Macbeth - Act 4 Scene 2
Fife. Macduff's castle.
Unlike the unnamed Lord in 3.6, Lady Macduff harbors doubts and fears about her husband's journey to England. For her, Macduff's flight suggests either treason or cowardice.
Enter LADY MACDUFF, her Son, and ROSS
LADY MACDUFF
What had he done, to make him fly the land?
ROSS
You must have patience, madam.
LADY MACDUFF
He had none:
His flight was madness: when our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.
ROSS
You know not
Whether it was his wisdom or his fear.
Shakespeare combines the play's focus on children and lineage with the ongoing bird images. Here the focus is on parents' natural inclination to protect their offspring, even against overwhelming odds.
LADY MACDUFF
Wisdom! To leave his wife, to leave his babes,
His mansion, and his titles in a place
From whence himself does fly? He loves us not;
He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight,
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love;
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason.
Ross' speech once again suggests living under Macbeth's paranoid rule, where careless words or innocent actions might lead to punishment or death.
ROSS
My dearest coz,
I pray you, school yourself: but for your husband,
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
The fits o' the season. I dare not speak much further;
But cruel are the times, when we are traitors
And do not know ourselves; when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,
But float upon a wild and violent sea
Each way and move. I take my leave of you:
Shall not be long but I'll be here again.
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
To what they were before. My pretty cousin,
Blessing upon you!
LADY MACDUFF
Fathered he is, and yet he's fatherless.
These lines suggest that Ross is on the verge of tears, though they may also indicate his fear of being seen conversing with Macbeth's enemies.
ROSS
I am so much a fool, should I stay longer,
It would be my disgrace and your discomfort:
I take my leave at once.
Exit
LADY MACDUFF
Sirrah, your father's dead;
And what will you do now? How will you live?
Like Fleance, Macduff's Son could be portrayed as any age from young child to young man. The younger he is, the more brutal Macbeth's orders become.
Son
As birds do, mother.
LADY MACDUFF
What, with worms and flies?
Son
With what I get, I mean; and so do they.
LADY MACDUFF
Poor bird! Thould’st never fear the net nor lime,
The pitfall nor the gin.
Son
Why should I, mother?
Poor birds they are not set for.
My father is not dead, for all your saying.
LADY MACDUFF
Yes, he is dead; how wilt thou do for a father?
Son
Nay, how will you do for a husband?
The dialogue here is conventionally comic, similar to Macduff's conversation with the Porter in 2.3, but with an emphasis on wit rather than bawdy humour.
LADY MACDUFF
Why, I can buy me twenty at any market.
Son
Then you'll buy 'em to sell again.
LADY MACDUFF
Thou speak'st with all thy wit; and yet, i' faith,
With wit enough for thee.
Son
Was my father a traitor, mother?
Lady Macduff may honestly believe her husband to be a traitor-- in failing his duties to his king, to his family, or both. Alternatively, she may not feel this way, speaking instead in order to prepare her son for a harsh future.
LADY MACDUFF
Ay, that he was.
Son
What is a traitor?
LADY MACDUFF
Why, one that swears and lies.
Son
And be all traitors that do so?
LADY MACDUFF
Every one that does so is a traitor, and must be hanged.
Son
And must they all be hanged that swear and lie?
LADY MACDUFF
Every one.
Son
Who must hang them?
LADY MACDUFF
Why, the honest men.
Son
Then the liars and swearers are fools,
for there are liars and swearers enow to beat
the honest men and hang up them.
Even in her distraught state, Lady Macduff can still be cheered and entertained by her son. These touching moments make the rest of the scene all the more heart-wrenching.
LADY MACDUFF
Now, God help thee, poor monkey!
But how wilt thou do for a father?
Son
If he were dead, you'ld weep for
him: if you would not, it were a good sign
that I should quickly have a new father.
LADY MACDUFF
Poor prattler, how thou talk'st!
The Messenger is yet another minor character introduced in this scene and never seen again. There is no indication of where he came from, or why he chooses to put himself in danger for Lady Macduff.
Enter a Messenger
Messenger
Bless you, fair dame! I am not to you known,
Though in your state of honour I am perfect.
I doubt some danger does approach you nearly:
If you will take a homely man's advice,
Be not found here; hence, with your little ones.
To fright you thus, methinks, I am too savage;
To do worse to you were fell cruelty,
Which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you!
I dare abide no longer.
Exit
As the plot has demonstrated, immoral action can be politically effective, while moral behaviour can be disastrous. Lady Macduff's words are ambiguous, in that she could be referring to life under Macbeth's tyrannical rule or making a larger point about morality and politics in the world. After Macbeth is defeated, will a moral world be restored, and for how long?
LADY MACDUFF
Whither should I fly?
I have done no harm. But I remember now
I am in this earthly world; where to do harm
Is often laudable, to do good sometime
Accounted dangerous folly: why then, alas,
Do I put up that womanly defence,
To say I have done no harm?
Enter Murderers
What are these faces?
First Murderer
Where is your husband?
LADY MACDUFF
I hope, in no place so unsanctified
Where such as thou mayst find him.
First Murderer
He's a traitor.
Son
Thou liest, thou shag-haired villain!
These may be the same Murderers that killed Banquo, indicating that they have continued in Macbeth's service. They could also be new characters, suggesting that Macbeth now has no shortage of minions to do his dirty work.
First Murderer
What, you egg!
[Stabbing him]
Young fry of treachery!
Son
He has killed me, mother:
Run away, I pray you!
Macduff's Son dies onstage, in full view of the audience, while Lady Macduff flees offstage, though her cries may cut off to indicate her murder. The final, haunting image is of Macduff's dead son alone on an empty stage.
[Dies]
[Exit LADY MACDUFF, crying 'Murder!' Exeunt Murderers, following her]