Characters in order of appearance:
Lady Macduff
Ross
Son
Messenger
First Murderer
Time: Morning
Summary:
At Fife in Macduff’s castle, Lady Macduff is lamenting to Ross that her husband has run away which kinda makes him look suspicious but Ross says he had his reasons. Lady Macduff then has a funny bit of banter with her young son about how his father is dead. He doesn’t believe her, and they go on to discuss whether or not she should buy a new husband at the market as well as what happens to traitors. The conversation comes to an abrupt end when a messenger enters advising her to flee with her children. Since she’s innocent, she sees no reason to leave. Then again, she thinks, this is Earth, where sometimes people are praised for doing evil things and punished for doing good things. So being innocent may not be a good reason to stay put. Unfortunately, in the time it takes her to figure this out, the murderers have arrived. One of the murderers says they’re looking for Macduff, who is a traitor. Macduff’s son retorts are stabbed and then dies, leaving the murderers to kill Lady Macduff.