English Quotes

Page 1

Motifs

Blood

"Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,

Or memorize another Golgotha,

I cannot tell—

But I am faint, my gashes cry for help" - Act 1 Scene 2

Meaning: A wounded sergeant reports to King Duncan on Macbeth and Banquo's actions on the battlefield, saying that their actions were ferocious and bloodthirsty. It was as if they were trying to make the battlefield as infamous as Christ's crucifixion at Golgotha. The bloodiness of the battle symbolises the brutality of war and Macbeth's ruthless nature.

"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?" - Act 2 Scene 2

Meaning: After he kills Duncan, Macbeth comes to Lady Macbeth with his hands covered in blood. The blood on his hands symbolise the guilt he feels for murdering Duncan.

"Out, damned spot! Out, I say! . . . who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him" - Act 5 Scene 1

Meaning: Lady Macbeth says this as she wanders around the castle, delirious and trying to wash out an invisible bloodstain. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth appears to be more ruthless than her husband, but by the end of the play, she finally succumbs to the guilt of her crimes, and is unable to cope with the reality of what she's done.

"I see thee still,

And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,

Which was not so before. There’s no such thing.

It is the bloody business which informs

Thus to mine eyes" - Act 2 Scene 1

Meaning: Before murdering Duncan, Macbeth sees a vision of a dagger floating in front of him. The tip of the dagger points towards Duncan, and the handle points towards Macbeth. Macbeth initially wonders if it is real, but when he sees the blood on the tip he concludes the dagger is not real but a manifestation of his guilt for plotting against Duncan. The blood on the dagger symbolises Duncan's impending murder and the guilt that will plague Macbeth for the rest of the play.

Weather

"When shall we three meet again?

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?" - Act 1 Scene 1

Meaning: There is always bad weather that follows the witches when they appear. The stormy weather associated with the witches symbolizes how their powers stir up trouble, incite chaos, and go against the natural order.

"So foul and fair a day I have not seen" - Act 1 Scene 1

Meaning: Macbeth notes how ironic this is, commenting on how odd it is to have foul weather on such a fair and fortunate day. Even though Macbeth and the soldiers have just won the battle, the weather turns violent, symbolising that there is more danger and strife to come.

"This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air

Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself

Unto our gentle senses" - Act 1 Scene 6

Meaning: As King Duncan approaches Macbeth's castle to celebrate victory, he comments on how nice the weather is. The pleasant weather symbolizes the goodness and peace Duncan possesses and the natural order he represents.

"By th’ clock ʼtis day,

And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp" - Act 2 Scene 4

Meaning: A Scottish nobleman Ross and an old man are speaking about Duncan's murder. Ross notes that even though it is daytime, the sun is dark. Ross comments that the sky seems to disagree with the natural order of things. The dark daytime skies are another symbol of disaster in human affairs and a violation of nature.

Page 2

Themes

Ambition

"Thou wouldst be great

Art not without ambition, but without

The illness should attend it" - Act 1 Scene 5

Meaning: Lady Macbeth knows that Macbeth is capable of ambitious dreams, but she thinks he is hesitant to be ruthless in order to achieve those dreams. This shows Lady Macbeth's own philosophy of power, her belief that only those who are willing to ignore morality can rise to greatness.

"I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but only

Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself

And falls on th’other" - Act 1 Scene 7

Meaning: Macbeth compares his doubts of murdering Duncan to horse-riding. He states that him being unmotivated in taking action is similar to a rider who can't use his spurs to make his horse go faster. The only thing he has is ambition, which he then compares to a horse and rider who overestimate their ability to leap over an obstacle and consequently falling over. In this quote Macbeth acknowledges the dangerous path his ambition is leading him down.

Guilt

"Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold

Thou hast no speculation in those eyes" - Act 3 Scene 4

Meaning: Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost at the banquet, and this vision reveals his guilt over ordering the murder of Banquo and his young son. His sense of guilt is so powerful that he loses his sense of reality and cannot be sure whether or not he is hallucinating. He speaks these lines in order to try and reassure himself that Banquo is truly dead. In doing so, Macbeth reveals that his tormented consciousness is leading him to start losing his grip on sanity.

