No Fear Shakespeare

Macbeth

William Shakespeare

Get this No Fear to go!

Act 4, Scene 3, Page 10

Original Text

Modern Text



MACDUFF
And I must be from thence!
My wife killed too?
MACDUFF
And I had to be away! My wife was killed too?

ROSS
I have said.
ROSS
I said she was.


220
MALCOLM
Be comforted.
Let’s make us med'cines of our great revenge,
To cure this deadly grief.
MALCOLM
Take comfort. Let’s cure this awful grief by taking revenge on Macbeth.




225
MACDUFF
He has no children. All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?
MACDUFF
He doesn’t have children. All my pretty little children? Did you say all? Oh, that bird from hell! All of them? What, all my children and their mother dead in one fell swoop?

MALCOLM
Dispute it like a man.
MALCOLM
Fight it like a man.




230



MACDUFF
I shall do so,
But I must also feel it as a man.
I cannot but remember such things were
That were most precious to me. Did heaven look on,
And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff,
They were all struck for thee! Naught that I am,
Not for their own demerits, but for mine,
Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now.
MACDUFF
I will. But I also have to feel it like a man. I can’t help remembering the things that were most precious to me. Did heaven watch the slaughter and not send down any help? Sinful Macduff, they were killed because of you! As wicked as I am, they were slaughtered because of me, not because of anything they did. May God give their souls rest.

235
MALCOLM
Be this the whetstone of your sword. Let grief
Convert to anger. Blunt not the heart, enrage it.
MALCOLM
Let this anger sharpen your sword. Transform your grief into anger. Don’t block the feelings in your heart; let them loose as rage.




240

MACDUFF
Oh, I could play the woman with mine eyes
And braggart with my tongue! But, gentle heavens,
Cut short all intermission. Front to front
Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself.
Within my sword’s length set him; if he ’scape,
Heaven forgive him too.
MACDUFF
I could go on weeping like a woman and bragging about how I will avenge them! But gentle heavens, don’t keep me waiting. Bring me face to face with Macbeth, that devil of Scotland. Put him within the reach of my sword, and if he escapes, may heaven forgive him as well!

More Help

Watch the Video SparkNote

A quick and easy plot summary of Macbeth.

Read the Macbeth SparkNote

Summary, analysis, themes, essay topics, and more

Download the iPhone app

Download the No Fear Shakespeare app for iPhone®/iPod touch™ from iTunes

Buy No Fear Macbeth at BN.com

Get the No Fear Shakespeare you can hold in your hand at BN.com

EVEN MORE HELP! ↓

Take a Study Break

Green YOUR SCHOOL!

Click here to get involved with dosomething.org!

John Krasinski's BIG MIRACLE

Click to watch the trailer and read exclusive star interviews!

Do you like Anna?

Read Dear Albert... from ANNA's perspective!

BATTLESHIP, the movie

Here's why we're super jazzed about it.

Do energy juices actually work?

Our blogger puts 'em to the test!