The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act 5
Author: William Shakespeare
“Folger Digital Texts.” Edited by Rebecca Niles and Michael Poston, Folger Digital Texts, 1606, www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/?chapter=5&play=Mac&loc=p7.
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ACT 5
Scene 1
Enter a Doctor of Physic and a Waiting-Gentlewoman.
DOCTOR I have two nights watched with you but can
perceive no truth in your report.
When was it she
last walked?
GENTLEWOMAN Since his Majesty went into the field, I
have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown
upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper,
fold it, write upon ’t, read it, afterwards seal it, and
again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast
sleep.
DOCTOR A great perturbation in nature, to receive at
once the benefit of sleep and do the effects of
watching.
In this slumb’ry agitation, besides her
walking and other actual performances, what at any
time have you heard her say?
GENTLEWOMAN That, sir, which I will not report after
her.
DOCTOR You may to me, and ’tis most meet you
should.
GENTLEWOMAN Neither to you nor anyone, having no
witness to confirm my speech.
They are talking about how Lady Macbeth is acting weird.
the doctor has been watching lady macbeth for two nights but he cannot figure out what is wrong with her
The Gentlewoman told the doctor that since Macbeth left to fight Lady Macbeth has been sleepwalking and saying and doing things. I would imagine that the gentlewoman is scared because LM is sleepwalking and acting weird which is why she got the doctor
The doctor says he perceives no truth in the gentlewoman’s report. This means the doctor doesn’t believe her. I think this is because as the doctor said he watched Lady Macbeth the past two night but didn’t dee anything happen. And now that the gentlewoman is saying this he has no reason to believe her. But tonight Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking, the doctor just has to wait to see it in person.
the gentle woman and the doctor are discussing about lady macbeths weird habit or character
theyre discussing that shes sleep walking.
Macbeth got a doctor to help out with lady Macbeth sleep walking. since Lady Macbeth can no longer sleep anymore due to the guilt she feels and she can’t do anything without feeling guilty.So all of this is to much for lady Macbeth.
When he killed Duncan Macbeth thought he heard a voice say he had murdered sleep he did but it was Lady Macbeth’s sleep walking
yeehaw
yeehaw
initially, the doctor does not seem to believe the gentlewoman’s stories about the queen sleepwalking and/or acting strangely.
Lady Macbeth started sleepwalking when Macbeth left. This is probably for a reason. Maybe it’s that Lady Macbeth is to scared to admit her feeling to Macbeth in person so she has been sleeptalking to him and telling him these things. Or maybe the witches are controling her. And since Macbeth isn’t there it is the perfect chance for the witches to control her and cloud her mind with these thoughts. Or maybe it is something else.
lady macbeth has started sleeping walking during the period of time that macbeth wasnt there with her and went into the field
yeehaw
yeehaw
the gentlewoman seems overall very concerned for Lady Macbeth, and explains how high-functioning the queen was even though she was asleep.
I think that perturbation means that a person is acting weird and strange.
yeehaw
this line regarding the amount of sleep someone has effecting their mental state directly parallels the comment Macbeth made about not being able to sleep, right before he declined into madness. This comparison proves the connection between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in terms of the aftereffects of murdering (or being involved).
The aftereffects of murder or accomplice to murder in the macbeth’s cases seem to be causing them to have trouble sleeping(soundly). the lack of sleep is making other aftereffects of murder like anxiety in lady macbeth’s case or delusions in macbeth’s case is making those other aftereffects worse. Until they get so bad that lady macbeth kills herself.
The Gentlewoman found out the reason why Lady Macbeth can’t sleep anymore and since she knows about the murder that happened. She doesn’t want to tell others and she doesn’t want to get involved with the kings murder and Banquo murder.
The gentlewoman is the only one who has seen Lady Macbeth sleepwalking. This probably makes the docor believe her any less. If someone was told something this crazy it is hard to believ them if the person saying it is the only witness. Just like in real life. If someone told me someone else was doing something crazy but the person telling me is the oly witness it would be hard to believe them.
Enter Lady
Macbeth with a taper.
Lo you, here she comes.
This is her very guise and,
upon my life, fast asleep.
Observe her; stand close.
DOCTOR How came she by that light?
GENTLEWOMAN Why, it stood by her.
She has light by
her continually.
’Tis her command.
DOCTOR You see her eyes are open.
GENTLEWOMAN Ay, but their sense are shut.
