And then retiring to her purple couch, amidst the cries of her waiting woman, she dies with insane groans echoing through her castle halls.
Macbeth, the pliant, cowardly, ambitious tool of his wicked wife, is at last surrounded by Macduff and his soldiers, and informed that his lady is dead.
And then soliloquizing on time and life, he utters these philosophic phrases:
"She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word;
To-morrow; and to-morrow, and to-morrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale,
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury—
Signifying nothing!"
And then, in the forest in front of the castle Macbeth is at last brought to bay and killed by Macduff; but the murderer of Duncan, brave to the last, exclaims:
"Yet I will try the last; before my body
I throw my warlike shield; lay on Macduff,
And damned be him that first cries, Hold, enough!"
A whirlwind of applause echoed through the royal halls at the conclusion of the great Scotch historical drama, and Shakspere was loudly called before the footlights, making a general bow to the audience, and paying deep, low courtesy to the King, who beckoned him to the throne chair, and placed about his neck a heavy golden chain with a miniature of His Majesty attached. William was glorified.
"Murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ!"