Macbeth – from Act 4 Scene 3, lines 204 to 233
In this extract, Ross tells Malcolm and Macduff about the death of Macduff’s family.
ROSS
Your castle is surprised – your wife and babes
Savagely slaughtered. To relate the manner 205
Were, on the quarry of these murdered deer,
To add the death of you.
MALCOLM
Merciful heaven! –
What, man! Ne’er pull your hat upon your brows:
Give sorrow words. The grief that does not speak
Whispers the o’er-fraught heart, and bids it break. 210
MACDUFF
My children too?
ROSS
Wife, children, servants – all
That could be found.
MACDUFF
And I must be from thence!
My wife killed too?
ROSS
I have said.
MALCOLM
Be comforted.
Let’s make us medicines of our great revenge,
To cure this deadly grief. 215
MACDUFF
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?
MALCOLM
Dispute it like a man.
MACDUFF
I shall do so.
But I must also feel it as a man: 220
I cannot but remember such things were,
That were most precious to me. – Did heaven look on,

And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff!
They were all struck for thee. Naught that I am,
Not for their own demerits, but for mine 225
Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now!
MALCOLM
Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief
Convert to anger. Blunt not the heart, enrage it.
MACDUFF
O! I could play the woman with mine eyes,
And braggart with my tongue. – But, gentle heavens, 230
Cut short all intermission. Front to front
Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself.
Within my sword’s length set him. If he ’scape,
Heaven forgive him too!

Explore how Shakespeare presents the reactions of Macduff and Malcolm to Ross’s news in this extract.
Refer closely to the extract in your answer.

In this extract from Act 4, Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Ross delivers the devastating news to Macduff and Malcolm that Macduff’s family has been brutally murdered. The reactions of Macduff and Malcolm to this news are vividly portrayed, showcasing their differing responses to grief and loss.

Macduff’s initial reaction is one of shock and disbelief. He is overwhelmed with grief and expresses his anguish by questioning Ross about the details of the murder of his wife and children. He is unable to comprehend the extent of the tragedy and exclaims, “My children too?… Wife, children, servants – all that could be found.” Macduff’s anguish is palpable as he struggles to come to terms with the senseless slaughter of his loved ones. He is deeply emotional and cannot hide his grief, as he exclaims, “What, all my pretty chickens, and their dam, at one fell swoop?” His use of vivid imagery, such as “hell-kite” to describe the murderer, and “fell swoop” to depict the brutality of the killings, reflects his intense emotions and profound sorrow.