Interactive Literature Selections The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act 5

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The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act 5

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	ACT 5
	scene 1: a castle at Dunsinane
	Enter a Doctor of Physic and a Waiting-Gentlewoman.
	Doctor. I have two nights watch’d with you, but can perceive no truth in your report. When was it she last walk’d?
	Gentlewoman. Since his Majesty went into the field¹,
5	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 watching²! In this slumb’ry agitation, besides her walking and other actual performances, what, at any time, have you heard her say?
15	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 any one, having
20	no witness to confirm my speech.

	Enter Lady Macbeth with a taper.
	Lo you, here she comes! This is her very guise³, and upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her, stand close⁴.
	Doctor. How came she by that light?
25	Gentlewoman. Why, it stood by her. She has light by her continually, ’tis her command.
	Doctor. You see her eyes are open.
	Gentlewoman. Aye, but their sense are shut.
	Doctor. What is it she does now? Look how she
30	rubs her hands.
	Gentlewoman. It is an accustom’d 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
35	my remembrance the more strongly.
	Lady Macbeth. Out, damn’d 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 pow’r to accompt⁵? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?
40	Doctor. Do you mark that?

Guided Reading Question 1
What is Lady Macbeth doing?
Click to answer

	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 starting⁶.
	Doctor. Go to, go to; you have known what you should not.
45	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 charg’d⁷.
50	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
55	which have walk’d 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,
60	come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed.
	Exit Lady.
	Doctor. Will she go now to bed?
	Gentlewoman. Directly.
	Doctor. Foul whisp’rings are abroad. Unnatural deeds
65	Do breed unnatural troubles; infected minds

Guided Reading Question 2
Whose murder is on Lady Macbeth’s mind?
Click to answer

Guided Reading Question 3
What is Lady Macbeth unable to eliminate?
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	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,
70	And still keep eyes upon her. So good night.
	My mind she has mated, and amaz’d my sight⁸.
	I think, but dare not speak.
	Gentlewoman. Good night, good Doctor. Exeunt.

	scene 2: countryside near Dunsinane
	Drum and Colors. Enter Menteth, Cathness, Angus, Lennox, Soldiers.
	Menteth. The English pow’r 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 alarm⁹
	Excite the mortified¹⁰ man.
5	Angus. Near Birnan wood
	Shall we well meet them; that way are they coming.
	Cathness. Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother?
	Lennox. For certain, sir, he is not; I have a file¹¹
	Of all the gentry. There is Siward’s son,
10	And many unrough¹² youths that even now
	Protest their first of manhood¹³.
	Menteth. What does the tyrant?
	Cathness. Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies.
	Some say he’s mad; others that lesser hate him
	Do call it valiant fury; but for certain
15	He cannot buckle his distemper’d cause
	Within the belt of rule¹⁴.

Guided Reading Question 4
Whose help does the doctor say Lady Macbeth needs?
Click to answer

	Angus. Now does he feel
	His secret murthers sticking on his hands;
	Now minutely revolts¹⁵ upbraid his faith-breach;
	Those he commands move only in command,
20	Nothing in love. Now does he feel his title
	Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe
	Upon a dwarfish thief.
	Menteth. Who then shall blame
	His pester’d senses to recoil and start,
	When all that is within him does condemn
	Itself for being there?
25	Cathness. Well, march we on
	To give obedience where ’tis truly ow’d.
	Meet we the med’cine of the sickly weal¹⁶,
	And with him pour we, in our country’s purge,
	Each drop of us.
	Lennox. Or so much as it needs
30	To dew the sovereign flower¹⁷ and drown the weeds.
	Make we our march towards Birnan.
	Exeunt marching.

Guided Reading Question 5
What problems is Macbeth having? Why do his men obey?
Click to answer

	scene 3: the castle at Dunsinane
	Enter Macbeth, Doctor, and Attendants.
	Macbeth. Bring me no more reports, let them fly All.
	Till Birnan wood remove to Dunsinane
	I cannot taint with fear. What’s the boy Malcolm?
	Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know
5	All mortal consequences¹⁸ have pronounc’d 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 epicures¹⁹!
	The mind I sway²⁰ by, and the heart I bear,
10	Shall never sag with doubt, nor shake with fear.
	Enter Servant.
	The devil damn thee black²¹, thou cream-fac’d 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,
15	Thou lily-liver’d boy. What soldiers, patch²²?
	Death of thy soul! those linen cheeks of thine
	Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face?
	Servant. The English force, so please you.
	Macbeth. Take thy face hence. [Exit Servant.]
	Seyton!—I am sick at heart
20	When I behold—Seyton, I say!—This push²³
	Will cheer me ever, or disseat²⁴ me now.
	I have liv’d long enough: my way of life

