Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, / And thou oppos’d, 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!”
Act V, Scene 8 · Macbeth
Context
Despite realizing both prophecies have come true against him, Macbeth chooses to fight Macduff to the death rather than surrender, acknowledging the prophecies while refusing to submit.
Analysis
The sentence's structure mirrors Macbeth's mental pivot: it opens with two concessive clauses acknowledging his situation ('Though... And...') before the defiant 'Yet' reverses direction entirely, showing him override logic with will. His imperative 'lay on, Macduff' strips away all his earlier rhetoric and equivocation, leaving only bare challenge. The final curse on whoever yields first applies equally to both fighters, transforming his last stand from desperation into a kind of existential refusal—he may die, but he will control the terms.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Macbeth's tragedy lies in his warped notion of freedom—even when fate closes in, he finds agency only in violence, suggesting Shakespeare links tyrannical power with the inability to imagine any other form of self-determination.