Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

 

Accursed be the tongue that tells me so,

For it hath cow’d my better part of man!

And be these juggling fiends no more believed,

That palter with us in a double sense;

That keep the word of promise in our ear,

And break it to our hope!—I’ll not fight with thee.

 

Macbeth

 

Macbeth                Act V, Scene viii, Line 20

 

Well now, these are close to Macbeth’s last words. We only have seven and a half more lines out of him before he exits fighting Macduff. And those lines will be his last as the next time we see him after that is with his head severed from his body. At that point he won’t be saying much at all.
Macduff’s response to Macbeth is to tell him to yield to him if he’s not going to fight, and Macbeth replies with his last lines.

                      I will not yield,
To kiss the ground before young Malcom’s feet,
And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.
Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunisane,
And though opposed, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last:— before my body
I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff;
And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’

And they exit fighting. Again, the last we see of Macbeth alive.

If you’ve any familiarity with this play you won’t need much help with any of today’s lines. If you don’t, well, it would take a page and a half to bring you up to speed considering we’re in the final lines of the play. I think that I won’t do that this morning.
So I guess I’ll just be giving you a whole bunch of Shakespeare lines, with a little explanation, this morning.

Today’s exchange about Macbeth being unkillable starts with him saying this to Macduff,

I bear a charmed life, which must not yield
To one of woman born.

This is what the witches had told Macbeth, that no man of woman born would be able to kill him. Of course, Macduff gives his famous reply,

               Despair thy charm:
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee: Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ript.

In other words, since he was brought into the world through some sort of caesarian section, he was not technically of woman born. Or at least not born like most men were.

And then this exchange is immediately followed by Today’s Totally Random Daily Lines given by Macbeth.

There, now it should make sense.

 

 Here's an excerpt from the book above, from the chapter The Battle of the Pelennor Fields (yes, that's right: I only have the cover left of this particular copy).

“Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!”

Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. "But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Eowyn I am, Eomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.”

Of course, in the movie she says simply, “I am no man!” Hollywood likes to get to the point.

Still think JRR didn't read Shakespeare?