Macbeth Act 4

Scene 1

Macduff has left for England, leaving behind his wife and son, alone in the mansion. They pronounce him a traitor and say that he is dead, despite his sons protests. They talk a bit about how the traitor should be hanged. Macduffs wife is happy to go out and get another husband as she says it will be easy, with 20 waiting at the market. Rosse comes over to talk, warning them, then leaving. A messenger does the same thing, telling them to go and then also leaves. Finally, two murderers come in and kill Macduffs son. His wife escapes with the murderers chasing after her. It is unconfirmed whether she is dead or not. They didn’t find MacDuff there, meaning he could still be alive and still be on Macbeth’s hit list. With both him and his wife alive, the number of people who could oppose Macbeth grows. Their numbers might grow but there isn’t much they can do as Macbeth is immortal.

Scene 3

In this scene we meet Malcolm and Macduff in England. Malcolm is telling Macduff that he would be a worse king than Macbeth, saying his many vices would put Scotland in an even worse position. After convincing Macduff that this is true, Macduff cries out “O Scotland. Scotland”. He cares more about his country than the person who leads it. His loyalty is not to Macbeth but to Scotland. This is what Malcolm was testing for, revealing that all that about his vices was a lie to find out where Macduffs loyalties were. Then we learn that the King of England has offered up 10,000 men to go to fight Macbeth. Rosse then enters the scene and further describes how Scotland has turned to shit. He also lies about Macduffs wife and children, saying they are well. A few moments later he comes clean, saying they are all dead. Macduff is angry and wants revenge, saying that it is the only medicine. This ties in with what the witches told Macbeth, to beware of Macduff. Once again, it is Macbeth who chose to murder his family, therefore making Macduff get angry. So far, the witches predictions only come true because Macbeth chose to act on them. If he hadn’t killed Macduffs family, Macduff wouldn’t be as angry.

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