The final Act

Act five is a brief act of 8 scenes, which switch back and forth between the castle, where Macbeth is constantly receiving reports that the English army is coming, and the forest, where the army led by Siward, Malcolm, and Macduff are planning their attack.

Scene 1 shows us Lady Macbeth for the final time. She is distraught, hallucinating, and sleepwalking. This is a big change from the first Lady Macbeth we see. She mutters in her sleep about the murders her husband has committed, and her lady and doctor overhear her.

Then, we discover that Malcolm and his army are approaching. They fufill one of the witches apparitions when Malcolm tells them to cut down the branches from the trees of Birnam wood to cover themselves as they approach the castle. This will camouflage their numbers, but will also make it look like the forest is moving to Dunsinane Hill.


Macbeth does not know this yet, but he is still feeling confident and repeating the two apparitions to himself--first, that he will not be harmed by anyone born of a woman, and second, that he cannot be vanquished until the forest of Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane hill. These two things are making him feel very confident and self-assured. He is acting very rashly because of it, and says he wants his armour--he would go and fight everyone himself he is so confident and angry. Until, that is, a messenger tells him that he has seen the forest coming towards them. This makes Macbeth falter, and he is not as assured as he once was. However, he still clings to the idea that everyman is born of a woman, so no man can harm him.

In the meantime, Lady M kills herself. Macbeth does not have time to grieve for her, but gives his famous speach about how life drags on (Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow) and how life is just a brief story like an actor who struts on a stage and then leaves.

The English forces now arrive and drop their camouflage. Malcolm orders Siward and young Siward to do the first attack. Macbeth meets young Siward in combat, and, still confident that he will win, kills young Siward, stating that he was born of a woman, and therefore, must die.

Now, Macduff, who at this point is clearly Macbeth's nemesis, searches for his one-on-one combat. Macbeth has now ruined many father son relationships through his killing spree. Macbeth does not want to fight Macduff, however, because he says he has already too much of his family's blood on his soul. But, Macduff meets him in battle, and at first, Macbeth is winning. But, he makes the mistake of saying that he can not be beat by anyone born of woman. This is when Macduff reveals that he was "untimely ripped from his mother's womb"--meaning, that he was cut out, (what we would now call a c-section). Thus, he was not technically born of a woman in the traditional way. Macbeth now does not want to fight, but Macduff will not let him give up. So, Macbeth dies in as honourable a way as he can--he feels guilty for what he has done, and knows that he should not have trusted the witches, who told him half-truths, and made him feel over confident. He rushes into death fighting, and is killed and beheaded by Macduff.

Now, it is left to Malcolm to return the world to the status quo. He must make everything right again. He is the rightful king, and begins his rule by making the Thanes Earls; then, inviting home all the people who were exiled, and finally, by inviting them to see him crowned at Scone.

Old Siward also learns of his son's death, but is comforted by the fact that his son's wounds were on the front, meaning that he died facing his enemy, not running away from the battle.

So, the play ends with much blood shed, but with the idea that Scotland has been cleansed of its disease, of its sickness, and the darkness has now left with the death of Macbeth.

Homework: Hand in 4 assignments
Also, remember that we are writing an in class essay after spring break!
Bring your ideas to the first class back as we will be spending that class making outlines.