Lady Macduff as a Foil for Lady Macbeth Essay

Before Macbeth meets with Macduff, he thinks of ways to handle Macduff so he would no longer be a problem. Macduff was considered to be a problem because he left the kingdom in order to assist an opposing force. Macbeth states “Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee? But yet I’ll make assurance double sure, and take a bond of fate.” (Act IV scn i, ln 82-84) He wants to make sure Macduff will not be a problem; he wants to keep Macduff out of his way. In this scene Macbeth is attempting to discover ways to inforce his superiority through the phrase “The castle of Macduff I will surprise; seize upon Fife; give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword his wife, his babies, and all unfortunate souls.” (Act IV scn i, ln 150-152) He hired men to kill Macduff’s family, so he will be depressed and will grieve; he wants to keep Macduff out of the way of him still being King. The main reason he did this, however, was to exert his leadership over Macduff and send a message. This paragraph explains how Macbeth was disloyal to Macduff and how he did anything to keep Macduff out of his way, but things did not turn out as he

Macduff is also a character that deals with guilt. He is guilty of leaving his entire family behind in Scotland which is eventually why they are killed. He uses this guilt to drive him to bring Macbeth down. If Macduff would have thought to bring his wife and children they wouldn't have died. This shows that every action has consequences and those consequences must be taken into consideration.

Macduff is motivated by his patriotism, and his love for his country. He is a flat main character, whereas he has no major changes throughout the play. He fights for what he believes and his actions have effects on the other characters. Though he did not suspect Macbeth as to being a traitor and killing Duncan, he did not think that he was fit to rule the state. His actual anger to Macbeth came with the slaughter of his family. It serves as more motivation for him, and without it Macbeth may have lived through the final battle. Throughout the play you see that Macduff has always been the foil to Macbeth, causing the worry in him that overthrew his rule, and that Macduff is the hero that Scotland

Lady Macbeth is filled evil schemes, and knows how to achieve her goal of getting her husband into the kingly position. Lady Macbeth is very convincing in her ideas, and does not leave a lot of space to think otherwise. Macbeth is not left much choice but to conform himself to his wife’s mischievous strategy to get him to become king. He is very loyal, and wants to remain so to his king even knowing he would become king if Duncan, the present king, were to die. Lady Macbeth, however, has other plans for Macbeth, and she soon has him convinced to commit an act which will change their lives forever. Macbeth and his wife are truly opposite people, as Macbeth is laid back and easy going, while Lady Macbeth wants everything planned out and will go onward with plans no matter who they affect. She truly does make Macbeth a more interesting person through her evil schemes.

Like the witches, Lady Macbeth is crucial to the actual accomplishment of Macbeth's crime. Without her, Macbeth would not have carried out the murder in the first place - "we shall go no further in this business" - and without her timely interventions in gilding the groom's faces with blood and conveniently fainting when Macduff's questions become too insistent, it is unlikely that he would have got away with it. She seems to be just as ambitious as her husband and the plan to kill Duncan is largely hers. She overcomes Macbeth's scruples by both encouragement and scorn:

The irony in the situation between Macbeth and his wife is extreme, because one would expect Macbeth to be the more immorally, determined character to have greater ambition, not his wife, who is expected to play the simplistic, encouraging wife. She is a little too encouraging, for example when Macbeth says, “Valuating ambition, which o’leaps itself and falls on the other-”

Many people who have read William Shakespeare’s Macbeth know that Macbeth is the tragic hero in the play, but there another character stands out as a much greater protagonist. Macbeth is the type of character who turned from a loyal warrior to the king into a violent, tyrannical, and conflicted person as he progressively commits crimes inside the kingdom without anyone’s notice, except for one person, who is Macduff. Macduff doesn’t have any flaws and remains sinless and heroic throughout the play. As Macbeth progressively gains power and prestige in exchange for the lives of his king, his friends, and his countrymen, Macduff meanwhile goes through great personal loss in his attempts to stop Macbeth’s tyrannical ruling and to restore justice and freedom to Scotland. It is ironic how Macduff acts so much more nobly than his king. Throughout the tragic events that have occurred in the play, Macduff serves as a heroic figure through his demonstrations of intelligence, loyalty, and righteousness.

