Macduff Flashcards
Ts1: Macduff is presented as the morally good foil to Macbeth.
‘Sacrilegious murder hath broke open/ The lords anointed temple’
Ts2: He is introduced by the witches as a threat to macbeth, and Macduff’s family payd the price when he flees to England.
‘Beware Macduff’
‘Give to the edge of the sword his wife, his babes’
‘Sinful Macduff, they were all struck for thee’
Ts3: Macduff is presented as a patriot when his loyalty is tested by Malcolm.
‘Fit to govern? No, not to live. O nation miserable…’
Ts4: in the final act, Macduff is revealed as Macbeth’s nemesis and the natural order is restored.
‘Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped’
Topic sentences:
Ts1: MD presented as morally good foil to MB
Ts2: MD presented as threat to MB and his family pays the price when he flees to England
Ts3: MD is tested by Malvolm and presented as patriotic when loyalty tested
Ts4: MD presented as nemesis to MB 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 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 flee to England he takes revenge by murdering his family. R= the audience despised 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. MD’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 MB and the audience that he was born by a caesarean section: This is cathartic (psychological relief) for the audience- they know MB has become se 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.
