English Literature - Macbeth - Lady Macbeth - Quotes

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Act 1, Scene 5 - Card 1

  • "my dearest partner of greatness" - Macbeth - Portrays them as equals and shows that Macbeth holds his wife in high regard. This kind of equality between spouses was highly uncommon at the time of writting, showing Lady Macbeth as a strong and powerful woman, contrasting with typical connotations of women in that era.
  • "I fear thy nature, it is too full o'th'milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way" - Lady Macbeth - This shows that Lady Macbeth has a seemingly weak perception of Macbeth. In juxtaposition to the respect Macbeth shows for his wife, this shows Lady Macbeth to be domineering and overpowering.
  • "raven" + "spirits" + "blood"  + "gall" + "murd'ring" + "smoke of hell" + "knife" + "dark" + "cry" - Lady Macbeth - Use of dark, evil and threatening images shows her as such and also, links her to the witches.
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Act 1, Scene 5 - Card 2

  • "Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valour of my tounge all that impedes thee from the golden round." - Lady Macbeth - Use of the word "spirits" links Lady Macbeth to the supernatural and thus the witches. This associates Lady Macbeth's nature with the manipulative methods of the witches. - Imperative verbs show her to be commanding Macbeth which is, again, a rarity in relationships of the time. - The phrase "chastise with the valour of my tounge" also suggests that she is braver and more ruthless than Macbeth and that she believes he needs her assisstance to be able to kill Duncan. - ("Hie thee hither" = Hurry)
  • "Come you spirits" - Lady Macbeth - Imperative verbs show how she even attempts to command the supernatural. This again shows her as domineering and powerful.
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Act 1, Scene 5 - Card 3

  • "under my battlements" - Lady Macbeth - In actuality, the land belongs to Macbeth yet the use of the possessive pronoun "my" suggests that she feels it is hers. This shows her greed and thrist for power.
  • "unsex me here" - Lady Macbeth - She asks for the "spirits" to remove her of her femininity. This suggests toward a rejection of her expected demure and caring, motherly, submissive qualities. She wishes to be more powerful, ruthless and without remorse as a man would be.
  • "fill me from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty" - Lady Macbeth - Further enforces the impression of her evil.
  • "stop up th'access and passage to remorse" - Lady Macbeth - She wishes to be rid of guilt and regret so that she is able to aid Macbeth in the murder of Duncan whithout the inevitable inner torment.
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Act 1, Scene 5 - Card 4

  • "take my milk for gall" - Lady Macbeth - This brings another image of ridding herself of her femeninity and substituting something evil and murderous. - (gall = poison)
  • "pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark to cry, 'Hold, hold.'" - Lady Macbeth - She calls upon the smoke of Hell to rise and cover the entire castle so their deed can remain covert and so that not even the power of Heaven can hold them back. - Further enhances the idea of the Macbeths' large egos and the power they feel they possess. - Use of the adjective "keen" suggests she has a complete lack of ambivalence (hesitation/uncertainty), again showing her as evil and power-hungry. - Use of the possessive pronoun "my" shows she feels she is capable and willing to do it. This contrasts with Act 2, Scene 2 in which we see signs of her wavering courage ("Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done't.").
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Act 1, Scene 5 - Card 5

  • "My dearest love" - Macbeth - Further enforces the ideas of equality in the relationship.
  • "To beguile the time, look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tounge; look like th'innocent flower but be the serpent under't" - Lady Macbeth - She asks Macbeth to be decietful showing she is false and two-faced.
  • "Leave all the rest to me" - Lady Macbeth - She takes control of the crime, again showing her as dominant.
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Act 1, Scene 6-Duncan arrives at the castle-Card 1

  • "honoured hostess" - Duncan - Duncan shows great kindness toward Lady Macbeth, making her intention to kill him all the more atrocious.
  • "All our service in every point twice done and then done double were poor and single business do contend against those honours deep and broad wherewith your majesty loads our house: for those of old, and the late dignities heaped up to them, we rest your hermits." - Lady Macbeth - (translation = Everything we’re doing for you, even if it were doubled and then doubled again, is nothing compared to the honors you have brought to our family. We gladly welcome you as our guests, with gratitude for both the honors you’ve given us before and the new honors you’ve just given us.) - *PTO
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Act 1, Scene 6-Duncan arrives at the castle-Card 2

