Macbeth

by: William Shakespeare

Act 4 Scene 1

Original Text

Modern Text
A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron. Thunder. Enter the three WITCHES.
A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron. Thunder. The three WITCHES enter.

FIRST WITCH

Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.

FIRST WITCH

The tawny cat has meowed three times.

SECOND WITCH

Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whined.

SECOND WITCH

Three times. And the hedgehog has whined once.

THIRD WITCH

Harpier cries, “'Tis time, ’tis time.”

THIRD WITCH

My spirit friend, Harpier, is yelling, “It’s time, it’s time!”

FIRST WITCH

Round about the cauldron go,
5In the poisoned entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweltered venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' th' charmèd pot.

FIRST WITCH

Dance around the cauldron and throw in the poisoned entrails. (holding up a toad) You’ll go in first—a toad that sat under a cold rock for a month, oozing poison from its pores.

ALL

10Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

ALL

Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

SECOND WITCH

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake.
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
15Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

SECOND WITCH

(holding something up) We’ll boil you in the cauldron next—a slice of swamp snake. All the rest of you in too: a newt’s eye, a frog’s tongue, fur from a bat, a dog’s tongue, the forked tongue of an adder, the stinger of a burrowing worm, a lizard’s leg, an owl’s wing. (speaking to the ingredients) Make a charm to cause powerful trouble, and boil and bubble like a broth of hell.

ALL

20Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

ALL

Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Read the Summary of Act 4, scenes 1–3

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