directory
home contact

Macbeth

Please see the bottom of this page for full explanatory notes and helpful Macbeth resources.

ACT V SCENE IV Country near Burnam wood. 
[ Drum and colours. Enter MALCOLM, SIWARD and YOUNG SIWARD, MACDUFF, MENTEITH, CAITHNESS, ANGUS, LENNOX, ROSS, and Soldiers, marching ]
MALCOLMCousins, I hope the days are near at hand
That chambers will be safe.
MENTEITHWe doubt it nothing.
SIWARDWhat wood is this before us?
MENTEITHThe wood of Birnam.
MALCOLMLet every soldier hew him down a bough
And bear't before him: thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host and make discovery
Err in report of us.
SoldiersIt shall be done.
SIWARDWe learn no other but the confident tyrant
Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure
Our setting down before 't.
MALCOLM'Tis his main hope:10
For where there is advantage to be given,
Both more and less have given him the revolt,
And none serve with him but constrained things
Whose hearts are absent too.
MACDUFFLet our just censures
Attend the true event, and put we on
Industrious soldiership.
SIWARDThe time approaches
That will with due decision make us know
What we shall say we have and what we owe.
Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate,
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate:20
Towards which advance the war.
[Exeunt, marching]

Next: Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5
___________

Explanatory Notes for Act 5, Scene 4
From Macbeth. Ed. Thomas Marc Parrott. New York: American Book Co.
(Line numbers have been altered.)
__________

This scene presents the union of the English forces with the Scottish lords near Birnam wood. Malcolm's order to the soldiers to cut down boughs in order to conceal the numbers of the army, points to the fulfilment of the witches' prophecy.

1. Cousins, kinsmen.

2. chambers, private rooms. Malcolm is thinking of the murder of Duncan in his bedchamber.

6. discovery, reconnaissance.

7. in report of us, in the report carried back concerning us.

8. but, but that.

9. keeps still, remains.

9, 10. endure ... before, stand a siege there.

11. advantage to be given, where an opportunity, i.e. to desert, has to be given them. If Macbeth led his army into the field, he would necessarily give the discontented spirits a better chance to desert than if he remained in his castle.

12. more and less, great and small.

14, 15. Let ... event, let our true opinion await the actual event. Macduff is not so sure that all Macbeth's soldiers are ready to desert. His next words show that he thinks the battle will demand all their efforts; "put on industrious soldiership" means "play the part of good soldiers." Siward carries on the idea in the next speech; "whatever we may fancy our hopes to be, blows alone will settle the matter."

19. relate, utter.

________
How to cite the explanatory notes:

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Thomas Marc Parrott. New York: American Book Co., 1904. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth_5_4.html >.

________

Related Articles

 Shakespeare's Sources for Macbeth
 Macbeth: The Annotated Play
 Macbeth Character Introduction

 Soliloquy Analysis: If it were done when 'tis done (1.7.1-29)
 Soliloquy Analysis: Is this a dagger (2.1.33-61)
 Soliloquy Analysis: To be thus is nothing (3.1.47-71)
 Soliloquy Analysis: She should have died hereafter (5.5.17-28)

 Explanatory Notes for Lady Macbeth's Soliloquy (1.5)
 Explanatory Notes for the Witches' Chants (4.1)
 Macbeth Plot Summary (Acts 1 and 2)
 Macbeth Plot Summary (Acts 3, 4 and 5)

 The Curse of Macbeth
 Macbeth Q & A

 Shakespeare's Workmanship: Crafting a Sympathetic Macbeth
 Temptation, Sin, Retribution: Lecture Notes on Macbeth
 Untie the winds: Exploring the Witches' Control Over Nature in Macbeth

 Macbeth Study Quiz (with detailed answers)
 Quotations from Macbeth (Full)
 Top 10 Quotations from Macbeth
 Metaphors in Macbeth (Biblical)

 Shakespeare's Language
 Shakespeare's Metaphors and Similes
 Shakespeare's Reputation in Elizabethan England
 Shakespeare's Impact on Other Writers
 Why Study Shakespeare?

 Quotations About William Shakespeare
 Shakespeare's Boss