Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 8 of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth and Macduff are fighting each other. At another location, the leaders of the rebel army are evaluating the progress of the battling forces at the castle. A stage direction has been added in the middle of the excerpt.Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM, SIWARD, ROSS, the other Thanes, and Soldiers.Malcolm. I would the friends we miss were safe arrived.Siward. Some must go off: and yet, by these I see,So great a day as this is cheaply bought.Malcolm. Macduff is missing, and your noble son.[ROSS approaches SIWARD with head slightly bowed and a somber expression.]Ross. [To SIWARD.] Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier’s debt:He only lived but till he was a man;The which no sooner had his prowess confirm’dIn the unshrinking station where he fought,But like a man he died.Siward. Then he is dead?Ross. Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrowMust not be measured by his worth, for thenIt hath no end.
B
a feeling of anticipation