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SCENE VIII
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.¹

Enter MACDUFF

MACDUFF
Turn, hell-hound, turn!²

MACBETH
Of all men else I have avoided thee:
But get thee back; my soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already.³

MACDUFF
I have no words:
My voice is in my sword: thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out!⁴

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.⁵

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.⁶

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.

MACDUFF
Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the show and gaze o' the time:
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted on a pole, and underwrit,
'Here may you 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.
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou opposed, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,
And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'

Exeunt, fighting. Alarums (trumpets sounding)

Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM, SIWARD, ROSS, the other Thanes, and Soldiers

MALCOLM
I would the friends we miss were safe arrived.⁷

SIWARD
Some must go off: and yet, by these I see,
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.

MALCOLM
Macduff is missing, and your noble son.

ROSS
Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt:
He only lived but till he was a man;
The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.⁸

SIWARD
Then he is dead?

ROSS
Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow
Must not be measured by his worth, for then
It hath no end.

SIWARD
Had he his hurts before?

ROSS
Ay, on the front.

SIWARD
Why then, God's soldier be he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death:
And so, his knell is knoll'd.

MALCOLM
He's worth more sorrow,
And that I'll spend for him.

SIWARD
He's worth no more
They say he parted well, and paid his score:
And so, God be with him! Here comes newer comfort.

Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head

MACDUFF
Hail, king! for so thou art: behold, where stands
The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:
I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine:
Hail, King of Scotland!

ALL
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. My thanes and kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour named. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,
As calling home our exiled friends abroad
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers
Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen,
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:
So, thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.⁸

Flourish. Exeunt

FOOTNOTES

¹ Why should I commit suicide like an ancient Roman? If I see an enemy that is still alive, I'd rather kill him than myself.
² Turn around!
³ You're the only man I've avoided. Go away, I've already killed your entire family.
⁴ My sword will talk for me - you are too evil for words.
⁵ You're wasting your time trying to fight me - you might as well be stabbing the air. Go kill someone else, because I'm invincible - no man born from a woman shall harm me.
⁶ You're wrong about your invincibility. I was not born from a woman - they cut me out of my mom's womb before she could give birth to me naturally.
⁷ I wish our friends were still alive.
⁸ Your son has paid a soldier's price - that of death. He lived long enough to prove he was a man by fighting, but as soon as he did - he died.
⁹ In the final passage, Macduff announces that he will reward each of them. He says he will name his thanes and kinsmen as "earls", the first earls of Scotland in history. He has a lot planned and wishes to call all exiled friends back to their kingdom, as well as bring justice to those who sided with Macbeth and his queen (who reportedly killed herself). Macduff announces that they shall do whatever God calls them to do, and invites them to see him be crowned King of Scotland.


SUMMARY

Macduff and Macbeth enter in a final battle. They start to fight. Macbeth says he's invincible because the witches told him no man born from a woman could harm him. However, Macduff replies that he was taken from his mother's womb before she could give birth naturally. Macbeth's courage immediately shrinks but refuses to surrender, but Macduff advances forward. Their battle retreats away from the stage.

Malcolm, Siward, Ross, the other Thanes and Soldiers enter. Malcolm tells Siward his son died in battle. They reminisce over his sacrifice in the battle and note that Macduff is missing. Suddenly, Macduff enters with Macbeth's head! They hail this now dead king of Scotland and rejoice in a new Scotland without the tyrant that is Macbeth. Cursing Macbeth and his queen, Malcolm invites his friends to see him be crowned at Scone.

Congratulations! You've completed Shakespeare's Macbeth!

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