Act 5 — Scene V. Dunsinane. Within the castle.[4582]

Macb. Hang out our banners on the outward walls;[4584] 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,[4585] 5 We might have met them dareful, beard to beard, And beat them backward home. [A cry of women within.[4586] What is that noise? Sey. It is the cry of women, my good lord. [Exit.[4587] Macb. I have almost forgot the taste of fears: The time has been, my senses would have cool'd[4588] 10 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;[4589] Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, Cannot once start me.

Wherefore was that cry?[4590] 15 Scy. The queen, my lord, is dead.[4591] Macb. She should have died hereafter;[4592] There would have been a time for such a word.[4592][4593] To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,[4594] 20 To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools[4595] The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle![4596] Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player[4597] That struts and frets his hour upon the stage[4597] 25 And then is heard no more: it is a tale[4597] Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

Thou comest to use thy tongue; thy story quickly. Mess. Gracious my lord,[4598] 30 I should report that which I say I saw,[4599] But know not how to do it.[4600] Macb. Well, say, sir. Mess. As I did stand my watch upon the hill, I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought,[4601] The wood began to move. Macb. Liar and slave![4602] 35 Mess. Let me endure your wrath, if't be not so: Within this three mile may you see it coming;[4603] I say, a moving grove. Macb. If thou speak'st false, Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive,[4604] Till famine cling thee: if thy speech be sooth,[4605] 40 I care not if thou dost for me as much. I pull in resolution, and begin[4606] To doubt the equivocation of the fiend That lies like truth: 'Fear not, till Birnam wood[4601] Do come to Dunsinane;' and now a wood 45 Comes toward Dunsinane. Arm, arm, and out![4607] If this which he avouches does appear,[4608] There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here.[4608][4609] I 'gin to be a-weary of the sun,[4608][4610] And wish the estate o' the world were now undone.[4608][4611] 50 Ring the alarum-bell! Blow, wind! come, wrack![4612] At least we'll die with harness on our back. [Exeunt.