Who is Macduff?

Lord Macduff is the Thane of Fife and plays a pivotal role in Shakespeare's classic play, Macbeth. After King Duncan's assassination, Macduff becomes suspicious of Macbeth and is the first to question why he killed the chamberlains. Macduff then leaves his family behind in Scotland and travels to England in order to offer his support and allegiance to Malcolm, the rightful heir to the Scottish throne. Lord Macduff is depicted as a rather quiet, discerning man, who is extremely loyal to King Duncan and his son. Macduff is also portrayed as an emotional man, who laments the terrible situation in Scotland and is overwhelmed with sadness after learning that Macbeth slaughtered his entire family. Macduff acts as Macbeth's foil and carries out the witches' prophecies when he returns to Scotland to battle Macbeth. Macduff leads Malcolm's army and ends up decapitating Macbeth in the final battle. Before Macduff kills Macbeth, he explains that he was "Untimely ripped" from his mother's womb, which coincides with the witches' earlier prophecy. Overall, Macduff plays an important role in the play and acts as Macbeth's foil. Macduff proves his allegiance to Malcolm and helps restore him to his rightful throne by defeating Macbeth.

Macduff is a Scottish noble who holds the title of Thane of Fife. He is one of the first to suspect Macbeth's treachery—though he does not voice his concerns, he notably declines to attend Macbeth's coronation. He is also the first to discover Duncan's murder, entering his room to find a bloody scene the morning after Macbeth has stabbed the king to death. He is most notable as the man who kills Macbeth, and it turns out that it is he who the witches have in mind when they tell Macbeth he has nothing to fear from anyone "of woman born." It turns out at the end of the play that Macduff was born by caesarean procedure. Not only that, but Macduff has his heart set on revenge after Macbeth sends his assassins to murder Macduff's family (Macduff having fled to England at the time). Returning with Malcolm, Macduff vanquishes Macbeth on the field of battle.