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SECOND MURDERER I
am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incensed that I am reckless what
I do to spite the world.
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SECOND MURDERER My lord, I’ve been so kicked around by the world, and
I’m so angry, that I don’t even care what I
do.
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FIRST MURDERER And I another
115So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune,
That I would set my life on any chance,
To mend it or be rid on ’t.
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FIRST MURDERER I’m the same. I’m so sick of bad luck and
trouble that I’d risk my life on any bet, as long as it
would either fix my life or end it once and for all.
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MACBETH Both
of you
Know Banquo was your enemy.
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MACBETH You both know Banquo was your enemy.
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BOTH MURDERERS True,
my lord.
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BOTH MURDERERS It’s true, my lord.
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MACBETH So is he mine; and in such bloody distance
120That every minute of his being thrusts
Against my near’st of life. And though I could
With barefaced power sweep him from my sight
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not,
For certain friends that are both his and mine,
125Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
Who I myself struck down. And thence it is,
That I to your assistance do make love,
Masking the business from the common eye
For sundry weighty reasons.
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MACBETH He’s my enemy too, and I hate him so much that every
minute he’s alive it eats away at my heart. Since
I’m king, I could simply use my power to get rid of him.
But I can’t do that, because he and I have friends in
common whom I need, so I have to be able to moan and cry over his
death in public even though I’ll be the one who had him
killed. That’s why I need your help right now. I have to
hide my real plans from the public eye for many important
reasons.
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