Macbeth — Act 4, Scene 2in modern English, side by side

Fife. A Room in Macduff’s Castle · Lady Macduff, Son, Ross, Messenger, First Murderer

Macduff has fled to England to join Malcolm without telling his wife, leaving his family unguarded at his castle in Fife. Macbeth, warned by the first apparition to beware Macduff, has just vowed to seize the castle and kill everyone in Macduff's line.

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Enter Lady Macduff her Son and Ross

Lady Macduff

What had he done, to make him fly the land?

What had he done that made him flee the country?

Ross

You must have patience, madam.

You must be patient, madam.

Lady Macduff

He had none:

He had no patience.

His flight was madness:

His flight was madness.

when our actions do not,

Our fears do make us traitors.5

Even when our actions don't make us traitors, our fears can make us look like them.

Ross

You know not

Whether it was his wisdom or his fear.

You don't know whether it was wisdom or fear.

Lady Macduff

Wisdom!

to leave his wife, to leave his babes,

His mansion, and his titles, in a place

From whence himself does fly?10

To leave his wife, to leave his children, his house and his titles, in the very place he runs away from?

He loves us not:10

He doesn't love us.

He wants the natural touch; for the poor wren,

The most diminutive of birds, will fight,

Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.

He's missing the natural instinct — even the poor wren, the tiniest of birds, will fight the owl to protect the chicks in her nest.

All is the fear, and nothing is the love;

His flight is all fear and no love;

As little is the wisdom, where the flight15

So runs against all reason.

and there's just as little wisdom in it, when running away defies all reason.

Ross

My dearest coz,

I pray you, school yourself:

My dearest cousin, please, control yourself.

but, for your husband,

He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows

The fits o’ th’ season.20

As for your husband: he is noble, wise, and sensible, and he understands better than anyone the violent fits of the times.

I dare not speak much further:20

But cruel are the times, when we are traitors,

And do not know ourselves; when we hold rumour

From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,

But float upon a wild and violent sea

Each way and move—25

I don't dare say much more, but these are cruel times — times when we're branded traitors without knowing we've done anything wrong; when we believe rumors because we're afraid, without even knowing what we're afraid of, and simply drift on a wild, violent sea, tossed in every direction.

I take my leave of you:25

Shall not be long but I’ll be here again.

I'll take my leave of you now; it won't be long before I'm back.

Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward

To what they were before.—

When things reach their worst, they either stop or climb back up to what they were before.

My pretty cousin,

Blessing upon you!

— My pretty young cousin, blessings on you!

Lady Macduff

Father’d he is, and yet he’s fatherless.30

He has a father, and yet he is fatherless.

Ross

I am so much a fool, should I stay longer,

It would be my disgrace and your discomfort:

I'm enough of a fool that if I stayed any longer I'd disgrace myself by weeping and make you more upset.

I take my leave at once.

I'll leave at once.

_Exit._

Lady Macduff

Sirrah, your father’s dead.

Young man, your father is dead.

And what will you do now?35

What will you do now?

How will you live?35

How will you live?

Son

As birds do, mother.

The way birds do, mother.

Lady Macduff

What, with worms and flies?

What — on worms and flies?

Son

With what I get, I mean;

On whatever I can get, I mean.

and so do they.

That's how they live.

Lady Macduff

Poor bird!

thou’dst never fear the net nor lime,

The pit-fall nor the gin.40

You'd never fear the net or the sticky trap, the pitfall or the snare.

Son

Why should I, mother?

Poor birds they are not set for.

Nobody sets traps for poor little birds.

My father is not dead, for all your saying.

And my father is not dead, no matter what you say.

Lady Macduff

Yes, he is dead:

Yes, he is dead.

how wilt thou do for a father?

How will you manage for a father?

Son

Nay, how will you do for a husband?

No — how will you manage for a husband?

Lady Macduff

Why, I can buy me twenty at any market.45

Why, I can buy myself twenty at any market.

Son

Then you’ll buy ’em to sell again.

Then you'd only be buying them to sell again.

Lady Macduff

Thou speak’st with all thy wit;

And yet, i’ faith, with wit enough for thee.