In our society, as a rule, the man is the head of the household. However, in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth appears to be the neck that turns the head. William Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in history, but he wasn’t recognized until the nineteenth century. He wrote many plays, sonnets, plays, and narrative plays. It was during the sixteenth century that he wrote the tragedy of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth, wife to the protagonist Macbeth, is one of Shakespeare’s most famous and evil female characters. At the start of the play, Lady Macbeth is ruthless, ambitious, cruel, and manipulative; however, by the end of the play she becomes insane and helpless. The transformation of these characteristics makes Lady Macbeth a very dynamic

The clear similarities and stark differences between Lady Macduff and Lady Macbeth is shown as a commentary on woman’s roles in society. Lady Macbeth rejects her role as a mother and instead embraces more masculine aspects. By influencing her husband, Lady

The conformity to gender roles that Macbeth and Lady follow leads to the destruction of their relationship. At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is more masculine than Macbeth and holds the power in their relationship. Lady Macbeth is aware that she is the assertive one in their relationship and uses that to manipulate Macbeth. In act 1, scene 7, Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s masculinity saying, “When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And, to be more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man.”(54-56) in saying this, she is using Macbeth’s fragile masculinity against him because she knows Macbeth will prove his masculinity by killing Duncan. After they succeed and get away with the murder, Macbeth becomes more assertive and decisive. Macbeth begins to hide things from Lady Macbeth, like his plan to kill Banquo, this causes a strain on their relationship. In act 3, scene 2, lines 50 and 51, Macbeth says to Lady Macbeth, “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, / Till thou applaud the deed.” about his plan to kill Banquo because he doesn’t want her involved. This furthers the strain in their relationship because Macbeth thinks he, a man, should handle these kinds of things where Lady Macbeth, a woman, should not concern herself with such problems. Furthermore, by excluding Lady Macbeth he has pushed a wedge between them by keeping secrets from her, losing her trust and leading to the downfall of their relationship. Closer to the end of the play, Macbeth assumes his role as a hypermasculine man and becomes violent, killing any possible threat to him. In becoming king, Macbeth becomes obsessed with having power because of the lack of control he had in his relationship with his wife. To Macbeth Macduff appeared as a threat,

Macduff's only ambition is to kill Macbeth, the man who has murdered his wife and children. He has no interest in personal gain and is the first character in the play to understand that Fortune rules you, you don't rule Fortune. This is a certain indicator that he'll be the one to take down the tyrant, who is always challenging

Macduff’s character is used as an effective foil for Macbeth in the play. The foil serves to show the parallels between these two characters.

A foil character contrasts the personalities of another character, which particularly enlightens certain characteristics of the individual. This element portrays these characteristics in an obvious manner, as it benefits the reader or audience. By showing the characteristics of one, it directly heightens the character traits of the other, creating a foil illustration of an individual. Nowhere is this element of literature more prudent than in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, as he effectively engages the use of foil characters. In the play, two lovers from opposing, and hateful families fall in love, but the hatred between households lead to their downfall. Characters in the immoral city of Verona are set to represent key themes and

Alternative characters in the play contrast Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's twisted perception of a man by allowing their emotions and not giving in to traditional gender roles. When taking a look at masculinity in Macbeth, MacDuff’s is an aforementioned character. Shakespeare gives MacDuff phrases, which contrast the misguided ways of Macbeth and his Lady, and also show that there is hope in masculinity. It is obvious that MacDuff is Shakespeare's ideological adaptation of a real man. MacDuff knows himself and he performs his duties, as he knows he must and settles his feelings with the stability a man needs. As he is told to take the news of their murders “like a man.” He retorts, “I shall do so, / But I must also feel it as a man” (4.3.

Desperate, Macduff “ is gone to pray the holy (English)king upon his aid”. Not only is Macduff putting his own life in danger, but he is also leaving his wife and kids very vulnerable. Macduff, however being the patriotic man, chooses to do what is his best for his country and follow his conscience in extension. Although his wife and kids do perished under Macbeth’s reign, Macduff is ultimately awarded by the new title he earns from Malcolm when Macbeth is finally overthrown. This might not cover the loss of his family, but Shakespeare is implying that he and his family will be reunited in heaven. Macduff did in fact follow his conscience in making decisions that are hard costing even the lives of his family, but he is able to continue to lead a peaceful life and be reunited with his family once in heaven while Lady Macbeth, most likely, soul is forever tormented by the scorching flames.