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   luannw Teacher
   High School - 11th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   Act 4, sc. 2 opens with a conversation between Lady Macduff and Ross, while Lady Macduff's young son listens.  Lady Macduff is lamenting to Ross, her cousin, that she is unhappy, to the point of being angry, with her husband for having left her and the children to go to another country when there is so much strife and turmoil in Scotland.  She apparently senses that she is in danger and Macduff is no where around.  Also it appears that she is unaware of the reason for her husband's trip to England which was to talk to Malcolm and convince him to return to Scotland and help overthrow Macbeth.  She has enough political savvy to know that Macbeth is an enemy.  She knows that her husband didn't go to Macbeth's coronation and he didn't go to the banquet (the one where Banquo's ghost appeared) thus putting her husband in a bad position with Macbeth.  She doesn't seem to know however, that her husband left Scotland in order to help his country.  When Malcolm "tests" Macduff's loyalty in the third scene of Act 4, it is clear that country comes first for Macduff and his trek to England, leaving his family in danger, also attests to that.  As far as what this scene tells us about Macbeth, we know that he is a paranoid scoundrel for ordering the murder of the Macduff family.  We also know that he has made it obvious that he does not consider Macduff a friend or Lady Macduff wouldn't be aware of the danger she is in.  Also, the scene lets us know that things aren't going well in Scotland under Macbeth's rule.

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/macbeth/act-iv-commentary

   http://www.enotes.com/macbeth/act-iv-summary-analysis

   http://www.enotes.com/macbeth/themes

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   Posted by luannw on Monday August 3, 2009 at 4:58 PM