macduff

• ambition

  • “let me find him, fortune, and more i beg not”
  • macduffs all consuming ambition is to kill macbeth to revenge the brutal murder of his family
  • macduff calls on fortune to help him find macbeth and kill him to continue the role of fate and the supernatural in the play
• supernatural

  • “macduff was from his mothers womb untimely ripped“
  • macduffs unnatural birth breaks the charm to break macbeths unnatural reign of terror
• violence

  • “o horror, horror, horror!”
  • macduffs response when he discovers duncan has been murdered conveys the cruel unjust nature of the event.
  • the heartbroken way he delivers news of the kings death contrasts with suspicion and distrust subjects feel for macbeth once he assumes the throne
• guilt

  • “o hell kite… all my pretty chickens… at one fell swoop”
  • macduff likens macbeth to a kite bird of prey who has cruelly killed his innocent “chickens“
  • he may immense feel guilt as he was not present to protect his family
• false appearance

  • “ bleed,bleed, poor country! great tyranny,lay thou thy basis sure, for goodness dare not check thee”
  • macduff emotive metaphor depicts macbeths laments the devastating affect macbeths reign is having on scotland
  • macduff is angry at himself and others who will not stand up to macbeth