The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (967 page)

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,

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