DOCTOR What is it she does now?
Look how she rubs
her hands.
GENTLEWOMAN It is an accustomed action with her to
seem thus washing her hands.
I have known her
continue in this a quarter of an hour.
LADY MACBETH Yet here’s a spot.
DOCTOR Hark, she speaks.
I will set down what comes
from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more
strongly.
LADY MACBETH 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?
DOCTOR Do you mark that?
LADY MACBETH The Thane of Fife had a wife.
Where is
she now?
What, will these hands ne’er be clean?
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 Here’s the smell of the blood still.
All
the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little
hand.
O, O, O!
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 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 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.Lady
Macbeth exits.
DOCTOR Will she go now to bed?
GENTLEWOMAN Directly.
DOCTOR
Foul whisp’rings are abroad.
Unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles.
Infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets.
More needs she the divine than the physician.
God, God forgive us all.
Look after her.
Remove from her the means of all annoyance
And still keep eyes upon her.
So, good night.
My mind she has mated, and amazed my sight.
I think but dare not speak.
GENTLEWOMAN Good night, good doctor.
They exit.
they plan on looking and observing lady macbeths weird attitude and actions because they wanna make a report about it and spy on why shes acting weird
This means that Lady Macbeth has her eyes open but she isn’t really seeing anything. Lady Macbeth is seeing what her mind is making her see. And in her case her mind is making her see spots. I think that LM’s senses being shut doesn’t just mean that she can’t see but also that isn’t in control of what she sees. Similar to like how you can’t control what you dream LM does’t have control when she is sleepwalking.
i agree with you because when we were watching the movie lady macbeths servant and the doctor were literally in the room with her and right next to her but she didn’t notice even if she had her eyes open because her senses were shut
I think that since she doesn’t know what she is doing and isn’t conscious it is believable because then she wouldn’t be doing all these things.
Lady Macbeth is sleep walking and although she looks like shes walking and thinking with her eyes open. But she cannot see, or hear her surroundings, just her and her thoughts
The gentlewoman knows that Lady Macbeth sleeps walk due to her not being able to handle the problems and what has happened with the king and so when i read this it’s saying how although lady Macbeth is moving and talking she’s not aware of those around her and she’s not aware that’s she’ moving and talking and she has no control of what she’s doing what so ever.
I think that this tells of how guilty she feels. She’s so guilty that her subconscious keeps repeating her way of trying to relieve herself, by washing her hands. Although she may be asleep, her conscience is awake and trying to solve her problem.
yeehaw
yeehaw
This could possibly be a reference to how demanding Lady Macbeth was about washing off the blood (from king Duncan’s murder). Could she be imagining that there is actual blood on her hand?
Lady Macbeth can no longer handle the fact that Macbeth and her Killed the King and now she’s trying to rub the blood off her hands although she feels like the blood will always remain in her hands which is why she keeps rubbing her hands.
Lady Macbeth thought she could just wash her hands from the blood and guilt and forget Duncan’s murder but now she is sleepwalking and she is so full of guilt that she imagines her hands are always covered in blood
Lady Macbeth is seeing Duncan’s blood on her hands. In the beginning of the play when Lady Macbeth and Macbeth killed Duncan, LM returned the daggers, and she smeared Duncan’s blood all over the grooms. And that blood that was on her hands washed off but only the literal blood. Now her guilty conscious is making her see the blood. She is seeing it because she feels bad for what she did. And the blood is not coming out because she can’t just wash out her guilt. So the blood on her hands represents her guilt for killing Duncan.
The spots are a representation of the blood she has on her hands. She feels as if she is responsible for the death of Duncan and the main reason why Macbeth started his “quest” to power.
i agree with you because she smells them and says that even all the aromas she has used to wash her hands don’t cover the smell of blood of when she killed duncan .
I think that she is referring to King Duncan because when Macbeth killed him his hands were covered with blood.
old man can often refer to father as well. its possible that she subconsciously thinks of duncan as her father. like when she decided she couldn’t kill him herself, because he looked to much like her father as he slept. maybe in her sleep she is evaluating her actions towards a person she regards as a father figure.
yeehaw
This subconsious slip of information would probably never happen with the fully consious Lady Macbeth – however, the gentle woman and the doctor don’tseem to pay too much mind to it- and were probably too terrified of the royal family to spread the news.
