Macbeth LRJ #4

The scene starts out as Lady Macduff demands her husbands whereabouts to Ross she shows her lac of trust in Macduff's mission. "Wisdom! To leave his wife, to leave his babes, His mansion and his titles in a place From whence himself does fly? He loves us not; He wants the natural touch." (4.2.6-9) The family is alone and feels betrayed, their characters develop to be hostile and stubborn towards Macduff. When Lady Macduff is warned of potential danger she insists that she has done no harm. At this point the murderers make their appearance, they make a cruel remark about Macduff, Macduff then calls them a liar and then gets stabbed.

We learn allot of information about Macduff's personality in this act. Malcolm tests Macduff in trying to find his true opinion on Macbeth. "Bleed, bleed, poor country! Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, For goodness dare not check thee. Wear thou thy wrongs;
The title is affeered.—Fare thee well, lord. I would not be the villain that thou think'st For the whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp, And the rich East to boot."(4.3.33-38) Macduff here reveals his honesty and loyalty to his country. When Malcolm finally admits to his wife and kids being murdered Macduff breaks down, it was hard to leave his family in the first place. He left them in unsafe circumstances and now the are dead.

The scene with Lady Macduff shows the point in the play where Macbeth completely loses control of his power, and becomes a reckless killer. The Macduff family was murdered in cold blood. Macbeth was to afraid of facing the real issues and gave into the prophecy letting fate take its course and getting rid of anything that stood in the way of his success.