Quotes

Quotes

1. Act 1

   • 'For brave Macbeth, well he deserves that name' - Macbeth deserves to be called brave, given the way he's just fought.
   • 'Till he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops' - Macbeth killed him by slicing him from his navel to his jaw. The gruesome imagery foreshadows his future violence towards Duncan.
   • 'O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!' - 'Cousin' is used to describe a person who is a nobleman. This is Duncan referring to Macbeth, whose effort against Macdonwald are most worthy.
   • 'All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!' - This is what the witches tell Macbeth he will be.
   • 'All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!' - This is what the witches tell Macbeth he will be.
   • 'Speak, I charge you.' - His curiosity suggests that Macbeth is naive and easily manipulated (which is later proved again by Lady Macbeth.)
   • 'Call thee thane of Cawdor' - Ross tells Macbeth what the witches just told him will happen causing him to believe everything the witches said was going to happen, this drives him to be king causing him to kill Duncan.
   • 'O worthiest cousin!' - Duncan greeting Macbeth like this suggests that he puts a great amount of trust in him and that they have a great relationship. This is ironic because later Macbeth kills him for power.
   • "'Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't" - Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth to essentially, be 2-faced. She is saying to act harmless and to hide his ambition, but to actually have the mindset of a killer.
   • "Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself" - Macbeth recognises how dangerously ambitious he is and admits that is the only reason he would commit the regicide.
   • 'We will proceed no further in this business' - Macbeth is very indecisive about killing the king. He can't decide between giving into his overwhelming ambition or doing the right thing.

2. Act 2

   • 'Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?' - Macbeth is hallucinating. The dagger is an imaginary product of Macbeth's disturbed mind. Highlights his dark intentions.
   • 'The bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell' - Macbeth suggests he hears a summons ,a death knell in fact, compelling him to commit the deed.
   • 'As they had seen me with these hangman's hands' - Macbeth’s hands were covered with blood. The theme of blood is found throughout this scene and represents guilt felt from committing the regicide. Macbeth’s hands being covered in blood evokes the idea that he is feeling very guilty.
   • 'Will all great Neptune's oceans wash this blood clean from my hands?' - Blood, specifically Duncan’s blood, serves as the symbol of Macbeth’s guilt. Panicking after the murder, he imagines that all great Neptune’s ocean cannot cleanse him–that there is enough blood on his hands to turn the green sea red. (Neptune is the Roman god of the sea.) In other words, he imagines the guilt will stay with him until his death.
   • 'Macbeth does murder sleep' and 'Macbeth shall sleep no more' - Sleep signifies innocence and peacefulness, and by murdering Duncan he kills those things, and his purity. Consequently he continues to suffer from previous sleeplessness and nightmares.
   • 'My hands are of your colour; but I shame to wear a heart so white' - Both their hands are red, red from the blood. In the play the blood is a symbol of guilt. This emphasises that even though Lady Macbeth did not commit the act of killing, she was still involved and the guilt will haunt her along with Macbeth. Connotations of the colour white are purity and innocence.
   • 'A little water clears us of this deed' - She imagines that washing her hands will easily cleanse her of guilt. She says her hands are as white as Macbeth’s implying that she is now washed clean of the deed. She is ignoring, however, the fact that her husband is equally guilty despite her wielding the knife.
   • 'O horror, horror, horror!' - repetition, rule of 3 emphases of pain and worry, a cry for help.
   • 'Most sacrilegious murder' - Sacrilegious refers to the divine right of king as Duncan's death was against nature – of unnatural cause ~murder and also against God. Therefore Macbeth has done a detestable thing in stealing Duncan’s God given title as king and also stealing his right to live.
   • 'The repetition, in a woman's ear, would murder as it fell' - Lady Macbeth plays the innocent woman very well, when in reality she plotted the murder. It is also ironic as in the earlier scenes, Lady Macbeth was telling the spirits to 'unsex me here'.
   • 'There's daggers in men's smiles' - “Daggers in men’s smiles” is a continuation of the theme of deception. Facial expressions and emotions, such as smiles and sympathy can easily mask the truth of a person’s nature.

3. Act 3

   • 'I fear, thou play'dst most foully for't' - Banquo suspects that Macbeth fulfilled the witches' prophecy by killing the king.
   • 'Our fears in Banquo stick deep' - Macbeth’s fears that Banquo will injure him or cut/stab deeply; he feels threatened as if he’s going to taken out like he took out Duncan by “sticking” him deeply. Macbeth recognizes and is threatened by Banquo’s noble nature that garners a kind of reverence he could never muster.
   • 'Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown' - Symbolises Macbeth’s hollow kingdom as he realises this fact and how he will become unimportant later in time. Being “fruitless” symbolises how useless a fruit tree is if it cannot bear fruits, compared to Macbeth as he is fated to not have his lineage or children continue with the rule.
   • 'Where our desire is got without content' - Lady Macbeth is lamenting the fact that though they have what they desired (the crown), they have not found happiness.
   • 'O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!' - His mind is consumed with evil, poisonous thoughts which has been caused by the witches' prophecies; he could also potentially be in pain mentally as his brain is full of stinging ‘scorpions’
   • 'Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck' - This shows a change in the Macbeth’s Relationship. They do not show the love and endearment for each other that they were previously known for. This foreshadows their gradual separation as they grow apart. It also shows how LM used to be in control but now Macbeth has taken over.
   • 'Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!' - Power of three once more – except in this case, Banquo’s nobility and goodness suggests that Fleance, his heir, juxtaposes the power of 3 that is the witches and will be their protigee’s (in a sense) (Macbeth’s) downfall.
   • 'Never shake thy gory locks at me' - Macbeth believes that Banquo is mocking and shaming him from the grave.
   • 'Blood will have blood' - signifies that acts of violence inevitably lead to more violence, reflecting guilt, retribution, and the inescapable consequences of wrongdoing.