“Actions speak louder than words”
There is always one particular scene… a frame… the solitary droplet in the voluminous ocean of a play that a blind and ambitious literature student usually overlooks. The gravity of missing out on that slight change in a character’s mindset, during the most intense of scenes, is the difference between a character list… and a character sketch.
No matter how good an artist is, one must never solely rely on dialogues, or on the very well scripted actions of the actors to understand the actual being of the character, for it doesn’t exist. Instead, an instinctual creation of the character must be formed in one’s mind—sort of like the refracting air that appears whenever Harry Potter puts on his invisibility cloak.
If such an image is formed, then one needn’t foolishly list out the key attributes of Macduff and Macbeth alongside each other and mark the contrasts like it’s a science project. Instead the characters themselves shall face each other (in our minds, of course) to give us a true understanding of their limitations, motives, and the scripted climax of the play.
Focus is emphasized on the thought processes of Macduff and Macbeth to understand their motives and how its marriage with their characters resulted in the epic end to this play. To do so, we first target the origins of their motives.
Motives: Macbeth, the Scottish Thane of Glamis was a loyal general who had proven his worth to his cousin and King of Scotland, Duncan. Courageous and filled with positive ambition, Macbeth’s thirst rekindled with a profound urgency to usurp the throne from Duncan, after being crowned the Thane of Cawdor. He fought off his murderous thoughts and convinced himself that the crown would be awarded to him by luck again, and he wouldn’t have to take any action to cause the same.
The true character of Macbeth is brought to light by his loss of retorts to his wife’s degrading accusations. He is convinced by her to usurp the throne, showing us how easily manipulated he is for a cutthroat, strong and a confident general. This was the origin of the corrupted Macbeth that led to his tragic downfall.
The Thane of Fife, Macduff, displays mental maturity and alertness minutes after discovering the corpse of his beloved king, Duncan. His motive to install Malcom; eldest son of Duncan; on the Throne of Scotland first sparked when Macbeth said, “O, yet I do repent me of my fury / that I did kill them”.
Macbeth’s motive was solely on a personal level. He was blinded by his ambition that was slowly turning black with negativity fueled by his wife. On the other hand, Macduff’s desire for justice was the reason why he chose to defy Macbeth’s orders and flee to England in search of Malcom. He was looking out for the future of Scotland and trying to do what was just.
Macbeth and Macduff had decided to defy each other’s plans in individual scenes, and they both faced mighty challenges taking a huge toll on their personality, painfully revealing more about themselves as things progressed.
Had Macbeth earned his throne the natural way, we would have expected a noble rule of Scotland under his hand. Due to his shaken personality that had shown us how easy it is to manipulate him, the king was constantly frightened due to his guilt and was always sending out soldiers to kill people who might know of his secret.
Macbeth showed a broken soul, filled with incense of the pure evil wafting out of Lady Macbeth while she sleepwalked with guilt in the castle Dunsinane, when he ordered the murder of Banquo, his best friend and Macduff, the general who avoided his summons to the castle Dunsinane and chose to flee to England.
This was Macbeth’s desperate attempt to tie the loose ends.
Shakespeare injects instability into Macduff, the only character having a positive moral code and seen as a figure of goodness in the dark world of Macbeth. Upon seeing Macduff in England, Malcom launches into a series of questions testing Macduff’s loyalty to his proposal. While Macduff is temporarily shown battling with his own conscience and trying to gain bearing of his moral code that was the sole hope to the audience so far, he ultimately passes Malcom’s test, proving his loyalty.
By this point, the existence of two tangible forces opposing each other have been recognized: Macduff and Malcom versus Macbeth and his throne. Malcom’s support from the English military proved voluminous enough to face Macbeth’s Scottish army and did not leave any impressions of this being a suicide mission for Malcom and Macduff.
It is worthy to note that at this point, both Macbeth and Macduff have something positive to look forward to. Macbeth having failed to understand the witches’ play on words now believed himself to be invincible. And having murdered Banquo and Macduff’s family, he felt fairly certain that most of the lose ends had been tied together. Macduff now had nothing to lose. If he wasn’t before, then the loss of his family burning his heart like a solar flare, made him that much more aggressive to end the madman tyrant’s rule over Scotland.
With the glint of sunlight on the tip of the lances aimed at each other, we now compare them using the heart of distinction— the attitude towards death.
The contrast between Macduff and Macbeth is accentuated by this understanding that seemingly rips apart that invisibility cloak and the translucent glimmer surrounding it, hence clearing the cloud of uncertainty and revealing—in one swift move—the most about the character.
Macduff, hearing of his family’s death, reacts with a tortured grief. His words, “But I must also feel it as a man”, indicate a capacity for emotional sensitivity. He reacts as a normal mortal human would. While Macbeth and Lady Macbeth insist that manhood implies a denial of feeling, Macduff seems to insist that emotional depth and sensitivity are part of what it means to be a man. It would be difficult to believe this of someone who dared to stand up for what he felt right and one might also whisper ‘hypocrite’ to Macduff’s claim of manhood, but this interpretation is supported by Macduff’s reaction upon his discovery of Duncan’s corpse and the echo of Macduff’s words when Macbeth responds to the news of Lady Macbeth’s death. Macduff struggles to find the words to express his rage and anguish, crying, “O horror, horror, horror”. In some stage interpretations, Macduff’s character transitions from a state of shock to one of frenzied alarm. This contrasts sharply with Macbeth’s famous response to the announcement of his wife’s death: “She should have died hereafter… there would have been a time for such a word…Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow”. Macbeth’s words seem to express a brutal indifference–she would have died anyway–and perhaps even suggest that he has lost the capacity to feel.
It is perhaps, this humility in Macduff ‘s formulae to manhood that some religious nuts can link to his good fortune in succeeding in his mission. But quite a few ever accept and respect the ruthlessness of Macbeth’s ambition—which started off pure initially—that was essential to reach and remain at the top. Of course, if his character was as ‘manly’ and devoid of feelings as aimed, then the guilt of murder would have been ineffective, thereby making him a respected tyrant all over the world, possibly a literary legend of kings—sort of like Heath Ledger and his ground-shaking performance of the world’s most respected fictitious villain.
But it all boils down to how you maintain your originality. Your respect for your true character must be whole. Untainted. Faith so sincere that it reflects. Macbeth failed while Macduff’s chin rose despite the weight of his family’s death straining it down.
Actions do speak louder than words. The true character’s understanding does make all the difference. In the fight between Macbeth and Macduff… Macduff stood longer.
Aman R Agarwal
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