For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd;
Put rancors in the vessel of my peace
Only for them, and mine eternal jewel,
Given to the common enemy of man,

To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!
Rather than so, come fate into the list,
And champion me to the utterance!

After the assassination of Banquo, he determines to immediately visit the witches again and he says to Lady Macbeth:

And betimes I will, to the weird sisters:

More shall they speak, for now I am bent to know,

By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good

All causes shall give way: I am in blood

Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er.

In this frame of mind, resolved to know the truth whatever it might be, and apprehensive about the succession to the throne, he enters the cavern, Scene I, Act IV.

Macbeth:

All:

How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!
What is't you do?

A deed without a name.

Macbeth:

I conjure you, by that which you profess,

Howe'er you come to know it, answer me:
Though you untie the winds and let them fight
Against the churches; though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up;

Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown
down;

Though castles topple on their warders' heads;
Though palaces and pyramids do slope

Their heads to their foundations; though the
treasure

Of nature's germins tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken; answer me
To what I ask you.

After some ceremonial magic by the three witches, the text runs:

Thunder. First Apparition: an armed Head.

Macbeth:

Tell me, thou unknown power,

First Witch:

He knows thy thought:

Hear his speech, but say thou nought.

First Apparition:

Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff; Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me: enough. [Descends.

Macbeth:

Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution thanks;
Thou hast harp'd my fear aright: but one word

more,

First Witch:

He will not be commanded; here's another,
More potent than the first.

Thunder. Second Apparition: a bloody Child.
Second Apparition:

Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!

Macbeth:

Had I three ears, I'd hear thee.
Second Apparition:

Be bloody, bold and resolute; laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth.

Macbeth:

[Descends.

Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee?
But yet I'll make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live;

That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies,
And sleep in spite of thunder.

Thunder. Third Apparition: a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand.

All:

What is this,

That rises like the issue of a king,

And wears upon his baby-brow the round
And top of sovereignty?

Listen, but speak not to't.

Third Apparition:

Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.

Macbeth:

That will never be:

[Descends.

Who can impress the forest, bid the tree

Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements! good!

Rebellion's head, rise never till the wood

Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath
To time and mortal custom.

Each one of these prophecies is fulfilled to the very letter before the tragedy runs its course; but they are not, in the main, correctly interpreted by Macbeth. They seem to him to be assurances that he is invulnerable and that his enemies cannot prevail against him.

His confidence in his future is now complete. He believes a long reign is ahead for him. This confidence is as great as had been his ambition to become king. Had not the witches told

him of his first promotion before it occurred? Had they not then truly prophesied that he would be king? Now he was being given, apparently, such unmistakable pledges of future security that he felt certain he would finally die a natural death-would "live the lease of nature." And so, lured on by his misinterpretation of what he had seen and heard, he went straight forward to his doom, which, to the smallest particular, fulfilled the prophecy.

Just how Macbeth felt about it is portrayed in Scene III of Act V, when the reports of the advance of the English forces had reached him: Macbeth:

Bring me no more reports; let them fly all;
Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane

I cannot taint with fear. What's the boy Mal-
colm?

Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know

All mortal consequences have pronounced me thus:

'Fear not, Macbeth; no man that's born of woman Shall e'er have power upon thee.'

false thanes,

And mingle with the English epicures:

Then fly,

The mind I sway by and the heart I bear

Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear.

Macbeth:

Geese, villain?

Servant:

Soldiers, sir.

Macbeth:

Go prick thy face and over-red thy fear,
Thou lily-liver'd boy. What soldiers, patch?
Death of thy soul! those linen cheeks of thine
Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey-
face?

Servant:

The English force, so please you.

Later in the Scene, while talking to the Doctor, Macbeth remarks:

I will not be afraid of death and bane
Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane.

Up to this point Macbeth has perfect confidence in the prophecy of the weird sisters but events are soon to disillusion him.

Scene IV is the country near Birnam wood, and marching soldiers enter led by Malcolm, the son of the murdered king, his uncle Siward, Macduff, Menteith and others:

Siward:

What wood is this before us?

Menteith:

The wood of Birnam.

Malcolm:

Let every soldier hew him down a bough

And bear't before him: thereby shall we shadow

The numbers of our host, and make discovery

Err in report of us.

Soldiers:

It shall be done.