Macbeth CORE QUOTES

Question 1

“Heat oppressed brain”

Answer 1

• Macbeth is saying that his brain is being controlled by something else, he refers to this as a heat
• What is causing this heat? Is it the witches and their influence? Is it the desire to impress Lady Macbeth? Is it his hamartia (bloodlust and thirst for power)?
• His own desires: they’re so fierce and powerful that they produce their own heat
• The witches: heat represents the fires of hell. By thinking about regicide, Macbeth is stepping into hell
• Lady Macbeth: LM’s influence is so strong it is producing heat. LM as fourth witch?
• Said in Macbeth’s soliloqhuy, where the character usually speaks his inner thoughts and feelings
• Oxymoron: the brain is meant to be free. Shows the possible inner conflict in Macbeth, shows that his brain is no longer his
• Freud Id: Macbeth represents the Id in humans. Id is representetive of slavery to ones desires (shown perfectly by Macbeth)
• Immense power of the witches: within one scene, their words have given “brave Macbeth” a “heat oppressed brain”
• Macbeth is powerless: cannot even control his own brain
• Understands that being the King is not good for his mental state, yet he wants to be king. Shows Macbeth as a slave to the desire of kingship
• Shows power of LM: shows how much she has manipulated him (“when thou durst do it, then you were a man”)

Question 2

“By the prick of my thumb, something wicked this way comes”

Answer 2

• Why did the witches pick Macbeth?: He is the most powerful, therefore by manipulating the most powerful they can attain the most power themselves OR because they were able to see his inner evil (“wicked”) nature
• Juxtaposition: arguably the most evil beings of the time (witches) are calling someone else “wicked”. Shows how evil Macbeth has become
• Macbeth is God’s representetive on earth (Divine right so even more worrying that the witches call him wicked
• Chremamorphism: “something” instead of someone. Macbeth is dihumanised. Shows that Macbeth has become so evil that the witches don’t even recognise him. Slight undertone of mockery: normally, women were objectified but here, a man (the most powerful man) is objectified
• Shows how the witches don’t think that they are responsible. They say that they do not recognise him anymore, stating that they did not cause this. Supernatural not as powerful as initially thought?
• Shows how Macbeth does not belong in the crown of the King: “something wicked” - being mocked by the witches
• “Brave Macbeth” to “something wicked” - shows how much he has changed
• “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it” - Macbeth has become the serpent. LM was the catalyst for Macbeth to become so evil

Question 3

“Instruments of darkness tell us truths (…) only to betray’s in deepest consequence”

Answer 3

• Witches are going to play Macbeth and Banquo like “instruments”. Juxtaposition between “drakness” and “truths” shows the inner confusion and disarray the witches have caused
• Superlative “deepest” shows that this is the worst possible thing that could happent to someone
• Shakepsear is presenting Banquo has morally correct, as he is an ancestor of King James I. Banquo is the antithesis of Macbeth, he is how we should react in this situation
• Metaphor as witches are compared to “instruments of drakness”
• Prolepsis to the rest of the play: banquo is able to predict all of the coming events
• If the witches are instruments, then there is another being that is using the instruments (Satan) - witches are not that powerful
• Highlights the evil nature of the witches: they are playing wtih Macbeth and Banquo for fun, no because they had to but because they wanted to
• Shows the immense power of the witches: even though Banquo is able to instantly recognise what the witches are going to do, no body stops them
• Shows how Macbeth was specifically chosen by the witches: they were able to recognise the inner evil inside of him
• Lad Macbeth is also one of these instruments (fourth witch): she tells Macbeth some truths (“leave this nights great business in my dispatch”) but then betrays him (“had he not resembled my father, I had done it”)
• Shows LM is also a victim of these instruments: Macbeth says what he is doing is for her (“the greatness that is promised thee”) then becomes indifferent to her (“she should have died hereafter”)

Question 4

“Unseamed him from the nave to the chaps”

