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Enter LADY MACDUFF, her
SON, and ROSS
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LADY MACDUFF, her SON, and
ROSS enter.
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LADY MACDUFF What had he done to make him fly the land?
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LADY MACDUFF What did he do that made him flee this land?
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ROSS You must have patience, madam.
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ROSS You have to be patient, madam.
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LADY MACDUFF He
had none.
His flight was madness. When our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.
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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.
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ROSS You
know not
5Whether it was his wisdom or his fear.
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ROSS You don’t know whether it was wisdom or fear that made
him flee.
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LADY MACDUFF Wisdom! To leave his wife, to leave his babes,
His mansion and his titles in a place
From whence himself does fly? He loves us not;
He wants the natural touch. For the poor wren,
10The most diminutive of birds, will fight,
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love,
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason.
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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.
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ROSS My
dearest coz,
15I pray you school yourself. But for your husband,
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
The fits o' th' season. I dare not speak much
further;
But cruel are the times when we are traitors
And do not know ourselves; when we hold rumor
20From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,
But float upon a wild and violent sea
Each way and none. I take my leave of you.
Shall not be long but I’ll be here again.
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
25To what they were before.—My pretty cousin,
Blessing upon you.
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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.
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