Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Act 5 - Scene 2
The country near Dunsinane.
Menteith : The English power is near, led on by Malcolm,
[p]His uncle Siward and
the good Macduff:
[p]Revenges burn in them; for their dear
causes
[p]Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm
[p]Excite the
mortified man.
Angus : Near Birnam wood
[p]Shall we well meet them; that way are they
coming.
Caithness : Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother?
Lennox : For certain, sir, he is not: I have a file
[p]Of all the gentry: there
is Siward's son,
[p]And many unrough youths that even now
[p]Protest
their first of manhood.
Menteith : What does the tyrant?
Caithness : Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies:
[p]Some say he's mad; others
that lesser hate him
[p]Do call it valiant fury: but, for
certain,
[p]He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause
[p]Within the belt
of rule.
Angus : Now does he feel
[p]His secret murders sticking on his hands;
[p]Now
minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach;
[p]Those he commands move
only in command,
[p]Nothing in love: now does he feel his
title
[p]Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe
[p]Upon a dwarfish
thief.
Menteith : Who then shall blame
[p]His pester'd senses to recoil and
start,
[p]When all that is within him does condemn
[p]Itself for being
there?
Caithness : Well, march we on,
[p]To give obedience where 'tis truly owed:
[p]Meet
we the medicine of the sickly weal,
[p]And with him pour we in our
country's purge
[p]Each drop of us.
Lennox : Or so much as it needs,
[p]To dew the sovereign flower and drown the
weeds.
[p]Make we our march towards Birnam.
Previous: Act 5 - Scene 1
Next: Act 5 - Scene 3
