Macduff:
● Binary opposition to Macbeth
● Renaissance man
● Static Character
● Archetype of the avenging hero, not simply out for revenge but with a good
and holy purpose.
“What, all my pretty chickens and their dam. At one fell swoop?”
● Macbeth thinks that masculinity is about ruthlessness + cruelty - Macduff
subverts gender stereotypes - shows that men can have emotions
● an affectionate and loving husband + father as well as a powerful warrior -
everything Macbeth cannot be
● The sense of immense grief foreshadows him avenging this by killing
Macbeth
Key Moments: knocks at the gate of Macbeth's castle in Act II, Scene 3 - allusion to
Christ, who before his final ascension into Heaven, goes down to release the souls
of the damned from hell - cements Macbeth’s fate - Harrowing of Hell
“Macduff cries out, "I have no words; my voice is in my sword."
● In the final combat between hero and anti-hero, Macduff’s wordlessness
contrasts with Macbeth's empty rhetoric
● feminine character - Shakespeare may be suggesting that femininity is a
strength + criticises patriarchy and how it denies women their own nature in
order to acquire power
“new widows howl, new orphans cry”
● Parallelism + zoomorphism - Macduff shows the dangers in Macbeth’s reign -
holistically - Macduff acts for the good of others + his allegiance to Scotland
unlike Macbeth whose allegiance is to himself
● Binary opposition to Macbeth
● Renaissance man
● Static Character
● Archetype of the avenging hero, not simply out for revenge but with a good
and holy purpose.
“What, all my pretty chickens and their dam. At one fell swoop?”
● Macbeth thinks that masculinity is about ruthlessness + cruelty - Macduff
subverts gender stereotypes - shows that men can have emotions
● an affectionate and loving husband + father as well as a powerful warrior -
everything Macbeth cannot be
● The sense of immense grief foreshadows him avenging this by killing
Macbeth
Key Moments: knocks at the gate of Macbeth's castle in Act II, Scene 3 - allusion to
Christ, who before his final ascension into Heaven, goes down to release the souls
of the damned from hell - cements Macbeth’s fate - Harrowing of Hell
“Macduff cries out, "I have no words; my voice is in my sword."
● In the final combat between hero and anti-hero, Macduff’s wordlessness
contrasts with Macbeth's empty rhetoric
● feminine character - Shakespeare may be suggesting that femininity is a
strength + criticises patriarchy and how it denies women their own nature in
order to acquire power
“new widows howl, new orphans cry”
● Parallelism + zoomorphism - Macduff shows the dangers in Macbeth’s reign -
holistically - Macduff acts for the good of others + his allegiance to Scotland
unlike Macbeth whose allegiance is to himself
