Macduff's Killed Children In Macbeth By William Shakespeare

In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare utilizes children to demonstrate the wickedness and fruitlessness of Macbeth’s reign as king. Macduff’s murdered children illustrate the miniscule value that Macbeth places on human life – even a child. The child, Fleance symbolizes that the innocent will ultimately reign after Macbeth’s untimely demise. The apparition of a bloody child symbolizes Macbeth’s killer, Macduff, who “from his mother’s womb/ [was] Untimely ripp’d (5.8.15-16).” The children in Macbeth exemplify that good will always destroy evil in the end. To a reader, Macbeth loses the last bit of his decency and humanity when he has the children of Macduff murdered. This gruesome act of murder demonstrates Macbeth’s gross lack of concern for human