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Actually understand Macbeth Act 5, Scene 1. Read every line of Shakespeare’s original text alongside a modern English translation.
- Act 4, Scene 3
Actually understand Macbeth Act 4, Scene 3. Read every line...
- Summary & Analysis
The horrified doctor and gentlewoman watch as Lady Macbeth...
- Modern English Translation
Actually understand Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5. Read every line...
- Act 4, Scene 3
Actually understand Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5. Read every line of Shakespeare’s original text alongside a modern English translation.
Read the full scene of Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking and hallucinations, translated into modern English. See how the doctor and the gentlewoman react to her disturbing behavior and words.
Read the full scene of Macbeth's final confrontation with the rebel army at Dunsinane, translated into modern English. See how Macbeth reacts to the news of his wife's death and the moving forest of Birnam Wood.
- Summary: Act 5: Scene 1
- Summary: Act 5: Scene 2
- Summary: Act 5: Scene 3
- Summary: Act 5: Scene 4
- Summary: Act 5: Scene 5
- Summary: Act 5: Scene 6
- Summary: Act 5: Scene 7
- Summary: Act 5: Scene 8
- Analysis: Act 5: Scenes 1–8
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
At night, in the king’s palace at Dunsinane, a doctor and a gentlewoman discuss Lady Macbeth’s strange habit of sleepwalking. Suddenly, Lady Macbeth enters in a trance with a candle in her hand. Bemoaning the murders of Lady Macduff and Banquo, she seems to see blood on her hands and claims that nothing will ever wash it off. She leaves, and the do...
Outside the castle, a group of Scottish lords discusses the military situation: the English army approaches, led by Malcolm, and the Scottish army will meet them near Birnam Wood, apparently to join forces with them. The “tyrant,” as Lennox and the other lords call Macbeth, has fortified Dunsinane Castle and is making his military preparations in a...
Macbeth strides into the hall of Dunsinane with the doctor and his attendants, boasting proudly that he has nothing to fear from the English army or from Malcolm, since “none of woman born” can harm him (4.1.96) and since he will rule securely “[t]ill Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane” (5.3.2). He calls his servant Seyton, who confirms that an army o...
In the country near Birnam Wood, Malcolm talks with the English lord Siward and his officers about Macbeth’s plan to defend the fortified castle. They decide that each soldier should cut down a bough of the forest and carry it in front of him as they march to the castle, thereby disguising their numbers. Read a translation of Act 5: Scene 4
Within the castle, Macbeth blusteringly orders that banners be hung and boasts that his castle will repel the enemy. A woman’s cry is heard, and Seyton appears to tell Macbeth that the queen is dead. Shocked, Macbeth speaks numbly about the passage of time and declares famously that life is “a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Sign...
Outside the castle, the battle commences. Malcolm orders the English soldiers to throw down their boughs and draw their swords. Read a translation of Act 5: Scene 6
On the battlefield, Macbeth strikes those around him vigorously, insolent because no man born of woman can harm him. He slays Lord Siward’s son and disappears in the fray. Macduffemerges and searches the chaos frantically for Macbeth, whom he longs to cut down personally. He dives again into the battle. Malcolm and Siward emerge and enter the castl...
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Macbeth at last encounters Macduff. They fight, and when Macbeth insists that he is invincible because of the witches’prophecy, Macduff tells Macbeth that he was not of woman born, but rather “from his mother’s womb / Untimely ripped” (5.8.15–16). Macbeth suddenly fears for his life, but he declares that he will not su...
The rapid tempo of the play’s development accelerates into a breakneck frenzy in Act 5, as the relatively long scenes of previous acts are replaced by a flurry of short takes, each of which furthers the action toward its violent conclusion on the battlefield outside Dunsinane Castle. We see the army’s and Malcolm’s preparation for battle, the fulfi...
Read a brief summary and analysis of each scene in Act 5 of Macbeth, where the tragic hero faces his fate on the battlefield. Learn about the prophecies, the sleepwalking, the final duel, and the crowning of Malcolm.
Jul 31, 2015 · Read the full text of Act 5, scene 1 of Macbeth, where Lady Macbeth suffers from guilt and insomnia. See the original spelling, punctuation, and stage directions of the play.
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What happens in Act 5 Scene 1?
Macbeth Modern Translation: Act 5, Scene 1. The success of the rebels had forced the King to retreat to his northern castle at Dunsinane and it was from there that he was conducting the war. It was late. A doctor stood in a recess of the wall of a dark corridor with one of the Queen’s gentlewomen-in-waiting.
