Macbeth Minorities Quotes

1 BANQUO

1.1 "Thou shalt get kings"

Annotations:

The witches prophecy does not unnerve Banquo. He does not seem swayed by their claims. He is willing to wait for 'Chance to crown him' unlike Macbeth who is too impatient, too power hungry. This is Banquo's greatness; that he will not cross the boundary into villainy. Because of this, do the witches choose Macbeth because they know he will be the one to cross the boundary? Do they know he is self destructive enough to cause his own rise and fall and that Banquo is not? Do the witches prophesies that Banquo will be hurt in this life, but happy in the next because of his clear allegiance, whereas it will be the other way round for Macbeth.

1.1.1 "Lesser than Macbeth, and greater"

1.1.1.1 "Not so happy, yet much happier"

1.1.1.2 "But still keep my....allegiance clear"

1.2 "oftentimes to win us to our harm, the Instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray's in deepest consequence"

Annotations:

Banquo seems to get to the crux of the Witches intentions. He is great because he sees what the reader sees without actually having been exposed to what the reader has.

1.2.1 "Let us speak our free hearts each to other"

Annotations:

Banquo detects that Banquo is unnerved and wants to soothe the edges. Although he never gets the opportunity to, he was willing to be there to turn a friend away from the darkness. Is he not the hero of the play then? Since Macbeth is the villain.

1.2.1.1 "I dreamt last night of the three Weird Sisters"

1.3 "Too cruel anywhere"

Annotations:

Banquo continuously sees the heart of the problem. He has clear cut vision, sees what the reader should and does see and therefore, he is the voice of the reader within the play. He is also fairer than the reader because he is patient, forgiving and cautious. He is not rash or impulsive like Macbeth. He is just. He is nature in human form.

1.3.1 "Fears and scruples shake us"

1.3.1.1 "I fear thou play'dst most foully fort"

2 DUNCAN

2.1 "No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive our bosom interest"

Annotations:

The old Thane broke Duncan's trust which was the ultimate sin. Macbeth does the same. Duncan's vulnerability is that he has to trust unconditionally. Macbeth's is that he takes advantage of that.

2.1.1 "He's here in double trust"

2.1.2 "a naked new-born babe"

2.2 "So clear in his great office"

Annotations:

Duncan is portrayed as the ideallic King, godlike, ethereal and just. Macbeth's problem is that he's killing such a good King, more than that he is killing a King. Duncan's virtues add to the weight and gravity of the crime. It would not mean so much if he was not so likeable, vulnerable and godly.

2.2.1 "His virtues will plead like angels...against the deep damnation of his taking-off"

2.2.1.1 "this diamond he greets your wife withal"

2.2.1.1.1 "shut up in measureless content"

2.2.1.2 "most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope the Lord's anointed temple and stole thence the life o' th' building"

Annotations:

Like when Jesus was killed. God left the place of worship. Macbeth always seems to defy god. He also created a new "Golgotha' on the battlefield, which is where Jesus was hung at the cross. Macbeth perpetually goes against God, against Duncan, against natural law and order.

2.2.1.3 "His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood"

3 THE WITCHES

3.1 "An open place"

Annotations:

The witches meet in an open place, such as a moor, like Wuthering Heights' setting because there they are free from the conventions of society and are free to become whoever they please and do whatever they please.

3.2 "In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"

Annotations:

They can control the weather, which was thought of witches at that time. Plus their weather type denotes danger, fear, trouble and ensures that no one else will be around. Much like in WH, how the location and weather of WH ensures that the characters are free to indulge in their deepest desires without being caught or brought to convention.

3.3 "With Macbeth"

Annotations:

The witches are prophetic and have control over when things happen. It could be said they are responsible for a lot of the timing of things that happen in Macbeth, to ensure they get what they want.

3.3.1 When the battles lost and won."

3.3.1.1 "That will be ere the set of sun"

3.4 "Fair is foul and foul is fair"

Annotations:

They want to cause chaos by tipping everything upside down and making things different from the exterior on the interior. Perhaps, what they did to Macbeth. Altered his interior but his exterior stayed the same, contrasting Lady Macbeth who wants to change her exterior, lose her womanhood, but maintain her insides.

3.4.1 "That look not like th' inhabitants o' th' earth"

Annotations:

The witches seem to take on an altered form with is other-wordy. It seems to be truly powerful, to be as influential as nature and take on the 'Supernatural', you have to become other-worldly and change your shape. Also, they have beards, suggesting a masculine characteristic, again mirroring the desires of Lady Macbeth when she wants to become a man.

3.4.1.1 "You should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so"

3.4.1.1.1 "This castle hath a pleasant seat"

Annotations:

Even their castle, shows a beautiful face to hide their crooked and twisted interior. It's all about fair being foul.

3.5 "I'll give thee wind" "And I another"

Annotations:

The witches work together, like Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. They are a team and they work together to avenge the others smallest losses. Is it that, in this way, power comes from unity?

4 NATURE

4.1 "Stars hold your fires"

Annotations:

The evil things can only happen at night, when heaven cannot see, when the angels have their eyes closed. It seems the Macbeths want to escape judgement from a higher being, from a God, but they refuse to acknowledge his existence. In this sense, the God is nature. They know they are turning against nature and so they want nature to close it's eyes to their own actions. This is mirrored in the way they won't have their own eyes see what they are doing or let themselves think too much of what they are doing. They need their own nature to turn away from what they are doing. The Macbeths truly break the natural law and order of their world.

4.1.1 "Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunes smoke of hell"

4.1.1.1 "Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark to cry 'Hold, hold'"

4.1.1.1.1 "There's husbandry in heaven...their candles are all out"

4.2 "shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, that tears shall drown the wind"

Annotations:

Nature seems to be the power, the witches use nature to cause chaos and manipulate it. Nature is what could reveal Macbeth, it's the only thing that stands between him and the throne just like Lady Macbeth's compassionate nature is what stands between her and "direst cruelty"

4.3 "nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtain'd sleep"

Annotations:

Nature is the regulator of justice and order. Macbeth, throws caution to this 'Disdaining Fortune", "chance may crown me", and so once Nature is resting or disappeared, there is nothing to stop the madness and evil taking over.

4.3.1 "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?...my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red"

Annotations:

Macbeth has broken nature and natural order, the seas cannot purify him. He will actual poison the seas now because he has turned against nature and become ruinous and unsalvagable.

4.3.2 "strange screams of death"

Annotations:

On the night that Macbeth kills the King, nature turns against itself. It's like instead of a God leaving their world, nature and it's justice and order leaves and so everything descends into chaos without a mediator and a regulator rather than a moral judgement. Their world does not lose morality but order and sense. "Fair is foul and foul is fair"

4.3.2.1 "the obscure bird clamour'd the livelong night"

4.3.2.1.1 "Some say the earth was feverous and did shake"

4.3.2.1.1.1 "'tis said they [the horses] eat each other"

4.3.2.1.1.1.1 "'Gainst nature still"