  • "Your servants ever have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt, to make their audit at your highness' pleasure, still to return your own." - Lady Macbeth - (translation = We are your servants, your highness, and, as always, our house and everything in it is at your disposal, for after all, we keep it in your trust and we’re glad to give you back what’s yours.) - *She flatters Duncan and shows gratitude toward him, again showing her as false.
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Act 1, Scene 7-The Macbeths plan the murder-Card 1

  • "From this time, such I account thy love" - Lady Macbeth - She tries to blackmail Macbeth by saying if he tries to back out of the promises he made then she would begin to question his vows. This shows how manipulative she can be.
  • "When you durst do it, then you were a man. And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man." - Lady Macbeth - She diminishes his manhood by saying he is a coward and thus almost effet (unmanly). Again, shows how manipulative she is.
  • "I have given s*ck and know how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my n*pple from its boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this" - Lady Macbeth - This horrific imagery shows how murderous, evil and unstable she is. - This perhaps suggests that she is of greater evil that Macbeth as she swears to murder, without the witches' manipulation yet Macbeth is reluctant.
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Act 1, Scene 7-The Macbeths plan the murder-Card 2

  • "undaunted meetle" - Macbeth - This shows she is brave and unfaltering in Macbeth's eyes. She is afraid of nothing and nothing can deter her from doing what it takes. - (meetle = a readiness to do something to the best of one's ability)
  • "We will proceed no further in this business" (at the beginning of the scene) -> "I am settled and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat" (at the end of the scene) - Macbeth - Lady Macbeth has managed to persuade Macbeth into commiting the murder  and thus, managed to manipulate him into doing as she pleases. This shows her as dominating.
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Act 2, Scene 2 -Macbeth has killed Duncan -Card 1

  • "That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold, that which hath quenched them hath given me fire." - Lady Macbeth - She is more confident and brave now that the guards are no longer a problem. This suggests she may have been rather anxious precceding this and is therefore a sign of her wavering courage. - Use of the noun "fire" links her to hell and thus, to evil.
  • "He is about it." - Lady Macbeth - She cannot bring herself to mention the heinous crimes Macbeth is committing. She simply replaces them with the noun "it". This is another sign of her faltering bravery and strength.
  • " am afraid they have awakened" - Lady Macbeth - This shows she is anxious and uneasy.
  • "Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done't." - Lady Macbeth - She is perhaps using Duncan's resemblance to her father as an excuse as to appear strong and courageous.
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Act 2, Scene 2 -Macbeth has killed Duncan -Card 2

  • "My husband!" - Lady Macbeth - Exclamative sentence suggests she is relieved to see Macbeth and was perhaps scared and uneasy being on her own.
  • "Did you not speak?" "When?" "Now." "As I desceneded?" "Ay." "Hark!" - Lady Macbeth / Macbeth - Short, simple sentences suggest she is on edge.
  • "Consider it not so deeply" - Lady Macbeth - Inference 1: She hides the fact that she is just as frightened as Macbeth as to maintain her power/control over him. She is being hypocrytical, again showing her decietfulness. Inference 2: She seems far less troubled by the deed as Macbeth is, making her seem evil and devoid of compassion. 
  • "Infirm of purpose!" - Lady Macbeth - She sees him as weak and feble and accuses him of cowardice for not returning to the scene of the crime. This suggests she sees herself as far stronger and braver than Macbeth. - (Infirm = not physically or mentally strong)
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Act 2, Scene 2 -Macbeth has killed Duncan -Card 3

  • "Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there. Go carry them and smear the sleepy grooms with blood." + "Get on your night-gown."- Lady Macbeth - Imperative verbs show how she commands Macbeth and orders him around, portraying her as dominant. - She takes control of the situation showing that she is calm and collected. Her lack of any chaotic emotion shows her as insensitive.
  • "If he do bleed" - Lady Macbeth - The use of the conjunction "if" shows how inexperienced Lady Macbeth is in these matters and, thus is completely unaware of the magnitude of the deed or the consequences that may come from it.
  • "I shame to wear a heart so white" - Lady Macbeth - She'd be ashamed to appear as cowardly as Macbeth.
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Act 2, Scene 3 - Duncan's body is discovered

