LADY MACDUFF Whither should I fly? I have done no harm. But I remember now I am in this earthly world; where to do harm Is often
laudable, to do good sometime Accounted dangerous folly: why then, alas, Do I put up that womanly defence, To say I have done no harm? Enter Murderers What are these faces?
The lines show Lady Macduff's dilemma on being asked to run away and hide. She could do nothing except to accept the fact that this world is unfair and unjust at times.
Explanation:
Spoken by Lady Macduff in Act IV scene ii of the play "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare, these lines show the dilemma of Lady Macduff about what to do. She does not seem to understand the whole situation of the kingdom but she also realized that the world is an unfair place.
The scene shows a messenger warning Lady Macduff to take her children and run away before any harm can come to them. She then tells of her dilemma of where to go and why they would need to hide and be on the run. She hasn't done anything wrong so it is uncalled for to be told to hide and run away. But she then also admits that "<em>in this earthly world; where to do harm Is often laudable, to do good sometime Accounted dangerous folly</em>". But before she could act, the murderers hired by the greedy and murderous king Macbeth had reached her place and eventually killed her whole family.
include writing "battle sweat" to describe blood, "sword sleep" for death and "raven harvest" for a corpse. A particularly evocative kenning in Beowulf is "sky candle" as a description of the sun.
