• does not know why her husband has fled to England
• believes he shows guilt by fleeing (of what she does not say)
• Lines 6-14:believes he is a coward to leave his wife and son in harms way "The most diminutive of birds will fight...against the owl" (Owl is Macbeth?)
• refuses to flee; line 27 assumes Macduff is already dead--she gives up on his cowardice

Ross

• holds true to Macduff; Line 16, "He is nobel, wise, judicious, and best knows The fits o' th' season."
• he now suspects Macbeth, and knows Macduff has fled so that he may do something about it

Son

• still trusts his father; this is why he refuses to be baited by his mother into accepting that his father is actually dead; trusts Macduff's motives

**At the end of the scene, murders enter and stab the son; Lady Macduff flees

• Malcolm and Macduff have met in England
• their following discussion concerns the nature of Macbeth, Scotland, Macduff, and Malcolm
  • Macbeth: Macduff contends that he is a traitor; furthermore, he is dangerous, and needs to be removed from power; he is ruining Scotland
  • Scotland: it is oppressed by Macbeth; he rules viciously--remember all the people he has tried to kill
  • Macduff: he himself wants to unseat Macbeth and put Malcolm on the throne, but admits having a lack of spirit to be treacherous; **tells Malcolm that anyone would be better at ruling Scotland than the tyrannical Macbeth (Lines 31-37)
  • Malcolm: chastises Macduff for leaving Scotland without his family; recognizes the evil which is consuming Macbeth: (Lines 57-59) "I grant him bloody, Luxuruous, avaricious, false, deceitful, Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin
  • **claims that he is no king for Scotland--admits that his lusts are far worse, his tyranny would be far more oppressive than Macbeth's
  • of the kingship (lines 91-96) "the king-becoming graces, As justice, verity, temp'rance, stableness, Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, Devotion, pationce, courage, fortitude, I have no relish of them, but abound In in the division oe each several crime,..."

After this, events move quickly in the act: Macduff gives and emotional plea to anyone for Scotland's sake. This moves Malcolm to redeem himself, and claims that Macduff's "noble passion...from my soul Wiped the black scruples" **resolves to free Scotland

Ross enters and tells Macduff that Lady Macduff and son were well when he left them, then twenty lines later reveals that all of Macduff's family is dead

Malcolm councils Macduff not to despair, but to put his emotion in the direction of saving England.