Wednesday, February 10, 2016

How does Malcolm test Macduff?Macbeth act4

In Act IV, Scene 3, Malcolm tests Macduff by telling him that he, Malcolm, would be a more terrible ruler than Macbeth.  He says:


When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head, 
Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country 
Shall have more vices than it had before, 
More suffer and more sundry ways than ever, 
By him that shall succeed...


It is myself I mean; in whom I know 
All the particulars of vice so grafted 
That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth 
Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state 
Esteem him as a lamb, being compared 
With my confineless harms.


He says these things (and more) to see Macduff's response. Macduff answers by always defending Malcolm and pointing out that Malcolm's "vices" are only those that "normal" people might have, rather than the true evil that motivates Macbeth's actions.

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