The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated)
Page 587
MENTEITH
We doubt it nothing.
We don’t doubt it.
SIWARD
What wood is this before us?
What is this wood before us?
MENTEITH
The wood of Birnam.
It’s Birnam wood.
MALCOLM
Let every soldier hew him down a bough
And bear't before him: thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host and make discovery
Err in report of us.
Every soldier should cut off a tree limb
and carry it before him. That way we will
conceal how many of us there are and cause
false reports about our numbers.
Soldiers
It shall be done.
We will do it.
SIWARD
We learn no other but the confident tyrant
Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure
Our setting down before 't.
We’ve heard nothing except the confident tyrant
is still in Dunsinane, and will endure
our attacking the castle.
MALCOLM
'Tis his main hope:
For where there is advantage to be given,
Both more and less have given him the revolt,
And none serve with him but constrained things
Whose hearts are absent too.
That is his hope. Whenever there is a chance,
his soldiers revolt and leave him. None serve with him
except for the severely restricted men whose hearts are not in it.
MACDUFF
Let our just censures
Attend the true event, and put we on
Industrious soldiership.
Let’s not judge. Keep your focus on the outcome,
and continue being hard-working soldiers.
SIWARD
The time approaches
That will with due decision make us know
What we shall say we have and what we owe.
Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate,
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate:
Towards which advance the war.
The time is approaching
Soon we will discover what we have
and what we owe. We can speculate
on this and have uncertain hopes,
but the only certain way to find out
is to move forward toward battle
Exeunt, marching
Dunsinane. Within the Castle.
Enter MACBETH, SEYTON, and Soldiers, with drum and colours
MACBETH
Hang out our banners on the outward walls;
The cry is still 'They come:' our castle's strength
Will laugh a siege to scorn: here let them lie
Till famine and the ague eat them up:
Were they not forced with those that should be ours,
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard,
And beat them backward home.
Hang our flags on the outer walls of the castle.
The cry is still ‘They come.’ Our castle’s strength
will laugh an attack to ridicule. Let them stay here
until famine and illness eat them up. If our own
soldiers hadn’t run off to join them, we might
have met them face to face, and beat them
back toward their home.
A cry of women within
What is that noise?
What is that noise?
SEYTON
It is the cry of women, my good lord.
It is the women crying, my good lord.
Exit
MACBETH
I have almost forgot the taste of fears;
The time has been, my senses would have cool'd
To hear a night-shriek; and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in't: I have supp'd full with horrors;
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts
Cannot once start me.
I have almost forgotten the taste of fear.
There would have been a time I’d have chills
run through me at the sound of a shriek in the night,
and the hair on my arms would have stood up
during the telling of a frightening tale.
As it is, I am so filled with horror it
is familiar to me. Nothing can shock me.
Re-enter SEYTON
Wherefore was that cry?
What was that cry about?
SEYTON
The queen, my lord, is dead.
The queen, my lord, is dead.
MACBETH
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
She would have died anyway. We would
have heard it sooner or later. Tomorrow,
or the next day, or the next. The days
just keep moving forward until the end
of time. The past has shown many fools
the way to die. Life is short! Life is brief!
It’s like a shadow, like a bad actor walking
around on the stage, shouting and strutting
as if he’s oh so important. Then, one day,
he’s just gone, and you don’t hear from him
anymore. That’s when you realize it really
meant nothing. All of that shouting and anger
—it meant nothing.
Enter a Messenger
Thou comest to use thy tongue; thy story quickly.
You’re here to tell me something. Tell me, already.
Messenger
Gracious my lord,
I should report that which I say I saw,
But know not how to do it.
My gracious lord,
I should tell you that which I saw,
But I don’t know how to do it.
MACBETH
Well, say, sir.
Just say it, sir.
Messenger
As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
The wood began to move.
As I was standing my watch upon the hill
I looked toward Birnam, and—believe it or not—
I thought I saw the woods began to move.
MACBETH
Liar and slave!
Liar and slave!
Messenger
Let me endure your wrath, if't be not so:
Within this three mile may you see it coming;
I say, a moving grove.
I will endure your anger if it’s not true.
Within three miles you can see it coming—
a moving forest.
MACBETH
If thou speak'st false,
Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive,
Till famine cling thee: if thy speech be sooth,
I care not if thou dost for me as much.
I pull in resolution, and begin
To doubt the equivocation of the fiend
That lies like truth: 'Fear not, till Birnam wood
Do come to Dunsinane:' and now a wood
Comes toward Dunsinane. Arm, arm, and out!
If this which he avouches does appear,
There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here.
I gin to be aweary of the sun,
<
br /> And wish the estate o' the world were now undone.
Ring the alarum-bell! Blow, wind! come, wrack!
At least we'll die with harness on our back.
If you are lying, you will hang from
the nearest tree until hunger kills you.
If what you say is true, I don’t care
if you do the same to me. My resolve
is failing. I’m beginning to doubt
the tricky language of the spirits
that lie that truth: ‘Fear not, until
Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane.’
And now a wood comes toward Dunsinane.
