And break it to our hope. I'll not fight with
thee.
MACBETH
Curse you for telling me this. You've fightened away my
courage. I don't believe those evil creatures anymore. They
tricked me with their wordgames, raising my hopes and then
destroying them. I won't fight you.
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 on a pole, and underwrit,
“Here may you see the tyrant.”
MACDUFF
Then surrender, coward, and we'll put you in a freakshow,
just like they do with deformed animals. We'll put a
picture of you on a sign, right above the words “Come
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 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 damned be him that first cries, “Hold,
enough!”
MACBETH
I'm not going to surrender and have to kiss the ground in
front of Malcolm, or be taunted by the common people. Even though
Birnam Wood really did come to Dunsinane, and I'm fighting
a man not of woman born, I'll fight to the end.
I'll put up my shield and battle you. Come on,
let's go at it, Macduff, and damn the first man who cries,
'Stop! Enough!'
Exeunt, fighting. Alarums. They enter fighting, and
MACBETH slain. Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum
and colors MALCOLM, SIWARD,
ROSS, THANES, and
SOLDIERS
They exit fighting. Trumpets and battle noises. The
trumpet of one army sounds a call to retreat. The other army's
trumpet sounds a call of victory. The victorious army enters, led by
MALCOLM, old SIWARD,
ROSS, the other THANES, and soldiers,
with a drummer and flag.
MALCOLM
35
I would the friends we miss were safe arrived.
MALCOLM
I wish all of our friends could have survived this battle.
SIWARD
Some must go off. And yet, by these I see,
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
SIWARD
In every battle, some people will always be killed, but judging
from the men I see around us, our great victory didn't cost
us very much.
MALCOLM
Macduff is missing, and your noble son.
MALCOLM
Macduff is missing, and so is your noble son.
ROSS
Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt.
40
He only lived but till he was a man,
The which no sooner had his prowess confirmed
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.
ROSS
My lord, your son has paid the soldier's price: death. He
only lived long enough to become a man, and as soon as he proved
that he was a man by fighting like one, he died.
