The Tragedy of Macbeth: ACT V
Introduction ACT I ACT II ACT III ACT IV ACT V SCENE I. Dunsinane. Ante-room in the castle. SCENE II. The country near Dunsinane. SCENE III. Dunsinane. A room in the castle. SCENE IV. Country near Birnam wood. SCENE V. Dunsinane. Within the castle. SCENE VI. Dunsinane. Before the castle. SCENE VII. Another part of the field. SCENE VIII. Another part of the field. About the Play Feedback			Search: All the plays Hamlet Coriolanus Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Richard II Richard III Titus Andronicus Antony and Cleopatra Timon of Athens Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry the Fifth Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry VIII King John Pericles Troilus and Cressida All's Well... As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Cymbeline A Midsummer... Love's Labour's Lost Measure for Measure The Merry Wives... Much Ado about Nothing The Merchant of Venice Twelfth Night The Taming of... The Tempest The Two Gentlemen... The Winter's Tale    for: 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 5     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 10    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; 15    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 served       Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb 20    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 believed,       That palter with us in a double sense; 25    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' the time:       We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, 30    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. 35    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 damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!' Exeunt, fighting. Alarums Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM, SIWARD, ROSS, the other Thanes, and Soldiers MALCOLM 40    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: 45    He only lived 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 50    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 55    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, 60    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 65    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 70    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 75    In such an honour 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 80    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: 85    So, thanks to all at once and to each one,       Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone. Flourish. Exeunt Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene