Loyalty/Macduff Flashcards
“new widows howl, new orphans cry”
Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as a man who adores Scotland and feels as though he must save it from the tyranny of Macbeth’s rule. He is the one to recognise that Macbeth’s reign brings chaos to Scotland and sets about creating an opposition to Macbeth. Shakespeare evidences Macduff’s care for all of Scotland through the use of parallelism as “new widows howl, new orphans cry” demonstrates that Macduff is considering the detrimental effects of Macbeth’s reign, holistically (as a whole). Hence he left his own wife and children to try and save the women and children of the whole country. This contrasts Macbeth, as Macduff acts for the good of others, not the good of himself. While Macbeth’s allegiance is to himself and his wife, Macduff’s is to Scotland.
“O horror, horror, horror”
Macduff’s complete loyalty to Duncan and adherence to the ‘Divine Right of Kings’ is demonstrated through a very emotional reaction to the death and Shakespeare’s use of the group of three “O horror, horror, horror” revealing Macduff’s distress and also his honour. Shakespeare employs repetition to emphasise the strength of this emotion. Macduff adopts the role of the judge in this play – he knows Macbeth is in the wrong. He will act on God’s behalf (in the absence of Duncan) to bring justice upon Macbeth. Judgment day for Macbeth – his actions will result in eternal damnation.
“fit to govern? No not to live!”
“I should pour the sweet milk of concord into hell”.
Macduff opposes Macbeth’s rule: “fit to govern? No not to live!” Through Shakespeare’s use of rhetorical question and hypophora (a question is raised and immediately answered) emphasise Macduff’s strong hatred of tyranny and complete loyalty to Scotland. He resents tyranny and this is clear through his immediate attempts to oppose Macbeth with an army from England. In the scene 4.3, Malcolm tests Macduff to see if he is in fact a man of principal. It is when Malcolm changes from character flaws (like greed and lust) to the disruption of Scotland’s order that Macduff rejects him. This is evident as Malcolm suggests that “I should pour the sweet milk of concord into hell”.
“thy hope ends here”
This demonstrates Macduff’s pessimistic outlook – he would not be able to live in happiness if Scotland was ruled by a tyrant. Malcolm also tests Macduff and proves him not to be naïve; he will not accept something that wouldn’t be good for the country as he shows great emotion towards the well-being of the country.
“Cruel are the times when we are traitor and do not know ourselves”
Macduff is only doing what he thinks is best for Scotland in not being a traitor to
Scotland, but he is a traitor to his family as he could only save one. In doing this, Macduff becomes the complete foil to Macbeth, who conversely obeys his wife and is a traitor to his country.
“Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope the lord’s anointed temple”
Shakespeare uses this metaphorical language, in stating that Duncan’s body was a “temple” , in order to reinforce the holiness of Duncan’s reign. He recognises Duncan as the true, divinely ordained, king. This demonstrates Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland, in addition to his
intensely patriotic nature.
“Bleed, bleed, poor country. / Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, / For goodness dare not check thee,”
Throughout Act 4 Scene 3, Macduff expresses what it is to be a good king, and mourns for his country’s loss. He weeps, “Bleed, bleed, poor country. / Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, / For goodness dare not check thee,” showing how patriotic he is.
