Character
 The combination of traits and qualities distinguishing
the individual nature of a person or thing
 Macduff- characterised sporadically
 Foil to Macbeth
 Figure of Morality
 Instrument of femininity
Actions
 Follows Malcolm to England- shows faithfulness
 Slays Macbeth in a duel when English army marches
on Dunsinane
Motivation
 Refuses to recognise Macbeth as king
 Discovers Duncan’s body (Act II, Scene 3)
 “O horror! Horror! Horror!
Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee”
 Death of his wife and children (Act IV, Scene 3)
 “Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes
savagely slaughter'd”
“What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?”
Ambition
 A figure of morality
 Shown as a human being-(Act IV, Scene 3)
 Malcolm urges him to “Dispute it like a man,” Macduff's
reply “I will do so. But I must also feel it as a man”
 Macbeth has lost all humanity, Macduff regains his
 Combat between hero and anti-hero- (Act V, Scene 8)
 “I have no words My voice is in my sword”
Relationship with Macbeth
 Serves as a foil to Macbeth
 Holy versus Evil- (Act III, Scene 6)
 Lennox refers to Macduff as “some holy angel”
 His integrity contrasts with Macbeth’s moral perversion
 Contrast is accentuated by their approaches to death
 Macduff- “But I must also feel it as a man” (Act IV, Scene 3)
 Macbeth- “I dare do all that may be a man;
Who dares do more, is none.” (Act I, Scene 7)
Relationship with Macbeth
 Idea of emotional depth and sensitivity
 Macduff struggles to express his rage and anguish(Act II, Scene 3)
 “O horror, horror, horror”
 Macbeth expresses brutal indifference- (Act V, Scene 5)
 “She should have died hereafter
There would have been a time for such a word
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”
Aspects of femininity
 An instrument to the play’s desired excision of femininity
 Macbeth and the fantasy of female power
 Relationship between male vulnerability and feminine
influence
 The impossibility of the fantasy of absolute masculinity
Aspects of femininity
 Macbeth believes femininity is a source of vulnerability (Act V, scene 8)
 “I bear a charmed life,
which must not yield
To one of woman born”
 He also believes true manhood cannot derive from or be
tainted by femininity
 However, Macduff’s very existence counters this idea. - (Act
V, scene 8)
 “Despair thy charm,
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripped”
Example Essays
 My PowerPoint could be useful for potential essays
relating to character, as it shows how one character
is used to portray a variety of aspects.
 It would also be helpful in viewing the text through a
gendered discourse, as Macduff is a character who
strongly relates to the idea of femininity.
Shakespeare, W, 1999, Macbeth, United Kingdom, Cambridge
University Press.
Macduff, 2014, Wikipedia, 15/05/2014,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macduff_(Macbeth)
Macbeth, n.d., Sparknotes, 18/05/2014
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/Macbeth.html
Macduff, 2014, Shmoop, 18/05/2014,
http://www.shmoop.com/macbeth/macduff.html