LADY MACDUFF, her SON, and ROSS enter.
LADY MACDUFF
What did he do that made him flee this land?
ROSS
You have to be patient, madam.
LADY MACDUFF
He had no patience. He was crazy to run away. Even if you're not a traitor, you're going to look like one if you run away.
ROSS
You don't know whether it was wisdom or fear that made him flee.
LADY MACDUFF
How could it be wisdom! To leave his wife, his children, his house, and his titles in a place so unsafe that he himself flees it! He doesn't love us. He lacks the natural instinct to protect his family. Even the fragile wren, the smallest of birds, will fight against the owl when it threatens her young ones in the nest. His running away has everything to do with fear and nothing to do with love. And since it's so unreasonable for him to run away, it has nothing to do with wisdom either.
ROSS
My dearest relative, I'm begging you, pull yourself together. As for your husband, he is noble, wise, and judicious, and he understands what the times require. It's not safe for me to say much more than this, but times are bad when people get denounced as traitors and don't even know why. In times like these, we believe frightening rumors but we don't even know what we're afraid of. It's like being tossed around on the ocean in every direction, and finally getting nowhere. I'll say good-bye now. It won't be long before I'm back. When things are at their worst they have to stop, or else improve to the way things were before. My young cousin, I put my blessing upon you.
LADY MACDUFF
He has a father, and yet he is fatherless.
ROSS
I have to go. If I stay longer, I'll embarrass you and disgrace myself by crying. I'm leaving now.
ROSS exits.
LADY MACDUFF
Young man, your father's dead. What are you going to do now? How are you going to live?
SON
I will live the way birds do, Mother.
LADY MACDUFF
What? Are you going to start eating worms and flies?
SON
I mean I will live on whatever I get, like birds do.
LADY MACDUFF
You'd be a pitiful bird. You wouldn't know enough to be afraid of traps.
SON
Why should I be afraid of them, Mother? If I'm a pitiful bird, like you say, hunters won't want me. No matter what you say, my father is not dead.
LADY MACDUFF
Yes, he is dead. What are you going to do for a father?
SON
Maybe you should ask, what will you do for a husband?
LADY MACDUFF
Oh, I can buy twenty husbands at any market.
SON
If so, you'd be buying them to sell again.
LADY MACDUFF
You talk like a child, but you're very smart anyway.
SON
Was my father a traitor, Mother?
LADY MACDUFF
Yes, he was.
SON
What is a traitor?
LADY MACDUFF
Someone who makes a promise and breaks it.
SON
And is everyone who swears and lies a traitor?
LADY MACDUFF
Everyone who does so is a traitor and should be hanged.
SON
And should everyone who makes promises and breaks them be hanged?
LADY MACDUFF
Everyone.
SON
Who should hang them?
LADY MACDUFF
The honest men.
SON
Then the liars are fools, for there are enough liars in the world to beat up the honest men and hang them.
LADY MACDUFF
(laughing) Heaven help you for saying that, boy! (sad again) But what will you do without a father?
SON
If he were dead, you'd be weeping for him. If you aren't weeping, it's a good sign that I'll soon have a new father.
LADY MACDUFF
Silly babbler, how you talk!
A MESSENGER enters.
MESSENGER
Bless you, fair lady! You don't know me, but I know you're an important person. I'm afraid something dangerous is coming toward you. If you'll take a simple man's advice, don't be here when it arrives. Go away and take your children. I feel bad for scaring you like this, but it would be much worse for me to let you come to harm. And harm is getting close! Heaven keep you safe!
The MESSENGER exits.
LADY MACDUFF
Where should I go? I haven't done anything wrong. But I have to remember that I'm here on Earth, where doing evil is often praised, and doing good is sometimes a stupid and dangerous mistake. So then why should I offer this womanish defense that I'm innocent?
The MURDERERS enter.
Who are these men?
FIRST MURDERER
Where is your husband?
LADY MACDUFF
I hope he's not anywhere so disreputable that thugs like you can find him.
FIRST MURDERER
He's a traitor.
SON
You're lying, you shaggy-haired villain!
FIRST MURDERER
What's that, you runt? (stabbing him) Young son of a traitor!
SON
He has killed me, Mother. Run away, I beg you!
The SON dies. LADY MACDUFF exits, crying "Murder!" The MURDERERS exit, following her.