Vol. 08 · Shakespeare ·Macbeth, Act V.viii ·Macbeth
"Lead on, Macduff!"
Not quite the line.
How it's usually quoted
"Lead on, Macduff!"
What Shakespeare actually wrote
"Lay on, Macduff, and damn'd be him that first cries "Hold, enough!"" Macbeth — Macbeth, Act V.viii
Why it matters
"Lay on" is Elizabethan for "strike." Macbeth is inviting combat, not asking for directions. The modern misquote reads as polite; the original is defiant.
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