Macbeth Key Quotes

Act 1 Scene 2

“For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name” – war hero and strong fighter

“O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!” – Duncan’s honours and favours upon Macbeth

“They doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe” – Both Macbeth and Banquo were swift and brave.

Act 1 Scene 3

“so foul and fair a day I have not seen” – Macbeth.

“so wither’d and so wild in their attire”, “look not like inhabitants o’ the earth” – Banquo to the Witches.

“why do you start; and seem to fear”, “he seems rapt withal” – Banquo describing Macbeth.

“Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more”, “Speak, I charge you.” – Macbeth demands the Witches to stay.

Macbeth’s obsession with the witches predictions is shown by the [Aside] stage direction, giving the audience a view into his mind.

“Cannot be ill, cannot be good” – two conflicting ideas, echoing the speaking style of the Witches.

“Why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair” – Ambition and murder.

“nothing is but what is not”

“Worthy Macbeth” – Banquo. Ironic since Macbeth has just had thoughts of regicide.

“My dull brain was wrought with things forgotten. Kind gentlemen…” Lies and empty pretences of politeness. The gap between Banquo and Macbeth widens.

Act 1 Scene 4

“there’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face” – Duncan reflecting on the traitor

“I have begun to plant thee” – Duncan wants to nurture Scotland and its people – good King

Act 1 Scene 5

“Come you spirits…unsex me here” “take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers” – Lady Macbeth is casting a spell – a woman’s delicate nature is completely reverted

“come, thick night” “smoke of hell” “blanket of the dark” – language of the supernatural

“I feel now the future in the instant” – She is impatient and fantasising about obtaining power

“look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.” – deception and treachery (LM)

“leave all the rest to me” – controlling and persuasive

Act 1 Scene 7

“we will proceed no further in this business” – Macbeth determined not to murder

“was the hope drunk wherein you dress’d yourself?” – Questioning and demanding

“Such I account thy love” – LM saying that he has betrayed her

“What beast was it then that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man” – Challenging his masculinity and fidelity to his wife.

“screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.” “What cannot you and I perform on the unguarded Duncan?”

“bring forth men-children only, for thy undaunted mettle should compose nothing but males” – M compliments his wife – he is excited and obsessed with her.

“false face must hide what the false heart doth know” - recurring motif of deception.

Act 2 Scene 1

“Their candles are all out” – sky is completely dark

“shut up in measureless content” – Duncan went to bed happily

Macbeth lies when Banquo mentions the witches – “I think not of them”

Dagger soliloquy – “witchcraft” “Hecate’s offerings” “a ghost” – links Macbeth to the supernatural. His hallucinations might be a sign of madness

Act 2 Scene 2

“had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t” – Lady Macbeth lies, or is she showing weakness? Murder takes place off stage.

“wherefore could I not pronounce Amen?” “Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’” “sore labour’s bath, balm of hurt minds” – He is obsessed with this idea and that he might be guilty – disturbs idea of peace and clear conscience. “I am afraid to think what I have done; look on’t, I dare not”

“Infirm of purpose!” – She thinks that he is being irrational and going mad – “you do unbend your noble strength to think so brainsickly of things.

“What is’t with me, when every noise appals me?” – he is easily frightened and afraid he will be caught. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?”

“A little water clears us of this deed: how easy is it, then!” LM scheming and trying to tell M everything is under control.

Repetition of knocking sound gives a sense of urgency, maybe echoes M’s heartbeat?

Act 2 Scene 3

Porter scene – Eases the tension, but also builds suspense. A comic relief, but makes references to the murder.

Dramatic irony before the body is found – characters seem to sense evil. Lennox – “lamentings heard in the air; strange screams of death” “dire combustion and confused events”

Macbeth speaks in short sentences before the body is found – “Twas a rough night” – showing how tense he is. Afterwards, he speaks in verse quickly and for a much longer time that any other character – it seems false and as though he is trying to cover up the murder.

Macbeth admits to killing the guards out of rage, and LM faints – perhaps as a distraction?

Donalbain – “there’s daggers in men’s smiles” Malcolm and Donalbain flee for fear of their lives.

Act 2 Scene 4

Strange things have happened that are very symbolic

It’s dark during the day – “Dark night strangles the travelling lamp” – semantic field of murder

“A falcon, towering in her pride of place [Duncan], was by a mousing-owl… kill’d [Macbeth]”

“Tis said they [horses] eat each other” – unnatural and perhaps they have been cursed?

Macduff decides not to go to M’s coronation – foreshadowing and sets Macduff as enemy of M.

Act 3 Scene 1

Banquo’s soliloquy – “I fear, thou play’dst most foully for’t”. He’s thinking of the Witches, but is less ambitious and allows fate to take its course.

Macbeth deceive Banquo by flattering and obsessing over him – “Here’s our chief guest” “I wish your horses swift and sure of foot”

Macbeth’s soliloquy reveals how he has changed – he doesn’t see Banquo as a friend anymore, instead as a threat to his throne: “Our fears in Banquo/Stick deep” He is bitter and angry about the Witches’ predictions, and is more decisive about killing.

He commands two murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance in order to try and stop the witches from being correct – he knows they have power, as they predicted him being Cawdor and King.

Act 3 Scene 2

LM seems to be unhappy and regrets the killing – “tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy” oxymoronic language shows their mixed emotions. She tries to tell Macbeth that they should not act further “what’s done is done”. He also envies Duncan – “nothing can touch him further”

There is a change in their relationship – M is driven by ambition and tells his wife to be deceitful – “we have scotch’d the snake, not kill’d it” “make our faces vizards to our hearts”

“O full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck/ till thou applaud the deed” – he is in control, dominating their duologue.

