Macduff Flashcards
Temple:Macduff
“Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope the lord’s anointed temple”
Shakespeare uses thus metaphorical language, in stating that Duncan’s body was a “temple” in order to reinforce the holiness of Duncan’s reign. This furthers the usage as Macduff being a foil to Macbeth, as he is one of the only characters to recognise that Macbeth in killing Duncan has gone against the divine rights - hence the “sacrilegious” nature of the murder. As well as, demonstrating his loyalty to Scotland through his intense patriotic nature.
Macduff: horror
“O horror, horror, horror”
Macduff complete loyalty to Duncan and adherence to the divine rights of kings is demonstrated through a very emotional reaction to the death and Shakespeare’s use of 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 judge in this play - demonstrating his contrast to Macbeth as he knows he is wrong. He will act on God’s behalf (in the absence of Duncan) to bring justice upon Macbeth. Judgement day for Macbeth - his action will result in eternal damnation.
Macduff:judgement
“Tyrant”. “Hellhound” “bloodier villain”
Macduff is depicted as a baring judgement/delivering punishment :
This revélelas the ambivalence and double sense of the witches’ prophecies and forces Macbeth to realise his mistake in trusting them. It is only when he is close to death he realises the witches were “juggling fiends” and recognises the truth in a classical moment of anagnorisis (the point in a play, where a principal character recognises or discovers another characters true identity). Macduff, therefore, is symbolic of a bringer of truth and he calls Macbeth what he is - “tyrant”, “hellhound”, “bloodier villain”. He brings truth to deception that has been Macbeth’s reign and by killing him Shakespeare is potentially making a commentary on the deception and how man (Macbeth) can ultimately not deceive God (divine rights) as they will in turn receive punishment. In this case death, this may have been potentially implemented to gain patronage of King James at the time and demonstrates what going against monarchy does. Therefore he uses Macduff killing Macbeth, as a symbolic punishment of Macbeths sacrilegious crimes.
Macduff: Stereotypes
“I shall do so, but I must also feel it as a man”
Macduff shows that manhood comprises more than aggression and murder; allowing oneself to be sensitive and to feel grief is also necessary. It contrasts the display of masculinity represented by Macbeth through his aggression and tyranny, and potentially here Macduff is used purposefully as construct to highlight the fragility of Jacobean depiction of society.
