Question

Explain how macduffs wife describes her husband

Answer 1

Answer + Explanation:

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.

Lady Macduff strongly believes that her husband in a traitor and that “his flight was madness” (4.2.4).

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.