The Tragedy Of Macbeth

1 Enter Macbeth.
2 MACBETH.
3 Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
4 On mine own sword? whiles I see lives, the gashes
5 Do better upon them.
6 Enter Macduff.
7 MACDUFF.
8 Turn, hell-hound, turn!
9 MACBETH.
10 Of all men else I have avoided thee:
11 But get thee back; my soul is too much charg’d
12 With blood of thine already.
13 MACDUFF.
14 I have no words;
15 My voice is in my sword: thou bloodier villain
16 Than terms can give thee out!
17 [_They fight._]
18 MACBETH.
19 Thou losest labour:
20 As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air
21 With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed:
22 Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
23 I bear a charmed life, which must not yield
24 To one of woman born.
25 MACDUFF.
26 Despair thy charm;
27 And let the angel whom thou still hast serv’d
28 Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
29 Untimely ripp’d.
30 MACBETH.
31 Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,
32 For it hath cow’d my better part of man!
33 And be these juggling fiends no more believ’d,
34 That palter with us in a double sense;
35 That keep the word of promise to our ear,
36 And break it to our hope!—I’ll not fight with thee.
37 MACDUFF.
38 Then yield thee, coward,
39 And live to be the show and gaze o’ th’ time.
40 We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
41 Painted upon a pole, and underwrit,
42 “Here may you see the tyrant.”
43 MACBETH.
44 I will not yield,
45 To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet,
46 And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.
47 Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,
48 And thou oppos’d, being of no woman born,
49 Yet I will try the last. Before my body
50 I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff;
51 And damn’d be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”
52 [_Exeunt fighting. Alarums._]
53 Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum and colours, Malcolm, old Siward,
54 Ross, Thanes and Soldiers.
55 MALCOLM.
56 I would the friends we miss were safe arriv’d.
57 SIWARD.
58 Some must go off; and yet, by these I see,
59 So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
60 MALCOLM.
61 Macduff is missing, and your noble son.
62 ROSS.
63 Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier’s debt:
64 He only liv’d but till he was a man;
65 The which no sooner had his prowess confirm’d
66 In the unshrinking station where he fought,
67 But like a man he died.
68 SIWARD.
69 Then he is dead?
70 ROSS.
71 Ay, and brought off the field. Your cause of sorrow
72 Must not be measur’d by his worth, for then
73 It hath no end.
74 SIWARD.
75 Had he his hurts before?
76 ROSS.
77 Ay, on the front.
78 SIWARD.
79 Why then, God’s soldier be he!
80 Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
81 I would not wish them to a fairer death:
82 And so his knell is knoll’d.
83 MALCOLM.
84 He’s worth more sorrow,
85 And that I’ll spend for him.
86 SIWARD.
87 He’s worth no more.
88 They say he parted well and paid his score:
89 And so, God be with him!—Here comes newer comfort.
90 Enter Macduff with Macbeth’s head.
91 MACDUFF.
92 Hail, King, for so thou art. Behold, where stands
93 Th’ usurper’s cursed head: the time is free.
94 I see thee compass’d with thy kingdom’s pearl,
95 That speak my salutation in their minds;
96 Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,—
97 Hail, King of Scotland!
98 ALL.
99 Hail, King of Scotland!
100 [_Flourish._]
101 MALCOLM.
102 We shall not spend a large expense of time
103 Before we reckon with your several loves,
104 And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
105 Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
106 In such an honour nam’d. What’s more to do,
107 Which would be planted newly with the time,—
108 As calling home our exil’d friends abroad,
109 That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
110 Producing forth the cruel ministers
111 Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen,
112 Who, as ’tis thought, by self and violent hands
113 Took off her life;—this, and what needful else
114 That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
115 We will perform in measure, time, and place.
116 So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
117 Whom we invite to see us crown’d at Scone.
118 [_Flourish. Exeunt._]