Macbeth — Act 5, Scene 8in modern English, side by side

The same. Another part of the field · Macbeth, Macduff, Malcolm, Siward, Ross

Amid the fall of Dunsinane, Macduff finally corners Macbeth, who still believes no man born of a woman can kill him. This scene delivers the last prophecy's cruel twist, Macbeth's death, and Malcolm's restoration as Scotland's rightful king.

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Enter Macbeth

Macbeth

Why should I play the Roman fool, and die

On mine own sword?

Why should I play the Roman fool and die on my own sword?

whiles I see lives, the gashes

Do better upon them.

As long as I see living enemies, the wounds look better on them than on me.

Enter Macduff

Macduff

Turn, hell-hound, turn!

Turn around, hell-hound! Turn!

Macbeth

Of all men else I have avoided thee:5

Of all men, you're the one I've avoided.

But get thee back; my soul is too much charg’d

With blood of thine already.

Get back — my soul is already loaded with too much of your family's blood.

Macduff

I have no words;

My voice is in my sword:

I have no words — my voice is in my sword,

thou bloodier villain

Than terms can give thee out!10

you villain bloodier than any words could describe!

_They fight._

Macbeth

Thou losest labour:

You're wasting your effort.

As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air

With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed:

You could as easily cut the uncuttable air with your sharp sword as make me bleed.

Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;

Bring your blade down on heads that can be wounded.

I bear a charmed life, which must not yield15

To one of woman born.

I carry a charmed life, which cannot yield to anyone born of a woman.

Macduff

Despair thy charm;

Give up on your charm

And let the angel whom thou still hast serv’d

Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb

Untimely ripp’d.20

— and let the fallen angel you've served all along tell you this: Macduff was ripped from his mother's womb before his time — cut out, never born.

Macbeth

Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,

For it hath cow’d my better part of man!

A curse on the tongue that tells me so, because it has crippled the best part of my manhood!

And be these juggling fiends no more believ’d,

That palter with us in a double sense;

That keep the word of promise to our ear,25

And break it to our hope!—

And let these juggling fiends never be believed again — they trick us with double meanings, keeping their promise to our ear and breaking it to our hope.

I’ll not fight with thee.

I won't fight you.

Macduff

Then yield thee, coward,

And live to be the show and gaze o’ th’ time.

Then surrender, coward, and live to be the spectacle everyone stares at.

We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,

Painted upon a pole, and underwrit,30

“Here may you see the tyrant.”

We'll display you the way rare monsters are shown at fairs — your picture painted on a banner hung from a pole, with the caption underneath: 'Here you may see the tyrant.'

Macbeth

I will not yield,

To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet,

And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.

I will not yield — not to kiss the ground in front of young Malcolm's feet, and not to be jeered at by the mob's curses.

Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,35

And thou oppos’d, being of no woman born,

Yet I will try the last.

Even though Birnam Wood has come to Dunsinane, and you stand against me, a man of no woman born, I'll fight to the very last.

Before my body

I throw my warlike shield:

I raise my soldier's shield in front of my body.

lay on, Macduff;

And damn’d be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”

Lay on, Macduff — and damn the first of us who cries 'Stop! Enough!'

_Exeunt fighting. Alarums._

Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum and colours, Malcolm, old Siward,

Ross, Thanes and Soldiers

Malcolm

I would the friends we miss were safe arriv’d.40

I wish the friends we're missing had come back safe.

Siward

Some must go off;

Some men have to die.

and yet, by these I see,

So great a day as this is cheaply bought.

And yet, judging by the men I see standing here, a day as great as this one was cheaply bought.

Malcolm

Macduff is missing, and your noble son.

Macduff is missing, and so is your noble son.

Ross

Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier’s debt:

Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt.

He only liv’d but till he was a man;45

The which no sooner had his prowess confirm’d

In the unshrinking station where he fought,

But like a man he died.

He lived only until he became a man — and the moment his courage in the fight proved that he was one, holding the position where he stood without flinching, he died like a man.

Siward

Then he is dead?

