The Highland Tale; The King Act Three Scene Three Sub Act Five

 

NONE SHALL I FEAR

ACT THREE

SCENE THREE

SUB ACT FIVE

 

“Go! Get out of my sight!” The King raved on with his stare at the ghost. The ones that earlier toasted to him were baffled. Lady Elleanor came to the aid of the King.

“The King is drunk. Leave us tonight. Be merry on your way.” Lady Elleanor smiled. “Think of this, good friends, as just a strange habit. It is nothing else. Too bad it is spoiling our evening!”

But the King was not done.

“Hide in your grave. Your bones have no marrow, and your blood is cold. The eyes with which you are glaring at me have no power of sight!” The King was still cursing at the ghost. “What man dare …… I dare. Approach thou like the Highland bear, or the mythical Ness. Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves shall never tremble.” The King was raving mad then.

“Or be alive again. Dare me to the glens or the hills with thy fangs. If trembling I inhabit then, protest me like the baby.  Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence! Be gone, horrible ghost! You hallucination, be gone!”

The ghost vanishes. King saw it missing and took the seat near to him.

“See, now that it is gone, I am a man again. I shall be seated.” The King was pacified but not the Lady.

“You have disrupted our dinner and destroyed everyone’s good cheer with your astonishing behaviour.” Lady Elleanor confronted the King. She ignored the others still there, and they soon took leave of the hall.

“Where are my guests?” The King stood up looking over the shoulder of the lady “Call them back!”

“They are gone, MacBeth. You have ……” Lady Elleanor glared at MacBeth.

“How can such things exist? I am King and they were invited by me.”

“They left after you went ……” Lady Elleanor could not find the word to tell him.

“My King, you were overcome as a person as suddenly as a summer storm ……. making everyone astonished?” It was Ross who spoke to the King. “You make even me feel like I do not know my own character and courage, when I see you acting at these terrible things without going pale with fear, while my own face has gone white.”

“Do you recall those sights?” Lady Elleanor asked but MacBeth was silent in his thoughts. Lady Elleanor looked at Ross.

“Please, do not speak with him. He looks worse than before. Talking only exacerbates it. Right now, good night. Do not worry about leaving in a certain order according to your rank. Just leave right away.” Lady Elleanor looked from Ross to the others. There was still Lennox who in the hall.

“Good night. I hope better health returns to his Highness.” Lennox pulled Ross out and dismissed the servants/

“A kind good night to all of you!” Lady Elleanor said to the departed aides. Everyone had left except MacBeth and Lady Elleanor.

“Blood will lead to blood, as the saying goes.” The King mumbled. “Gravestones have been known to move, trees to speak, and the jackdaws, crows, and rooks to cackle out the names of even the most secret murderers.”

“How late is it?” The King asked.

“It near late morning. You cannot tell whether it is one or the other.” Lady Elleanor looked at MacBeth. “Are you sane?”

The King ignored the lady’s words and in turn asked of MacDuff. 

“What do you think about the fact that Macduff does refuses to come even should I commend him to?

“Did you officially send for him, MacBeth?” Lady Elleanor asked.

“I have heard of him indirectly, but I will send for him. I have a servant paid to spy for me in every one of my households.”

“I will go see the angels at the Citadel tomorrow, early. They will tell me more, because I am now determined to know the worst of what is to come. I am King and will determine my own fate.” The King walked to the seat of his. He stood by it while staring at it.

“My own interests are more important than anything else. I have waded so far into this river of blood that even if I stopped now, it would be as unpleasant to go back as to continue forward. I have some plans in my head that I must act upon before I have a chance to think carefully about them.”

“You lack the rest and ease that sleep provides.” Lady Elleanor found the better words to commute that MacBeth madness was due to his health.

“Yes, let us go to sleep. My strange self-delusions just come from inexperience. We ’are still beginners when it comes to bad deeds but we will overcome it.” The King held out his hands towards the lady.