MACBETH
They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly,
But, bear-like, I must fight the course.—What’s he
That was not born of woman? Such a one
Am I to fear, or none.

    YOUNG SIWARD
What is thy name?

    MACBETH
                Thou’lt be afraid to hear it.

    YOUNG SIWARD
No; though thou call’st thyself a hotter name
Than any is in hell.

    MACBETH
                My name’s Macbeth.

    YOUNG SIWARD
The devil himself could not pronounce a title
More hateful to mine ear.

    MACBETH
                        No, nor more fearful.

    YOUNG SIWARD
Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with my sword
I’ll prove the lie thou speak’st.

    MACBETH
                Thou wast born of woman.—
But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn,
Brandish’d by man that’s of a woman born.

    MACDUFF
That way the noise is.—Tyrant, show thy face!
If thou be’st slain and with no stroke of mine,
My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me still.
I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms
Are hired to bear their staves: either thou, Macbeth,
Or else my sword with an unbatter’d edge
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be;
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited. Let me find him, fortune!
And more I beg not.

    SIWARD
This way, my lord;—the castle’s gently render’d:
The tyrant’s people on both sides do fight;
The noble thanes do bravely in the war;
The day almost itself professes yours,
And little is to do.

    MALOCOM
                        We have met with foes
That strike beside us.

    SIWARD
                            Enter, sir, the castle.