The old man is King Duncan. Macbeths first cold-blooded kill. The reason why Duncan has so much blood in him is because he was the first cold- blooded kill of many Macbeth would commit. So Duncan kinda acts like the trigger point where everything went wrong and Macbeth became a Murderer. After Duncan Macbeth didnt care to be loyal, he justified killing because of Duncan. Because he had killed before, Macbeth had nothing more to loose, and murder seemed to be doing good for him so far, so why shouldnt he kill.
I think that she will always be guilty because she planned to kill King Duncan and then Banquo is killed and them Macduff’s family is killed, she feels like she will never be able to live with that guilt.
LM probably also feels guilt for the deaths of Macduff’s family. Did LM know that Macbeth killed Macduff’s family which is why she feels guilt for their deaths?
yeehaw
yeehaw
Lady Macbeth makes a comment about the Macduff’s wife- most likely referring to her being dead, while remarking her “unclean hands” some more.
Lady Macbeth feels a tremendous amount of guilt. Not only for the murder of Duncan but for Banquo and Lady Macduff. These people were innocent and didn’t need to be killed in her eyes and to her its all because of her actions.
While Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and sleep talking she is admitting to killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth is talking about the blood of an old man which is the blood she sees on her hands. And now the gentlewoman and doctor know that she helped kill Duncan. And she is also talking about the Thane of Thife and his Wife, who are Macduff and Lady Macduff. And LM is saying “Where is she now?” which makes the gentlewoman and doctor think that LM and Macbeth are responsible for the deaths of Macduff’s family.
i believe hes saying that he heard something he wasnt supposed to but hes saying that god sees and hears everything
yeehaw
This comment from Lady Macbeth, since it shows her decent into madness- much like what Macbeth experienced.
she is saying that all of the perfumes in all of arabia cannot mask the scent of the imaginary blood on her hands so basically all the perfume in the world cannot mask the scent of her guilt
the doctor cannot figure out what is wrong with lady macbeth. he seems to be saying that her disease is not something he can fix and its something much bigger than him such as something spiritual
A doctor in metaphysical science, like a witchdoctor or an exorcist. Something to rid the mind of its plaguing actions.
yeehaw
the way the doctor stated that he could not help Lady Macbeth, probably alludes to not wanting to get caught up with everything the queen just confessed to- and was perhaps frightened that Macbeth would do something- if he told anyone about what was just said.
ig shes taking about how they killed banquo and duncan because her coincious isnt clean and she feels bad and cant live with itn
The doctor is telling Lady Macbeth that she could sleep. That Banquo is dead.
yeehaw
the way that Lady Macbeth is still trying to command Macbeth to tell him what to do, even though she is completely unconscious- suggests that she is loosing power- regarding all of Macbeth’s killings. This also suggests that she cannot move on from the past- since she is repeating lines she had spoken right after the murder of Duncan had succeeded.
She’s trying to assure Macbeth that theres no need to worry because whats done is done. Like a motherly instinct to assure that everything is fine even when she’s dealing with hardships of her own.
The doctor is calling the things LM is doing “Unnatural”, and “infected”. So that is probably why at the end of the scene the doctor says to the Gentlewoman that they should not speak of what they witnessed LM do and say.
yeehaw
the doctor suggests a priest rather than a physician, like himself- in order to assist the queen. This statement is also a touch ironic, since Lady Macbeth had always been depicted as religious- even after Duncan’s murder.
Scene 2
Drum and Colors.
Enter Menteith, Caithness, Angus,
Lennox,
and Soldiers.
MENTEITH
The English power is near, led on by Malcolm,
His uncle Siward, and the good Macduff.
Revenges burn in them, for their dear causes
Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm
Excite the mortified man.
ANGUS Near Birnam Wood
Shall we well meet them.
That way are they coming.
CAITHNESS
Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother?
LENNOX
For certain, sir, he is not.
I have a file
Of all the gentry.
There is Siward’s son
And many unrough youths that even now
Protest their first of manhood.
MENTEITH What does the tyrant?
CAITHNESS
Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies.
Some say he’s mad; others that lesser hate him
Do call it valiant fury.
But for certain
He cannot buckle his distempered cause
Within the belt of rule.
ANGUS Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands.
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach.
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love.
Now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.
MENTEITH Who, then, shall blame
His pestered senses to recoil and start
When all that is within him does condemn
Itself for being there?
CAITHNESS Well, march we on
To give obedience where ’tis truly owed.
