The Opening Scene of Macbeth Sets the Mood of the Whole Play-Discuss

Macduff (Macbeth) 1 Macduff (Macbeth) Macduff (Macbeth) Dan OHerlihy as Macduff in Orson Welles disputable film adaptation Macbeth (1948) Creator William Shakespe be Play Date Source Family Macbeth c. 1603-1607 Holinsheds Chronicles (1587) Lady Macduff, married cleaning lady Son, (name unknown) Antagonist to Macbeth pop outs him in the final act. Despair thy c violate / And let the angel whom thou has served / Tell thee Macduff was from his niggles womb / previous(p) ripped (5. 10. 14-16) Role Quote Macduff, the Thane of Fife, is a vulcanized fiber in William Shakespeares Macbeth (c. 603-1607). Macduff merriments a pivotal role in the play he suspects Macbeth of regicide and eventually kills Macbeth in the final act. He is the main antagonist, yet the hero, in the play. The character is first known from Chronica Gentis Scotorum (late 14th century) and Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland (early 15th century). Shakespeare drew mostly from Holinsheds Chronicles (1587). Although charac terized sporadically throughout the play, Macduff serves as a foil to Macbeth, a figure of righteousity, and an instrument to the plays desired excision of femininity. OriginThe overall dapple that would serve as the basis for Macbeth is first seen in the writings of two chroniclers of stinting history, John of Fordun, whose prose Chronica Gentis Scotorum was begun slightly 1363 and Andrew of Wyntouns Scots verse Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, written no earlier than 1420. These served as the basis for the account given in Holinsheds Chronicles (1587), on whose memoirs of King Duff and King Duncan Shakespeare in part based Macbeth. Macduff first appears in Holinsheds narrative of King Duncan after Macbeth has killed the monarch and reigned as King of Scotland for 10 years.When Macbeth calls upon his nobles to contribute to the construction of Dunsinane castle, Macduff avoids the summons, arousing Macbeths suspicions. Macduff leaves Scotland for England to prod Duncans son, Malc olm, into pickings the Scottish throne by force. Meanwhile, Macbeth murders Macduffs family. Malcolm, Macduff, and the English forces march on Macbeth, and Macduff kills him. 1 Shakespeare follows Holinsheds account of Macduff closely, with his only deviations being Macduffs uncovering of Duncans body in 2. 3, and Macduffs brief conference with Ross in 2. 4.Historically, the Clan MacDuff was the most powerful family in Fife in the medieval ages. 2 The ruins of Macduffs Castle lie in East Wemyss cemetery. Role in the play Macduff first speaks in the play in 2. 3 when he discovers the corpse of King Duncan in Macbeths castle. He raises an alarm, informing the castle that the king has been murdered. Macduff begins to suspect Macbeth of regicide when Macbeth says, O, yet I do repent me of my fury / That I did kill them (2. 3. 103-104). Interestingly, Macduffs name does not appear in this scene quite an, Banquo refers to him as Dear Duff (2. 3. 75). In 2. Macbeth has left for Scone, t he ancient royal city where Scottish kings were crowned. Macduff, meanwhile, meets with Ross and an Old Man. He reveals that he will not be attending the coronation of Macbeth and will instead return to his home in Fife. However, Macduff flees to England to join Malcolm, the hit King Duncans elder son, and convinces him to return Macduff (Macbeth) to Scotland and claim the throne. Macbeth, meanwhile, visits the Three Witches again after the spectre of Banquo appears at the royal banquet. The Witches warn Macbeth to beware Macduff, beware the Thane of Fife (4. 1. 87-88).Furthermore, they inform him that, The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth (4. 1. 96-97). Macbeth, fearing for his position as King of Scotland, orders the deaths of Macduffs wife, children and relatives. Macduff, who is still in England, learns of his familys deaths through Ross, another Scottish thane. He joins Malcolm, and they return to Scotland with their English allies to face Macbeth at D unsinane Castle. After Macbeth slays the young Siward, Macduff confronts Macbeth. Although Macbeth believes that he cannot be killed by any man born of a woman, he in brief learns that Macduff was from his mothers womb /Untimely ripped (5. 10. 15-16). The two fight, and Macduff slays Macbeth offstage. Macduff ultimately presents Macbeths head to Malcolm, hailing him as king and calling on the other thanes to denote their allegiance with him (5. 11. 20-25). 2 Analysis Macduff as a foil to Macbeth As a supporting character, Macduff serves as a foil to Macbeth his integrity directly contrasts with Macbeths moral perversion. 3 In an exchange between the Scottish thane Lennox and another lord, Lennox talks of Macduffs shoot to England and refers to him as more or less sanctified angel (3. 6. 6) who may soon return to this our suffering country / Under a hand accursed (3. 6. 48-49). The play positions the characters of Macduff and Macbeth as holy versus evil. The contrast between Mac duff and Macbeth is accentuated by their approaches to death. Macduff, hearing of his familys death, reacts with a tortured grief. His linguistic process, But I moldiness also feel it as a man (4. 3. 223), indicate a capacity for emotional sensitivity. plot Macbeth and Lady Macbeth insist that manhood implies a denial of feeling (1. 7. 45-57), Macduff insists that emotional depth and sensitivity are part of what it means to be a man.This interpretation is supported by Macduffs reaction upon his husking of Duncans corpse and the echo of Macduffs words when Macbeth responds to the news of Lady Macbeths death. Macduff struggles to find the words to express his rage and anguish, crying, O horror, horror, horror (2. 3. 59). In some stage interpretations, Macduffs character transitions from a state of shock to one of frenzied alarm. 4 This contrasts starkly with Macbeths famous response to the announcement of his wifes death She should hold in died hereafter / There would have been a time for such a word / Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow (5. . 17-19). Macbeths words seem to express a brutal indifferenceshe would have died anywayand perhaps even suggest that he has lost the capacity to feel. Macduff as a moral figure Although Macduff comes to represent a type of goodness in the dark world of Macbeth, Shakespeare also allows for some instability in his character. This becomes most evident in 4. 3 when Macduff joins Malcolm in England. In this scene, the play has travel from the tumult in Scotland to England. In the exchange between the two Scotsmen, Malcolm is clearly in control and forces Macduff to poke into and reconcile with himself his own moral code.In a moment of dramatic irony, Macduff begins the conversation urging Malcolm to fight for Scotland rather than to grieve, not knowing that Malcolm has already arranged for English military support (4. 3. 134-136). Malcolm manipulates Macduff, questioning his loyalty, facilitating his emotional responses, a nd examination to see how much Macduffs, and perhaps the audiences, ethical motive can ultimately be compromised. Malcolm portrays Macbeth as a tyrant, but he positions himself, too, as someone morally repulsive. 4 He describes his own voluptuousnessthe bottomless cisterna of his lust (4. 3. 4)and staunchless avarice (4. 3. 79). Macduff must decide whether he can accept Malcolm as an alternative to Macbeth. He does not give this answer until the final scene, addressing Malcolm, Hail King (5. 6. 20). By this point, however, Malcolm has abjured / The taints and blames I laid upon myself, / For strangers to my character(4. 3. 125-127). This shows that rather than speaking truthfully about himself, Malcolm was simply testing Macduff to see where Macduffs loyalties were. Therefore, Macduff is right in pass judgment Malcolm Macduff (Macbeth) as king. Macduff may also be read as a precursor for ethical philosophy. 5 Macduffs flight from Scotland is a spiritual reawakening, with spiritual ity based around the truth, regardless of what it may be. Macduff constantly reexamines his values. In decision making to leave his family, Macduff deserts those values and pays bitterly for it. Macduff echoes sentiments of writers such as Plato and the later Thomas Hobbes, who claim that morality may only be judged to the extent that a person takes responsibility for his or her actions. Thus, because he accepts the interference of his decision to leave his family for political exploration, Macduffs actions can be justified. 5 3 Macbeth and the fancy of female powerOne of the themes that the play Macbeth wrestles with is the family between male vulnerability and feminine influence. The play explores the fantasy of a female or enatic power as well as the desire of an escape from this influence. 6 Femaleness is to be feared and reviled, and to a reliable extent, the play works to excise femininity and restore autonomous male or paternal power. However, the play also exposes the impossibility of the fantasy of absolute masculinity. After Macbeth derives much of his motivation from the Witches perceived promise of indomitability that no man born of woman can kill him.He interprets the prophecy to mean he is chaste by femininity, as if femininity were the source of vulnerability. 6 Macbeth believes in his own invulnerability, claiming, I bear a trance life, which must not yield / To one of woman born (Act V, scene 8). However, Macduff, born via caesarian section, exposes this fantasy as a fallacy. He replies to Macbeth Despair thy charm, / And let the angel whom thou still hast served / Tell thee, Macduff was from his mothers womb / Untimely ripped (Act V, scene 8).Though he may not have been of a woman born in the conventional sense (thus fulfilling the prophecy), Macduff ultimately originates from woman, asserting that he was from his mothers womb. If, as Macbeth believes, true manhood cannot derive from or be tainted by femininity, then Macduffs actua lly existence fundamentally counters this idea. References 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bevington, David and William Shakespeare. Four Tragedies Bantam, 1988. Official Scottish Clans and Families (http/ / www. electricscotland. com). Horwich, Richard. Integrity in Macbeth The Search for the Single recount of Man. Rosenberg, Marvin. The Masks of Macbeth. University of California Press, 1978. Hennedy, John F. Macduffs Dilemma Anticipation of Existentialist Ethics in Macbeth. Adelman, Janet. Escaping the Matrix The Construction of maleness in Macbeth and Coriolanus. Suffocating mothers fantasies of maternal origin in Shakespeares plays. Routledge, 1992. External links Macbeth Folio Version (http//internetshakespeare. uvic. ca/Annex/Texts/Mac/F1/Work) Macbeth Full-text online (http//shakespeare. mit. edu/macbeth/full. html) Article Sources and Contributors 4 Article Sources and ContributorsMacduff (Macbeth) Source http//en. wikipedia. org/w/index. php? oldid=542149214 Contributors 2A013882013030E4 B5F56ECE1B5242, Agricolae, Akira625, Alansohn, Alex2706, Andrei Iosifovich, Andrew Hampe, Ashton1983, Australian Matt, Benjamin Geiger, Bucklesman, Byron Farrow, Cntras, David Gerard, Deskford, Dwanyewest, lose Orbit, Finavon, Fitnr, Focus, Girlwithgreeneyes, Huw Powell, IllaZilla, ItsLassieTime, John of Lancaster, Jupiter Optimus Maximus, KGasso, Kabartlett, Kierant, Kyaa the Catlord, Lentower, Lordrosemount, Luki9875, MarnetteD, Mhardcastle, Mhockey, Monkeyzpop, Nashikawa, NatureA16, Omarworld87, P.S. 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