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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Yet here's a spot
Language: English 
[Lady Macbeth
Yet here's a spot.]1
[Doctor 
Hark, she speaks. I will set down what comes
 from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more
 strongly.
Lady Macbeth]2
Out, damned spot! out, I say! -- One: two: why, then, 
'tis time to do't. Hell is murky.  Fie, my 
lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear 
who knows it, when none can call our power to 
account?  [Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him?]1
[Doctor
Do you mark that?
Lady Macbeth]2
[The thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?
What, will these hands ne'er be clean?]1 No more o' 
that, my lord, no more o' that; you mar all with 
this starting. 
[Doctor
Go to, go to. You have known what you should
 not.
Gentlewoman
She has spoke what she should not,
 I am sure of that. Heaven knows what she has
 known.
Lady Macbeth]2
Here's the smell of the blood still. All the 
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little 
hand. Oh, oh, oh!
[Doctor
What a sigh is there! The heart is sorely
charged.
Gentlewoman
I would not have such a heart in my
bosom for the dignity of the whole body.
Doctor 
Well, well, well.
Gentlewoman
Pray God it be, sir.
Doctor
This disease is beyond my practice. Yet I have
 known those which have walked in their sleep,
 who have died holily in their beds.
Lady Macbeth]2
Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not so 
pale.  I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he
cannot come out on's grave.
[Doctor
Even so?
Lady Macbeth]2
To bed, to bed. There's knocking at the gate.
Come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What's 
done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   A. Bauld •   J. Horovitz 

About the headline (FAQ)

View text without footnotes

Confirmed with William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Folger Shakespeare Library.

1 omitted by Horovitz.
2 omitted by Bauld, Horovitz

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Macbeth, Act V, Scene 1 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Alison Bauld (b. 1944), "Banquo's Buried", 1982 [ soprano and piano ], Novello & Co Ltd
        Publisher: Wise Music Classical [external link]  [sung text checked 1 time]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:
  • by Joseph Horovitz (b. 1926), "Lady Macbeth", subtitle: "A Scena", 1970, Composer's note: The composer has selected the words from the speeches of Lady Macbeth. This selection is intended to portray the development of this character, from early aspirations to grandeur, to later power and finally to guilt and madness. The implication is that the Scena begins after Lady Macbeth has read the report of Macbeth's victory at the start of the play.
    • View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2016-01-09
Line count: 55
Word count: 320

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