Macbeth Key Quotes

Question 1

Act 1 key quotes

Answer 1

“Fair is foul and foul is fair” (Witches) (c.f. Scene 3, Macbeth’s first words are “Such foul and fair a day I have not seen”) ACT 1 SCENE 1
“Strange garments cleave not to their mould, but with the aid of use.” (Banquo) ACT 1 SCENE 3
“Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires.” (Macbeth) ACT 1 SCENE 4
“There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. He was a gentleman in whom I built an absolute trust.” (Duncan) ACT 1 SCENE 4
“Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t.” (Lady Macbeth) ACT 1 SCENE 5
“Come, you spirits that tend on mortal souls! Unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty” (Lady Macbeth) ACT 1 SCENE 5
“Blow might be the be-all and the end-all […] bloody instructions, which being taught, return to plague the inventor.” (Macbeth) ACT 1 SCENE 7

Question 2

Act 2 key quotes

Answer 2

“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” (Macbeth) ACT 2 SCENE 2
“A little water clears us of this deed.” (Lady Macbeth) ACT 2 SCENE 2
“Gash’d stabs look’s like a breach in nature.” (Macbeth) ACT 2 SCENE 3

Question 3

Act 2 key quotes

Answer 3

“Nought’s had, all’s spent […] to be that which we destroy, than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.” (Lady Macbeth) ACT 3 SCENE 2
“O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” (Macbeth) ACT 3 SCENE 2

Question 4

Act 4 key quotes

Answer 4

“Beware Macduff, Beware the Thane of Fife.” AND “The power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” AND “Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill hall come against him” (PROPHECIES, WITCHES) ACT 4 SCENE 1
Malcom- “dispute it like a man” AND Macduff- “I shall do so/ But I must also feel it like a man.” (ACT 4 SCENE 3)

Question 5

Act 5 key quotes?

Answer 5

“He cannot buckle his distemper’d cause, within the belt of rule. (Caithness) […] Giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief.” (Angus) ACT 5 SCENE 2
“Out, out, brief candle, light’s but a walking shadow […] a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (Macbeth) ACT 5 SCENE 5
“Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped.” (Macduff) ACT 5 SCENE 8
“Before my body, I throw my warlike shield.” (Macbeth) ACT 5 SCENE 8