SCENE V. Dunsinane. Within the Castle. Enter, with drum and colours, MACBETH, SEYTON, and Soldiers. Macb. Hang out our banners on the outward walls; Till famine and the ague eat them up: Were they not forced 1 with those that should be ours, [A cry of women within. What is that noise? Seyt. It is the cry of women, my good lord. Macb. I have almost forgot the taste of fears: The time has been, my senses would have quail'd To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair Would at a dismal treatise 3 rouse and stir As life were in't: I have supp'd full with horrors; Cannot once start me. [Exit. Re-enter SEYTON. Wherefore was that cry? Seyt. The Queen, my lord, is dead. Macb. She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word.4 1 Forced is strengthened, reinforced. A frequent usage. 2 Fell is hairy scalp, or any skin covered with hair or wool. To hear is still another gerundial infinitive; at hearing. 8 Dismal treatise probably means a tale of cruelty, or of suffering. 4 Another instance of the indiscriminate use of should and would; and the meaning is, "If she had not died now, she would have died hereafter; the time would have come when such a word must be spoken." The explanation of the whole passage comes to me well worded from Mr. Joseph Crosby; though the substance of it was put forth many years ago by the Rev. Mr. Arrowsmith: "I used to be frightened out of my senses at almost To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.6 Enter a Messenger. Thou comest to use thy tongue; thy story quickly. I should report that which I'd say I saw, But know not how to do't. Macb. Well, say it, sir. Mess. As I did stand my watch upon the hill, I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought, The wood began to move. Macb. Liar and slave ! any thing now nothing- not even the most terrible calamities can make any impression upon me. What must be, I know will be.' 'The Queen, my lord, is dead.' 'Well, be it so: had she not died now, she would have had to die some time. So creeps along every thing in the world, with petty pace from day to day: every to-morrow has its yesterday, and every yesterday its to-morrow; and thus men go on from yesterdays to to-morrows, like automatic fools, until they drop into the dusty grave.'' 5" The last syllable of recorded time" means simply the last syllable of the record of time. Such proleptical forms of speech are uncommonly frequent in this play. 6 Alas for Macbeth! Now all is inward with him; he has no more prudential prospective reasonings. His wife, the only being who could have had any seat in his affections, dies: he puts on despondency, the final heart-armour of the wretched, and would fain think every thing shadowy and unsubstantial; as indeed all things are to those who cannot regard them as symbols of goodness.- COLERIDGE. Mess. Let me endure your wrath, if't be not so: Within this three mile may you see it coming; I say, a moving grove. Macb. If thou speak'st false, Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive, 7 Till famine cling thee: if thy speech be sooth, I care not if thou dost for me as much. 8 I pall in resolution; and begin To doubt th' equivocation of the fiend, That lies like truth: Fear not, till Birnam wood *I 'gin to be a-weary of the Sun, *And wish th' estate o' the world were now undone. Ring the alarum-bell! - Blow, wind! come, wrack! At least we'll die with harness 9 on our back. [Exeunt. SCENE VI. The Same. A Plain before the Castle. Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM, old SIWARD, MACDUFF, &c., and their Army with boughs. Mal. 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: 1 worthy Macduff and we 7 To cling, in the northern counties, signifies to shrivel, wither, or dry up. Clung-wood is wood of which the sap is entirely dried or spent. 8 To pall is to droop, to fall away, to languish, to grow faint. See vol. xiv. page 300, note 4. 9 Harness for armour. Repeatedly so. See vol. xi. page 86, note 20. 1 Battle was often put for army in battle-array: here it is put, apparently, for a part of such an army; the van. Shall take upon's what else remains to do, Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night, Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight. *Macd. Make all our trumpets speak; give them all breath, *Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death. [Exeunt. SCENE VII.- The Same. Another Part of the Plain. Alarums. Enter MACBETH. Macb. They've tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, But, bear-like, I must fight the course.2 What's he That was not born of woman? Such a one Yo. Siw. No; though thou call'st thyself a hotter name Than any is in Hell. Macb. My name's Macbeth. Yo. Siw. The Devil himself could not pronounce a title More hateful to mine ear. Macb. No, nor more fearful. Yo. Siw. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with my sword I'll prove the lie thou speak'st. Macb. [They fight, and young SIWARD is slain. Thou wast born of woman. 2 This was a phrase of bear-baiting, where the bear was tied to a stake, and then the dogs set upon him: the poor bear could not run, and so had no way but to fight it out. See vol. xiv. page 88, note 10. But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, Alarums. Enter MACDUFF. Macd. That way the noise is. [Exit. Tyrant, show thy face! If thou be'st slain and with no stroke of mine, I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be ; Seems bruited.3 Let me find him, fortune! [Exit. Alarums. Enter MALCOLM and old SIWARD. Siw. This way, my lord. The castle's gently render'd: The tyrant's people on both sides do fight; The noble thanes do bravely in the war; The day almost itself professes yours, 3 Bruited is reported, noised abroad. See vol. xi. page 158, note 13.Of course, wherever Macbeth goes, he has a strong escort attending him; and the clattering of so many feet and swords would indicate his approach. 4" Foes who take pains not to hit us; who are only shamming fight against us, while their hearts are on our side." ་་ |