Macbeth Flashcards
The three witches plot to meet Macbeth on his way home from battle
When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Macbeth praised for his bravery in winning the battle
- O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! - Duncan
- brave Macbeth - Captain
- worthy thane - Ross
The witches make a prophecy about Macbeth
First witch: All hail, Macbeth: Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
Second witch: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
Third witch: All hail, Macbeth, that shall be king hereafter!
The witches’ prophecy for Banquo
First witch: Lesser than Macbeth, and greater
Second witch: Not so happy, yet much happier
Third witch: Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none
Macbeth decides that if he is fated to be king, he will become king without having to do anything
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,
Without my stir.
Lady Macbeth calls on the spirits for strength to carry out Duncan’s murder
Come you spirits;
…unsex me here
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty.
Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s courage
Art thou afeard?
Lady Macbeth uses a metaphor to tell Macbeth that if he stays courageous they won’t fail
Screw your courage to the sticking place,
And we’ll not fail.
Macbeth has a vision as he approaches King Duncan’s chamber to kill him
Is this a dagger which I see before me?
Donalbain discusses with Malcolm how he feels they are in the company of the person who murdered their father
Where we are
There’s daggers in men’s smiles
Macbeth hears voices after killing the king
Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!
Macbeth doth murder sleep
Theme of appearance vs reality
- Fair is foul, and foul is fair
- There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face - False face must hide what the false heart doth know
- Your face, my thane, is as a book
- look like the innocent flower,/But be the serpent under’t
Macbeth seems to revel in the brutality of the battlefield
- with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution - Captain
- he unseam’d him from the nave to the chaps
- Bellona’s bridegroom
Macbeth echoing the words of the witches in his first words of the play
So foul and fair a day I have not seen
Lady Macbeth worries Macbeth is too kind to carry out the murder
too full of the milk of human kindness
Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to look innocent to deceive the others
look like the innocent flower/but be the serpent under’t
Macbeth explains in his soliloquoy when deciding whether to kill Duncan how violent actions often rebound on the perpetrator
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return/To plague th’inventor
Macbeth says that if he is too ambitious he may fail miserably when questioning whether he should kill Duncan
I have no spur
To prick the side of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’other
The captain praises Macbeth for winning the battle
For brave Macbeth - well he deserves that name
Ross describing Macbeth as the goddess of war’s husband
That Bellona’s bridegroom
Banquo describes how evil influences tell us truths to get us to believe lies when warning Macbeth about the witches
oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
the instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s
In deepest consequence
Macbeth calling for night to kill Duncan
Stars, hide your fires!
Let not light see my black and deep desires
Macbeth argues he is a man
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more, is none
Macbeth lies about his thoughts about the prophecies
I think not of them
Macbeth recognizes he has killed too many people to go back to being good
I am in blood
Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er
Macduff describing how evil Macbeth is
Not in legions
Of horrid Hell can come a devil more damned
In evils, to top Macbeth
Lady Macbeths gruesome declaration of what she would do had she promised to do it
plucked the nipple from his boneless gums,
And dashed the brains out
Quotes that show Macbeth is not all bad
- If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me
- too full of the milk of human kindness
Part of Macbeth wants to leave prophecies to chance
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me
Macbeth’s nihilistic worldview towards the end of the play
Out, out, brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Duncan’s remark on how you can never truly know what someone is thinking by their appearance
There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face
Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth he has decided not to kill Duncan
We will proceed no further in this business
Macbeth’s admiration of his wife
She should “Bring forth men-children only” as she is so fearless
Macbeth pretending to mourn Duncan’s death
Had I but died an hour before this chance
I had lived a blessed time, for from this instant
There’s nothing serious in mortality
Macbeth describing Banquo
royalty of nature
Apparition saying no one birthed by a woman will harm Macbeth
none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth
When deciding to kill Macduff’s family, Macbeth resolves not to pause before committing atrocities
From this moment
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand
Macbeth’s reaction to his wife’s death
She should have died hereafter
Macbeth resolves to die with soldierly pride in battle
At least we’ll die with harness on our back
Lady Macbeth telling Macbeth people can easily read his thoughts
Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men
May read strange matters
Macbeth doesn’t want to fight Macduff because he has already caused him enough suffering
My soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already
Macbeth is alarmed by the ghost of Banquo at the dinner table
Hence, horrible shadow!
Lady Macbeth’s hallucinations of blood on her hands
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
