부산대학교 도서관

Most early modern children are studied for their value as victims or historical objects. This article, however, argues for the narrative function of children, and consequently considers Macduff's son as a harbinger of the queer temporality of Macbeth. Even in the early modern period, children symbolized futurity, yet I contend that young Macduff's unsettling characterization fails to achieve that expectation. He oscillates between innocence and uncanny adultness, contrasting states that mark the young boy as a "queer child." I argue, therefore, that young Macduff's disrupted and disrupting life offers a microcosm of Macbeth's relation to time, revealing this minor character's overlooked structural and thematic significance.