Read The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) Online
Authors: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
That was not born of woman? Such a one
Am I to fear, or none.
They have tied me to a stake. I cannot run.
Bear-like, I must fight.
Who is he that was not born of a woman?
That is the only one I am to fear.
Enter YOUNG SIWARD
YOUNG SIWARD
What is thy name?
What is your name?
MACBETH
Thou'lt be afraid to hear it.
You’ll be afraid once you hear it.
YOUNG SIWARD
No; though thou call'st thyself a hotter name
Than any is in hell.
No, I won’t, even if it’s the worst name
than any that is in hell.
MACBETH
My name's Macbeth.
My name is Macbeth.
YOUNG SIWARD
The devil himself could not pronounce a title
More hateful to mine ear.
The devil himself does not have a name
that I hate more to hear.
MACBETH
No, nor more fearful.
No, and the devil’s name wouldn’t be more frightening.
YOUNG SIWARD
Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with my sword
I'll prove the lie thou speak'st.
You lie, hated tyrant. I will prove to you
with my sword that I am not afraid of you.
They fight and YOUNG SIWARD is slain
MACBETH
Thou wast born of woman
But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn,
Brandish'd by man that's of a woman born.
You were born of a woman.
I laugh at weapons waved
by a man who was born of a woman.
Exit
Alarums. Enter MACDUFF
MACDUFF
That way the noise is. Tyrant, show thy face!
If thou be'st slain and with no stroke of mine,
My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still.
I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms
Are hired to bear their staves: either thou, Macbeth,
Or else my sword with an unbatter'd edge
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be;
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited. Let me find him, fortune!
And more I beg not.
The noise comes from over there. Tyrant, show your face!
If you are killed and I do not make the stroke that kills you.
my wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me forever.
I cannot waste my time fighting foot soldiers
who are paid to carry their swords. It’s either you,
Macbeth, or I will put my sword away un-used.
That’s where you should be, by the great noise
coming from there it sounds like someone
of note is being announced. Let me find him!
I will not ask for more.
Exit. Alarums
Enter MALCOLM and SIWARD
SIWARD
This way, my lord; the castle's gently render'd:
The tyrant's people on both sides do fight;
The noble thanes do bravely in the war;
The day almost itself professes yours,
And little is to do.
Come this way, my lord. The castle has been
surrendered. The tyrant’s people fight
for both sides. The noble thanes are
fighting bravely. Victory is near, and
there is little more to do.
MALCOLM
We have met with foes
That strike beside us.
We have met with foes who fight as if they are with us.
SIWARD
Enter, sir, the castle.
Enter the castle, sir.
Exeunt. Alarums
Another Part of the F
ield.
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.
Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
by my own sword? As long as I sees others living,
the wounds will be better on them.
Enter MACDUFF
MACDUFF
Turn, hell-hound, turn!
Turn around, you hell-hound, turn around!
MACBETH
Of all men else I have avoided thee:
But get thee back; my soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already.
Of all the men I’ve avoided seeing, it is you.
But go away, now—my soul is already charged
with the blood of your entire family.
MACDUFF
I have no words:
My voice is in my sword: thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out!
I have nothing to say. My voice is in my sword.
You are more evil than any words could say.
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.
You waste your labor.
You might as well try to slash the air
with your sword. You will not make me bleed.
I live a charmed life, and it will not yield
to a man born of woman.
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.
Lose hope about that charm, Macbeth.
Let the evil spirit who served you with that information
tell you: Macduff was ripped from his mother’s womb
prematurely.
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.
Curse you for telling me this! It has made
me into a coward! These deceptive evil spirits
are not to be believed. They talk insincerely
in a way that makes no sense. They made
promises to me, then dashed my hopes.
I won’t fight with you.
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.'
Then give up, you coward,
and live to be a freak in a show
to be looked at all the time like
other monsters. We’ll post a likeness
of you on a pole with the words underneath:
‘You can see the tyrant here.’
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!'
I will not yield to you, only to kiss
the ground at young Malcolm’s feet,
or tormented by the common people.
Yes, Birnam wood did come to Dunsinane,
and I am fighting a man not born of woman.
Still, I will fight to the end. I put up my shield
to battle you. Come on, Macduff, and damned
be the one who cries first ‘Stop, enough!’
Exeunt, fighting. Alarums
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.
I wish the friends we miss could have survived.
SIWARD
Some must go off: and yet, by these I see,
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
Some are lost in every battle, but by the ones
I see, this victory didn’t cost much in lives.
MALCOLM
Macduff is missing, and your noble son.
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.
Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier’s debt.
He only lived until he was a man, and no sooner
was his skill as a fighter obvious in the fearless
way he fought—he died like a man.
SIWARD
Then he is dead?
So 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.
Yes, and he has been brought off the field. Your grief
should not be measured by his worth, or it will never end.
SIWARD
Had he his hurts before?
Was he wounded on the front?
ROSS
Ay, on the front.
Yes, 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.
Well then, he is God’s soldier!
If I had as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them a better death.
So, his funeral bell shall be rung.
MALCOLM
He's worth more sorrow,
And that I'll spend for him.
He is worth more grief than that.
I will spend it for him.