Macbeth Macduff Quotes

This is how to do ambition right: Macduff wants to avenge his family and his king, but he doesn’t seek power for himself. He doesn't want to rule fortune; he's content to be fortune's tool. Clearly, he's going to be the one to take down the boss.

You may look guilty when you run—but you look a lot worse when you're dead. Malcolm and Donalbain are willing to put up with the appearance of guilt if it means that they'll be able to avenge their father in the end.

LOL, Macduff. He's so tied to a notion of female gentleness that he can't believe Lady Macbeth could even hear about murder, much less plot one. See, guys? Sexism hurts everyone.

Boys don't cry? Not so, says Macduff. He can be a man and also mourn the brutal murder of his wife and children. Talk about setting a good example.

Note that the problem isn't the king's death—it's that the king's death was "untimely," thanks to Macbeth's boundless intemperance. In other words, Macbeth simply didn't have the patience. Maybe if he'd waited he would have become king in due time—and not at the wrong time.

Hey, "untimely"! We just saw it in the "untimely emptying of the happy throne" (4.3.7), so there's definitely something going on with that word. Is an untimely birth the only antidote to an untimely death?

When Macduff says "the time is free" he means that Macbeth's reign has come to an end and the people of Scotland now live in freedom from tyranny. But there's also the sense that time had somehow come to a halt when Macbeth murdered Duncan and became king. Now that the rightful heir, Malcolm, will be crowned monarch, linear time (which was disrupted by Macbeth), is back on track, just as lineal succession (also disrupted by Macbeth) is reestablished. And—this might be a stretch, but you know who else is now free, or almost? The audience. Their time is back on track, too. Given how much Shakespeare liked to talk about plays and acting, we think it's a reasonable interpretation. Do you buy it?