Macduff's conflicts are primarily external. He leaves his family and goes to England in hopes of convincing Malcolm to return to Scotland and take back the Scottish throne by force. Clearly Macduff's conflict is with Macbeth. Macduff views Macbeth as the enemy who is destroying his country. He describes the damage Macbeth has done to Scotland:
Each new morn
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows
Strike heaven on the face . . .
Later, Macduff learns that his wife, children and servants have all been killed by Macbeth. Again, his conflict is external. Macbeth vows to fight Macbeth "front to front." Since Macduff has no soliloquies, it is difficult to determine whether or not he has internal conflicts. However, it might be assumed that he may have struggled with leaving the family he clearly loves and going to Scotland. In other words, when he had to choose between his country and his family, he chose his country. When he finds out that his family is dead, he blames himself:
Sinful Macduff,
They were all struck for thee! Naught that I am.
Not for heir own demerits but for mine
Fell slaughter on their souls.
Macduff feels responsible for their deaths, and struggles in this scene between his guilt over leaving them, his extreme grief, and his need to revenge. In fact, his emotions quite overcome him as he tells Malcolm that before he can act, he must grieve:
I must also feel it as a man.
In this powerful scene, Shakespeare realistically portrays a strong, good man made weak with grief and despair. But this grief is soon converted to action as he converts his grief to anger, and the conflict becomes external once again.
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