Drum and colours.
Enter Malcolm, Siward, Macduff, Siward’s Son, Menteith, Caithness, Angus, and soldiers, marching
MALCOLM Cousins, I hope the days are near at hand
That chambers will be safe.
MENTEITH We doubt it nothing.
SIWARD What wood is this before us?
MENTEITH The wood of Birnam.
MALCOLM Let every soldier hew him down a bough
And bear’t before him. Thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host, and make discovery
Err in report of us.
SOLDIER It shall be done. (5.4.1-7)
This is the first occasion on which the Scottish thanes have been seen united with Malcolm and the English forces (here Siward and his son) and so the colours may be the flags of both England and Scotland. (Union flags might be pushing it a bit.) And they’remarchingto the drumbeat: this is an orderly host, a proper army. Malcolm’s address to his companions as cousins isn’t just because Siward and his son are relations—he’s emphasising that they’re all kin, that they’re close, united, all on the same team; they’re bound by affection and a shared cause, a stark contrast to Macbeth’s admission, just made in the previous scene, that he has no friends, that his professed supporters are mostly only paying lip service to him. It’s striking, if one pauses on it, that Malcolm specifically expresses his hope that days are near at hand that chambers will be safe. He’s talking about home, family, domestic life; he could also be meaning bedchambers specifically, repeating his personal avowal of sexual continence and also suggesting that they are here to restore and defend the ‘honour’ of women and the family in particular. It perhaps implicitly lays a particular charge on Macbeth, of sexual violence and exploitation; it might be a nod at Macduff? but it’s also a claim familiar from all kinds of political movements and invaders: we’re the ones on the side of values, stability, the restoration of the moral order. He could be thinking of his own father’s bedchamber, Duncan, slaughtered by the man who was meant to be his loyal host. (Shouldn’t over-think it though.) Menteith’s relieved to hear it, and he gives his support: we doubt it nothing. With you all the way, lad. Then what seems like a mundane detail, request for information from an Englishman unfamiliar with the geography: what wood is this before us? where are we? The wood of Birnam. Ah. That sounds familiar. Macbeth was chanting that like a mantra just a moment ago. And it matters that the cunning plan, when it comes, is Malcolm’s: let every soldier hew him down a bough and bear’t before him. Does he know about the prophecy? No, just tactics. Thereby shall we shadow the numbers of our host, and make discovery err in report of us. If we’re carrying branches, then Macbeth’s scouts and sentries won’t be able to count us, see how many of us there are. It’ll mess up his intel, give us the element of surprise even if he sees us coming a mile off. It shall be done—and it’s a nice touch to have that response from an anonymous soldier—the men are already looking to Malcolm for their orders, and what he says goes.
