What Is Macduff's Downfall

William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He is the writer behind Macbeth, a story about a Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy from three witches who says he’s going to be king. Consumed by the ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth kills the current king and takes the throne for himself. The rest of the story portrays his downfall as he is wracked with guilt and paranoia. Throughout the story Macduff, a Scottish nobleman, has portrayed himself to be ambitious, and righteous. He also shows traits of loyalty and honesty towards his friends and country and he is quite observant towards change in people's behaviour. Macduff is also
a very emotional character who is not afraid to show his true feelings. Macduff is the strongest character in Macbeth because he uses his ambition and righteousness for selfless acts, he is extremely loyal and honest and would not betray his friends, and his emotional side causes him to think of the consequences of his actions and how they affect those around him.

Macduff’s ambition and righteousness alone makes him a very strong character especially since he is determined to achieve the goals he has set throughout the play.
Macduff’s actions are justified by what he thinks is morally right, and doesn't act for himself alone & expects anything in return. When Macduff hears about his family's death, he mourns them and realizes that there is no point to that and he should think of what to do next. He then says “Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself; / Within my swords’ length set him; if he ‘scape, / Heaven forgive him too!” (4.3.271-273). He claims he has a right to kill Macbeth for what he has done to his family and country. Macduff wants to avenge his family and Duncan, this ambition is the root of his strength. He is able to hang onto this power without going mad like Macbeth because he does not want the power for himself. He does not want to rule over others he just wants to avenge the ones he lost and end Macbeth’s tyrant over Scotland. Macduff’s lust for revenge is also what brought him to fulfilling the witches’ prophecy of a man not born of woman defeating Macbeth. During their battle, Macduff exclaims “Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb / Untimely ripp’d” (5.8.19-20). Macbeth was the one who wanted Macduff’s family dead which caused Macduff to seek revenge. Since Macduff was “untimely ripp’d” from his mother’s womb, he is able to defeat Macbeth. Macduff not knowing about the prophecy also gives him the upper
hand because he does not go crazy trying to make the prophecy come true, his will to avenge his family and save his country is what is powering through this story. Unlike Macbeth, Macduff is not crushed by his ambition because he does not want a higher rank but instead stays loyal to his country and end Macbeth's reign of terror on Scotland. Macduff is very powerful because of his ambition and righteousness.

Not only is Macbeth ambitious, he is also extremely loyal and honest when it comes to his King and his friends.
When the topic of Malcolm becoming king came up, Malcolm decides to test Macduff’s loyalty towards him. Malcolm starts to talk bad about himself and then says that if he were king, “black Macbeth / Will seem as pure as snow” (4.3.59.60). Macduff keeps insisting that Malcolm would be a great king but Malcolm keeps denying that fact. Out of frustration, Macduff exclaims “O nation miserable! / With an untitled tyrant bloody sceptred / When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again, / Since that thy truest issue of thy throne” (4.3.116-120). Malcolm wanted to see if Macduff would pass his loyalty test, and he did. When Malcolm says he would be a horrible king, Macduff cries out in fear that his country will continue to suffer at the hands of tyrants. This shows that Macduff’s allegiance is to his country and not the title of the king. This makes him a good ally for Malcolm because Malcolm is also devoted to his country. Macduff is also open with his honesty. When he discovered Duncan’s dead body, he yelled out “O horror! Horror! Horror!” (2.3.71.) Macduff was being honest in this reaction because he was devastated from seeing someone he looked up to pass on. Shakespeare also used “The Rule of Three’s” the emphasize the emotions that Macduff is experiencing in this scene. The rule of three’s states that if something is said three times, or comes in three’s, it is more
effective than any other number. During this scene, Macduff is not afraid to state his honest opinions and show his skepticism towards Macbeth’s unusual behaviour. His intelligence should also be noted when he sees this change in their behaviour. After Macduff finds Duncan’s body, he assumes the guards killed him but since they were dead, he was aloof to who actually did it. Macduff noticed a change in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s character and began to feel weary around them. Then Macbeth says “O, yet I do repent me of my fury, / That I did kill them” (2.3.121-122) and admits to killing the guards by using the guise of him being mad because the guards could not protect Duncan properly. When he confesses this, Macduff realizes that it is not safe to be around Macbeth. These suspicions prompted him to leave Scotland with Malcolm and Donalbain in order to protect their lives, and build an army to stop Macbeth. Even though fleeing the country during this situation seems suspicious, Macduff advises that they should leave no matter what. Macduff frequently shows traits of him being loyal, honest, and intelligence making him a very strong character.

Macduff is also an emotional character. Unlike Macbeth, Macduff can be driven by his emotions, the emotion being grief for his family. When Macduff hears about his family he says “All my pretty ones? / DId you say all? O, hell-kite! All? / What, all my pretty chickens and their dam / At one fell swoop” (4.3.253-256) and when Malcolm tells him to “Dispute it like a man” (4.3.257) Macduff said “I shall do so; / But I must also feel it as a man” (4.3.258-259). Macduff ‘feels’ his emotions as a man and is not afraid to be empowered by them, these emotions fueled his vengeful wrath towards Macbeth. The audience could compare and contrast Macbeth who felt nothing after murdering countless people while Macduff feels like his family’s death was his fault and was having a hard time keeping in his emotions. Macduff’s can use his emotions to help him thinks of how his actions could affect others. Throughout the entire play, Macduff has not been angry enough to resort to violence, but near the end of the play, Macduff realizes that talking can no longer work on Macbeth; he is too obsessed with power. During their fight, Macduff says “I have no words: / My voice is i my sword, thou bloodier villain / Than terms can give thee out!” (5.8.8-10). Macduff realizes that Macbeth has become too evil for words so he decides to let his actions speak for him. Which is surprising considering the fact that Macduff would usually never want to fight and that throughout the entire play Macbeth has been too caught up on words, either from his wife or from the witches.