Macbeth key quotes Flashcards
(38 cards)
“fair is foul, and foul is fair hover through the fog and filthy air”
This use of rhetoric shows us the morals of the witches, as an audience we can see clearly that the witches do not play by the rules, they believe that playing unfairly is the only way that you can be fair. This indicates to us that they are scheming and we sense that they have a plan for Macbeth. word choice of “filthy” tells us that the witches are supernatural as they move swiftly through the air with their evil intentions leading the way. This ties back to the theme of morality as we see here that the witches lack morality and have no quarrel with messing with matters that don’t effect them we learn later simply for their own twisted sense of entertainment.
“His brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution”
These are the words said by an injured captain walking off the battlefield and reporting on Macbeth’s actions to King Duncan. His words foreshadow the ending of the play as we learn later that macbeth meets the same fate as the traitor, as his final fate is too a bloody execution. This shows how Shakespeare creates a natural cycle using ideas of the great chain of being as macbeth is originally a nobleman and kills traitors on the behest of the king, however later becomes a traitor and meets the same fate as that which he subjected many others to. This portrays the theme of fate versus free will as we as a reader do not know exactly how much of this cycle was Macbeth’s own doing. We ask ourselves what role the witches had on the outcome as a whole and how much of this was simply fate as the natural order was restored in the end and the great chain of being was restored when the crown was passed back down its royal lineage.
“so foul and fair a day I have not seen”
This is dramatic irony as Macbeth mimics the words of the witches from earlier this asks the reader the question if it is too late for Macbeth already as he is already evidently under some sort of control by these witches and this plays into ideas of fate versus free will
“Unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe tops with direst cruelty”
This characterisation helps us develop Lady Macbeth and her nature as we see here that she rejects the societal expectations placed on her because of her womanhood. This shows us the patrearchal ideas of the time as Lady does not think that her womanhood would contain enough cruelty to carry out this action and so she calls on the supernatural. We as a reader are already aware of the dangers of the supernatural because of the witches and the influence that they hold over Macbeth. This again ties in with themes of ambition as lady Macbeth is willing to sacrifice her role in the great chain of being as a woman of the house to realise her own ambitions for power and respect. We see here that she already doubts her husband’s ability to ‘do what needs to be done’ and thinks that he is “too full of the milk of human kindness” This hints at the nature of their relationship as rather untrusting and a realtionship formed with power as the key currency that both Macbeth and his wife are chasing.
“Nor heaven peep through the blanket of dark to cry Hold!”
Here we see how shakespear uses light and dark imagery as lady Macbeth does not want the light of morality to shine down upon her and does not want the will of god to interrupt her actions. She wishes for darkness which we as an audiance see as synonmous here with forces of the supernatural and light reperesents the forces of god and heaven
“Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent undern’t”
This is a use of biblical symbolism as here shakespeare references the story of Adam and Eve, as he tricks them into eating the fruit of knowledge in the form of a serpent. we see here that Lady Macbeth is shakespeare’s Eve as she convinces her husband to defy the word of god and kill Duncan. This causes the wrath of god to be unleashed and shows the negative consiquences of their actions for both. It also shows the duplicitous nature of the characters as lady is encouraging her husband to lure Duncan into a false sense of security and betray his trust. Such a foul tactic would be deemed fair by the witches and this all ties into the theme of ambition as we see here that lady Macbeth is attempting to get her husband to change the person that he is simply so that their ambition can be met, furthermore we learn alot about the dynamic between Macbeth and his wife as she is portrayed as manipulative and leads him down the path to ruin. A possible interpritation of this is a warning from shakespeare againts placing women in positions of power which would conform with the widespead patriarchal ideas of the time.
“We but teach bloody instructions which being taught return to plague the inventor”
Here Macbeth considers the idea of killing Duncan and this line foreshadows the ending of the play as the bloody instruction could be symbolising the murder of the king which later comes back to haunt him as others learn from his actions and later kill him to restore the rightful bloodline to the throne. Alternatively this could be interpreted as the execution of the rebel Macdonald, as he has taught people to kill traitors to the throne in this brutal and remorseless fashion so to this has come back to bite him when he became treacherous and the same fate awaited him.
