He had no patience. He was crazy to run away. Even if
you're not a traitor, you're going to look like
one if you run away.
ROSS
You
know not
5
Whether it was his wisdom or his fear.
ROSS
You don't know whether it was wisdom or fear that made
him flee.
LADY MACDUFF
Wisdom! To leave his wife, to leave his babes,
His mansion and his titles in a place
From whence himself does fly? He loves us not;
He wants the natural touch. For the poor wren,
10
The most diminutive of birds, will fight,
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love,
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason.
LADY MACDUFF
How could it be wisdom! To leave his wife, his children, his
house, and his titles in a place so unsafe that he himself flees it!
He doesn't love us. He lacks the natural instinct to
protect his family. Even the fragile wren, the smallest of birds,
will fight against the owl when it threatens her young ones in the
nest. His running away has everything to do with fear and nothing to
do with love. And since it's so unreasonable for him to run
away, it has nothing to do with wisdom either.
ROSS
My
dearest coz,
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I pray you school yourself. But for your husband,
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
The fits o' th' season. I dare not speak much
further;
But cruel are the times when we are traitors
And do not know ourselves; when we hold rumor
20
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,
But float upon a wild and violent sea
Each way and none. I take my leave of you.
Shall not be long but I'll be here again.
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
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To what they were before.—My pretty cousin,
Blessing upon you.
ROSS
My dearest relative, I'm begging you, pull yourself
together. As for your husband, he is noble, wise, and judicious, and
he understands what the times require. It's not safe for me
to say much more than this, but times are bad when people get
denounced as traitors and don't even know why. In times
like these, we believe frightening rumors but we don't even
know what we're afraid of. It's like being tossed
around on the ocean in every direction, and finally getting nowhere.
I'll say good-bye now. It won't be long before
I'm back. When things are at their worst they have to stop,
or else improve to the way things were before. My young cousin, I
put my blessing upon you.
