Act 4, Scene 2
In the beginning of Scene 2, Lady Macduff is distraught with her husband’s decision to flee to England to seek help from Malcolm. In the previous scene, Macbeth had an encounter with the witches, who revealed that “no man of woman born shall harm Macbeth” (4.1.95-96). Macbeth realizes that this means that Macduff is the only one that can harm him, because he was born by caesarian section. Having realized that Macduff could become the cause of his downfall, Macbeth ordered murderers to “seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line” (4.1.172). He regrets doubting his impulses and decides to kill Macduff’s family. Macbeth’s fear and ambition now are leading him to kill not only people who are a threat to him, but their families as well.
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In Scene 2, Lady Macduff complains about her husband and how he is a coward for leaving his family. She is angry and believes that “when our actions do not, our fears make us traitors” (4.2.5), meaning she thinks he ran away to England out of cowardice, and that makes him a traitor to his family. Lady Macduff’s demands to know why her husband left and her accusing him of being a coward, showing how Shakespeare uses the theme of manhood again. Lady Macbeth’s angry complaints imply that a real man would not sacrifice his family’s safety for the good of his country.
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Lady Macduff strongly believes that her husband in a traitor and that “his flight was madness” (4.2.4). When telling her son that his father has fled she tells him that his father is dead, and explains to her son that a traitor is the “one who swears and lies” (4.2.54) and that “everyone that does so is a traitor and must be hanged” (4.2.56). Macduff’s son is really smart and realizes after learning from his mother what it is to be a traitor that those who allow themselves to be hanged are fools because there are much more traitors in the world than honest people.
Like Lady Macbeth, Lady Macduff also accuses her husband of being a coward and not being a man. However, I think Lady Macduff does so because she feels betrayed and sad that her husband left her to pursue his own selfish ambitions. To her, unlike Lady Macbeth, what makes of him a coward is leaving his family, while Lady Macbeth thinks that being a coward is not going after his ambitions. While tracing both these characters I was able to perceive this contrast between their personalities. They have different perceptions of what it means to be a man.
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Category: WHY