Guided Reading Question 6
Why does Macbeth not fear Malcolm?
Click to answer

	Is fall’n into the sear²⁵, the yellow leaf,
	And that which should accompany old age,
25	As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,
	I must not look to have; but in their stead,
	Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honor²⁶, breath,
	Which the poor heart would fain²⁷ deny, and dare not.
	Seyton!
	Enter Seyton.
	Seyton. What’s your gracious pleasure?
30	Macbeth. What news more?
	Seyton. All is confirm’d, my lord, which was reported.
	Macbeth. I’ll fight, till from my bones my flesh be hack’d.
	Give me my armor.
	Seyton. ’Tis not needed yet.
	Macbeth. I’ll put it on.
35	Send out moe²⁸ horses, skirr²⁹ 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.
40	Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas’d,
	Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
	Raze out³⁰ the written troubles of the brain,
	And with some sweet oblivious antidote³¹
	Cleanse the stuff’d bosom of that perilous stuff
	Which weighs upon the heart?
45	Doctor. Therein the patient
	Must minister to himself.
	Macbeth. Throw physic³² to the dogs, I’ll none of it.
	Come, put mine armor on; give me my staff.
	Seyton, send out. Doctor, the thanes fly from me.—

Guided Reading Question 7
What does Macbeth realize he will never have? What will he have instead?
Click to answer

50	Come, sir, dispatch.—If thou couldst, doctor, cast
	The water of my land, find her disease³³,
	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.—
55	What rhubarb, cyme, or what purgative drug,
	Would scour these English hence? Hear’st thou of them?
	Doctor. Aye, my good lord; your royal preparation
	Makes us hear something.
	Macbeth. Bring it after me.—
	I will not be afraid of death and bane³⁴,
60	Till Birnan forest come to Dunsinane.
	Exeunt all but the Doctor.
	Doctor. Were I from Dunsinane away and clear,
	Profit again should hardly draw me here.
	Exit.

Guided Reading Question 8
What does Macbeth request of the doctor?
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	scene 4: countryside near Dunsinane
	Drum and Colors. Enter Malcolm, Siward, Macduff, Siward’s Son, Menteth, Cathness, Angus, Lennox, Rosse, and Soldiers, marching.
	Malcolm. Cousins, I hope the days are near at hand
	That chambers will be safe.
	Menteth. We doubt it nothing.
	Siward. What wood is this before us?
	Menteth. The wood of Birnan.
	Malcolm. Let every soldier hew him down a bough,
5	And bear’t before him, thereby shall we shadow
	The numbers of our host³⁵, and make discovery³⁶
	Err in report of us.
	Soldiers. It shall be done.
	Siward. We learn no other but the confident tyrant
	Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure
	Our setting down before’t³⁷.
10	Malcolm. ’Tis his main hope;
	For where there is advantage³⁸ to be given,
	Both more and less³⁹ have given him the revolt,
	And none serve with him but constrained things,
	Whose hearts are absent too.
	Macduff. Let our just censures
15	Attend the true event⁴⁰, 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,
20	But certain issue strokes must arbitrate⁴¹,
	Towards which advance the war.
	Exeunt marching.

Guided Reading Question 9
How will the English troops disguise their approach?
Click to answer

	scene 5: the castle at Dunsinane
	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.
5	Were they not forc’d with those that should be ours⁴²,
	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. Exit.
	Macbeth. I have almost forgot the taste of fears.
10	The time has been, my senses would have cool’d
	To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair⁴³
	Would at a dismal treatise⁴⁴ rouse and stir
	As life were in’t. I have supp’d full with horrors;
	Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
	Cannot once start me⁴⁵.
	Enter Seyton.

Guided Reading Question 10
What is Macbeth’s strategy?
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15	Wherefore was that cry?
	Seyton. The Queen, my lord, is dead.
	Macbeth. She should have died hereafter⁴⁶;
	There would have been a time for such a word.
	Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
20	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,
25	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.
	Enter a Messenger.
	Thou com’st to use thy tongue;
	Thy story quickly.
	Messenger. Gracious my lord,
30	I should report that which I say I saw,
	But know not how to do’t.
	Macbeth. Well, say, sir.

