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Act 5, Scene 5
[Dunsinane castle. Military drums and flags. Enter Macbeth, Seyton (his
armorer), and Soldiers]
Macbeth
Hang out our banners on the outward walls.
1
The cry is still 'They come.' Our castle's strength
2
Will laugh a siege to scorn. Here let them lie
3
Till famine and the ague eat them up.
4
Were they not forced with those that should be ours,
5
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard,
6
battle flags
disease
reinforced
(soldiers)
bravely
And beat them backward home.
7a
[Seyton goes to see what the cries were about]
What is that noise?
7b
Seyton
It is the cry of women, my good lord.
8
[Exit]
Macbeth
I have almost forgot the taste of fears.
9
The time has been, my senses would have cooled
10
To hear a night-shriek; and my fell of hair
11
Would, at a dismal treatise, rouse and stir
12
As life were in't. I have supped full with horrors.
13
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
14
had
frozen
head
frightening story
atrocity
similar
Cannot once start me.
15a
unsettle
[Re-enter Seyton]
Wherefore was that cry?
Why
Seyton
The queen, my lord, is dead.
15b
16
Macbeth
She should have died hereafter;
17
There would have been a time for such a word.
18
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
19
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
20
To the last syllable of recorded time;
21
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
22
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle.
23
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
24
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
25
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
26
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
27
Signifying nothing.
28
later
(death)
insignificant actor
rages
[Enter a Messenger]
Thou comest to use thy tongue – thy story quickly.
29
Messenger
Gracious my lord,
30
I should report that which I say I saw,
31
think
But know not how to do it.
32a
Macbeth
Well, say, sir.
32b
Messenger
As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
33
I looked toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
34
soon
The wood began to move.
35a
Macbeth
Liar and slave.
35b
Let me endure your wrath if't be not so.
36
Within this three mile may you see it coming.
37
Messenger
I say, a moving grove.
38a
repeat
Macbeth
If thou speak'st false,
38b
Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive
39
Till famine cling thee. If thy speech be sooth,
40
I care not if thou dost for me as much.
41
I pull in resolution and begin
42
To doubt the equivocation of the fiend
43
That lies like truth, 'Fear not till Birnam wood
44
Do come to Dunsinane', and now a wood
45
Comes toward Dunsinane. – Arm, arm, and out!
46
If this which he avouches does appear,
47
There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here.
48
I 'gin to be aweary of the sun,
49
And wish the estate o' the world were now undone –
50
Ring the alarum-bell. – Blow, wind; come, wrack.
51
At least we'll die with harness on our back.
52
truth
rein
(my)
double-talking
devil
claims
neither
from here
waiting
ruin
armor straps
[Exit]
Character Interview: Macbeth
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