“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself and lands on the other side”
This metaphor shows the full extent of Macbeth’s ambition this acts as characterisation as this is the moment where he begins to realise that his ambition is driving him forwards to killing Duncan and stealing the throne from beneath him. This metaphor refers to attempting to mount a horse however falling off the other side of it. This further foreshadows the downfall of Macbeth later in the play as he momentarily obtains everything that he wanted, however this moment did not last and he began falling off after this moment as his ambition and fears got the better of him.
“We will proceed no further in this business” Macbeth
“Was the hope drunk wherein it dressed itself” Lady
This characterisation shows us the dynamic of the relationship between lady Macbeth and her husband as when he attempts to take control of the situation and say that he doesn’t want to carry out their plan she continues to manipulate him this time more aggressively as she suggests that his grand ambitions were nothing more than a dunken dream and insinuates that he is being cowardly in not being committing himself to the plan and in effect insults his manhood. This makes him question his decision further.
“wakes it now to look so green and pale”
Lady macbeth calls her husband cowardly to see her ambitions met and insult his manhood this further characterises their relationship and helps us see how Shakespeare designs her character to act like Eve from the bible story leading her husband down a path from which he cannot return. this ties in with the theme of ambition as they both want power and are not contempt with their position in the great chain of being and we as an audience can already see that they will be punished for this.
“i would have while its smiling face plucked my nipple from its boneless gums and dashed the brains out had I sworn as you have done”
Here shakespeare creates a horrific image of Lady Macbeth suggesting that if she had sworn to her husband to something she would do it no matter the cost, as she tells him that she would sooner murder their child than break an oath that she had made to him. This characterisation explains the dynamic between these two characters it shows the raw brutality and wickedness of Lady Macbeth and the lengths that she would be willing to go to, when chasing her ambition. This also shows us the committed nature of their relationship as they would do anything for one another. This again mimics the story of Adam and Eve in the bible as they were so committed to one another that they were willing to disobey god for one another so to are Macbeth and Lady doing in this moment.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me”
This is a famous scene in the play and is a key moment in the play as Macbeth must make his final decision that will effect the course of history, he has this brief moment to make his mind up about killing Duncan. The dagger symbolises Macbeth’s ambition “come let me clutch thee” he wishes to take his ambitions and rise to kingship however the fact that he cannot clutch the dagger shows that his morality is holding him back and that he in this moment is unable to make up his mind.
“Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going”
Through the word choice shakespeare conveys the Idea of fate versus free will. “the way that I was going” refers to the path that he is on, we as a reader question if Macbeth is hopeless at this point in the story, as he is already under the influence of the witches and we feel that Macbeth is being controlled by forces that are beyond him, he is a smaller piece of the puzzle, we question if this is his fate all along does he have any free will in the situation or was it destiny that he kill the king
“On thy blade and dudgeon are gouts of blood which was not so before”
Here Shakespeare uses symbolism to suggest that this dagger that Macbeth sees is his moral conscience as before the murder the dagger would be clean and so to would his conscience be, however he sees that if he were to murder the king there would be blood on his hands and that his conscience would forever be stained by his actions. This foreshadows the guilt later felt by the Macbeths for defying the word of god and choosing to commit regicide.
“This is a sorry sight” Macbeth
“a foolish thought to say a sorry sight”
This further shows the dynamic between lady macbeth and her husband as she attempts to get him to silence his guilt this is possibly as she herself feels immense guilt for her actions and is attempting to silence her own thoughts of guilt. This shows how she can be rather cold, and expects more of her husband than to be feeling guilt. We see here that she senses that the job is not yet complete and that if they want to survive they cannot show any weakness in this moment of regret.
“Will all great neptune’s oceans wash this blood clean from my hands?”
This symbolism refers to the blood on Macbeth’s hands as his conscience as he wonders if he will ever be free from the responsibility of his actions, he asks himself if there will ever come a point where he can live with himself again because of his actions. This shows regret for the actions however does not show remorse. We as an reader see that Macbeth is more concerned with how his actions will impact him than the true evil of what he has just done to another human being. quelling them from existence. This ties in with the theme of morality in the play as we can see how macbeth struggles to deal with these thoughts.