Guided Reading Question 11
What news does Seyton bring?
Click to answer

	Messenger. As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
	I look’d toward Birnan, and anon methought
	The wood began to move.
	Macbeth. Liar and slave!
35	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 cling⁴⁷ thee; if thy speech be sooth⁴⁸,
40	I care not if thou dost for me as much.
	I pull in⁴⁹ resolution, and begin
	To doubt th’ equivocation of the fiend
	That lies like truth. “Fear not, till Birnan wood
	Do come to Dunsinane,” and now a wood

Guided Reading Question 12
What news does the messenger bring?
Click to answer

45	Comes toward Dunsinane. Arm, arm, and out!
	If this which he avouches⁵⁰ does appear,
	There is nor flying hence, nor tarrying here.
	I gin to be a-weary of the sun,
	And wish th’ estate o’ th’ world were now undone.
50	Ring the alarum-bell! Blow wind, come wrack⁵¹,
	At least we’ll die with harness⁵² on our back.
	Exeunt.

	scene 6: field at Dunsinane
	Drum and Colors. Enter Malcolm, Siward, Macduff, and their army, with boughs.
	Malcolm. Now near enough; your leavy⁵³ screens throw down,
	And show like those you are⁵⁴. You, worthy uncle,
	Shall with my cousin, your right noble son,
	Lead our first battle⁵⁵. Worthy Macduff and we
5	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,
10	Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death.
	Exeunt. Alarums continued.

	scene 7: field at Dunsinane
	Enter Macbeth.
	Macbeth. They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly,
	But bear-like I must fight the course⁵⁶. 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?
5	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.
10	Young Siward. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant, with my sword
	I’ll prove the lie thou speak’st.
	Fight, and Young Siward slain.
	Macbeth. Thou wast born of woman.
	But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn,
	Brandish’d by man that’s of a woman born.
	Exit.
	Alarums. Enter Macduff.

Guided Reading Question 13
What does Macbeth resolve?
Click to answer

	Macduff. That way the noise is. Tyrant, show thy face!
15	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 kerns⁵⁷, whose arms
	Are hir’d to bear their staves⁵⁸; either thou, Macbeth,
	Or else my sword with an unbattered edge
20	I sheathe again undeeded⁵⁹. There thou shouldst be;
	By this great clatter, one of greatest note
	Seems bruited⁶⁰. Let me find him, Fortune!
	And more I beg not. Exit. Alarums.
	Enter Malcolm and Siward.

Guided Reading Question 14
What is Macduff’s mission? What does he say will happen if he does not fulfill it?
Click to answer

	Siward. This way, my lord, the castle’s gently rend’red⁶¹:
25	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 us⁶².
	Siward. Enter, sir, the castle. Exeunt. Alarum.

	scene 8: field at Dunsinane
	Enter Macbeth.
	Macbeth. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
	On mine own sword⁶³? Whiles I see lives⁶⁴, the gashes
	Do better upon them.
	Enter Macduff.
	Macduff. Turn, hell-hound, turn!
	Macbeth. Of all men else I have avoided thee.
5	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!
	Fight. Alarum.
	Macbeth. Thou losest labor.
	As easy mayst thou the intrenchant⁶⁵ air
10	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.

Guided Reading Question 15
What have some of Macbeth’s troops done?
Click to answer

	Macduff. Despair thy charm,
	And let the angel whom thou still hast serv’d
15	Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
	Untimely ripp’d⁶⁶.
	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,
20	That palter⁶⁷ 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.

Guided Reading Question 16
What does Macduff reveal to Macbeth?
Click to answer

	Macduff. Then yield thee, coward,
	And live to be the show and gaze o’ th’ time!
25	We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
	Painted upon a pole⁶⁸, 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.
30	Though Birnan 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.
	Enter fighting, and Macbeth slain. Macduff carries off Macbeth’s body.

	scene 9: castle at Dunsinane
	Retreat and flourish. Enter, with Drum and Colors, Malcolm, Siward, Rosse, Thanes, and Soldiers.
	Malcolm. I would the friends we miss were safe arriv’d.
	Siward. Some must go off⁶⁹; and yet, by these I see,
	So great a day as this is cheaply bought⁷⁰.
	Malcolm. Macduff is missing, and your noble son.
5	Rosse. 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 fought⁷¹,
	But like a man he died.
	Siward. Then he is dead?
10	Rosse. Aye, 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?
	Rosse. Aye, on the front.
	Siward. Why then, God’s soldier be he!
	Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
15	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.
	Enter Macduff with Macbeth’s head.

Guided Reading Question 17
What does Macduff say will happen to Macbeth if he refuses to fight?
Click to answer

20	Macduff. Hail, King! for so thou art. Behold where stands
	Th’ usurper’s cursed head: the time is free⁷².
	I see thee compass’d with thy kingdom’s pearl⁷³,
	That speak my salutation in their minds;
	Whose voices I desire aloud with mine:
	Hail, King of Scotland!
25	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 you⁷⁴. My thanes and kinsmen,
	Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
30	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 forth⁷⁵ the cruel ministers

Guided Reading Question 18
How does Macduff greet Malcolm?
Click to answer

35	Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen,
	Who (as ’tis thought) by self and violent hands⁷⁶
	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.
40	So thanks to all at once and to each one,
	Whom we invite to see us crown’d at Scone.
	Flourish. Exeunt omnes.

Guided Reading Question 19
How did Lady Macbeth die?
Click to answer

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ACT 5