After Macbeth slays the young Siward, Macduff confronts Macbeth. He joins Malcolm, and they return to Scotland with their English allies to face Macbeth at Dunsinane Castle. Macduff, who is still in England, learns of his family’s deaths through Ross, another Scottish thane. Macbeth, fearing for his position as King of Scotland, orders the deaths of Macduff’s wife, children, and relatives. The witches warn Macbeth to “beware Macduff, beware the Thane of Fife”.įurthermore, they inform him that, “The power of man, for none of the woman, born. Macbeth, meanwhile, visits the Three Witches again after the specter of Banquo appears at the royal banquet.

However, Macduff flees to England to join Malcolm, the slain King Duncan’s elder son and convinces him to return Macduff (Macbeth) to Scotland and claim the throne. He reveals that he will not be attending the coronation of Macbeth and will instead return to his home in Fife. Macduff, meanwhile, meets with Ross and an Old Man. In Macbeth has left for Scone, the ancient royal city where Scottish kings were crowned. Interestingly, Macduff’s name does not appear in this scene rather, Banquo refers to him as “Dear Duff”. Macduff begins to suspect Macbeth of regicide when Macbeth says, “O, yet I do repent me of my fury / That I did kill them”.

He raises an alarm, informing the castle that the king has been murdered. 3 when he discovers the corpse of King Duncan in Macbeth’s castle.

Role in the play Macduff first speaks in the play in 2. The ruins of Macduff’s Castle lie in East Wemyss’s cemetery. Historically, the Clan MacDuff was the most powerful family in Fife in the medieval ages. 3, and Macduff’s brief conference with Ross in 2. Shakespeare follows Holinshed’s account of Macduff closely, with his only deviations being Macduff’s discovery of Duncan’s body in 2. Malcolm, Macduff, and the English forces march on Macbeth, and Macduff kills him. Meanwhile, Macbeth murders Macduff’s family. Macduff leaves Scotland for England to prod Duncan’s son, Malcolm, into taking the Scottish throne by force. When Macbeth calls upon his nobles to contribute to the construction of Dunsinane castle, Macduff avoids the summons, arousing Macbeth’s suspicions. Macduff first appears in Holinshed’s narrative of King Duncan after Macbeth has killed the monarch and reigned as King of Scotland for 10 years. These served as the basis for the account given in Holinshed’s Chronicles (1587), on whose narratives of King Duff and King Duncan Shakespeare in part based Macbeth.

The overall plot that would serve as the basis for Macbeth is first seen in the writings of two chroniclers of Scottish history, John of Fordun, whose prose Chronica Gentis Scotorum was begun about 1363 and Andrew of Wyntoun’s Scots verse Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, written no earlier than 1420. Although characterized sporadically throughout the play, Macduff serves as a foil to Macbeth, a figure of morality, and an instrument to the play’s desired excision of femininity. Shakespeare drew mostly from Holinshed’s Chronicles (1587). The character is first known from Chronica Gentis Scotorum (late 14th century) and Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland (early 15th century). He is the main antagonist, yet the hero, in the play. Macduff plays a pivotal role in the play: he suspects Macbeth of regicide and eventually kills Macbeth in the final act.

Macduff in macbeth