Macbeth Translation in Modern English

Lady Macbeth Encourage Macbeth

This complete, line-by-line translation makes the language of Shakespeare's Macbeth contemporary while preserving the metrical rhythm, complexity, and poetic qualities of the original. The aim is to capture both sound and sense without the need for glosses or notes—to use contemporary language without simplifying or modernizing the play in any other way. Readers experience this tale of ruthless ambition with the challenge, comprehension, and delight of audiences 400 years ago—the way Shakespeare intended.

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Excerpt
What is a Verse Translation?
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Macbeth Translation Excerpt

from Act 2, Scene 1

MACBETH

Is this a dagger that I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Here, let me clutch you.

I do not have you, yet I see you still.

Are you not, fatal vision, evident

To touch as well as sight? Or are you but

A dagger in my mind, a false illusion,

Emerging from an overheated brain?

And yet this form looks just as tangible

As this one I now draw. [draws his dagger]

You guide me down the path that I was going

And are the instrument I was to use.

My eyes are either fools or worth more than

My other senses. I can see you still,

And on the blade and hilt are clots of blood,

Which were not there before.—There’s no such thing.

It is this bloody business which has done

This to my eyes. Across the world’s dark half,

Nature seems dead, encased in sleep, deceived

By wicked dreams. The sorcerer’s goddess Hecate

Receives the witches’ offering, and gaunt Murder,

Alerted by his sentinel, the wolf,

Its howl his timepiece, at a stealthy pace,

Moves ghostlike, with a rapist’s wary stride,

In on his prey. O, firm and stable earth,

Don’t hear my steps, or how they walk, for fear

These stones of yours will leak my whereabouts

And break the ghastly silence of this hour,

Which suits this deed. While I make threats, he lives.

Cold wind to cool hot deeds is all talk gives.

[A bell chimes]

I’ll go, and then it’s done. That chime’s my signal.

Don’t hear it, Duncan, for it is the bell

That summons you to heaven or to hell.

What is a Verse Translation?

A verse translation maintains as closely as possible the rhythm and line length of the original work. Shakespeare's original lines from Twelfth Night and the ENJOY SHAKESPEARE verse translation are written in a kind of verse meter called iambic pentameter, or blank verse.*

Shakespeare’s Original Iambic Pentameter Lines

There is a fair behavior in thee, captain; (11 syllables)

And though that nature with a beauteous wall (10 syllables)

Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee (10 syllables)

I will believe though has a mind that suits (10 syllables)

With this thy fair and outward character. (10 syllables)

—Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 2

ENJOY SHAKESPEARE Verse Translation

I sense a decent man inside you, captain. (11 syllables)

And although nature often hides what's foul (10 syllables)

Behind a lovely wall, I can have faith (10 syllables)

That you, sir, have a mind that matches well (10 syllables)

This fair and outward character I see. (10 syllables)

Prose translations, on the other hand, focus on capturing the literal meaning, without concern for the rhythm of the original. You will not sense a meter developing, and you will not feel like you are reading Shakespeare.

Prose Translation

You appear to be a decent person, captain, and although nature may hide inner corruption behind a beautiful exterior, I believe that you have a mind the matches your pleasant demeanor.

"Dumbed Down" Prose Translation

Viola said, “You seem to be a decent man, captain. Although awful people can seem nice, I believe that your pleasant behavior means you are nice inside too.”

* For more information on Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter, see “Appendix 1: How Iambic Pentameter Works” in Twelfth Night: A Verse Translation in English. For a brief description try this Wikipedia link. Here are two more extensive descriptions of Shakespeare's meter—"Scansion Guide" and "Teaching Meter" at the Interactive Shakespeare Project at the College of the Holy Cross Theater Department.

The ENJOY SHAKESPEARE translations recreate the rhythm, pace, and power of the original plays with all verse passages, songs, and rhymes painstakingly recast in contemporary English.