Get even more from the Folger

1 Get even more from the FolgerYou can get your own copy of this text to keep. Purchase a full copyto get the text, plus explanatory notes, illustrations, and more . Buy a copyFolger Shakespeare the Director of the Folger ShakespeareLibraryTextual IntroductionSynopsisCharacters in the PlayACT 1 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 Scene 4 Scene 5 Scene 6 Scene 7 ACT 2 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 Scene 4 ACT 3 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 Scene 4 Scene 5 Scene 6 ACT 4 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 ACT 5 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 Scene 4 Scene 5 Scene 6 Scene 7 Scene 8 ContentsMichael WitmoreDirector, Folger Shakespeare LibraryIt is hard to imagine a world without Shakespeare. Since theircomposition four hundred years ago, Shakespeare s plays and poemshave traveled the globe, inviting those who see and read his works tomake them their of the New Folger Editions are part of this ongoing processof taking up Shakespeare, finding our own thoughts and feelingsin language that strikes us as old or unusual and, for that very reason,new.

2 We still struggle to keep up with a writer who could think amile a minute, whose words paint pictures that shift like expertly edited texts are presented to the public as a resourcefor study, artistic adaptation, and enjoyment. By making the classictexts of the New Folger Editions available in electronic form as TheFolger Shakespeare (formerly Folger Digital Texts), we place atrusted resource in the hands of anyone who wants New Folger Editions of Shakespeare s plays, which are the basisfor the texts realized here in digital form , are special because of theirorigin. The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is thesingle greatest documentary source of Shakespeare s works. Anunparalleled collection of early modern books, manuscripts, andartwork connected to Shakespeare, the Folger s holdings have beenconsulted extensively in the preparation of these texts. The Editionsalso reflect the expertise gained through the regular performance ofShakespeare s works in the Folger s Elizabethan want to express my deep thanks to editors Barbara Mowat and PaulWerstine for creating these indispensable editions of Shakespeare sworks, which incorporate the best of textual scholarship with arichness of commentary that is both inspired and engaging.

3 Readerswho want to know more about Shakespeare and his plays can followthe paths these distinguished scholars have tread by visiting theFolger either in-person or online, where a range of physical anddigital resources exists to supplement the material in these texts. Icommend to you these words, and hope that they the Director of the Folger ShakespeareLibraryUntil now, with the release of The Folger Shakespeare (formerlyFolger Digital Texts), readers in search of a free online text ofShakespeare s plays had to be content primarily with using theMoby Text, which reproduces a late-nineteenth century version ofthe plays. What is the difference? Many ordinary readers assume thatthere is a single text for the plays: what Shakespeare wrote. ButShakespeare s plays were not published the way modern novels orplays are published today: as a single, authoritative text. In somecases, the plays have come down to us in multiple publishedversions, represented by various Quartos (Qq) and by the greatcollection put together by his colleagues in 1623, called the FirstFolio (F).

4 There are, for example, three very different versions ofHamlet, two of King Lear, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, and choose which version to use as their base text, and thenamend that text with words, lines or speech prefixes from the otherversions that, in their judgment, make for a better or more editorial decisions involve choices about whether anunfamiliar word could be understood in light of other writings of theperiod or whether it should be changed; decisions about words thatmade it into Shakespeare s text by accident through four hundredyears of printings and misprinting; and even decisions based oncultural preference and taste. When the Moby Text was created,for example, it was deemed improper and indecent for Mirandato chastise Caliban for having attempted to rape her. (See TheTempest, : Abhorred slave,/Which any print of goodness wilt nottake,/Being capable of all ill! I pitied ).

5 All Shakespeareeditors at the time took the speech away from her and gave it to herfather, editors of the Moby Shakespeare produced their text longbefore scholars fully understood the proper grounds on which tomake the thousands of decisions that Shakespeare editors face. TheFolger Library Shakespeare Editions, on which the FolgerShakespeare texts depend, make this editorial process as nearlytransparent as is possible, in contrast to older texts, like the Moby ,which hide editorial interventions. The reader of the FolgerShakespeare knows where the text has been altered because editorialinterventions are signaled by square brackets (for example, fromOthello: If she in chains of magic were not bound, ), half-squarebrackets (for example, from Henry V: With blood and sword andfire to win your right, ), or angle brackets (for example, fromTextual IntroductionBy Barbara Mowat and Paul WerstineHamlet: O farewell, honest soldier.)

