Macduff
Play
Summary
Macduff is the Thane of Fife and the instrument of providential justice against Macbeth. He discovers Duncan's murder, flees to England to join Malcolm, and loses his entire family to Macbeth's assassins in his absence. Because he was "from his mother's womb / Untimely ripped" — delivered by caesarean section — he fulfils the witches' prophecy and kills Macbeth in single combat.
Notable Quotations
"O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart / Cannot conceive nor name thee!" *(II.3)*
"He has no children. All my pretty ones? / Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? / What, all my pretty chickens and their dam / At one fell swoop?" *(IV.3)*
"Despair thy charm; / And let the angel whom thou still hast served / Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb / Untimely ripped." *(V.8)*