Ross

Ay, and brought off the field.50

Yes, and carried off the field.

Your cause of sorrow50

Must not be measur’d by his worth, for then

It hath no end.

Your sorrow mustn't be measured by his worth, because then it would have no end.

Siward

Had he his hurts before?

Were his wounds on the front of his body?

Ross

Ay, on the front.

Yes — on his front.

Siward

Why then, God’s soldier be he!55

Why then, let him be God's soldier!

Had I as many sons as I have hairs,

I would not wish them to a fairer death:

If I had as many sons as I have hairs, I couldn't wish any of them a finer death.

And so his knell is knoll’d.

And with that, his funeral bell is rung.

Malcolm

He’s worth more sorrow,

And that I’ll spend for him.60

He deserves more grief than that, and I will spend it for him.

Siward

He’s worth no more.

He deserves no more.

They say he parted well and paid his score:

They say he died well and paid what he owed.

And so, God be with him!—

So, God be with him!

Here comes newer comfort.

— And here comes newer comfort.

Enter Macduff with Macbeth’s head

Macduff

Hail, King, for so thou art.

Hail, King — because that is what you are now.

Behold, where stands

Th’ usurper’s cursed head:65

Look where the usurper's cursed head stands:

the time is free.65

the world is free.

I see thee compass’d with thy kingdom’s pearl,

That speak my salutation in their minds;

I see you surrounded by the jewels of your kingdom — these nobles — who are saying my greeting silently in their minds.

Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,—

Now I want their voices to join mine out loud:

Hail, King of Scotland!

All

Hail, King of Scotland!70

Hail, King of Scotland!

_Flourish._

Malcolm

We shall not spend a large expense of time

Before we reckon with your several loves,

And make us even with you.

We won't let much time pass before we repay each of you for your loyalty and settle our accounts with you.

My thanes and kinsmen,

Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland

In such an honour nam’d.75

My thanes and kinsmen, from this day forward you are earls — the first men Scotland has ever honored with that title.

What’s more to do,75

Which would be planted newly with the time,—

As calling home our exil’d friends abroad,

That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;

Producing forth the cruel ministers

Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen,80

Who, as ’tis thought, by self and violent hands

Took off her life;—this, and what needful else

That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,

We will perform in measure, time, and place.

Everything else that needs doing, everything that must be planted fresh in this new era — calling home our exiled friends who fled abroad from the traps of a watchful tyranny, and bringing to justice the cruel agents of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen, who, it is believed, took her own life with her own violent hands — all this, and whatever else our duty demands, we will carry out, by the grace of God, in the right measure, at the right time, and in the right place.

So thanks to all at once, and to each one,85

Whom we invite to see us crown’d at Scone.

So thanks to all of you together and to each of you alone, and we invite every one of you to see us crowned at Scone.

_Flourish. Exeunt._

Famous lines in this scene

“Macduff was from his mother’s womb / Untimely ripp’d.” line 19

Macduff reveals he was delivered by caesarean section — cut from his mother's womb prematurely rather than 'born' in the normal way. This voids Macbeth's final protection: the witches' promise that 'none of woman born' could harm him turns out to be true only on a cruel technicality.

“lay on, Macduff; / And damn’d be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”” line 39

Knowing every prophecy has turned against him, Macbeth refuses to surrender and fights Macduff to the death, damning whichever of them first begs for mercy. Often misquoted as 'lead on, Macduff,' the line shows him recovering a soldier's courage at the very end — doomed, but choosing to die fighting.

“this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen” line 80

Malcolm's official verdict on the Macbeths in the play's closing speech. Essay questions love it: 'butcher' and 'fiend' fit the crimes, but flatten the complex, guilt-haunted people the audience has actually watched. Deciding whether Malcolm's label is fair is one of the classic ways to argue about the play.

Confused by a different line? Paste any Shakespeare — any play, any edition — and get it in modern English.

Studying the language itself? Our Shakespearean English course teaches thou/thee, the verbs, and the meter — free through Unit 2. Or try the Shakespearean English translator.