[Music] act 5 scene 2 of Macbeth takes place in the countryside outside Dunsinane as the Lord's Caithness Monteith Lennox and Angus meet with a number of soldiers Menteith says that malcolm and macduff are leading English troops their way Angus adds they will join these troops near Birnam wood Lennox confirms that Donalbain is not with Malcolm and English army they then discuss Macbeth who is fortifying the castle at Dunsinane they suspect that he will not be able to hold his position claiming that his troops are moved only by orders not by love or loyalty the thanes and their soldiers march on toward Birnam to meet the English army and Malcolm whom they see as the rightful heir to the Scottish throne with the other Lords against him in the English army on its way Macbeth's final defeat looms as prophesied the armies will meet at vernon wood who's moved to Dunsinane Hill was prophesied as a danger to Macbeth while the precise method in which the forest will move is not clear yet the troops are marching at the edges of Macbeth's a destiny furthermore the things are confident that in shedding the blood of Macbeth and his troops Scotland will be purged of the source of its illness