Meet we the med’cine of the sickly weal,
And with him pour we in our country’s purge
Each drop of us.
LENNOX Or so much as it needs
To dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds.
Make we our march towards Birnam.
They exit marching.
he talking about revenge on the murder of duncan and lady macduff and their kid since Malcolm is the older son of duncan and macduff was the husband/father of lady macduff and their kid. so they are filled with anger and boiling blood to kill Macbeth since he is the one responsible for there death since he killed them
yeehaw
yeehaw
This situation regarding how the forces will be attacking from the place where the witches directly told Macbeth he would be defeated- shows that the witch’s prophesies may stay true until the very end.
yeehaw
does this mean that the whole kingdom knows of Macbeth’s treachery? How was it possible that they found out about him being responsible for all of the murders?
Scene 3
Enter Macbeth,
the Doctor, and Attendants.
MACBETH
Bring me no more reports.
Let them fly all.
Till Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane
I cannot taint with fear.
What’s the boy Malcolm?
Was he not born of woman?
The spirits that know
All mortal consequences have pronounced me thus:
“Fear not, Macbeth.
No man that’s born of woman
Shall e’er have power upon thee.”
Then fly, false
thanes,
And mingle with the English epicures.
The mind I sway by and the heart I bear
Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear.
Enter Servant.
The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!
Where got’st thou that goose-look?
SERVANT There is ten thousand—
MACBETH Geese, villain?
SERVANT Soldiers, sir.
MACBETH
Go prick thy face and over-red thy fear,
Thou lily-livered boy.
What soldiers, patch?
Death of thy soul!
Those linen cheeks of thine
Are counselors to fear.
What soldiers, whey-face?
SERVANT The English force, so please you.
MACBETH
Take thy face hence.Servant exits.
Seyton!—I am sick at heart
When I behold—Seyton, I say!—This push
Will cheer me ever or
disseat me now.
I have lived long enough.
My way of life
Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf,
And that which should accompany old age,
As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have, but in their stead
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath
Which the poor heart would fain deny and dare
not.—
Seyton!
Macbeth feels sick when he looks at the huge army He tells Seyton that this battle will either make his success definite or destroy him
Macbeth says that he is ready to die because even if he lives everything has worked so hard to accomplish came crashing down on him Nobody likes trusts or respects him anymore and he has no honor left hes like barely a king
yeehaw
perhaps due to his current situation- due to him most likely getting overthrown soon enough, Macbeth feels his power slipping away- therefore wishing enough of the world; and asking for the release of death.
Enter Seyton.
SEYTON
What’s your gracious pleasure?
MACBETH What news more?
SEYTON
All is confirmed, my lord, which was reported.
MACBETH
I’ll fight till from my bones my flesh be hacked.
Give me my armor.
SEYTON ’Tis not needed yet.
MACBETH I’ll put it on.
Send out more horses.
Skirr the country round.
Hang those that talk of fear.
Give me mine
armor.—
How does your patient, doctor?
DOCTOR Not so sick, my lord,
As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies
That keep her from her rest.
MACBETH Cure
her of that.
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased,
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?
DOCTOR Therein the patient
Must minister to himself.
MACBETH
Throw physic to the dogs.
I’ll none of it.—
Come, put mine armor on.
Give me my staff.
Attendants begin to arm him.
Seyton, send out.—Doctor, the thanes fly from
me.—
Come, sir, dispatch.—If thou couldst, doctor, cast
The water of my land, find her disease,
And purge it to a sound and pristine health,
I would applaud thee to the very echo
That should applaud again.—Pull ’t off, I say.—
What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug
Would scour these English hence?
Hear’st thou of
them?
DOCTOR
Ay, my good lord.
Your royal preparation
Makes us hear something.
MACBETH Bring it after me.—
I will not be afraid of death and bane
Till Birnam Forest come to Dunsinane.
DOCTOR,
aside
Were I from Dunsinane away and clear,
Profit again should hardly draw me here.
They exit.
yeehaw
yeehaw
this statement from Macbeth, shows that he is without fear- even though he knows this will be his final day.
yeehaw
this point by Macbeth directly contradicts his motives to hold onto his power- something that he has struggled with throughout the play. Perhaps now that Macbeth has had time to think about what he has done to deserve what is about to happen- he has finally made up his mind that a life in fear is not worth living (since he was extremely paranoid of those around him- lading to more and more murders)
Scene 4
Drum and Colors.
