After the murder of king Duncan & the escape of Malcolm and Donalbain, Macbeth assumes kingship. Driven by a sense of insecurity and fear, Macbeth appoints murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance. Banquo is put to death but Fleance escapes. In act 3 sc.6,'another Lord' first refers to Macbeth as 'tyrant' and confides to Lennox how Scotland under Macbeth's tyrannical rule has become a seat of persecution and terror in sharp contrast to England where Macduff has gone to seek the support of 'the holy king':
"........................................Thither Macduff
Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid
To wake Northumberland and warlike Seward:
That by the help of these, with him above
To ratify the work, we may again
Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights,
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives,
Do faithful homage and receive honours:
All which we pine for now."
In act 4 sc.2, Ross tries to argue in support of Macduff's passage to England with reference to the conditions in Scotland under Macbeth's despotic rule:
" 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."
But perhaps the most telling comment on the miserable conditions in Scotland in the post-Duncan era comes from Macduff in act 4 sc.3:
" .................................Each new morn
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
As if it felt with Scotland and yell'd out
Like syllable of dolour."
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