Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife, is a character and the heroic main protagonist in William Shakespeare's Macbeth (c.1603–1607) that is loosely based on history.
The overall plot that would serve as the basis for Macbeth is first seen in the writings of two chroniclers of Scottish history, John of Fordun, whose prose Chronica Gentis Scotorum was begun about 1363, and Andrew of Wyntoun's Scots verse Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, written no earlier than 1420.
[4] Various Fife titles were held by the Duffs until as recently as 1929 when the dignity passed to the Carnegie descendants, where it remains in use today.
[5] In Holinshed's narrative, attributes of King Duff are transposed onto the MacDuff mormaer from Macbeth's era.
Macduff first speaks in the play in act 2, scene 3 to the drunken porter to report to his duty of awaking King Duncan when he is sleeping for the night at Macbeth's castle.
When he discovers the corpse of King Duncan (murdered by Macbeth, but it appears that nearby guards are guilty since Lady Macbeth put his knife by them and smeared them with Duncan's blood), he raises an alarm, informing the castle that the king has been murdered.
However, Macduff flees to England to join Malcolm, the slain King Duncan's elder son, and convinces him to return to Scotland and claim the throne.
He joins Malcolm, and they return to Scotland with their English allies to face Macbeth at Dunsinane Castle.
Macduff ultimately presents Macbeth's head to Malcolm, hailing him as king and calling on the other thanes to declare their allegiance with him (5.11.20–25).
[7][full citation needed] The play positions the characters of Macduff as holy versus Macbeth as evil.
Although Macduff comes to represent a type of "goodness" in the dark world of Macbeth, Shakespeare also allows for some instability in his character.