  • "'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak. The repetition in a woman's ear would murder as it fell." - Macduff - Macduff thinks that beacuse Lady Macbeth is a woman, she is too vulnerable to hear about the murder.
  • "What, in our house?" - Lady Macbeth - She's concerned not for Duncan but for her house and her name/reputation. This shows that even when trying to act sorrowful about this bereavement, she still comes across as utterly insensitive, showing she is incapable of compassion.
  • "Help me hence, ho!" - Lady Macbeth - Lady Macbeth faints, perhaps because she is shocked by Macbeth's second killings. This shows she is not as strong as she once appeared and is beginning to feel frighted about what they have done.
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Act 3, Scene 2 - Macbeth feels anxious - Card 1

  • "Nought's had, all's spent, where our desire is got without content. 'Tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy." - Lady Macbeth - She says she still isn't happy, despite having gained the throne and thus regrets what they have done and feels as though it was all pointless. These phrases show how she has been tormented by this regret. - Use of the verb "spent" as opposed to lost shows how she feels this torment is caused by self sabotage. - Rhyming couplets give a gloomy tone and show how depression may be developing. - (translation = If you get what you want and you’re still not happy, you’ve spent everything and gained nothing. It’s better to be the person who gets murdered than to be the killer and be tormented with anxiety.)
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Act 3, Scene 2 - Macbeth feels anxious - Card 2

  • "'Tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy." -> "How now, my Lord! Why do you keep alone, of sorriest fancies your companions making"- Lady Macbeth - Lady Macbeth's language and tone change upon Macbeth's arrival from gloomy rhyming couplets to the common blank verse of the play, showing how she tries to appear strong in front of her husand and hide her vulnerability.
  • "Things without all remedy should be without regard - what's done is done." - Lady Macbeth - (translation = Don't think about things you can't change) - The hypocracy of this statement futher shows how Lady Macbeth tries to hide her vulnerability in front of Macbeth.
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Act 3, Scene 2 - Macbeth feels anxious - Card 3

  • "unsafe the while, that we must lave our honours in these flattering streams, and make our faces vizards to our hearts, disguising what they are." - Macbeth - (translation = We’re in a dangerous situation, where we have to flatter Banquo and hide our true feelings.) - This phrase emphasises how the Macbeths are beginning to switch roles. Before, in Act 1, Scene 5, it was Lady Macbeth that had encouraged Macbeth to be decietful yet now, the tables have turned. This implies that Macbeth will become less reluctant when it comes to murder as Lady Macbeth was shown to be previously and will become more ruthless, whereas Lady Macbeth will become more unstable, like Macbeth's character when he saw the visions, therefore suggesting toward Lady Macbeth's mental collapse.
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Act 3, Scene 2 - Macbeth feels anxious - Card 4

  • "You must leave this." - Lady Macbeth - Lady Macbeth suspects that Macbeth is planning another murder and wishes for them to stop. This suggests toward the torment that Duncan's death brought and how she doesn't think she'd be able to cope with a second crime, showing her frailty and vulnerability. - The modal verb "must" suggests how Lady Macbeth is still trying to control and manipulate Macbeth yet now, it is without success. 
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Act 3, Scene 2 - Macbeth feels anxious - Card 5

  • "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, till thou applaud the deed" - Macbeth - Macbeth does not tell Lady Macbeth of the murder he is planning showing how he has taken control of the situation, in contast with Act 2, Scene 2 in which it was Lady Macbeth who took charge, showing how Duncan's murder has changed Lady Macbeth as she has beome far more submissive and cowardly. - Use of the noun "chuck" refers to a chicken and was used as a term of endearment, showing how Macbeth views Lady Macbeth as weaker than himself and once again, showing how they have switched roles given that previously Lady Macbeth had seemed the bravest of the two.
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Act 3, Scene 4 - Banquo's ghost appears

  • "Are you a man?" - Lady Macbeth - Lady Macbeth returns do her dominant self and, as in Act 1, Scene 7, she begins to question Macbeth's manhood. When Macbeth begins to grow unstable once again, she takes advantage of this in an attempt to regain her control over him.
  • "What, quite unmanned in folly?" - Lady Macbeth - Lady Macbeth says that Macbeth's foolishness has taken away his manhood.

Note!: This is the last scene in which the Macbeths appear on stage together. The distance between them shows how their relationship has broken down as Macbeth has become more ruthless and Lady Macbeth is driven mad by guilt.

