MACBETH Let every man be master of his time
Till seven at night. To make society
The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself
Till supper time alone. While then, God be with you.
Exeunt [Lady,] lords, [and attendants. Macbeth and a Servant remain]
Sirrah, a word with you. Attend those men our pleasure?
SERVANT They are, my lord, without the palace gate.
MACBETH Bring them before us.
Exit Servant (3.1.42-48)
He’s king now, and he can do what he wants. And what he wants, apparently, is to be alone, something that he can’t say in so many words, but which has to be pronounced with euphemism and circumlocution: let every man be master of his time till seven at night. Free time, chaps! To make society the sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself till supper time alone: he’ll have a much better time at the feast tonight if he has a bit of downtime first, recharges the batteries. It’s pompous and ponderous, but the awkwardness and contradiction of ourself / alone is what stands out, above all because Lady Macbeth is apparently included in this injunction. He doesn’t want to be with her either; he’s cutting her out, cutting her off. They have been the play’s we; now it’s just him. There might be surprise, incomprehension, a gesture from him to her to emphasise that yes, her too, she needs to find something else to do, not with him. She will perhaps exit slowly, alone, with a backward glance. And while then, until then, God be with you, a sovereign’s blessing, which must surely ring hollow in light of the scene’s next movement.
There’s a servant, anonymous, implicitly lowly (not a friend, not a thane; someone who has no power, who exists only to do his master’s bidding), and it’s clear that he’s already taking private orders from Macbeth; he’s hung back, he knows that Macbeth will want to speak with him, so that Sirrah, a word with you is redundant, spoken more to satisfy anyone who might still be listening as they leave rather than as a command. Attend those men our pleasure? Those men. Shadowy, anonymous, but those men, you know the ones, we’ve spoken about this before. Are they here? Are they ready and waiting? Yes, they’re here, waiting outside the gate (so, presumably a little distance from where this conversation is taking place; it’ll take some time to fetch them). Bring them before us. And now Macbeth is, for a time, alone. Exhale.
