What is Malcom's primary role in Act 4? a. to fulfill the prophecy of the witches b. to foreshadow events that are to come in the play c. to...

Your options marked a, b, c are all viable in different
degrees. It is true that Malcolm motivates Macduff in avenging the brutal massacre of
his family, but the other options can not be altogether excluded. Orginally it is
Macduff who migrates to England to convince Malcolm for an offensive against the tyrant.
When Ross appears to break the news of the killings of Macduff's family, Malcolm ignites
the fire of vengeance in Macduff. But, at the same time, Malcolm has to lead the
offensive against Macbeth so that the prophecies made by the witches' apparitions come
true. Malcolm does have a crucial role to play in getting the apparitions' equivocations
translated to reality--the paradox of no man born of a woman ever killing Macbeth and
the paradox of Macbeth's invincibility unless the Birnam wood comes to the Dunsinane
hill. Again in the fifth and final act, the play moves fast to its catastrophe and
resolution-- the defeat and death of the tyrant and the freedom of Scotland followed by
the succession of the legitimate heir, Malcolm, to the throne. You can not decide upon
Malcolm's primary role in act 4 without looking into what is going to happen in the
final act.