Enter Malcolm, Siward, Macduff,
Siward’s son, Menteith, Caithness, Angus, and Soldiers,
marching.
MALCOLM
Cousins, I hope the days are near at hand
That chambers will be safe.
MENTEITH We doubt it nothing.
SIWARD
What wood is this before us?
MENTEITH The Wood of Birnam.
MALCOLM
Let every soldier hew him down a bough
And bear ’t before him.
Thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host and make discovery
Err in report of us.
SOLDIER It shall be done.
SIWARD
We learn no other but the confident tyrant
Keeps still in Dunsinane and will endure
Our setting down before ’t.
MALCOLM ’Tis his main hope;
For, where there is advantage to be given,
Both more and less have given him the revolt,
And none serve with him but constrainèd things
Whose hearts are absent too.
MACDUFF Let our just censures
Attend the true event, and put we on
Industrious soldiership.
SIWARD The time approaches
That will with due decision make us know
What we shall say we have and what we owe.
Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate,
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate;
Towards which, advance the war.
They exit marching.
Scene 5
Enter Macbeth, Seyton, and Soldiers, with Drum and
Colors.
MACBETH
Hang out our banners on the outward walls.
The cry is still “They come!”
Our castle’s strength
Will laugh a siege to scorn.
Here let them lie
Till famine and the ague eat them up.
Were they not forced with those that should be
ours,
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard,
And beat them backward home.
A cry within of women.
What is that noise?
SEYTON
It is the cry of women, my good lord.He exits.
MACBETH
I have almost forgot the taste of fears.
The time has been my senses would have cooled
To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in ’t.
I have supped full with horrors.
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
Cannot once start me.
I surprised that Macbeth is crying over the fact that Lady Macbeth killed her self because she was one of the person that knew that he killed the king that one less person.
that’s so true he should be happy and she’s with her kid
yeehaw
this statement from Macbeth suggests that Macbeth doesn’t fear death because he believes that there is n chance of him ever getting beaten (even though the witch’s prophesies have not been incorrect this far).
The army from England is coming to his castle and Macbeth is saying that if so many of his troops didn’t betray him that his army could have made England surrender. He is probably doing this to make himself feel better because he knows he has no chance. It is possible that if his troops didn’t betray him Macbeth’s army could have had a chance but now Macbeth has no chance. That is why is saying these things to make him feel like he still have some power.
That cry is the cry of a woman and that woman is LM. LM screams because she killed herself. It is unclear what Shakespeare thought Lady Macbeth did to kill herself because it done offstage and all is heard if her scream.
After Macbeth hears the screams of the women, he goes to see why they were screaming and sees lady Macbeth has killed herself.
he hasnt felt fear in so long that hes saying he had forgotten what it feel like
But now he has like remembered it and this could signal that he still fears something.
He talks about how he hasn’t felt fear in a while and almost forgot how it felt like. He feels fear for Lady Macbeth death and feels fear for the first time in a very long time
Enter Seyton.
Wherefore was that cry?
SEYTON The Queen, my lord, is dead.
MACBETH She should have died hereafter.
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.
It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
He didn’t start crying or nothing. he didn’t say anything about Lady Macbeth.
This moment is the most important moment in the whole play. This is what I think really makes Macbeth give up on life. He feels really bad after this happens, within good reason, his wife died. This moment is very important.
yeehaw
how will this effect Macbeth, and his already deteriorating mental state? Will Macbeth carry on as the confident and ruthless tyrant that he has been up until now? Who will plan everything out for Macbeth now that the queen is gone?
Macbeth is saying she should have dies hereafter. Does that mean that Macbeth is saying she would have died later? I think Macbeth knew that LM was in an unstable place so he knew that she was going to do something soon. And this also makes me think that Macbeth doesn’t really care that she is dead.
Enter a Messenger.
Thou com’st to use thy tongue: thy story quickly.
MESSENGER Gracious my lord,
I should report that which I say I saw,
But know not how to do ’t.
MACBETH Well, say, sir.
MESSENGER
As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
I looked toward Birnam, and anon methought
The Wood began to move.
MACBETH Liar and slave!
MESSENGER
Let me endure your wrath if ’t be not so.
Within this three mile may you see it coming.
I say, a moving grove.
MACBETH If thou speak’st false,
Upon the next tree shall thou hang alive
Till famine cling thee.
