Macbeth quotations

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"Fair is foul, and foul is fair" Witches. 1.1
Establishes supernatural / gothic element. A paradox that recurs throughout the play.
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"Brave Macbeth" Captain. 1.2
Talk of Macbeth before audience meet him; already know of his character.
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"O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman" Duncan. 1.2.
Links Duncan and Macbeth, making regicide worse. Shows how his character transgresses.
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"I'll give thee wind" Second Witch. 1.3
Shows supernatural power of witches (can control weather) and how they imitate the gothic rule of three - identified as anti-Christ symbol , defying 'Father, Son, Holy Spirit'. Jacobean audience would align them with devil.
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"So foul and fair a day I have not seen." Macbeth. 1.3
Gothic function of doubles/mirroring what has already been said. Affiliates Macbeth with witches.
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"All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis. All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor. All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter." Witches. 1.3
Prophecy for Macbeth - plot of play stems from this.
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"What, can the devil speak true?" Banquo. 1.3
Banquo is antithesis of Macbeth (honestly, godly) and exclamation affiliates the witches and prophecy negatively with the devil. Also aligns Macbeth's title with hell, foreshadows murderous actions that follow.
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"This supernatural soliciting/Cannot be ill, cannot be good." Macbeth 1.3
Gothic feature of play reinforced by this opposition of words. Acknowledges witches supernatural powers and Macbeth's internal conflict; identifies good and bad that stem from prophecy, despite unreliable source, he is enticed by promise of power.
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"He was a gentleman on whom I built/An absolute trust." Duncan. 1.4
Talking of the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth also abuses the trust bestowed upon him.
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"That is a step/On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap." Macbeth. 1.4
Macbeth makes conscious decision to pursue prophecy when hearing about Prince of Cumberland's title. Hunger for power can be seen here - he enforces the prophecy, witches didn't tell him to kill anyone. Debatable evil evident at this point.
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"stars, hide your fires/Let not light see my black and deep desires." Macbeth. 1.4
Macbeth decides to commit sin to remove threat, opposition to God is seen as sin and Jacobean audience would thus note the beginning of this transgressions. Gothic opposition of light and dark to highlight good and bad.
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"yet I do fear thy nature,/It is too full o'th'milk of human kindness." Lady Macbeth. 1.5
Lady Macbeth's ambition is evident - questions Macbeth's manliness, fears that he is to compassionate to make prophecy true.Authoritative, lack of faith juxtaposed with later guilt, weak relationship explains Macbeth's emotionless response to death.
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"Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here" Lady Macbeth. 1.5
Links Lady Macbeth with supernatural/witches, acknowledges that her gender limits her. Gothic function of entrapment.
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"look like th'innocent flower,/But be the serpent under't." Lady Macbeth. 1.65
Tells Macbeth to appear kind, but to be as evil a serpent; connotations of evil (biblical reference).
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"So clear in his great office, that his virtues/will plead like angels" Macbeth. 1.7
About Duncan. Makes murder worse. Use of religious imagery makes act against God.
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"vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself/And falls on th'other" Macbeth. 1.7
Macbeth notes it is morally wrong to kill Duncan, that he is motivated by own selfish desires, superseding his roles as kinsman, cousin, host. 'Over-reacher' - character in gothic who wants to greater than human and defies God. Ambition consumes them
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"When you durst do it, then you were a man." Lady Macbeth. 1.7
'You were a man when you dared commit the murder.' Questions and insults manhood to rile Macbeth. Insulting.
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"Have pluck'd my ****** from his boneless gums/And dash'd the brains out" Lady Macbeth. 1.7
Emotive/strong imagery. Violence towards child would be shocking to both modern/Jacobean audience. Reinforces her lack of femininity and desire to be as powerful as a man.
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"Who's there?" / "A friend" Banquo/Macbeth. 2.1
Macbeth labels himself 'friend' despite actions he is about to commit. Deceit.
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"I think not of them" Macbeth. 2.1
Lie about witches - he has thought of little other than what they have said.
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"Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell/That summons thee to heaven or to hell." Macbeth. 2.1
Rhyme adds melodrama to conclusion of scene. Religious imagery would have furthered Jacobean audience's dislike towards Macbeth as regicide was crime against God (divine right). 'Knell' is funeral bell, gothic image.
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"I could not say 'Amen'/When they did say 'God bless us'" Macbeth. 2.2
Mental deterioration and guilt from first murder; inability to face God, shift towards the evil of witches. Jacobean audience would see this as punishment, modern as loss of faith for tyrannical actions.
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'Glamis hath murder'd sleep'; and therefore Cawdor/Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more.' Macbeth. 2.2
Gothic importance of titles/status, associates titles with his guilt. Inheriting title of traitor (Cawdor), foreshadows demise. Sleep has connotations of innocence - inability shows mental deterioration and lack of innocence.
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"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." Macbeth. 2.2
Even the whole ocean couldn't wash blood/guilt from Macbeth, rather the blood on his hands would turn the whole sea red rather than remove it. Reveals depth of guilt.
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"My hands are of your colour, but I shame/To wear a heart so white." Lady Macbeth 2.2
Emasculates Macbeth by showing him to be weak/faint-hearted. Shows dominance and implies shared guilt which she can bear but he cannot - she is stronger than him. Ridiculed by wife shows absence of 'valiant' and 'brave' Macbeth.
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"Our chimneys were blown down" Lennox. 2.3
Talking about the previous night - though he doesn't know of Duncan's death. This lack of light foreshadows the news that is about to arrive.
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"Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,/As the weird women promis'd, and I fear/Thou played'st most foully for't" Banquo. 3.1
Banquo is suspicious of Macbeth, and is hopeful of the prophecy concerning his children.
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"We have scorch'd the snake, not kill'd it" Macbeth. 3.2
Referring to Duncan and his male heirs - he acknowledges that the first murder wasn't enough, and that there is further action that must be taken to quench his thirst for power.
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"Who did strike out the light?" Third Murderer. 3.3
Light disappears as Banquo is killed.
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"But now I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd, bound in/To saucy doubts and fears." Macbeth. 3.4
Macbeth is experiencing paranoia at the failure of his plan; his guilt is in abundance.
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"Not in the legions/Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd/In evils to top Macbeth." Malcolm. 4.3
Macbeth is the evilest devil that would emerge from hell
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"She has her light by here continually" Gentlewoman. 5.1
Lady Macbeth is wary of the darkness and what it might bring. Her lack of good sleep (connotations with innocent, explored earlier in play when Macbeth admits inability to sleep) reveals the depth of guilt.
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"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!" Lady Macbeth. 5.1
Trying to wash her hands of the blood of Duncan. Ironic as she now feels the guilt more strongly than Macbeth.
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"Now does he feel his title/Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe/Upon a dwarfish thief." Angus. 5.2
Image of badly fitting clothes.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Talk of Macbeth before audience meet him; already know of his character.

Back

"Brave Macbeth" Captain. 1.2

Card 3

Front

Links Duncan and Macbeth, making regicide worse. Shows how his character transgresses.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

Shows supernatural power of witches (can control weather) and how they imitate the gothic rule of three - identified as anti-Christ symbol , defying 'Father, Son, Holy Spirit'. Jacobean audience would align them with devil.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Gothic function of doubles/mirroring what has already been said. Affiliates Macbeth with witches.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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