Macbeth

Act 3 Scene 4

Original Text	Modern Text
MACBETH (seeing the GHOST) Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee. Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold. Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 100Which thou dost glare with!	MACBETH (to the GHOST) Go! And get out of my sight! Stay in your grave. There’s no marrow in your bones, and your blood is cold. You’re staring at me with eyes that have no power to see.
LADY MACBETH Think of this, good peers, But as a thing of custom. 'Tis no other; Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.	LADY MACBETH Good friends, think of this as nothing more than a strange habit. It’s nothing else. Too bad it’s spoiling our pleasure tonight.
MACBETH What man dare, I dare. Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, 105The armed rhinoceros, or th' Hyrcan tiger; Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble. Or be alive again, And dare me to the desert with thy sword. If trembling I inhabit then, protest me 110The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence!	MACBETH I am as brave as any other man. Come at me in the form of a rugged Russian bear, an armor-plated rhinoceros, or a tiger from Iran. Take any shape other than the one you have now and I will never tremble in fear. Or come back to life again and challenge me to a duel in some deserted place. If I tremble then, you can call me a little girl. Get out of here, you horrible ghost, you hallucination. Get out!
Exit GHOST	The GHOST vanishes.
Why so, being gone,	I am a man again. Pray you sit still.
Why so, being gone, I am a man again. Pray you sit still.	Look, now that it’s gone, I’m a man again. Please, remain seated.
LADY MACBETH You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting, With most admired disorder.	LADY MACBETH You have ruined our good cheer and disrupted the gathering by making a spectacle of yourself.
MACBETH Can such things be, 115And overcome us like a summer’s cloud, Without our special wonder? You make me strange Even to the disposition that I owe, When now I think you can behold such sights, And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, 120When mine is blanched with fear.	MACBETH (to the guests) Can things like this happen so suddenly without making us all astonished? You make me feel like I don’t know myself, when I see you looking at these terrible things and keeping a straight face, while my face has gone white with fear.
ROSS What sights, my lord?	ROSS What things, my lord?