Lady Macbeth Must Have Quotes Flashcards
Her remorse of murder
“Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”
= she will forever stink of blood, no matter what she does that smell will never go away
= blood represents guilt
= shows she feels she will remain guilty forever
= reference to Arabian perfumes shows not only her wealth as a queen but also her femininity
= the spirits have restored her femininity and she no longer feels strong and masculine, but weak and emotional
Insulting Macbeth
“When thou durst do it, then you were a man”
= trying to insult Macbeth, by telling him that he is no longer a man as he is doubting whether he should kill Duncan
= feels that a real man would be able to kill the king and usurp the crown without questioning it, due to their desire for power
Get rid of her femininity
“Come you spirits, that tend on mortal thoughts. Unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty”
= asking the spirits to strip her of all her feminine weakness and to instead fill her with masculinity
= the prefix ‘Un’ is frequently used by Shakespeare in Macbeth
= how the protagonists are repeatedly trying to undo what has been done
Reference to witches
“Hie thee hither”
= same way the witches summoned their familiars
Her ambition
“ art not without ambition but without the illness should attend it”
List of all her quotes
- too full of the milk of human kindness
- nearest way
- come, you spirits
- unsex me here
- of direst cruelty
- make thick my blood
- take my milk for gall
- you murdering ministers
- my keen knife not see the wound it makes
- look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it
- was the hope drunk
- dashed
- plucked
- tender
- love
- here’s the smell of blood still
- while it was smiling in my face
- dashed its brains out
- all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand
