Hello everybody, and welcome to today’s video where I’m going to analyse the character
of Macduff in Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. Only moments after Macbeth has killed King
Duncan, in Act 2 Scene 2, there is a knock on the door, a knock which continues through
the porter’s comical speech in the next scene until the door is opened to reveal Lennox
alongside a new character the audience has yet to meet: that of Macduff. Shakespeare’s
use of structure is significant here: it is Macduff who arrives moments after the king
has been killed, and it is Macduff who will ultimately avenge that king’s murder by
cutting off the head of Macbeth. One way of understanding the character of
Macduff is as a foil to Macbeth. A foil is a character who contrasts another character,
usually the protagonist, to highlight certain things about them. As we saw in the Banquo
video, Banquo too operates as a foil to Macbeth. However, Banquo is killed in Act 3, and Shakespeare
then seems to select another character to fill his position as foil. Although Macduff
first appears in Act 2, his role as foil is most notable when Banquo is no longer around.
If we consider that Macbeth turns his back, through selfish greed, on the established
system and traditions of his country by killing the King and claiming the crown for himself,
then Macduff does the complete opposite. He sacrifices everything he has – his wife,
his children, his castle – to see the rightful heir on the throne and restore the balance
and equilibrium in his country. Through Macduff, the audience sees the correct choices and
actions that should be taken by a good subject. When Macduff travels to England in Act 4 Scene
3 to meet with Malcolm to get his support to remove Macbeth from the throne, he reveals
his deep concern about his country and the way it’s going. Speaking to Malcolm, he
says ‘Bleed, bleed, poor country!’, and later he says ‘O Scotland, Scotland!’.
Shakespeare’s use of repetition in both of these lines highlight the strength of Macduff’s
emotions here: it is clear that Macduff’s loyalties lie with his nation. Macduff isn’t
willing to sacrifice his country simply to give Malcolm the throne either. When Malcolm,
in an effort to test Macduff, lists all of his ‘vices’, Macduff is willing to overlook
his desire for women and riches but when Malcolm says that if he had power he would ‘Pour
the sweet milk of concord into hell’ and ‘confound / All unity on earth’, Macduff
says that not only is Malcolm not ‘Fit to govern’ but he’s ‘not to live’.
In this scene Shakespeare presents the audience with the ideal version of the royal subject.
He is willing to sacrifice all that he has to maintain the system but, ultimately, loyalty
to his nation is his number one priority. Macduff’s dedication and commitment to his
country and his ‘real’ king makes Macbeth’s disregard for it stand out all the more.
When Macbeth and Lady Macbeth carry out their deeds, they repeatedly call on heaven to look
away or for light to be put out so they can’t be seen. It’s an acknowledgement that what
they are doing is wrong. There can be few things worse than regicide. When Macduff is
informed in Act 4 Scene 3 that his family has been murdered at the order of Macbeth,
he swears revenge. Interestingly, he invokes heaven and brings the idea of God and heaven
into his quest. He says, ‘... gentle heavens,/ Cut short all intermission; front to front/Bring
thou this fiend of Scotland and myself;/Within my sword’s length set him; if he ‘scape/Heaven
forgive him too!’. Here, Macduff is secure in the knowledge that
his desire for revenge is righteous. He asks ‘gentle heavens’ to bring Macbeth before
his sword so he can deal with him. Malcolm too invokes heaven when he responds to Macduff
telling him Macbeth is ‘ripe for the shaking, and the powers above/ Put on their instruments’.
The suggestion here is that they are righteous and that theirs is somehow a holy war against
Macbeth. Macduff and Malcolm are on the side of God and heaven. All of this confirms the
idea that Macduff is an idealised version of the royal subject, deployed to expose and
highlight Macbeth’s worst excesses. It’s no coincidence that, at the end of
the play, it is Macduff who kills Macbeth. If Macduff is the perfect subject and Macbeth
is to be viewed as an example of where selfish ambition can take you, then Shakespeare makes
a very obvious claim for tradition and upholding the system through the last interaction between
the two in Act 5 Scene 8. As Clarence Boyer explains in ‘The Villain
as Hero in Elizabethan Tragedy’
‘It would be unthinkable for Malcom to defeat [Macbeth] – Malcolm who fled the country
on the first report of his father’s death: he has neither the physical strength nor the
spirit to conquer the tyrant; it would be distressing if he did so. Macduff is the only
man whose suffering has been portrayed as no less keen than Macbeth’s…Moreover,
he is represented as noble, courageous, and absolutely incorruptible; the only man Macbeth’s
equal in bravery.’
And this is a key point to highlight: when Macduff kills Macbeth, Macduff is himself
committing regicide– the same crime Macbeth committed when he killed Duncan. However,
the murder of Macduff’s wife and children is enough to convince the audience that this
is justified. Macbeth at first is reluctant to fight Macduff
because he feels that his ‘soul is too much charged’ with Macduff’s family blood already
– a reference to the slaughter of Macduff’s family. But Macduff, following the lead of
Lady Macbeth, calls him a ‘coward’ in order to bait him into doing something he
said he didn’t want to do and it works. Macbeth, in his final few lines says, ‘I
will not yield,/To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet’ something any good
subject would be happy to do. It is clear then that Macbeth and Macduff
are broadly similar. They are both noble lords and they both take fate into their own hands
– Macbeth to claim the crown and Macduff, travelling to England to restore the rightful
heir. Macbeth’s actions are all prompted by selfishness, greed and personal ambition
whereas Macduff’s actions are prompted by his love for both his country and the rightful
king. If you found this video useful please do subscribe
to the channel and give the video a thumbs up.