Act 4 Scene 2 Macbeth Notes

I. Ross visits Lady Maduff to inform her that Maduff has fled to England

1. Verses 2-5. To correct misgivings and hasty generalizations.

a. He tries to correct her by saying that she has no proof that

Macduff fled owing to prior knowledge of a bad omen or of fear
of the omen.

2. Verses 6 – 13. Lady Macduff’s rebuke/rebuff

a. Verses 6 – 9. General Argument for fear

Why would Macduff leave, in descending order of importance,
“his wife,” “his babes,” “his mansion,” and “his titles” to go
somewhere unknown?

How convincing is this as an argument? What are the strengths?

What are the weaknesses?

b. Verses 9 – 11. Proof by Comparison. Wren vs Owl Example

To prove her point, Lady Macduff claims that the smallest bird,
the wren, will out of natural instinct and self-preservation fight
to save its young ones (babies)

How does this metaphor work? Who is the wren? Who is the owl?
What is the strength of the argument?
What is the major weakness of the argument?

c. Verses 11 – 13. Conclusion

Lady Macduff reasons that
“all is the fear, and nothing is the love.”
How does this use of parallel structure amplify her argument?
Consider the placement of certain words as first and last positions.
3. Verses 15 – 36. Ross provides a final admonition

a. 14 – 16 Ross properly judges her husband: “noble,” “wise,”

“judicious” and “knows fits o’ the season.”

There are violent military events (coups, murders, treasons)

Taken place that Macduff hints at without saying more.
Why does he say “I dare not speak much further?” What is he
Hiding from Lady Macduff and why?

b. 17 – 22. Ross explains the psychological conflict of the times

inside the minds of leaders.

i. General Claim. Ross suggests that leaders now become

traitors to themselves owing to rumours (news events) and
fear of them while not necessarily knowing what the fear is
“There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” Secretly, he
Knows that each day brings new rumours of deaths and
who caused them and why. But source of the fear is not
known exactly

ii. 21- 22. Metaphorical Claim

Ross uses the metaphor to explain how our doubts and fears
Are like the roaring, wild waves of a violent sea. Without
sound reason and access to proper intel, we are like sailors
without a sail or oars or maps/charts to guide us, so we are
violently tossed back and forth with new rumours of death.

How successful is Ross in explaining his case?

4. Lines 27 – 63. Comic Relief ( Calm before the Violent Storm)
It may be argued that the playful banter between mother and
son provides comic relief before they are murdered by
Macbeth’s assassins who use humour to mock the son,
calling him an “egg” and opening him up as one. This
ironically hearkens back to the mother’s fear that she will be
killed along with her children.

The playful banter reveals that there is a loving relationship

between mother and child, and that the boy has far more
intellect than we might expect.

a. “Father’d he is, and yet he is fatherless.” V. 27

What does Lady Macduff imply with this paradox?

How does the parallel construction amplify the
meaning?

b. 27 – 37. Bird Metaphors, Characters, and Dramatic Irony

i. Lady Macduff playfully asks her son what they will

Do without a father. The boy replies with a biblical
Allusion getting by on bare necessities without fear.
 
Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air, for they
neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value
than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one
cubit to his stature?

What does this tell you about the nature of the boy?
c. 35 – 37 The trap is sprung. More Dramatic Irony to come.

Once again the mother claims that he should fear traps and snares,
but the boy wittily responds that a poor boy is not worthy enough
to be killed since he is poor and threatens no one.

The fact that he is killed is ironic. What does this tell you
about the evil nature of Macbeth?

d. 37 – 44. Playful banter. To buy and sell husbands.

The mother provokes the boy, insisting that she can acquire many
other husbands as one could buy a bird at a market. In return, the
boy claims that the mother would betray each husband by selling
them to someone else for a profit.

What does this playful banter tell you about the boy’s nature
and wisdom?

Why does the mother provoke her son so much with playful
sarcasm and witty barbs?

e. 44 – 60. The Notion of Treason

The boy and the mother talk about the notion of how common
treason is and how it is ironic that there are more traitors in the
world than honest people. In jest, the boy claims that there are
more traitors in the world to hang the good, than the number of
good to hang the traitors.

What does this tell you about the intelligence of the boy?
Final Notes

1. How does the use of comic relief add to our shock and horror
when the murder of the household takes place?

2. How does the setting of the castle metaphorically relate to a

wren, nest, baby bird and owl?

3. Why does Shakespeare use this bird imagery to evoke pathos

and fear from the audience?

4. Why does Shakespeare not show the murder of the mother and
other attendants but only the boy? (Banquo and Fleance vs Lady
Macduff and Son)