TEXT:
MALCOLM
If such a one be fit to govern, speak:
I am as I have spoken.
MACDUFF
Fit to govern!
No, not to live. O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptered,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again,
Since that the truest issue of thy throne
By his own interdiction stands accursed,
And does blaspheme his breed? Thy royal father
Was a most sainted king: the queen that bore thee,
Oftener upon her knees than on her feet,
Died every day she lived. Fare thee well!
These evils thou repeat'st upon thyself
Have banish'd me from Scotland. O my breast,
Thy hope ends here!
MALCOLM
Macduff, this noble passion,
Child of integrity, hath from my soul
Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my thoughts
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth
By many of these trains hath sought to win me
Into his power, and modest wisdom plucks me
From over-credulous haste: but God above
Deal between thee and me! for even now
I put myself to thy direction, and
Unspeak mine own detraction, here abjure
The taints and blames I laid upon myself,
For strangers to my nature. I am yet
Unknown to woman, never was forsworn,
Scarcely have coveted what was mine own,
At no time broke my faith, would not betray
The devil to his fellow and delight
No less in truth than life: my first false speaking
Was this upon myself: what I am truly,
Is thine and my poor country's to command:
Whither indeed, before thy here-approach,
Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men,
Already at a point, was setting forth.
Now we'll together; and the chance of goodness
Be like our warranted quarrel! Why are you silent?
MACDUFF
Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
'Tis hard to reconcile.
NOTES:
Untitled
Macbeth does not have a hereditary title, and all the honours and titles he has have been given to him. (Or stolen by him, in the case of the crown.) The only title for him now is tyrant.
Interdiction
This was a legal term, a kind of a restraint that was imposed on someone when they proved themselves incapable of managing their own affairs. (See also: Britney Spears.)
Sainted Queen
The phrase “died every day she lived” appears to echo the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, in which Paul likewise opines that “I die daily”.
Old Siward
Siward is the Earl of Northumberland, the northern-most county in England. Northumberland borders Scotland - famously it is divided from Scotland by Hadrian’s Wall. Siward has agreed to bring on 10,000 men to help Malcolm’s fight for the throne.