir, Fleance is 'scaped.

FIRST MURDERER

Most royal sir, Fleance has escaped.

	MACBETH
	Then comes my fit again. I had else been perfect,
	Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,
	As broad and general as the casing air.
25	But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in
	To saucy doubts and fears.—But Banquo's safe?

MACBETH

Now I'm scared again. Otherwise I would have been perfect, as solid as a piece of marble, as firm as a rock, as free as the air itself. But now I'm all tangled up with doubts and fears. But Banquo's been taken care of?

	FIRST MURDERER
	Ay, my good lord. Safe in a ditch he bides,
	With twenty trenchèd gashes on his head,
	The least a death to nature.

FIRST MURDERER

Yes, my good lord. He's lying dead in a ditch, with twenty deep gashes in his head, any one of which would have been enough to kill him.

	MACBETH
	Thanks for that.
30	There the grown serpent lies. The worm that's fled
	Hath nature that in time will venom breed;
	No teeth for th' present. Get thee gone. Tomorrow
	We'll hear ourselves again.

MACBETH

Thanks for that. The adult snake lies in the ditch. The young snake that escaped will in time become poisonous and threatening, but for now he has no fangs. Get out of here. I'll talk to you again tomorrow.

Exit FIRST MURDERER

The FIRST MURDERER exits.

	LADY MACBETH
	My royal lord,
	You do not give the cheer. The feast is sold
35	That is not often vouched, while 'tis a-making,
	'Tis given with welcome. To feed were best at home;
	From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony;
	Meeting were bare without it.

LADY MACBETH

My royal lord, you're not entertaining the guests. If you don't make your guests know they're welcome, they'll feel like they're paying for their meal. When you just want to eat, it's better to do that at home. When you're eating out with people, you need to have a little more ceremony. Otherwise dinner parties would be boring.


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