It is Ross, Macduff's cousin, who breaks the news to Macduff. He initially tells Macduff, who asks about his family, that they are "at peace." By this, he means, but is struggling to find the words to say, that they are dead. When Macduff says in response to this that he and Malcolm are on their way to Scotland, Ross is forced to tell the full story of their murder. He tells Macduff, after much delay (it seems, again, that he is very reluctant to tell such horrible news) that his "castle is supris'd," and that his "wife and babes" have been "savagely slaughter'd." Ross is obviously broken up by the news, and not just because he is Macduff's cousin. He has just, in the previous scene, visited Lady Macduff, and attempted to console her after her husband has been forced to flee. He tried to explain to the understandably upset wife why her husband had thought it necessary to leave her alone with her children in such dangerous times. He was the last character to see Macduff's family before their murder.
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