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Act 4, Scene 2 - Lady Macduff is murdered

Note!: This scene demonstrates a very close relationship between Lady Macduff and her son, providing a contrast to Lady Macbeth's attitude toward her own child(ren) as she said she would have "dashed the brains out" of her child. This emphasises Lady Macbeth's evil.

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Act 5, Scene 1 - Lady Macbeth Sleepwalks - Card 1

  • "Why, it (the candle) stood by her - she has a light by her continually. 'Tis her command" - Gentlewoman - It is said that Lady Macbeth demands to have a candle with her at all times, showing how she has become afraid of the dark, likely due to the crimes Macbeth has commited at this time. This shows how she has become tormented by these deeds and has become uneasy, contrasting to her once brave and dominant self who summoned "the dunnest smoke of hell" to the castle.
  • "Out damned spot! Out I say!" + "What, will these hands ne'er be clean?" - Lady Macbeth - In her dreams, Lady Macbeth attempts to wash the blood from her hands yet she cannot clean them . This shows the intesity and weight of the deed in her mind and how she can never be rid of it. Contrasts with Act 2, Scene 2 in which she says, "a little water clears us of this deed".
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Act 5, Scene 1 - Lady Macbeth Sleepwalks - Card 2

  • "who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" - Lady Macbeth - She is tormented by the image of Duncan's body from when she had returned to the scene to frame the guards. Having been so inexperienced in the matters, she had no clue of the utter magnitude of the blood and was thus horrified, exposing her vulnerability. This phrase enforces the idea of her ignorance, first provoked in Act 2, Scene 2 at the phrase "If he do bleed".
  • "The Thane of Fife had a wife - where is she now? What, will these hand ne'er be clean? No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with this starting." - Lady Macbeth - Lady Macbeth's language has changed from the typical blank verse of the play to prose, demonstrating the disturbed state of her mind and how she has become uneasy and has changed.
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Act 5, Scene 1 - Lady Macbeth Sleepwalks - Card 3

  • "All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." - Lady Macbeth - This phrase reminds the audience of Act 2, Scene 2, in which Macbeth states that if he attempted to wash his hands in Neptune's ocean, the blood would turn it red. This resemblance further emphasises how the Macbeths have switched roles.
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Act 5, Scene 3 - Macbeth isn't afraid

  • "she is troubled with thick-coming fancies that keep her from her rest." - Doctor - (translation = she is troubled with frequent nightmares that keep her from sleeping) - Lady Macbeth suffers from nightmares and cannot sleep, showing how severely she has been affected by Duncan's murder.
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Act 5, Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth kills herself

  • "She should have died hereafter." - Macbeth - (possible translation 1 = she should have died later.) (possible translation 2 = she would have died later anyway) - Inference 1 (Re: possible translation 1) - Despite the gradual increase of distance in their relationship, Macbeth still held Lady Macbeth in high regard and she was of great significance to him. He thinks it's unfair that she had to die so soon. This may also imply that, to some extent, Macbeth wishes he hadn't committed the crimes to avoid Lady Macbeth's mental torment and keep her with him. - Inference 2 (Re: possibe translation 2) - Macbeth seems to utterly disregard Lady Macbeth's death, emphasising how severely these crimes have separated the two given that, before the murder they had appeared in many scenes together and he had referred to her as his "dearest partner of greatness" in Act 1, Scene 5.
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Act 5, Scene 9 - Malcolm becomes king

  • "fiendlike queen" - Malcolm
  • "by self and violent hands took off her life" - Malcolm - Here, Malcolm states that Lady Macbeth had committed suicide, enhancing the torment she was subjected to and how disturbed her mind had become. 
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Comments

Meghan._.Alice

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Who's Brian? I made this resource but thanks. :)

Yatu7543

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very useful

atariq revision

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Very helpful thank you 

fndfbdsnaf fbjflasd

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very useful,got me an A

ella.harries

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I need help with some English homework on what quote that is from act2 that links with the word anxious

Tawana.t

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wait what i created this

lucas0303

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thankyou

BTSARMYF.F

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Thank you very much.

zzayynab

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hhhh

MR leon

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wow o wow absolutely insaaannneee

Some drip

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"my dearest partner of greatness" more like "my dearest partner of ****ness"  

ludens_x

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cheers mush

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