"To bed, to bed. There’s knocking at the gate. Come,

come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s done

cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed" - Act 5 Scene 1

Meaning: These are Lady Macbeth's final words of the play after she has gone mad, and they reveal how guilt has crushed her strong and assertive personality. She now has to be cared for like a child, and has no plans for the future. No matter how much she repents, the violence and death cannot be undone.

Children

"Had I as many sons as I have hairs

I would not wish them a fairer death" - Act 5 Scene 11

Meaning: Siward, a minor character says the at the end of the play when he learns that his son has been killed in battle. Even though he is grief-stricken, he is proud that his son died a brave and honorable death. The line shows how important honor and valor are to the characters in the play, and also how important it was for Macbeth to be defeated. A father can consider it worthwhile to have lost his child if it means knowing that Macbeth no longer occupies the throne.

"What, all my pretty chickens and their dam

At one fell swoop" - Act 4 Scene 3

Meaning: Macduff has learned that his wife and children have been murdered. This quote shows how even though he is a strong and powerful warrior, he is also a loving husband and father. The line conveys the sense of overwhelming loss he feels when he hears that he has lost his entire family at the same time. The sense of immense grief sets the stage for his desire to avenge them by eventually killing Macbeth.

Page 3

Characters

Macbeth

"This supernatural soliciting

Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,

Why hath it given me earnest of success,

Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor.

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,

Against the use of nature? Present fears

Are less than horrible imaginings.

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,

Shakes so my single state of man

That function is smothered in surmise,

And nothing is but what is not" - Act 1 Scene 3

Meaning: Macbeth is trying to understand the implications of the Witches' prophecy. He believe that because the Witches' prophecies turned out to be correct, it cannot be evil. This belief means he has already begun to fantasise about killing Duncan and taking the throne.

"Is this a dagger which I see before me,

This 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-oppressèd brain?" - Act 2 Scene 1

Meaning: This is the first time Macbeth hallucinates. Shows his descent into insanity.

"It will have blood, they say. Blood will have blood.

Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak.

Augurs and understood relations have

By maggot pies and choughs and rooks brought forth

The secret’st man of blood." - Act 3 Scene 4

Meaning: Macbeth is haunted by Banquo's ghost at the banquet. The full horror of what he has done in order to achieve his ambition has become apparent to Macbeth.This is his warning to Lady Macbeth that the dead want their revenge.

Lady Macbeth

"I laid their daggers ready;

He could not miss ‘em. Had he not resembled

My father as he slept, I had done’t." - Act 2 Scene 2

Meaning: Foreshadows Lady Macbeth's complicated feelings towards Duncan's murder throughout the rest of the play. At times it seems she has more remorse than Macbeth, and this remorse eventually leads her to suicide. This quote suggests that Lady Macbeth is not as coldblooded as she claims to be.

"O, never

Shall sun that morrow see!

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men

May read strange matters. To beguile the time,

Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye,

Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’ innocent flower,

But be the serpent under ‘t. He that’s coming

Must be provide for: and you shall put

This night’s great business into my dispatch,

Which shall to all our nights and days to come

Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom" - Act 1 Scene 5

Meaning: Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to leave everything to her, and in the meantime he should look as innocent as possible. Lady Macbeth is pushing Macbeth to kill Duncan, something Macbeth might not have decided to do if he wasn't so strongly encouraged.

The Witches

"By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something wicked this way comes" - Act 4 Scene 1

Meaning: Macbeth returns to ask the Witches for more prophecies. Sensing his presence, the Second Witch calls Macbeth wicked. This is the first time the Witches describe Macbeth as evil.

Banquo

"That, trusted home,

Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,

Besides the thane of Cawdor. But ‘tis strange.

And 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" - Act 1 Scene 3

Meaning: Banquo is saying that just because the Witches told the truth doesn't mean that they aren't evil. He understands that the Witches do not have Macbeth's best interest in mind, and their prophecies may turn out to be less positive than Macbeth believes.

"O treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!

Thou may’st revenge – O slave!" - Act 3 Scene 3

Meaning: Banquo urges Fleance to flee to safety and avenge his death. Banquo's dying words set how the play will end, when Macbeth realizes that the Witches’ prophecy will come true, and Banquo’s children will rule Scotland.