Key Quotations: Macbeth

Key Quotations: Macbeth

1. 'Brave Macbeth - for well he deserves that name'. - Captain, Act 1, Scene 2.

   • The classic representation of a hero.

2. 'We have scorched the snake, not killed it.' - Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 2.

3. 'Till he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements.'

4. 'I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none.' - Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7.

5. 'I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other.' Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7.

   • At the same time, he admits that his only reason for committing murder, “ambition,” suddenly seems an insufficient justification for the act. The destruction that comes from unchecked ambition will continue to be explored as one of the play’s themes. As the soliloquy ends, Macbeth seems to resolve not to kill Duncan, but this resolve will only last until his wife returns and once again convinces him, by the strength of her will, to go ahead with their plot.
   • His hamartia.

6. 'By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.' Witches, Act 4, Scene 1.

7. '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.' Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5.

   • Life is a candle - a vulnerable object.