Ross

• "every one did bear thy praises in his kingdom's great defence"


  -duncan's messenger and cousin ross tells macbeth how pleased duncan is with his patriotic defense of scotland against the rebellion

  -his praise will later turn out to be ironic when macbeth betrays and murderers duncan and scotland needs to be defended against macbeth
• "thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act, threaten his bloody stage"


  -ross uses a theatrical metaphor to describe how the disapproving heavens and god look down angrily at man's "bloody stage" following duncan's murder
• "thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up thine own life's means!"


  -ross comments on the wasteful ambition that would cause sons to kill the father who gave them life

  -he is talking about duncan's sons' supposed involvement in their father's murder

  -he is right about ambition being the cause of duncan's murder, but it was macbeth's ambition and not that of malcolm and donalbain
• "he is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows the fits o' the season"


  -ross defends macduff's character against his wife's criticism of him for being cowardly and a traitor for quitting scotland and his family

  -in contrast to his wife, he sees macduff as a noble and wise figure who knows best how to act in the current troubled political climate

  -the honorable macduff is the antithesis to everything the corrupt and evil macbeth is
• "alas, poor country! almost afraid to know itself. it cannot be call'd our mother, but our grave; where nothing, but who knows nothing, is once seen to smile"


  -when ross meets up with macduff in england, macduff asks how things are going in scotland

  -ross offers this grim report on the state of affairs back home under macbeth's rule

  -ross can no longer think of scotland as his motherland, but his grave

  -he uses personification to convey his suffering country