Why does macduff leave his family

Hover for more information. Macduff needs to flee the castle and escape to England simply because his life is in serious danger. She tells her son it is left up to the mother to protect her young now, and that his father is dead. Lady Macduff is alarmed and moments later, the scene is invaded by a group of murderers sent by Macbeth.

The son is killed first and he urges his mother to flee. He looks for supporters to help to overthrow him and get a new leader. If someone would be so audacious as to murder a king, a great sin, he would not hesitate to murder a lesser person.

However, he also is suspicious that Macbeth is the murderer and for that reason too, would prefer not to attend his coronation. He reveals that he will not be attending the coronation of Macbeth and will instead return to his home in Fife. Like Macbeth, Macduff is also shown as a human being. He is seen as treacherous and a tyrant. He brings sadness to Scotland. Even though her son still has a dad, in her eyes his fear makes him unworthy to be a dad or husband. She is upset that he was left her to go to Malcolm, and she feels abandoned.

When the messenger enters, he gives her a more specific warning that she is in imminent danger. The murder of Lady Macduff and her young son in Act 4, scene 2, marks the moment in which Macbeth descends into utter madness, killing neither for political gain nor to silence an enemy, but simply out of a furious desire to do harm.

She is married to Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife. The exchange between Lady Macduff and her son provides comic relief in the scene.

It intensifies the suspense and anticipation of impending horror. In Scene 2, Lady Macduff complains about her husband and how he is a coward for leaving his family. Lady Macduff accuses her husband of not loving his family enough and she says she and her children are abandoned. Macduff has fled for a higher purpose though.

He is trying to save his country from a murderous tyrant. How does Lady Macduff react to the news that her husband has gone to England? The conversation between Lady Macduff and her son is supposed to be comic relief it can occur just before a tense scene.

The messenger repeatedly tells Lady Macduff he is humble, but honorable, meaning she should trust him. He basically tells her that he is below her. We first distinguish Macduff from the other members of the supporting cast when with Lennox he knocks at the gate after the murder of Duncan. The knocking itself is like the hammer-blow of fate, which Macbeth has called down upon himself by having committed the murder.

Macduff is the instrument of that fate. This idea begins to emerge as Macduff is distinguished from Lennox because the former enters Duncan's chamber to rouse Duncan only to discover Duncan dead. It is then Macduff who returns shouting horror at the fact of Duncan's murder.

It is also Macduff who asks Macbeth why the latter has killed Duncan's attendants. Macduff is further impressed upon our consciousness when we learn of his decision against attending Macbeth's coronation.

In discussing the coronation with Lennox, Macduff's ironic tone indicates his suspicion of Macbeth: "Well, may you see things well done there. While we cannot as yet understand the full significance of Macduff as one of the knockers at the gate, we do recognise early in the play a basic antagonism between him and Macbeth, an antagonism that begins earlier than that of any other character in the play.