If thy speech be sooth,
I care not if thou dost for me as much.—
I pull in resolution and begin
To doubt th’ equivocation of the fiend,
That lies like truth.
“Fear not till Birnam Wood
Do come to Dunsinane,” and now a wood
Comes toward Dunsinane.—Arm, arm, and out!—
If this which he avouches does appear,
There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here.
I ’gin to be aweary of the sun
And wish th’ estate o’ th’ world were now
undone.—
Ring the alarum bell!—Blow wind, come wrack,
At least we’ll die with harness on our back.
They exit.
Macbeth yelled at the messenger because of what the messenger saw. The messenger saw the Burnam Wood moving and one of the witches prophecies was that when Birnam Wood comes against Macbeth is when Macbeth would die. The Birnam Wood is moving because an army created by Macduff and Malcolm is arriving to overthrow Macbeth. This frightens Macbeth because he knows that the witches tell the truth so now Macbeth is scared that it is his time to die.
yeehaw
Macbeth becomes absolutely furious and yells at the messenger who brought him the news about the moving trees- Macbeth has this reaction since he realizes that all of what the witches said was going to happen, is coming true. Macbeth most likely became quite frightened and perhaps lost his grasp on reality even more due to this shock.
yeehaw
Macbeth seems to take his anger out on others- and demonstrates this by threatening to hang the innocent messenger for bringing him news that he disapproved of.
Macbeth knows that because of the prophecies that no matter what he will die. But Macbeth is still preparing for war, this is probably because he wants to die as much of a man as he can.
yeehaw
the motif of the bell is yet again prevalent in this scene. Since the bell might most likely represent death- directly matching up with this scene.
Scene 6
Drum and Colors.
Enter Malcolm, Siward, Macduff, and
their army, with boughs.
MALCOLM
Now near enough.
Your leafy screens throw down
And show like those you are.—You, worthy uncle,
Shall with my cousin, your right noble son,
Lead our first battle.
Worthy Macduff and we
Shall take upon ’s what else remains to do,
According to our order.
SIWARD Fare you well.
Do we but find the tyrant’s power tonight,
Let us be beaten if we cannot fight.
MACDUFF
Make all our trumpets speak; give them all breath,
Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death.
They exit.
Alarums continued.
yeehaw
Malcom seems to trust Macduff, and they exchange words of encouragement to fight their last battle.
yeehaw
yeehaw
This statement coming from Malcom somewhat mirrors Macbeth’s previous comment; however with a more honorable tone- since at this point, Macbeth is more of a villain.
Scene 7
Enter Macbeth.
MACBETH
They have tied me to a stake.
I cannot fly,
But, bear-like, I must fight the course.
What’s he
That was not born of woman?
Such a one
Am I to fear, or none.
Enter young Siward.
YOUNG SIWARD What is thy name?
MACBETH Thou ’lt be afraid to hear it.
YOUNG SIWARD
No, though thou call’st thyself a hotter name
Than any is in hell.
MACBETH My name’s Macbeth.
YOUNG SIWARD
The devil himself could not pronounce a title
More hateful to mine ear.
MACBETH No, nor more fearful.
YOUNG SIWARD
Thou liest, abhorrèd tyrant.
With my sword
I’ll prove the lie thou speak’st.
They fight, and young Siward
is slain.
MACBETH Thou wast born of
woman.
But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn,
Brandished by man that’s of a woman born.
He exits.
yeehaw
yeehaw
Macbeth becomes overconfident in himself- thinking that he is indestructible since the witches said that only someone who is not born of a woman can kill him.
Alarums. Enter Macduff.
MACDUFF
That way the noise is.
Tyrant, show thy face!
If thou beest slain, and with no stroke of mine,
My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me still.
I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms
Are hired to bear their staves.
Either thou, Macbeth,
Or else my sword with an unbattered edge
I sheathe again undeeded.
There thou shouldst be;
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited.
Let me find him, Fortune,
And more I beg not.He exits.
Alarums.
yeehaw
Macduff is finally able to avenge his family- whom was slaughtered by the merciless orders of Macbeth when he was in power over everyone. Now that Macbeth has lost his wife- he seems like he has completely lost touch, adapting this perceived feeling of indestructibleness; that could very well lead to his downfall.
Enter Malcolm and Siward.
SIWARD
This way, my lord.
The castle’s gently rendered.
The tyrant’s people on both sides do fight,
The noble thanes do bravely in the war,
The day almost itself professes yours,
And little is to do.
