TEXT:
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.
LADY MACDUFF
Thou speak'st with all thy wit: and yet, i' faith,
With wit enough for thee.
Son
Was my father a traitor, mother?
LADY MACDUFF
Ay, that he was.
Son
What is a traitor?
LADY MACDUFF
Why, one that swears and lies.
Son
And be all traitors that do so?
LADY MACDUFF
Every one that does so is a traitor, and must be hanged.
Son
And must they all be hanged that swear and lie?
LADY MACDUFF
Every one.
Son
Who must hang them?
LADY MACDUFF
Why, the honest men.
Son
Then the liars and swearers are fools,
for there are liars and swearers enow to beat
the honest men and hang up them.
LADY MACDUFF
Now, God help thee, poor monkey!
But how wilt thou do for a father?
Son
If he were dead, you'ld weep for
him: if you would not, it were a good sign
that I should quickly have a new father.
LADY MACDUFF
Poor prattler, how thou talk'st!
NOTES:
Sirrah
We discussed “sirrah” as a form of address before, but here it is more intimate and even playful. It does indicate that the speaker is addressing a boy, or a man of lower status. It’s perfectly acceptable for a mother to use it to address her son.
Lime / Birdlime
Lady Macduff refers to several means of trapping birds. The net is a fairly obvious example, but “the lime” is less known to us. Around the world there are several versions of birdlime, a sticky substance concocted to spread out as a trap to catch birds. A popular European recipe is made from holly bark, boiled and reduced until it forms a sticky paste. In Hamlet, Claudius gave us the vivid image of his “limed soul” - he worried that his soul was no better off than a bird trapped in lime - the more the bird attempts to free itself, the more it becomes ensnared in the claggy mess.
Pitfall
As mentioned in the episode, a pitfall was a pit, a hole dug and then covered over, so that a hunter’s prey would fall in and be unable to escape. The word has become proverbial, a pitfall being a hidden or unforeseen difficulty. Shakespeare uses a literal pitfall as a trap in Titus Andronicus, when Lavinia and her lover are set upon by Tamora’s evil sons during the hunt.
Gin
Perhaps the most obscure of the trap names Lady Macduff mentions, the gin trap is actually quite recognisable. It is the kind that has metal jaws that clasp shut when any prey steps in it. (Apparently the name comes from “engine” - because it was a mechanical trap that did not require a human to operate it.) Gin traps are unreliable because they cannot determine who or what they ensnare - and obviously they can cause rather nasty injuries.