Act 3 Scene 3

“there’s but one down; the son is fled” – Fleance has escaped while Banquo has been slain.

Act 3 Scene 4

LM: “for my heart speaks they are welcome” – being friendly and false

“But now I am cabin’d, cribb’d, confined, bound in to saucy doubts and fears” – Macbeth has a dramatic reaction to finding out that Fleance lives.

“Never shake thy gory locks at me” – To everyone else, it looks like he is insane and unwell.

“keep seat; The fit is momentary” – LM trying to calm everyone down and maintain the false pretence of order and normality.

“O proper stuff!” – LM can’t understand his hallucinations and thinks he is being irrational.

“Do not muse at me…I have a strange infirmity” Sudden contrast between fear and being a host.

“Avaunt! And quit my sight!” – sudden outburst shows emotion “Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves shall never tremble!” – Banquo is the only thing he is afraid of and is repulsed by.

“It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood” – Macbeth knows the consequences of his actions, but wants to keep on killing – it’s the only way that he knows how to deal with his problems.

“There’s not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant feed” – he has spies in all of the Thanes’ houses except Macduff – M is incredibly afraid to lose his power.

“I am in blood stepped in so far…returning were as tedious as to go o’er” – M argues that it does not matter what he does now, he will be found out – he can continue murdering.

Note: This scene is the last time the Macbeths are seen together.

Act 4 Scene 1

“something wicked this way comes” – Witches refer to Macbeth in this way.

“answer me to what I ask you” – he wants more predictions

“he will not be commanded” – M wants to ask questions and tries to control the Apparitions

“thou shalt not live” – M wants to kill Macduff to make sure no one can challenge him.

“Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until Great Birnam wood to High Dunsinane hill shall come against him”

“Shall Banquo’s issue ever reign in this kingdom?” “I will be satisfied” – Tries to find out if the problem of Banquo will be solved. He is very preoccupied by this.

“two fold balls and treble sceptres carry” – A reference to the coronation of James I where he ruled over many countries. The balls are the union of the crowns of England and Scotland. Remember that James I was thought to be a descendant of the real Banquo, whom the character is based on.

"give to the edge o' the sword/His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line" - Macbeth decides to kill Macduff's family after he has fled to England.

Act 4 Scene 2

"Your husband/He is noble, wise, judicious" - Ross to Lady Macduff, developing him as a hero in contrast to Macbeth

"What, you egg!" *Stabbing him* - Thus Macduff's son is murdered, and his wife offstage.

Act 4 Scene 3

This scene is mostly some thanes saying how much they hate Macbeth and what their plans are for retaking Scotland – Malcolm (Duncan's son) tries to get Macduff onto his side. You almost certainly won't need to revise this at all.

"Not in the legions of horrid hell can come a devil more damned in evils to top Macbeth." - Macduff

"All my pretty ones? Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?" - Macduff finds out his family has been "savagely slaughter'd", and firmly makes a decision to kill Macbeth.

Act 5 Scene 1

Note: This is the first time we see Lady Macbeth since Act 3 Scene 4 (banquet scene). She has changed considerably, and this is also her final appearance in the play.

"Out damned spot! Out, I say!" - A hallucination referring to Duncan's blood and her earlier words - "a little water..." During her speech, she switches the subject many times, a sure sin of madness and a troubled mind.

"What, will these hands ne'er be clean?" - A guilty conscience at last – but she never recovers from it. In that sense she is opposite to Macbeth – he starts out regretting everything (she doesn't), but then he eventually gets accustomed to murder, while she feels worse about it.

"Foul whisperings are abroad: Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles" - The Doctor, having observed Lady Macbeth, becomes suspicious and suggests malice.

Act 5 Scene 3

"Geese, villain!" - He is mocking the messenger who has told him of the advancing army, piling on insult after insult for no reason. Macbeth feels he has no reason to be afraid – Forests cant move, and every man was born from a woman.

"I'll fight till from my bones my flesh be hack'd" - Macbeth is determined to beat Macduff and Malcolm's forces.

"Hang those that talk of fear" - His tyrannical character is developed further, killing those who fear for their lives – a contradictory and insane order.

"Were I from Dunsinane away and clear, Profit again should hardly draw me here" - Doctor, aside. He feels unsafe and is afraid of Macbeth, after being asked to try and find a cure for LM – an impossible feat.

Act 5 Scene 4

"Let every soldier hew him down a bough and bear’t before him." - Malcolm's orders reveal the witches' equivocations – this is how Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane. It provides foreshadowing – if the witches' words weren't entirely truthful with this prediction, what else might happen?

Act 5 Scene 5

"I have supped full with horrors. Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts cannot once start me." - He has become so accustomed to death that he isn't startled by the screaming of women.

"She should have died hereafter" - Macbeth doesn't seem to care much for the death of his wife, who he was so dearly in love with at the start of the play.

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day" - Macbeth begins to comment on the futile and monotonous nature of life – perhaps a loss of purpose.

"I 'gin to be aweary of the sun" - Tired of life, he wants there to be a final end.

Act 5 Scene 7

"The devil himself could not pronounce a title more hateful to mine ear." - Young Siward. Almost everyone is against Macbeth at this point. Murdering YS seems to inflate Macbeth's ego and make him more confident

Act 5 Scene 8

"Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped." - And finally, Macbeth's confidence is destroyed as it is revealed that Macduff was born by Caesarean section.

"I'll not fight with thee" - He doubts for a moment, before Macduff calls him a coward and humiliates him.