directory
home contact

Macbeth

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

ACT V SCENE VI Dunsinane. Before the castle. 
[ Drum and colours. Enter MALCOLM, SIWARD, MACDUFF, and their Army, with boughs ]
MALCOLMNow near enough: your leafy screens throw down.
And show like those you are. You, worthy uncle,
Shall, with my cousin, your right-noble son,
Lead our first battle: worthy Macduff and we
Shall take upon 's what else remains to do,5
According to our order.
SIWARDFare you well.
Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night,
Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight.
MACDUFFMake all our trumpets speak; give them all breath,
Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death.
[Exeunt]

Next: Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 7
______

Explanatory Notes for Act 5, Scene 6
From Macbeth. Ed. Thomas Marc Parrott. New York: American Book Co.
(Line numbers have been altered.)

______

2. show like those you are, appear in your true shapes.

7. Do we but find, if we can but meet.

7. to-night. It seems as if they had planned to assault Dunsinane toward the end of the day. There is a picturesque justice in Macbeth's meeting his fate in the gathering gloom of twilight.

________
How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Thomas Marc Parrott. New York: American Book Co., 1904. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2010. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth_5_6.html >.
________

More Resources

 The Chronology of Shakespeare's Plays
 Establishing the Order of the Plays
 How Many Plays Did Shakespeare Write?
 Shakespeare Timeline

 Shakespeare's Reputation in Elizabethan England
 Words Shakespeare Invented
 Quotations About William Shakespeare

 Portraits of Shakespeare
 Shakespeare's Boss: The Master of Revels
 Top 10 Shakespeare Plays

 Shakespeare's Metaphors and Similes
 Shakespeare's Blank Verse
 Shakespeare Timeline

 Edward Alleyn (Actor)
 What is Tragic Irony?
 Characteristics of Elizabethan Tragedy

More to Explore

 Macbeth: The Complete Play with Annotations and Commentary
 The Metre of Macbeth: Blank Verse and Rhymed Lines
 Macbeth Character Introduction
 Metaphors in Macbeth (Biblical)

 Macbeth Q & A
 Essay Topics on Macbeth
 Aesthetic Examination Questions on Macbeth
 What is Tragic Irony?

 Macbeth, Duncan and Shakespeare's Changes
 King James I and Shakespeare's Sources for Macbeth
 Contemporary References to King James I in Macbeth
 The Royal Patent that Changed Shakespeare's Life

 Origin of the Weird Sisters
 Crafting a Sympathetic Macbeth
 The Moral Character of Macbeth

_____


Did You Know? ... In this very short scene we see Malcolm, Siward, and Macduff gathered with their troops on the plain before Macbeth's castle. They throw down their 'leafy screens', sound the trumpets, and wage their assault on the royal palace. Click here for the full plot summary.

_____


 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)

 Elizabethan Use of Mummified Flesh
 Three Apparitions in Macbeth
 Supernatural Soliciting in Shakespeare
 Explanatory Notes for the Witches' Chants (4.1)

 Macbeth Plot Summary (Acts 1 and 2)
 Macbeth Plot Summary (Acts 3, 4 and 5)
 How to Stage a Production of Macbeth (Scene Suggestions)

 A Comparison of Macbeth and Hamlet
 Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth
 Shakespeare's Sources for Macbeth
 The Curse of Macbeth

 Explanatory Notes for Lady Macbeth's Soliloquy (1.5)
 The Psychoanalysis of Lady Macbeth (Sleepwalking Scene)
 The Effect of Lady Macbeth's Death on Macbeth
 Is Lady Macbeth's Swoon Real?

 Stages of Plot Development in Macbeth
 Time Analysis of the Action in Macbeth
 Macbeth Study Quiz (with detailed answers)
 Quotations from Macbeth (Full)
 Top 10 Quotations from Macbeth

 Temptation, Sin, Retribution: Lecture Notes on Macbeth
 Untie the winds: Exploring the Witches' Control Over Nature
 Shakespeare on Omens

 Characteristics of Elizabethan Tragedy
 Why Shakespeare is so Important
 Shakespeare's Language
 Shakespeare's Influence on Other Writers