TEXT:
ACT IV - SCENE II. Fife. Macduff's castle.
Enter LADY MACDUFF, her Son, and ROSS
LADY MACDUFF
What had he done, to make him fly the land?
ROSS
You must have patience, madam.
LADY MACDUFF
He had none:
His flight was madness: when our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.
ROSS
You know not
Whether it was his wisdom or his fear.
LADY MACDUFF
Wisdom! To leave his wife, to leave his babes,
His mansion and his titles in a place
From whence himself does fly? He loves us not;
He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight,
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love;
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason.
ROSS
My dearest coz,
I pray you, school yourself: but for your husband,
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
The fits o' the season. I dare not speak much further;
But cruel are the times, when we are traitors
And do not know ourselves, when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,
But float upon a wild and violent sea
Each way and move. I take my leave of you:
Shall not be long but I'll be here again:
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
To what they were before. My pretty cousin,
Blessing upon you!
LADY MACDUFF
Fathered he is, and yet he's fatherless.
ROSS
I am so much a fool, should I stay longer,
It would be my disgrace and your discomfort:
I take my leave at once.
Exit
NOTES:
The Wren
Elizabethan readers and playgoers would have been fairly convinced that the wren was the smallest of birds - Shakespeare has Lady Macduff say as much. Wrens appear quite often in the plays - either for their surprisingly loud song, or their timidity, or their determination to fight and protect their young. Whether or not any of these are in fact ornithologically true, they make sense in the context of this scene. Lady Macduff feels vulnerable and very small in the context of this dangerous world she lives in, but she will fight for her children even if her husband has apparently abandoned her.
The Owl
Throughout the play, owls have been mentioned as a bad omen. Lady Macduff suggests that owls are evil enough to attack other birds in their nests - again to make her own point. Whether or not this ever actually happens in nature is beside the point. Owls are a favourite bird for Shakespeare, and you can get a full account of how much he likes them here.
The Fits o’ the Season
This curious little phrase suggests the violent disorders of the times. Shakespeare says something similar in Coriolanus, when Menenius mentions “the violent fit o’ the time craves it as physic”. (Coriolanus, Act 3, Scene 2).