In this tragedy, Shakespeare tells the story of Macbeth, a Scottish general who, prompted by witches' prophesy, kills the King of Scotland and takes the throne. Macbeth is then forced to commit more murders, in order to protect his power and prevent the secret of his own crime from being known.
Lady Macduff appears only briefly in this play, in Act IV, Scene II. Macbeth has heard from the witches at the beginning of Act IV that he should beware of Lord Macduff. Macbeth finds that Macduff has fled the country, but he still orders that his wife, Lady Macduff, and their unnamed son be killed.
A messenger arrives at the castle to warn Lady Macduff of this threat. She replies to his message, "Whither should I fly? / I have done no harm [...]", meaning, "where should I escape to? I've done nothing wrong." She is killed at the end of the act.
Lady Macduff's situation in this scene could be related to a number of current events involving dictators who order their opponents to be assassinated. For instance, as one example, The New York Times has reported on a number of assassinations of enemies of the Kremlin in Russia, including the death of opposition leader, Boris Y. Nemtsov.
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