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Macbeth:
If thou speak’st false,
Upon the next tree shalt 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.
(Exeunt.)
Scene Six. The same. A Plain before the Castle.
Enter, with drum and colours, Malcolm, old 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.
(Exeunt.)
Scene Seven. The same. Another part of the Plain.
Alarums. 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, abhorred 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,
Brandish’d by man that’s of a woman born.
(Exit.)