William Shakespeare 's ' Macbeth '

While Macduff is in England, Macbeth learns of the abandonment of Macduff's family and resolves to have them murdered. When Macduff learns of the murder of his family, he is motivated by Malcolm to get revenge. It is this that pushes Macduff to the edge and forces him to go after Macbeth himself. The power of Malcolm's taunting that he must take it like a man and his own love for his family makes him hate Macbeth to the fullest extent, and eventually he succeeds in killing him.

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

Macduff’s burning desire for revenge towards Macbeth was encouraged by many forces. As it is known, Macbeth murders Duncan which causes Malcolm to flee to England because he fears for his life. Following Duncan’s death, Macduff was the first to discover Duncan dead, and it can be inferred that he was so angry and mortified that it sparks apprehensiveness towards Macbeth’s acquiring the throne. As he realizes that he does not agree with Macbeth’s reign, he decides to leave his family behind in Fife to go to England to find Malcolm, the true heir to the throne. His plan is to conspire with Malcolm to build an army against Macbeth. Macduff was so loyal to Scotland and the true ruler that he was willing to abandon his family in the process of freeing Scotland from tyranny. As he meets with Malcolm, Ross delivers the news that

Macduff's ambition in this play was to be loyal to his country by taking out Macbeth. Too much of his time is spent plotting against Macbeth, which throws off Macduff’s values. He abandons his family and left for England to find Malcolm so he could wage war against Macbeth. Later, Macbeth hears that the recent absence of Macduff at the banquet and at Duncan’s funeral was because he had fled to England, to find Malcolm. So Macbeth reacts to this by sending murderers to kill Macduff's family. Once Macduff finds out that his family is dead, he starts to exhibit some emotion. At this time he is about to wage war on Macbeth with Malcolm; Malcolm say's to Macduff "Dispute it like a man"(4.3.259). Macduff then replies,

The motivations of Duncan, Macbeth, and Malcolm are all different. Macbeth is motivated by greed, power, ambition, and his wife. Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s manhood and calls him a coward. In contrast, Malcolm and Duncan want what is right for the people and for Scotland. They want everything to be just and they are noble men. For example, “Macduff, this noble passion, / Child of integrity, hath from my soul / Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my thoughts / To thy good truth and honor” (Shakespeare IV.iii.116-119). This proves that Malcolm cares about loyalty among his people. Malcolm's motivations for Scotland are honorable. He wants to restore peace and trust in Scotland. Also, Malcolm wants to be a good leader and restore the heir to its rightful owner. This shows that Macbeth, Duncan, and Malcolm all have different motivations.

He tries to make Macduff believe that he will be a worse tyrant than Macbeth. Macduff replies, "Not in the legions of horrid hell can come a devil more damned in evils, to top Macbeth. However Malcolm continues with the words, "but I have none: the king - becoming graces as justice, verity, temperance…," At this point Macduff feels Malcolm could be a worse tyrant than Macbeth and could not compare with Duncan, a 'Most sainted king.' Malcolm then reveals that he has been testing Macduff. Malcolm then withdraws all he has said about himself.

Shortly after Macbeth hears the prophecies of him becoming the Thane of Cawdor and the King of Scotland, and after becoming the Thane of Cawdor a few moments later, he writes a letter to Lady Macbeth about what he is thinking, which at the time is how he wants to do away with King Duncan. "… the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements. Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe tap-full of direst cruelty (I. v. 40-44)." Lady Macbeth says to herself after hearing of Duncans arrival to Inverness. Lady Macbeth then wants to have the strength to kill him by making her strong like a man. Later on, when Macduff flees to England to find Malcolm to raise an army to take back the throne of Scotland from a tyrant, Macduff says to Malcolm after Malcolm says he is very greedy and unfit to be king; "Scotland has enough treasures to satisfy you out of your own royal coffers (IV. iii. 90-91)." Macduff tries to win over Malcolm by tempting him to come back. Furthermore, he then tries to convince him to fight Macbeth because of his love for Scotland and his ambition to take back the crown.

Macbeth, as a main character was influenced by the actions and comments made by the minor characters. Ross and the Witches similarly delivered messages in the play. The Witch’s prophecies directly affected Macbeth’s actions whereas the messages delivered by Ross were aimed towards other characters in the play and the audience. Malcolm acted as a comparison to Macbeth. He showed what a worthy King should be like, in contrast to Macbeth. The minor characters in the play do speak essential moral truths to an extent where it concerns the overall outcome of the

Another flaw of Macbeth’s readers can learn from was his internal conflict and jealousy of anyone who could possibly come in between him and crown. Macbeth was often threatened by other people who could possibly take the crown from him. The first time the reader can see this jealousy arise was when Macduff said, “Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter, Prince of Cumberland;” (1.4.38-39). Macbeth’s first reaction was to fear the whole family line of Macduff. This intimidation lead to one of Macbeth’s most careless destructive decision when he

Macduff is convinced that Macbeth killed King Duncan, so he leaves to England to see if Malcolm would join him in a battle against Macbeth with an intention to make Malcolm the King (127)

The audience knows that Malcolm has been testing Macduff when he says, “Macduff, this noble passion,/ Child of integrity, hath from my soul/ Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my thoughts/ To thy good and honor.” (4.3.114-117). In these lines Malcolm tells Macduff that his outburst has removed his doubts and showed him that Macduff is a noble person. Malcolm says that his true qualities are that he has never told a lie, he is a virgin, and that he hardly cares about what he himself own much less that he is jealous of what others

Although a great majority of the time, power corrupts decisions, it also can have a positive effect on choices. In the play Macbeth, one character who keeps in mind what is best for the people is Malcolm. As the son of King Duncan, Malcolm has virtuous morals and realizes that Macbeth is only in it for power instead of thinking of what is best for the people of Scotland. Malcolm makes a choice to fight back with the help of England. His choice to fight for power, although used violence against Macbeth, was a positive decision because he was thinking of the people and his father's legacy. His success is shown when he and Macduff defeat Macbeth and Malcolm is named the new king. He exclaims to his people, “[w]e shall not spend a large expense of time/ before we reckon with your several loves/ and make us even with you” (5.8.72-4). Only seconds after being named king, Malcolm is thinking of how he will reward his people. This proves

Macduff heard about the death of his entire castle and became committed to revenge. “But gentle heavens, cut short al 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!” (Shakespeare IV.iii.66) Macbeth received a second set of prophecies that gave him a very large and false confidence. “What’s the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know all mortal consequences have pronounced me thus: `fear not, Macbeth; no man that’s born of woman shall e’er have upon thee.’ Then fly, false thanes, and mingle with the

Malcolm's response to Macduff's offer is that of distrust for many possible reasons. These reasons include Macbeth's prior attempts to murder Malcolm, Macduff's promise to get revenge on the person who killed Duncan, and Malcolm's absence of the character flaw that Duncan had which was trusting someone without knowing them thoroughly.

Macduff's intelligence leans towards irresponsibility when he abandons his family without realising the danger his actions will cause them. When Macduff goes to England for help in freeing Scotland from the tyrant Macbeth, and informs Malcolm of the terrible things that have been happening in Scotland, he says; "Let us rather / Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men / Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom" (4, 3, 2-4). There is a great sense of urgency in Macduff's words because his thoughts become obsessive with eliminating Scotland of its evil tyrant rather than focusing on his family. His suspicion grows after Macbeth’s killing of the guards and so he refuses to attend Macbeth’s coronation which leads to the murder of his family.