MALCOLM We have met with foes
That strike beside us.
SIWARD Enter, sir, the castle.
They exit.
Alarum.
Scene 8
Enter Macbeth.
MACBETH
Why should I play the Roman fool and die
On mine own sword?
Whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better upon them.
yeehaw
yeehaw
the resilience of Macbeth during this attack might allude to Macbeth not being able to understand the risks that his actions have- perhaps as a side-effect from having mental instability to begin with, and now on top of the loss of his wife; and partner in crime.
Enter Macduff.
MACDUFF Turn, hellhound, turn!
MACBETH
Of all men else I have avoided thee.
But get thee back.
My soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already.
MACDUFF I have no words;
My voice is in my sword, thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out.Fight.
Alarum.
MACBETH Thou losest labor.
As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed.
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmèd life, which must not yield
To one of woman born.
MACDUFF Despair thy charm,
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripped.
MACBETH
Accursèd be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cowed my better part of man!
And be these juggling fiends no more believed
That palter with us in a double sense,
That keep the word of promise to our ear
And break it to our hope.
I’ll not fight with thee.
MACDUFF Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the show and gaze o’ th’ time.
We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted upon a pole, and underwrit
“Here may you see the tyrant.”
MACBETH I will not yield
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet
And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.
Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane
And thou opposed, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last.
Before my body
I throw my warlike shield.
Lay on, Macduff,
And damned be him that first cries “Hold!
Enough!”
They exit fighting.
Alarums.
Macbeth is fighting with Macduff but he’s afraid to because he got threaten but him.
This also shows the contrast of the simple avenger and the manipulative villain who doesn’t stop to fight and continues to try and get under your skin with their words.
Macduff was ripped out of his mothers stomach so he wasn’t technically born of a woman. But since Macbeth doesn’t know this he still thinks he can defeat Macduff because only someone who was not born of a woman can hurt him.
i think that Macbeth is trying to say that he would not bow/hail before Malcolm because he’s never gonna take his spot from being king and doesn’t want Malcolm to be king
Macbeth doesn’t want to fight, and he is scared because he knows he can’t win but he won’t surrender. Macbeth won’t surrender because he doesn’t want Malcolm to be his king. But I think it is more than that I think that Macbeth wants to die a man not a coward.
yeehaw
yeehaw
Macduff declares his revenge and kills Macbeth with one sword hit.
They enter fighting, and Macbeth
is slain.
Macduff
exits carrying off Macbeth’s body.
Retreat and flourish.
Enter, with Drum and Colors, Malcolm, Siward, Ross,
Thanes, and Soldiers.
MALCOLM
I would the friends we miss were safe arrived.
SIWARD
Some must go off; and yet by these I see
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
MALCOLM
Macduff is missing, and your noble son.
ROSS
Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier’s debt.
He only lived but till he was a man,
The which no sooner had his prowess confirmed
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.
SIWARD Then he is dead?
ROSS
Ay, and brought off the field.
Your cause of sorrow
Must not be measured by his worth, for then
It hath no end.
SIWARD Had he his hurts before?
ROSS
Ay, on the front.
SIWARD Why then, God’s soldier be he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death;
And so his knell is knolled.
MALCOLM
He’s worth more sorrow, and that I’ll spend for
him.
SIWARD He’s worth no more.
They say he parted well and paid his score,
And so, God be with him.
Here comes newer
comfort.
Enter Macduff with Macbeth’s head.
MACDUFF
Hail, King! for so thou art.
Behold where stands
Th’ usurper’s cursèd head.
The time is free.
I see thee compassed with thy kingdom’s pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds,
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine.
Hail, King of Scotland!
ALL Hail, King of Scotland!Flourish.
MALCOLM
We shall not spend a large expense of time
Before we reckon with your several loves
And make us even with you.
My thanes and
kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honor named.
What’s more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,
As calling home our exiled friends abroad
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny,
Producing forth the cruel ministers
Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen
(Who, as ’tis thought, by self and violent hands,
Took off her life)—this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place.
So thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crowned at Scone.
Flourish.
All exit.
When Macduff was king many people ran away in fear. But now that Malcolm is king the thanes, kinsemen, noblemen, and Malcolm are going to start a new era in Scotalnd. And one of their first steps is going to be letting poepl know that they can return home.
yeehaw
they all celebrate the liberation of their country- as well as the defeat of their murderous tyrant.
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