6 Who hath relieved/you? ). Atany point in the text, you can hover your cursor over a bracket formore the Folger Shakespeare texts are edited in accord withtwenty-first century knowledge about Shakespeare s texts, the Folgerhere provides them to readers, scholars, teachers, actors, directors,and students, free of charge, confident of their quality as texts of theplays and pleased to be able to make this contribution to the studyand enjoyment of , set primarily in Scotland, mixes witchcraft, prophecy, andmurder. Three We rd Sisters appear to Macbeth and his comradeBanquo after a battle and prophesy that Macbeth will be king andthat the descendants of Banquo will also reign. When Macbetharrives at his castle, he and Lady Macbeth plot to assassinate KingDuncan, soon to be their guest, so that Macbeth can become Macbeth murders Duncan, the king s two sons flee, andMacbeth is crowned. Fearing that Banquo s descendants will,according to the We rd Sisters predictions, take over the kingdom,Macbeth has Banquo killed.

7 At a royal banquet that evening,Macbeth sees Banquo s ghost appear covered in blood. Macbethdetermines to consult the We rd Sisters again. They comfort himwith ambiguous nobleman, Macduff, rides to England to join Duncan s olderson, Malcolm. Macbeth has Macduff s wife and children and Macduff lead an army against Macbeth, as LadyMacbeth goes mad and commits confronts Malcolm s army, trusting in the We rd Sisters comforting promises. He learns that the promises are tricks, butcontinues to fight. Macduff kills Macbeth and Malcolm becomesScotland s Witches, the We rd SistersDUNCAN, king of ScotlandMALCOLM, his elder sonDONALBAIN, Duncan s younger sonMACBETH, thane of GlamisLADY MACBETHSEYTON, attendant to MacbethThree Murderers in Macbeth s serviceA PorterBANQUO, commander, with Macbeth, of Duncan s armyFLEANCE, his sonMACDUFF, a Scottish nobleLADY MACDUFFT heir sonSIWARD, commander of the English forcesYOUNG SIWARD, Siward s sonA Captain in Duncan s armyAn Old ManA Doctor at the English courtHECATEA pparitions.

8 An Armed Head, a Bloody Child, a Crowned Child, and eight nonspeaking kingsThree Messengers, Three Servants, a Lord, a SoldierAttendants, a Sewer, Servants, Lords, Thanes, Soldiers (allnonspeaking)Characters in the Playboth attending upon Lady MacbethA DoctorA GentlewomanScottish NoblesLENNOXROSSANGUSMENTEITHCAITHNESSFI RST WITCHSECOND WITCHTHIRD WITCHFIRST WITCHSECOND WITCHTHIRD WITCHFIRST WITCHSECOND WITCHTHIRD WITCHALLThey and Lightning. Enter three Witches. When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurly-burly s done, When the battle s lost and won. That will be ere the set of sun. Where the place? Upon the heath. There to meet with Macbeth. I come, Graymalkin. Paddock calls. Anon. Fair is foul, and foul is fair; Hover through the fog and filthy 1 Scene 1 FTLN 0001 FTLN 0002 FTLN 0003 FTLN 0004 FTLN 00055 FTLN 0006 FTLN 0007 FTLN 0008 FTLN 0009 FTLN 001010 FTLN 0011 FTLN 0012 FTLN 00139 MacbethACT 1.

9 SC. 2 DUNCANMALCOLMCAPTAINDUNCANCAPTAINA larum within. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm,Donalbain, Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleedingCaptain. What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state. This is the sergeant Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend! Say to the King the knowledge of the broil As thou didst leave it. Doubtful it stood, As two spent swimmers that do cling together And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald (Worthy to be a rebel, for to that The multiplying villainies of nature Do swarm upon him) from the Western Isles Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied; And Fortune, on his damn d quarrel smiling, Showed like a rebel s whore. But all s too weak; For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name), Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, Which smoked with bloody execution, Like Valor s minion, carved out his passage Till he faced the slave; Which ne er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseamed him from the nave to th chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements.

10 O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman! As whence the sun gins his reflection Shipwracking storms and direful thunders break,Scene 2 FTLN 0014 FTLN 0015 FTLN 0016 FTLN 0017 FTLN 00185 FTLN 0019 FTLN 0020 FTLN 0021 FTLN 0022 FTLN 002310 FTLN 0024 FTLN 0025 FTLN 0026 FTLN 0027 FTLN 002815 FTLN 0029 FTLN 0030 FTLN 0031 FTLN 0032 FTLN 003320 FTLN 0034 FTLN 0035 FTLN 0036 FTLN 0037 FTLN 003825 FTLN 0039 FTLN 0040 FTLN 004111 MacbethACT 1. SC. 2 DUNCANCAPTAINDUNCANThe Captain is led off by So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark: No sooner justice had, with valor armed, Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels, But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage, With furbished arms and new supplies of men, Began a fresh assault. Dismayed not this our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? Yes, as sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. If I say sooth, I must report they were As cannons overcharged with double cracks, So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.