quotes for macbeth

Question 1

‘starts, hide your fires, let not see my black and deep desires’

Answer 1

• the connotations of this quote are evil, ambition, guilt and a desire to conceal wrong doing
• the imagery of ‘black and deep desires’ may suggest something dark, sinister or unnatural within macbeth’s heart. it also highlights his deceitfulness and his willingness to be manipulative
• the request of ‘starts, hide your fires’ may suggest that macbeth wants to hide his thoughts and his desires from the public

Question 2

‘is this a dagger which i see before me’

Answer 2

• it symbolizes ambition, temptation and the blurring lines between reality and hallucination
• the dagger connotes to macbeth’s desire to kill duncan and seize the throne
• in this quote macbeth is questioning if he is seeing the dagger which represents the internal conflict and represents the theme of appearance vs reality

Question 3

‘full scorpions is my mind, dear wife’

Answer 3

• this connotes intense mental torment and guilt
• the scorpions are a metaphor to represent his guilty thoughts, anxieties and fears that are tormenting macbeth. the scorpions represent the painful, stinging nature of his conscience
• this line is spoken after he has murdered banquo, highlighting the psychological price he is paying for his ambition and pursuit of the crown

Question 4

‘never shake thy gory locks at me’

Answer 4

• strong connotations of guilt, fear and accusation
• ‘gory locks’ directly refer to banquo’s bloodied hair, which symbolises the violence of his murder and macbeth’s complicity
• the imperative ‘never shake’ combined with the image suggests macbeth’s desperate attempt to deny responsibilities for the murder and his terror at being confronted with its bloody consequences

Question 5

‘i dare do all that may become a man’

Answer 5

• symbolizes manhood, courage and morality
• suggests that macbeth’s manhood acts with honour and within the bounds of what is right, not just with reckless daring or violence
• this quote serves as a defense against lady macbeth’s taunts, claiming that he possesses the courage to do what is appropriate for a man, not to cross the line into barbarity

Question 6

‘i have almost forgot the taste of fears’

Answer 6

• this quote symbolises his emotional numbness, a profound sense of loss and desensiziation to horror
• it shows that through his relentless pursuit of power and countless violent acts, he is emotionally detached and can no longer experience fear or even recognise it
• the metaphor of ‘taste’ symbolises that fear was once a sensory experience for macbeth and the fact that he ‘forgot’ this taste suggests a deep-seated emotional disconnect

Question 7

‘will all great neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?’

Answer 7

• he is overwhelmed with guilt, the permanence of sin, and the inability to achieve absolution
• it represents the metaphorical stain of regicide and the moral corruption
• this line suggests that not even the vastness of the sea, personified by neptune, cannot wash away the deed

Question 8

‘but now i am cabined, cribbed confined, bound in to saucy doubts and fears’

Answer 8

• he is trapped, restricted and overwhelmed with anxiety
• the repetition of words emphasizes a sense of being trapped while ‘bound in’ further reinforces this feeling of being restrained
• ‘saucy doubts and fears’ suggests that these are not just ordinary worries but persistent anxieties that plague macbeth’s mind