Get armed and let’s go out!
If what the messenger says is true,
it’s no use either way—running away
or staying here. I am growing weary
of the sun, and I’d like to see the entire
world destroyed. Ring the alarm!
Blow, wind! Come, ruin!
At least I’ll die with armor on my back.
Exeunt
Dunsinane. Before the Castle.
Drum and colours. Enter MALCOLM, SIWARD, MACDUFF, and their Army, with boughs
MALCOLM
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: worthy Macduff and we
Shall take upon 's what else remains to do,
According to our order.
Now that we are near enough, throw down
you boughs and show yourself as you are.
Worthy uncle, you will—with my cousin,
your son—lead our first battle. Worthy Macduff
and I will do what remains to be done, according
to our battle orders.
SIWARD
Fare you well.
Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night,
Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight.
Good luck.
If we find the tyrant’s armies tonight,
let us be beaten if we cannot fight.
MACDUFF
Make all our trumpets speak; give them all breath,
Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death.
Blow all of our trumpets. Make them loud.
They are the noisy announcers of blood and death.
Exeunt
Another Part of the Field.
Alarums. Enter MACBETH
MACBETH
They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly,
But, bear-like, I must fight the course. What's he
That was not born of woman? Such a one
Am I to fear, or none.
They have tied me to a stake. I cannot run.
Bear-like, I must fight.
Who is he that was not born of a woman?
That is the only one I am to fear.
Enter YOUNG SIWARD
YOUNG SIWARD
What is thy name?
What is your name?
MACBETH
Thou'lt be afraid to hear it.
You’ll be afraid once you hear it.
YOUNG SIWARD
No; though thou call'st thyself a hotter name
Than any is in hell.
No, I won’t, even if it’s the worst name
than any that is in hell.
MACBETH
My name's Macbeth.
My name is Macbeth.
YOUNG SIWARD
The devil himself could not pronounce a title
More hateful to mine ear.
The devil himself does not have a name
that I hate more to hear.
MACBETH
No, nor more fearful.
No, and the devil’s name wouldn’t be more frightening.
YOUNG SIWARD
Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with my sword
I'll prove the lie thou speak'st.
You lie, hated tyrant. I will prove to you
with my sword that I am not afraid of you.
They fight and YOUNG SIWARD is slain
MACBETH
Thou wast born of woman
But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn,
Brandish'd by man that's of a woman born.
You were born of a woman.
I laugh at weapons waved
by a man who was born of a woman.
Exit
Alarums. Enter MACDUFF
MACDUFF
That way the noise is. Tyrant, show thy face!
If thou be'st slain and with no stroke of mine,
My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still.
I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms
Are hired to bear their staves: either thou, Macbeth,
Or else my sword with an unbatter'd edge
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be;
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited. Let me find him, fortune!
And more I beg not.
The noise comes from over there. Tyrant, show your face!
If you are killed and I do not make the stroke that kills you.
my wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me forever.
I cannot waste my time fighting foot soldiers
who are paid to carry their swords. It’s either you,
Macbeth, or I will put my sword away un-used.
That’s where you should be, by the great noise
coming from there it sounds like someone
of note is being announced. Let me find him!
I will not ask for more.
Exit. Alarums
Enter MALCOLM and SIWARD
SIWARD
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,
And little is to do.
Come this way, my lord. The castle has been
surrendered. The tyrant’s people fight
for both sides. The noble thanes are
fighting bravely. Victory is near, and
there is little more to do.
MALCOLM
We have met with foes
That strike beside us.
We have met with foes who fight as if they are with us.
SIWARD
Enter, sir, the castle.
Enter the castle, sir.
Exeunt. Alarums
Another Part of the Field.
Enter MACBETH
MACBETH
Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
On mine own sword? whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better upon them.
Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
by my own sword? As long as I sees others living,
the wounds will be better on them.
Enter MACDUFF
MACDUFF
Turn, hell-hound, turn!
Turn around, you hell-hound, turn around!
MACBETH
Of all men else I have avoided thee:
But get thee back; my soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already.
Of all the men I’ve avoided seeing, it is you.
But go away, now—my soul is already charged
with the blood of your entire family.
MACDUFF
I have no words:
My voice is in my sword: thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out!
I have nothing to say. My voice is in my sword.
You are more evil than any words could say.
They fight
MACBETH
Thou losest labour:
As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed:
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmed
life, which must not yield,
To one of woman born.
You waste your labor.
You might as well try to slash the air
with your sword. You will not make me bleed.
I live a charmed life, and it will not yield
to a man born of woman.
MACDUFF
Despair thy charm;
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd.
Lose hope about that charm, Macbeth.
Let the evil spirit who served you with that information
tell you: Macduff was ripped from his mother’s womb
prematurely.
MACBETH
Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cow'd my better part of man!
And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope. I'll not fight with thee.
Curse you for telling me this! It has made
me into a coward! These deceptive evil spirits
are not to be believed. They talk insincerely
in a way that makes no sense. They made
promises to me, then dashed my hopes.
I won’t fight with you.