Text And Summary
Text
Act V, Scene viii Another part of the field 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. Enter MACDUFF MACDUFF Turn, hell-hound, turn! MACBETH Of all men else I have avoided thee. But get thee back. My soul is too much charg'd 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! They fight MACBETH Thou losest labour. 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 charmed life, which must not yield To one of woman born. MACDUFF Despair thy charm, And let the angel whom thou still hast serv'd Tell thee Macduff was from his mother's womb Untimely ripp'd. MACBETH Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, For it hath cow'd my better part of man! And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd, 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 on 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 oppos'd being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, And damn'd be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!" Exeunt, fighting. Alarums Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum and colors, MALCOLM, SIWARD, ROSS, thanes, and soldiers MALCOLM I would the friends we miss were safe arriv'd. 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 liv'd but till he was a man, The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd 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 measur'd 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 knoll'd. 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. Re-enter MACDUFF with MACBETH's head MACDUFF Hail, king! For so thou art. Behold, where stands The usurper's cursed head. The time is free. I see thee compass'd 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 nam'd. What's more to do, Which would be planted newly with the time, As calling home our exil'd 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 crown'd at Scone. Flourish. Exeunt |
Summary
Before the opening of this scene, Macbeth's kingship becomes of risk when the English army approaches his castle. Macbeth is earlier informed and he is at first doubtful, but later even when Macbeth does realize that they are there, he is not quite as worried as he should be. The beginning of the scene confirms his falsely placed fearlessness because Macbeth is saying that he would rather march out and attack a whole army than to just give up and commit suicide. After this decision Macbeth is confronted by Macduff and is challenged to fight. Macbeth does not at first want to fight him because he admits to already being too guilty of brutally slaying all of his family and that killing him would take it too far. Macduff insists on fighting because he has a blood lust and wants to get back at him for butchering his kin. At first Macbeth is arrogant as always and starts taunting Macduff with phrases like "As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air" which means that You may as well swing at the air because it would prove just as effective to hurting me. ------------------------------------------------------ Here Macbeth's confidence is shattered [For it hath cow'd my better part of man!] Because he realizes that Macduff is in fact not born of a woman but was a cesarean section baby (born of a corpse rather than a woman). This is significant because earlier on in the play the witches were stating that he need only fear the who were not born of a woman. This normally would not make sense so one would just assume that he is not to fear anyone, however now the tides are change because when Macduff enlightens Macbeth, he has a great fear of what is to happen next and therefore following the prophesy of the weird sisters. ________________________________________________ As mentioned before Macbeth had just assumed that he did not have to fear anyone because he misinterpreted the words of the witches. Now when he realizes their misleading diction, he is angry at the weird sisters for not being clearer. ________________________________________________ After his rant against the witches he confirms that he will not fight Macduff for the simple reason that he is afraid. Macduff states that he can either yield (that is, surrender his kingship to Malcolm) or fight to the death. He then begins to taunt Macbeth as seen in the speech to the left. Because of Macbeth's arrogance, he refuses to give up the throne to young Malcolm and then he too urges to fight and explains that whom ever surrenders first is the damned one "And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'" ------------------------------------------------------ The two men fight a gruesome battle until one receives the final blow. Macbeth's final second of life is his decapitation and defeat thereafter. After the great victory Malcolm reflects on how some of their men from the army, Banquo and also their former king (and his father) were killed. Detached Siward replies in saying essentially that in every battle men will be lost. However as Siward looked around he could see that very few suffered in this particular battle because of the non existent resistance. ------------------------------------------------- A simple head count is done and realization is made that Young Siward had been killed by Macbeth and Macduff is missing. Ross explains how young Siward had paid a soldier's debt (he died in battle) and that he had only lived until he was barely old enough to fight only to die fighting. A few words are volleyed between Ross, Siward and Malcolm in regards to the fight and the death of Siward's son, but Siward is encouraged because he is convinced that his son is now God's soldier and that he died a very noble death. Shortly after talking about his son's death with a positive attitude he points out that Macduff is walking in with Macbeth's head on a stake which confirmed the victorious results of the battle to rid Scotland of the tyrant. ------------------------------------------------------ The new and rightful king is finally crowned and Macduff congratulates him and hails him accordingly. Macduff finishes with some encouraging words about the riddance of Macbeth and the surrounding of loyal nobleman around Malcolm and shortly after all people hailed the king. [See the annotations page to see an paraphrase of Malcolm's speech] |