Acts I-III Macbeth quotes and significance Flashcards
“To be thus [king] is nothing, but [unless]to be safely thus.”
Who said this?
Significance?
Macbeth
It is nothing to be king if MB kingship is not safe. The witches’ prediction about Banquo unsettled MB because he doesn’t want his son’s to be kings.
“Most royal sir, Fleance is escaped.”
Who said this?
Significance?
First murderer
Climax of the play because MB plan was to kill Banquo and his son without any mistakes
“There the grown serpent lies; the worm that’s fled.”
Who said this?
Significance?
Macbeth
Example of animal imagery. Macbeth compares Banquo and his young son Fleance to two snakes, one a full-grown threat and the other a toothless baby snake who will one day become venomous like his father.
“It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman,/Which gives the stern’st good-night.”
Who said this?
Significance?
LMB
LMB is startled by reality. The owl is the fatal bellman because the crier often announced deaths.
“Had he not resembled/My father as he slept, I had done ‘t”
Who said this?
Significance?
LMB
LMB says she couldn’t kill KD because he looked like her dad when he sleeps, Yet, she can go chop him up at the end of the scene to get the guards bloody.
“Sleep no more!/MB does murder sleep!” – “the innocent sleep”
Who said this?
Significance?
Macbeth
This shows that Macbeth is so guilty that he will never be able to sleep again. He has murdered the king while he is sleeping. Theme of sleeplessness
“Go get some water.”
Who said this?
Significance?
LMB
She thinks a little water will remedy his sick brain
“Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead/Are but as pictures. ‘Tis the eye of childhood/That fears a painted devil.”
Who said this?
Significance?
LMB
Lady Macbeth is scolding Macbeth for being a coward so haunted by his recent action and not being able to follow through and finish his job.
“A little water clears us of this deed.”
Who said this?
Significance?
LMB
Washing their hands will free them from guilt. Lady Macbeth is reassuring her husband that no one will ever connect them with the king’s murder
“Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!”
Who said this?
Significance?
MB
MB shows remorse for killing KD
“Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!”
Who said this?
Significance?
Macduff
Macduff hopes things will be better now or there may be trouble (clothing imagery)
“Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?”
Who said this?
Significance?
MB
Macbeth learns that he has acquired a new title and power as the Thane of Cawdor, yet in his mind the Thane still lives.
“Stars hide your fires…”
Who said this?
Significance?
MB
The stars are being asked to give Macbeth darkness, so no one can see his “black and deep desires.
“if we should fail.”
Who said this?
Significance?
MB
This is MB’s weakest line in the play because he is afraid that his plan to kill KD might not work.
“We fail?”
Who said this?
Significance?
LMB
She then devises the plan to murder KD and is very confident in it.
