Cawdor Macbeth Quotes

Still it cried ‘Sleep no more!’ to all the house: ‘Glamis hath murder’d sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more,—Macbeth shall sleep no more!

They met me in the day of success: and I have learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed me 'Thane of Cawdor;' by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, king that shalt be!' This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.

All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!

Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature: It is too full o'the milk of human-kindness To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly That wouldst thou holily, wouldst not play false, And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou'dst have, great              Glamis, That which cries, 'Thus thou must do' if thou have it, And that which rather thou dost fear to do Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal.

Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep,”—the innocent sleep; Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, 120 Chief nourisher in life’s feast,— LADY MACBETH What do you mean? MACBETH Still it cried “Sleep no more!” to all the house: “Glamis hath murder’d sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more,—Macbeth shall sleep no more!

We meet the three sisters again in Shakespeare’s infamous Scottish play, the much lauded Macbeth. In the first act, when Macbeth is still King Duncan’s victorious war leader, he meets the three witches on the heath and they great him: First witch: “All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!” Second witch: “All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!” Third witch: “All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!” They have named his previous noble title, his new title, the Thane of Cawdor, gained when its rebellious former holder was executed; and the title that he does not yet have. If we understand these three hags as the ‘Wyrd,’ then they have just revealed Macbeth’s past, present, and future in chronological order.

This supernatural soliciting Cannot be ill, cannot be good: —if ill, Why hath it given me earnest of success, Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor: If good, why do I yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, Against the use of nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings: My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man that function Is smother’d in surmise; and nothing is But what is not.

This supernatural soliciting Cannot be ill, cannot be good: — if ill, Why hath it given me earnest of success, Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor: If good, why do I yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, Against the use of nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings: My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man that function Is smother’d in surmise; and nothing is But what is not.