Summary of Act 5, Scene 6:The English and Scottish forces, led by Malcolm, begin their attack upon Dunsinane.
Drum and colours. Enter Malcolm, Siward, Macduff, and their Army, with boughs:
The forces arrayed against Macbeth are now near enough to Dunsinane that further concealment is not necessary, and Malcolm gives the order: "Now near enough: your leafy screens throw down. / And show like those you are" (5.6.1-2). He then directs the battalion led by Siward and his son to begin the attack, and says that a second battalion, led by Macduff and himself will do the mopping-up operations. Siward responds, "Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night, / Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight" (5.6.7-8). He means that if they can only find Macbeth's pitiful army, they will deserve to lose if they can't fight well enough to win a quick victory. Macduff calls out for the trumpets to sound, and they do, and so the charge begins. And so this very brief scene ends.