Chapter: SCENE II.

The same. Another Room in the Palace.

[Enter Lady Macbeth and a Servant.]

LADY MACBETH.
Is Banquo gone from court?

SERVANT.
Ay, madam, but returns again to-night.

LADY MACBETH.
Say to the king, I would attend his leisure
For a few words.

SERVANT.
Madam, I will.

[Exit.]

LADY MACBETH.
Naught's had, all's spent,
Where our desire is got without content:
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy,
Than, by destruction, dwell in doubtful joy.

[Enter Macbeth.]

How now, my lord! why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest fancies your companions making;
Using those thoughts which should indeed have died
With them they think on? Things without all remedy
Should be without regard: what's done is done.

MACBETH.
We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it;
She'll close, and be herself; whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth.
But let the frame of things disjoint,
Both the worlds suffer,
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreams
That shake us nightly: better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave;
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;
Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,
Can touch him further.

LADY MACBETH.
Come on;
Gently my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks;
Be bright and jovial 'mong your guests to-night.

MACBETH.
So shall I, love; and so, I pray, be you:
Let your remembrance apply to Banquo;
Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue:
Unsafe the while, that we
Must lave our honors in these flattering streams;
And make our faces vizards to our hearts,
Disguising what they are.

LADY MACBETH.
You must leave this.

MACBETH.
O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.

LADY MACBETH.
But in them nature's copy's not eterne.

MACBETH.
There's comfort yet; they are assailable;
Then be thou jocund: ere the bat hath flown
His cloister'd flight, ere to black Hecate's summons,
The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums,
Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done
A deed of dreadful note.

LADY MACBETH.
What's to be done?

MACBETH.
Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day;
And with thy bloody and invisible hand
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
Which keeps me pale!--Light thickens; and the crow
Makes wing to the rooky wood:
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;
Whiles night's black agents to their preys do rouse.--
Thou marvell'st at my words: but hold thee still;
Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill:
So, pr'ythee, go with me.

[Exeunt.]

 Lady Macbeth asks a servant if Banquo is already gone. When she realizes he has, she asks the servant to get Macbeth for a little chat. Macbeth comes along, and Lady Macbeth tells him to look more chipper and not dwell on dark thoughts, as "what's done is done." Macbeth points out they've merely scorched the snake, not killed it. Macbeth compares dead Duncan's death as a state preferable to his; at least Duncan doesn't have to worry about loose ends. All right, Debbie Downer, says Lady Macbeth; just chill out there. Macbeth says he will. And he tells his wife she should say a lot of really nice things about Banquo, flatter him, and maybe even flirt with him a little. That will help hide their guilt. Lady Macbeth tells him he has to stop talking about what they've done. But Macbeth says that as long as Banquo and Fleance are alive, he's going to be paranoid. He can't stop these dark thoughts and his fear of being found out, and his worries about Banquo's son getting his crown. Lady Macbeth says they won't live forever, which leads Macbeth to say, "Hmm. That's true. In fact..." In fact, what? Lady Macbeth wants to know what her husband is plotting. Macbeth dodges her question, saying it's better for her to "be innocent" and not know his plans until they're accomplished and she can applaud him for it. Gee. It seems like Lady Macbeth no longer gets any say in her husband's affairs. Macbeth appeals to nature to let night's black agents do their thing, and then he exits with Lady Macbeth.

