Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 4 — Summary & Analysis

What happens

An old man and Ross discuss the unnatural events following Duncan's murder: darkness at noon, Duncan's horses turned wild and ate each other. Macduff arrives with news that Macbeth has killed the two chamberlains and is now traveling to Scone to be crowned king. Malcolm and Donalbain, Duncan's sons, have fled—making them look guilty. Macduff refuses to attend Macbeth's coronation and heads home to Fife.

Why it matters

This scene marks the world's response to Duncan's death. Nature itself rebels: a falcon is killed by a mouse-hunting owl, horses break free and devour each other, and daylight turns to darkness. These inversions—predator becomes prey, domesticated animals turn savage, day becomes night—mirror the moral chaos Macbeth has unleashed by murdering his king. The old man's seventy years of memory can't match this single night of horror. The unnatural events aren't accidents; they're Shakespeare's way of showing that killing the divinely appointed king fractures the entire order of things. Scotland itself is sick.

Macduff's reactions reveal what different men understand about Macbeth's rise. Ross seems almost relieved—'the sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth' sounds almost like resolution. But Macduff, who has seen Macbeth's speed in murdering the chamberlains, smells something wrong. His refusal to go to Scone is the first public sign of resistance. By heading to Fife instead of the coronation, Macduff becomes the play's moral compass. Meanwhile, Malcolm and Donalbain's flight—meant to save their lives—makes them look like conspirators. Macbeth has turned the innocent into the accused, and the guilty into the crowned.