Macbeth quotes analysis Flashcards
learn these and the analyses
“Why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs”
Macbeth in soliloquy, act 1 scene 3
As soon as Macbeth hears the prophecies, and learns that he could be ‘King Hereafter’, the first thing that pops into his mind is murdering Duncan. this is contrasted with the way Macbeth is portrayed as fundamentally good and noble. Macbeth himself is shocked by this notion and wonders why he would think such a thing. This shows that despite his strong willed and courageous nature, Macbeth is corruptable and weak in some ways
“I fear thy nature – It is too full o’th milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, art not without ambition, but without the illness that should attend it.”
Lady Macbeth in soliloquy after receiving Macbeth’s letter, Act 1 scene 5
Lady Macbeth sees Macbeth as too pure and good to murder Macbeth, she does not think he is capable of committing regicide. All he has is his ambition.
“When you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more than a man.”
Lady Macbeth to Macbeth, Act 1 scene 7
Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth into murdering Duncan by emasculating him. She uses his patriarchal sense of toxic masculinity in order to make him feel as though he has to prove himself to her by committing the murder
“We will proceed no further in this business, he hath honoured me of late”
Macbeth to Lady Macbeth, Act 1 scene 7
Macbeth feels guilty for planning Duncan’s murder, and attempts to shut down the plan entirely.
“I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out”
Lady Macbeth to Macbeth, act 1 scene 7
Lady Macbeth clinches her argument with Macbeth over Duncan’s Murder, she tells him that she is perfectly capable of murdering her own baby with her bare hands, and Macbeth cannot even kill Duncan. There is no way Macbeth can respond to this other than agreeing to murder Duncan.
“Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t”
Lady Macbeth to Macbeth, Act 1 scene 5
serpent has biblical connotations of evil and treachery, she is informing Macbeth not to let Duncan suspect anything.
“A little water clears us of the deed”
Lady Macbeth to Macbeth, Act 2 scene 1
Lady Macbeth seems uncaring about the act of treason the pair had committed. this quote contrasts with Macbeth’s quote
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red”
Macbeth, Act 2 scene 1
Macbeth is so consumed by the guilt of murdering Duncan that he hallucinates having blood all over his hands, so much blood that it could change the colour of an ocean
“A little water clears us of the deed”
Lady Macbeth is unfazed about the murder that has been committed, this contrasts heavily with Macbeth’s seemingly over the top reaction.
“Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?”
This is said by lady Macbeth as she sleepwalks through the castle the day before Macbeth and Malcolm fight. Leitmotif of blood
“Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand?”
This quote both showcases Lady Macbeth’s hallucinations, but can be used to show the leitmotif of blood that runs throughout this play.
“So foul and fair a day I have not seen”
Theme - supernatural
Juxtaposition/oxymoron
Pathetic fallacy
“To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus.”
It means nothing that he is king if there is any threat to his position, his crown is ‘fruitless’ and he has a ‘barren sceptre’ Turning point because he decides to kill Banquo
“Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’
Theme of guilt,
sleep of the innocent. Macbeth cannot sleep any more because of the acts he has committed
“When now I think you can behold such sights,
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,
When mine is blanched with fear.”
- Ruby: connotations of passion, health, power
- Macbeth is blanched, he no longer has these attributes.
just as Macbeth’s cheeks are blanched, so too are his most famous attributes.
