LADY MACDUFF
Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave his babes,
His mansion and his titles in a place
From whence himself does fly? He loves us not;
He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight,
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love;
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason.

ROSS
My dearest coz,
I pray you, school yourself: but for your husband,
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
The fits o' the season. I dare not speak
much further;
But cruel are the times, when we are traitors
And do not know ourselves, when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,
But float upon a wild and violent sea
Each way and move. I take my leave of you:
Shall not be long but I'll be here again:
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
To what they were before. My pretty cousin,
Blessing upon you!

Notes and Glossary
NOTES This scene is used to epitomise the general terror throughout Scotland. The destructive forces of disorder -vividly described by Ross as a shifting chaos in which all the foundations of certainty are sapped away -are contrasted with the natural order of family relationships, and of birth and growth. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1596 When our actions do not, our fears do make us traitors. .When our actions do not show us to be traitors, by our cowardly flight we make ourselves seem to be traitors. , ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1601 Titles. Possessions, what he is entitled to. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1603 He wants the natural touch. 'He is without the divine spark of natural affection.' "Wants" is here used in its sense of 'is wanting in, , 'is without,' 'is unpossessed of (See Act iii). ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1605 Owl. The owl is mentioned ominously before each of the three murders in the play. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1606 All. ..love. He is motivated by fear for himself, not by love for us. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1612 Thefits 0' the season. 'The crises of the times.' ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1613 When we are traitors, and do not know ourselves. 'When we are believed to be traitors, yet know ourselves to be not.'." ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1619 Things. ..upward. When things are at their worst they must either end altogether or else improve. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1624 My disgrace. Because he would not weep. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1624 Discomfort. Embarrassment. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1631 Lime. Bird lime -used to catch birds. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1632 Pitfall. Snare. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1632 Gin. Trap. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1633 Poor birds. No one bothers to trap poor birds. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1635 Do for. Find a substitute for. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1639 Wit. Intelligence -perhaps implying that he hasn't very much so has to use it all. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1654 Enow. Enough. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1655 Monkey. Used affectionately. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1661 In your state of honour I am perfect. The man sees her in her own castle, and knows her to be its lady mistress; but he also seems to know that she is a virtuous, a kind, a good lady as well as a noble lady, and therefore comes to warn her of approaching danger. The word "perfect" is here used in its sense of 'perfectly acquainted, , 'perfectly informed. ' See Act iii "Winter's Tale." ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1662 Doubt. Fear. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1662 Nearly. Closely. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1663 Homely. Humble. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1665 Savage. Cruel. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1666 Fell. Ruthless. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1676 What are these faces. Only a true poet would have thought of the impressive simplicity of the expression; containing horrible significance as to the effect produced upon the speaker by the grim visages of the cut-throats as they enter her presence, and causing is to behold them through her words in their full menace of aspect. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1681 Shag-hair'd. The Folio prints this 'shagge-ear'd;' but "Shag-hair'd" is an abusive epithet frequently used by writers of the time. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1682 Egg. Embryo. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1683 Youngfry. Little fish. ACT 4 Scene 2 Line 1685 Run away, I pray you. The loving unselfishness of these words, showing the boy's thought for his mother even in the moment of his own assassination, is exactly one of Shakespeare's beautiful touches ofhumanity; and the whole of this brief but charmingly written scene forms another of his exquisite delineation's of child nature. Witness his portraiture of little York in "Richard III" and Prince Arthur in "Kmg John". See Act ii "Winter's Tale." and Act iv "Richard III."

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LADY MACDUFF
Father'd he is, and yet he's fatherless.

ROSS
I am so much a fool, should I stay longer,
It would be my disgrace and your discomfort:
I take my leave at once.

Exit

LADY MACDUFF
Sirrah, your father's dead;
And what will you do now? How will you live?

Son
As birds do, mother.

LADY MACDUFF
What, with worms and flies?

Son
With what I get, I mean; and so do they.

LADY MACDUFF
Poor bird! thou'ldst never fear the net nor lime,
The pitfall nor the gin.

Son
Why should I, mother? Poor birds they are not set for.
My father is not dead, for all your saying.

LADY MACDUFF
Yes, he is dead; how wilt thou do for a father?

Son
Nay, how will you do for a husband?

LADY MACDUFF
Why, I can buy me twenty at any market.

Son
Then you'll buy 'em to sell again.

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Enter Murderers

What are these faces?

First Murderer
Where is your husband?

LADY MACDUFF
I hope, in no place so unsanctified
Where such as thou mayst find him.

First Murderer
He's a traitor.

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Son
Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain!

First Murderer
What, you egg!

Stabbing him
Young fry of treachery!

Son
He has kill'd me, mother:
Run away, I pray you!

Dies

Exit LADY MACDUFF, crying 'Murder!'
Exeunt Murderers, following her.