![]() Lady Macduff's entire portrait as a character is painted in this one scene, though it is clear through her actions that she is a fiercely protective mother and a woman who is not afraid to speak out against others. She is killed off-stage, one of several significant offstage murders in the play. She heeds his words and exits the scene screaming, “Murder!”. The son is killed first and he urges his mother to flee. Lady Macduff is alarmed and moments later, the scene is invaded by a group of murderers sent by Macbeth. This domesticity is interrupted by the arrival of a messenger who warns her of imminent danger and urges her to escape with her children. ![]() Lady Macduff is left with her son, whom she speaks with, her fury toward Macduff mingling with her affection for her child. Claiming to be overcome with emotion, Ross takes his leave. Ross attempts to comfort her, though he offers little consolation and Lady Macduff responds with sharp retorts that betray her anger toward her husband. ![]() She is furious at her husband for his desertion of his family. In Act IV Scene II, Lady Macduff appears alongside the thane of Ross and her unnamed son. The latter part of Act IV Scene III is “wholly of Shakespeare’s invention.” Role Holinshed's Chronicles was Shakespeare's main source for Macbeth, though he diverged from the Chronicles significantly by delaying Macduff's knowledge of his wife's murder until his arrival in England. Macduff and Lady Macduff appear in both Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles (1577) and Hector Boece's Scotorum Historiæ (1526). Later playwrights, William Davenant especially, expanded her role in adaptation and in performance. Though Lady Macduff's appearance is limited to this scene, her role in the play is quite significant. Her appearance in the play is brief: she and her son are introduced in Act IV Scene II, a climactic scene that ends with both of them being murdered on Macbeth's orders. She is married to Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife. Lady Macduff is a character in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Peggy Webber (right) as Lady Macduff in Orson Welles' film adaptation Macbeth (1948 film)
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