You're talking with every bit of wit you have — and honestly, that's wit enough for a boy your size.

Son

Was my father a traitor, mother?

Lady Macduff

Ay, that he was.50

Yes, he was.

Son

What is a traitor?

Lady Macduff

Why, one that swears and lies.

Why, someone who swears an oath and breaks it.

Son

And be all traitors that do so?

And is everyone who does that a traitor?

Lady Macduff

Every one that does so is a traitor, and must be hanged.

Everyone who does it is a traitor, and must be hanged.

Son

And must they all be hanged that swear and lie?55

And must everyone who swears and lies be hanged?

Lady Macduff

Every one.

Every single one.

Son

Who must hang them?

Who has to hang them?

Lady Macduff

Why, the honest men.

Son

Then the liars and swearers are fools: for there are liars and swearers

enow to beat the honest men and hang up them.60

Then the liars and oath-breakers are fools, because there are enough liars and oath-breakers in the world to beat the honest men and hang them instead.

Lady Macduff

Now, God help thee, poor monkey!

God help you, you poor little monkey!

But how wilt thou do for a father?

But what will you do for a father?

Son

If he were dead, you’ld weep for him:

If he were really dead, you'd be weeping for him.

if you would not, it were a good

sign that I should quickly have a new father.

And if you weren't weeping, it would be a good sign that I'd soon have a new father.

Lady Macduff

Poor prattler, how thou talk’st!

Poor little chatterbox — how you talk!

Enter a Messenger

Messenger

Bless you, fair dame!65

Bless you, fair lady!

I am not to you known,65

Though in your state of honour I am perfect.

You don't know me, though I know your honored position perfectly well.

I doubt some danger does approach you nearly:

I fear danger is closing in on you.

If you will take a homely man’s advice,

Be not found here; hence, with your little ones.

If you'll take a plain man's advice, don't be found here — get away with your little ones.

To fright you thus, methinks, I am too savage;70

To do worse to you were fell cruelty,

Which is too nigh your person.

I know it seems brutal of me to frighten you like this, but letting something far worse happen to you would be savage cruelty — and that worse is already near you.

Heaven preserve you!

Heaven protect you!

I dare abide no longer.

I dare not stay a moment longer.

_Exit._

Lady Macduff

Whither should I fly?

Where should I run?

I have done no harm.75

I've done no harm.

But I remember now75

I am in this earthly world, where to do harm

Is often laudable; to do good sometime

Accounted dangerous folly:

But then I remember: I live in this earthly world, where doing harm is often praised, and doing good is sometimes called dangerous folly.

why then, alas,

Do I put up that womanly defence,

To say I have done no harm?80

So why, then, do I offer that womanly defense — saying I've done no harm?

What are these faces?80

— Who are these faces?

Enter Murderers

First Murderer

Where is your husband?

Lady Macduff

I hope, in no place so unsanctified

Where such as thou mayst find him.

Nowhere so unholy, I hope, that someone like you could find him.

First Murderer

He’s a traitor.

He's a traitor.

Son

Thou liest, thou shag-ear’d villain!85

You're lying, you shaggy-eared villain!

First Murderer

What, you egg!

_Stabbing him._

First Murderer

Young fry of treachery!

You young spawn of a traitor!

Son

He has kill’d me, mother:

He has killed me, mother.

Run away, I pray you!

Run away, I beg you!

_Dies. Exit Lady Macduff, crying “Murder!” and pursued by the

Murderers._

Famous lines in this scene

“All is the fear, and nothing is the love;” line 14

Lady Macduff's bitter verdict on her husband's flight to England: abandoning his family shows pure fear and no love. The line frames the scene's central question — is Macduff a coward, a traitor, or a patriot making a terrible sacrifice? — and it makes the slaughter that follows feel like the cost of his choice.

“What, you egg!” line 86

The murderer's insult as he stabs Macduff's young son: an 'egg' is something tiny and unhatched, so he sneers at the boy as a traitor's offspring not worth letting grow up. The line is famous for its jarring mix of horror and absurdity — the play's cruelest act arrives with its strangest insult.

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