“the minions of their race turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, contending against obedience as they would make war with mankind”
This word choice of “turned wild in nature” refers to the breakdown of the great chain of being as Macbeth’s actions has caused outrage in the heavens and nature itself is apauled by the actions taken against Duncan. We as an audience sense that the actions of Macbeth and his wife has unleashed anarchy upon all of Scotland as the word of god has been disobeyed and murdered. We sense here that shakespeare warns us of the consquences of breaking the great chain of being.
“Our fears in banquo stick deep”
This word choice of “sticks deep” shows the pure mental and physical anguish that torments Macbeth as a result of his knowledge that banquo will have children that become kings, and that his hopes of having a royal lineage and his position are both threatened by banquo’s continued existence. This is also Ironic as Macbeth’s fears have driven him so far as to hire those that would kill for a fee, this mimics how the weapons of these people will later stick deep into banquo. This conveys the themes of ambition as we see just how far Macbeth is willing to go in order for his power to be maintained. Even killing his former comrades simply for his own peace of mind. We also see the Tyrannical nature of Macbeth as it is not kingly to be conversing with murderers and killers. Shakespeare hints here how Macbeth is not fit to be king possibly as this was not the role that god intended for him, and that god had not given him the right to take the throne it was stolen from gods gracious messenger
“Say to the king I would attend his leasure for a few words”
This characterisation shows how the dynamic of the realtionship between Macbeth and Lady has changed as she needs to ask for permission to see her husband which she did not have to do so before. This shows how the two have become more distant as they have now both realised their goals and no longer have a common goal to work towards. This perhaps shows that Macbeth blames his wife for the guilt that he feels for killing Duncan perhaps using her manipulation to justify his actions and shift responsieability which we as an audience do not compeletly agree with, whilst we see that she was a driving factor we also see that after the Dagger soliloquay that Macbeth makes this decision of his own free will. This ties in with themes of guilt
“Be innocent of the knowledge dearest chuck”
Macbeth says this to his wife in regards to his plans for Banquo, this shows how he no longer informs her of his decisions. It shows the shift of power in their relationship as he has accended to kingship she has been left behind and what was once an equal and fair marrage has become patriarchal once more. We as a reader sense that before Macbeth became king he could be controlled and manipulated by his wife however now we see how Lady Macbeth has completely lost control of her husband and his actions.
“O full of scorpions is my mind dearest wife”
Here we see how Macbeth wishes for peace of mind the scorpions symbolise his anger, frustration, and fear of the pain that awaits him. He is frustrated that despite his best efforts his rule will mean nothing should Banquo’s lineage supercede his own. We see his fear of what is still to come and the guilt that he is going through for having committed regicide. An alternative interpritation is that he fears eternity as a result of what he has done. He worries about how god will treat him for having disobeyed his grand plan.
“Then live Macduff what need I fear of thee?”
This comes after the second apparition tells him that he cannot be harmed by those of woman born. We see here how Macbeth has become arrogant and now believes that he cannot be harmed by anyone. He completely ignores the first apparition’s warning as a result of this. This foreshadows his downfall at the hands of Macduff. We as an audience see here the true lengths to which Macbeth has fallen to simply decide to kill Macduff anyway even if he thinks that he can no longer be harmed by him.
“Bleed, Bleed, poor country”
This personification reflects how the actions of Macbeth have had a widely negative impact on the events throughout the play as a whole. We see here how Macbeth’s actions have caused great suffering and misfortune to fall upon Scotland as he is not it’s rightful ruler
“They have placed a fruitless crown upon my head and a barren scepter in my gripe”
“For banuqo’s issue have i defiled my mind and for them the gracious duncan have I murdered”
This shows how Macbeth feels as if all of his actions up until this point have not benefeited him, he feels trapped as if he is a small part of the bigger picture. He is appauled that all of his actions will not benefit him and instead will benefit someone else that did not sacrifice in order to gain the throne.
