Thursday, April 14, 2011

Explain how Malcolm tests Macduff`s loyalty in the play "Macbeth".

Malcolm is suspicious of Macduff when he arrives in England because he is not sure if he has come as a spy for Macbeth.   When Macduff asks Malcolm to join him in an effort to rescue the ailing Scotland:

"Let us rather
Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men
Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom; each new
morn" (Act IV, Scene III)

Malcolm replies:

"What I believe I'll wall,
What know believe, and what I can redress,
As I shall find the time to friend, I will.
What you have spoke. It may be so perchance.
This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,
Was once thought honest: you have lov'd him
well;
He hath not touch'd you yet. I am young; but
something
You may deserve of him through me, and wis-
dom
To offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb
To appease an angry god." (Act IV, Scene III)

And the other reason he is not sure is because Macduff has left his wife and children back in Scotland.  A fact which gives Malcolm reason to believe that Macduff is secure with that situation. 

"Perchance even there where I did find
my doubts.
Why in that rawness left you wife and child—
Those precious motives, those strong knots of
love—
Without leave-taking? I pray you,
Let not my jealousies be your dishonours,
But mine own safeties: you may be rightly just,
Whatever I shall think." (Act IV, Scene III)

Malcolm questions Macduff's feelings for Macbeth and why he has left his wife and children in Scotland.

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