peace
...like whatever is "foul" and hate the "fair." So they will "hover" in the fog, and in the dust and dirt of battle, waiting for the chance to do evil. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant: We hear an "alarum," a trumpet call which gives directions to soldiers, so we know that the battle is being fought very nearby. Then we see Duncan, King of Scotland, with his sons and followers, just as Duncan sees a "bleeding Sergeant." Because of the man's blood, Duncan judges that the sergeant "can report, / As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt / The newest state" (1.2.1-3). Thus we learn that the battle is a revolt against the king, who wants to know if his side is winning or losing. Because he is all covered with blood, the sergeant looks heroic himself, and everything he says emphasizes the heroism of Macbeth. The sergeant describes the two sides as being like "two spent swimmers, that do cling together / And choke their art" (1.2.8-9). That is, the two sides were exhausted, just going through the motions, until the rebel Macdonwald "from the western isles / Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied" (1.2.12-13). "Kerns" are lightly armed soldiers; "gallowglasses" have heavier armor. The phrase "Macdonwald . . . is supplied" means that he suddenly got reinforcements, so that it looked like he was about to be kissed by the whore Fortune. "But all's too weak" (1.2.15), says the sergeant, meaning that neither the reinforcements nor the favor of Fortune did Macdonwald any good. Macbeth charged through Macdonwald's soldiers, killing them left and right, until he got to the rebel captain himself. Then, says the sergeant with grim humor, Macbeth was downright rude to Macdonwald, because he "ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, / Till he unseam'd [split] him from the nave [bellybutton] to the chops [jaws], / And fix'd his head upon our battlements" (1.2.21-23). King Duncan exclaims, "O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!" (The "cousin" reminds us that Macbeth has royal lineage; both he and King Duncan are grandsons of King Malcolm.) Duncan doesn't get a chance to say any more, because the sergeant charges ahead with his story. He wants K...