Macbeth - quotes Flashcards
‘brave Macbeth…disdaining fortune’
- ‘brave’ -> highlights M’s machismo, even tho the odds are against him, he fights with strong will and determination
- conveys M’s role as a powerful warrior, he is a force to be reckoned with
- ‘disdaining fortune’ ->amplifies just how powerful he is as he subverts fate
- powerful method of introduction, demonstrates M as the perfect man to the Jacobean audience bc he’s painted to be a heroic warrior, which justifies his rise in status when he becomes 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’
- reflects internal conflict after hearing the prophecies
- ‘unfix my hair’ -> refers to M’s hair standing up or the goosebumps sensation. perhaps it refers to the surge of adrenaline M feels when he’s given even a glimpse of oppurtunity to release his hunger for blood
- ‘make my seated heart knock at my ribs’ - > amplifies the surreal feeling and release he gets from killing, even the thought of him makes his heart pound and excites him, after all he thrived on the battlefield against Macdonald
‘False face must hide what the false heart doth know’
- ‘false face’ -> refers to his apparent loyalty and hospitality toward Duncan
- ‘false heart’ -> shows that M is conscious of the type of man he is becoming - or always was.
‘If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me without my stir’
- deliberately suggests that if chance fails, Macbeth ‘may’ have to take matters into his own hands which he does
- definitive modal verb ‘will’ -> shows M’s absolute trust in the supernatural, hamartia, this type of trust would’ve been scary to the Jacobean audience
- contrast with definitives used - ‘if’ -> shows pondering nature regarding regicide, M’s internal conflict of whether he should leave it to fate or if he should kill D
-> and the word ‘chance’ shows uncertainty which highlights M’s unchecked ambition - ‘stir’ -> euphemism for regicide, going against the Divine roK, shows his consciousness of his own morality
‘unsex me here’
- plea to spirits signifies rejection of feminine weakness and her consequential alignment with evil
- shows she is becoming androgynous in nature, no longer wants the tenderness and gentleness that comes with being a woman
- Jacobean women were seen as family orientating and nurturing so this would evoke the audience, S could’ve been suggesting women should be given more power OR that women in power and corrupt and so should stay in their confines
‘to know my deed twere best not know myself’
- it’s not the physical act of killing D that terrifies him, but instead, what terrifies him is the knowledge he will have to live with of what he is - a murderer
- saying he’d rather be unconscious than have to think about his deed -> beginning to realise the enormity of what he’d done, guilt
- audience can draw that M does not recognise himself after becoming a murderer - catharsis -> felt fear when M killed D but now feel pity due to his guilt
‘look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’it’
- LM tells M that he must learn to look innocent even if his heart is full of evil, he must appear loyal to Duncan even if he plans to kill him
- ‘innocent flower’ - extorts him to conceal his murderous intentions so he appears unthreatening and harmless so others don’t suspect him
- biblical ref to the serpent in Garden of Eden who brought sin to the world, like how M is bringing the sin of regicide to Scotland, also shows similarities between Adam and Eve and M and LM e.g. LM persuades M to sin just as Eve persuaded Adam,
-> James I also a religious fanatic so alluding to the bible would have appeased him
‘O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!’
- reminds us of Macbeth’s royal lineage
- reveals that the reason for D’s death is his gullible and naive nature even though he should’ve learned from ‘the merciless Macdonald - worthy to be a rebel’
- he didn’t learn from this and put his full trust in the Thane of Cawdor, who killed him
’ I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition which o’rleaps itself and falls on th’other’
- ‘vaulting’ -> connotes strong wish and drive for power, which inevitably leads to his demise, M is so driven that he becomes covered in hubris and the epitome of power hungry
clear that his ambition has caused him to betray his moral conscience - Macbeth recognises that his only motivation to kill D is his ambition, which is too aggressive
- his decision to kill D is a clear betrayal of his own principles
- helps us see that M is constantly debating whether he should follow his conscience or ambition - vasillating and also shows consequences of both regicide and an overly-driven desire for power
‘full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife’
- use of metaphor suggests M’s mind is constantly stabbing him with poisonous thoughts which he cannot control
- M must kill any man or woman who tries to stand in his way of being king
- highlights idea that M has lost any empathy to other characters bc of his wife; if she hadn’t manipulated him, he wouldn’t have followed his ambitious side and wouldn’t have committed regicide
- M dies a soulless man
‘All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!”
“All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!”
“All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”
- witches plant the idea of Macbeth being a king in his mind but never actually tell him to do anything
- Macbeth’s own psychopathic tendencies and ambition is what leads him to killing Duncan, and in extension, leads him to his demise
‘fair is foul and foul is fair’
- paradoxical statement
- suggests appearances can’t be trusted because they’re mouldable
- they offer no insight into the reality of a person
- what is good is bad e.g. Macbeth’s bloodlust appearing good and what’s bad is good
‘dispute it like a man’
- macduff tells Malcolm that he shall
- ‘dispute’ -> proactive, combative approach to grief as he pursues revenge, aligning with traditional male response and contrasts Macbeths apparent indifference and lack of remorse following his wife’s death
- ‘like a man’ -> mirrors societal expectations prevalent during the elizabethan era where emotional restraint was often equated with strength, a virtue Macbeth conspicuously lacks.
- highlights Macbeths shortcomings by juxtaposing his qualities against macduff manly virtues, suggesting that Macbeths inability to embody these traits might lead to his downfall as he lacks both the physical and emotional strength required to endure the consequences of his actions, destabilising his rule
‘when you durst do it, then you were a man’
- LM frequently inverts traditional gender roles, adopting a dominant position over Macbeth as highlighted in her manipulation of his insecurities about manhood
- Macbeths inability to control his emotions leads him to the path of evil - here, its the desire to prove himself to his wife, and later on his ambitious desire for power makes him vulnerable to evil
- poses qs: Is Macbeth inherently evil, or is he compelled into it by external figures like LM who provoke him into murdering Duncan to validate his masculinity?
- Shakes. exposes societal constructs that often distort human behaviour
‘Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.’
- he is asking the stars to hide their light so that no one will be able to see the dark desires he has inside him
-> theme of light vs darkness, light symbolic of his goodness that has also been hidden, ‘hide your fires’ evokes a sense of darkness and obscurity, he wants to shroud his actions in secrecy to avoid moral and ethical scrutiny
-> darkness here isn’t just physical but also metaphorical, representing the evil and corruption that Macbeth wishes to embrace without the judgement of celestial bodies, which were often associated with divine oversight and moral order
-> alternatively, duality of light and dark is a symbol for the conflict between M’s conscience/moral compass and his ambition, ‘black’ connotes something sinister and immoral while ‘deep’ suggests that these desires are profound cravings that reach into the very depths of the soul, highlighting the intensity of his ambitions and his willingness to plunge into the depths of immorality to achieve his aims