Macbeth qoutes and analysis

Quote: If I had died but an hour before this chance, / I had lived a blessed time; for, from this instant, / There's nothing serious in mortality: / All is but toys: renown and grace is dead; / The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees / Is left this vault to brag of . (Act II, scene III).

Analysis: Enjoy this fine example of verbal irony: the hearers assume Macbeth's lamentation is caused by the death of the king; Macbeth actually speaks of his murdering of the king. In this passage, Macbeth expresses his guilt over what he has done, a guilt which he sheds as the play progresses and Macbeth orders the murders of Banquo and Macduff's family.

Quote: Nothing in his life / Became him like the leaving it; he died / As one that had been studied in his death, / To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd, / As 'twere a careless triflee. (I, iv)

Analysis: Malcolm's description of the thane of Cawdor's execution for treason foreshadows the death of the new thane of Cawdor, Macbeth.

Quote: I have no spur / To ***** the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself / And falls on the other. (I, vii).

Analysis: In an attempt to get psyched up for the murder of Duncan, Macbeth concludes that he has no real reason to kill the king, other than his own ambition to become king. The results of this action demonstrates the dangers of unchecked ambition.

Quote: How is’t with me, when every noise appals me? / What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes. / Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red. (II, ii, 56-61)

Analysis: Macbeth says this to himself after murdering Duncan. His guilt causes him to shake at every noise. His hands symbolize the murder. Neptune is an allusion to the Roman god of the sea, whose waters could not wipe the blood--meaning guilt--from Macbeth's hands. In case you're wondering, incarnadine means a pinkish, reddish color similar to the color of flesh or blood, the same color as the seas if Macbeth were to wash his hands in them. The entire passage exemplifies hyperbole and demonstrates the extent of Macbeth's guilt, a guilt which he no longer feels after the murders of Banquo and Macduff's family.

Quote: Out, damned spot! out, I say! (V, i)

Analysis: This line in act V is spoken by Lady Macbeth as she sleepwalks and is an outward manifestation of her inward guilt. After the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth chides Macbeth for his lack of masculinity and tells him to forget the deed and move forward as king. As the play continues and Macbeth loses all feeling of remorse for his treacherous deeds, Lady Macbeth begins to feel guilt for her role in the deaths of Banquo and Macduff's family.

Quote: Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee; / I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. / Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible / To feeling as to sight? or art thou but / A dagger of the mind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? / I see thee yet, in form as palpable / As this which now I draw. (II, i).

Analysis: It is clear that Macbeth is insane. He sees witches on the moor. He sees a dagger in mid air that mocks him moments before killing the king. He sees Banquo's ghost sitting in his spot at the dinner table. Shakespeare puts in a nice pun with "A dagger of the mind." The dagger may also symbolize the throne itself: Macbeth sees it, yet cannot grasp it; when the dagger is grasped so is the throne. The grasping of both does not bring the desired happiness.

Quote: Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts! unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top full / Of direst cruelty; / make thick my blood, / Stop up the access and passage to remorse, / That no compunctious visitings of nature / Shake my fell purpose. (I, iv).

Analysis: Lady Macbeth calls forth her unladylike qualities to turn her desires to rid Scotland of Duncan and have her husband crowned king. In this speech, there is no such confusion, as lady Macbeth is clearly willing to do whatever is neccessary to seize the throne. Her strength of puropose is contrasted with her husband's tendancy to hesitate. This speech shows te audience that Lady Macbeth is the real steel behind Macbeth and her a ambition will be strong enough to drive Macbeth forward.

The language in this speech touches on the them of masculinity- The language suggests that her womanhood, impedes her from performing acts of violence and cruelty, which she associated with manliness.

Quote: And all our yesterdays have lighted fools / The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! / Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage / And then is heard no more: it is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing. (V, v).

Analysis: Macbeth describes life immediately after hearing about the death of Lady Macbeth through the use of an extended metaphor. According to Macbeth life is a path leading to death, a brief candle, marked by the shadow of death, a bad actor who is heard from never again after leaving the stage, and a story teller who yells his meaningless tale. Not exactly the optimistic comparison you were hoping for? Keep in mind that this description of life comes from a man who has just lost his wife, who is guilty of murdering several people, and is under attack by an army of 10,000 men. You'd probably be depressed too. Shakespeare is perhaps making us feel sympathy towards Macbeth.