Macduff Flashcards
TS1
Macduff is presented as the morally good foil to Macbeth.
TS2
He is introduced by the witches as a threat to Macbeth, and Macduff’s family pays the price when he flees to England.
TS3
Macduff is presented as a patriot when his loyalty is tested by Malcolm.
TS4
In the final act, Macduff is revealed as Macbeth’s nemesis and the natural order is restored.
‘sacrilegious murder hath broke open/ The Lord’s anointed temple’
L = metaphor. Duncan’s stabbed body is compared to a temple that has been broken into. MD’s use of a religious semantic field establishes his moral goodness. C = DRK. Jacobeans believed in the DRK, therefore murdering a king was an act against God. (Gunpowder Plot)
‘beware Macduff’
R = the apparition’s warning is an effective dramatic device as the audience wonders why MB should fear him and how he might threaten MB’s position on the throne.
‘give to the edge of the sword his wife, his babes’
L = emotive language. When MB learns MD has fled to England he takes revenge by murdering his family. R = audience despises MB for his cruelty in killing innocent children.
‘sinful Macduff, they were all struck for thee’
L = adjective suggests his guilt that his innocent family were murdered for his actions. Sibilance shows his self-hatred. R/D = MD is not a flawless character. The audience may feel sympathy but also feel leaving his family was a serious error of judgement. He should have protected them.
‘Fit to govern? No, not to live. O nation miserable…’
L= Malcolm tests MD by pretending to have a sinful character. Macduff’s rhetorical question shows he refuses to support a sinful king because this will just continue Scotland’s suffering. Malcolm is then satisfied that MD is loyal and patriotic.
‘Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped’
R = When MD faces MB in the final scene, he reveals to Macbeth and the audience that he was born by caesarean section. This is cathartic for the audience – they know MB has become so evil he must die, and MD kills him, avenging his family’s murders. C = the natural order is restored and God’s chosen king, Malcolm, takes the throne of Scotland.