Answer 4

• Symbolises the brutish and violent nature of Macbeth - to unseam someone, you must bring them up close to you. Shows Macbeth’s aggression. He’s not killing because he has to, rather because he wants to
• Macbeth perfectly fits the role of a patriarchal man: a man was judged and given a place in society based on his performance in the battlefield
• The verb “unseamed” has connotations of violence and aggression as it means to rip someone apart. Why useamed instead of kill?: higlights the aggresion andn bloodlust of Mabeth; his hamartia
• Shows Macbeth is the perfect soldier as he fighting for the king
• Shows immense power of LM and witches: able to corrupt the mind of the strongest and most powerful an in society. If they can manipulate him, they can manipulate anyone
• Shows powerlessness of the witches and LM: only able to manipulate Macbeth because he is a brute. Macbeth is known for his strength and violence rather than his intellect. If the witches picked someone slightly more clever, they would have failed
• Witches are weak as they can only change someone who is dumb

Question 5

“There to meet with Macbeth”

Answer 5

• Shows that the witches only have the power of foresiight (can only see the future) and cannot manipulate coming events in any way
• Shows the witches are not very powerful
• Macbeth doesn’t have to do anything, he just has to wait for his predicted future to arrive: shows Macbeth hamartia as he cannot wait
• Witches don’t control Macbeth, his hamartia made him do this
• The witches can see the future so they know what will happen yet they still tell him the prophecy: witches are toying with Macbeth for their own entertainment
• Parallels the greek tragedies, in which the tragic hero goes back to the oracle as he is trying to escape his fate. The oracle would then tell the tragic hero about the future in riddles, which would be mis-interpretted and lead to the downfall of the protagonist
• Witches are only instruments showing that they are controlled by a greater force: they aren’t powerful themselves
• Every prophecy that the witches give is telling Macbeth about something that has already happened in the previous scene (telling him he’ll be Thane of Cawdor, audience already know as in the previous scene Duncan tells Ross to pronounce him Thane of Cawdor) - this use of dramatic irony which has the prophecies play a big impact on Macbeth but a small impact on the audience undermines the idea of the witches being powerful as the audience already know what they are going to tell Macbeth

Question 6

“Life is but a walking shadow”

Answer 6

• Macbeth refers to himself as “a walking shadow” when LM dies
• Existential nihilism; Macbeth doesn’t value life anymore
• A shadow can never be caught: Macbeth can never catch up to his ambition
• A shadow is insubstantial compared to the object to which it belongs to: Macbeth is just a shadow, he cannot be the object (the king) as he went against nature (divine right of Kings)
• A shadow is the name for an understudy: in Jacobean theatre, the noun “shadow” was used to describe an understudy, who is someone that only comes on when the main actor is ill / unavailable. Macbeth is an understudy of the king; a temporary replacement
• Macbeth is realising that he can never fit the role of a king
• HE IS NOT BLAMING THE WITCHES - understands that he is the problem
• Anagnorisis in Macbeth

Question 7

“If chance may have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir”

Answer 7

• Macbeth is reassuring himself that he doesn’t have to do anything and that he will be king if destined
• Can be used to question whether Macbeth killed Duncan to become king or to prove himself to his wife
• Shakespeare is emphasising that any decision made by Macbeth is his own and NOT the witches
• Repetition of the noun “chance” instead of fate shows how Macbeth is convincing himself that he has to kill the king. Chance has a level of uncertainty and fate is something that will happen. Macbeth is creating his own uncertainty

Question 8

“Stars hide your fires - let not light see my dark and deep desires”

Answer 8

• Shows that Macbeth was NOT influenced by LM
• Macbeth is already having “dark desires” before even meeting LM
• Power of the supernatural - able to give “brave Macbeth” “dark and deep desires” within 1 scene
• Change of Macbeth (catalyst is the Witches)
• Rhyming cuplets - mimics the witches and the supernatural
• The use of the pre-modifying adjective “deep” suggests that his desires are inherent inside of him, not something that has just been planted - referring to his hamartia?
• Light could be a metaphor for God or the King - Divine right: God’s representetive on earth is the King
• Juxtaposition between light and “dark and deep desires” highlights the inner conflict that he is experiencing
• “Let not” - imperative verb: he is trying his hardest to conceal his desires

Question 9

“Be not offended” : “I’ll to England” : Scotland will be “planted newly” : “all hail Malcolm”

Answer 9

• Shows Malcolm is the perfect King: mix of clemency and cruelty
• Paralells Hollinshed’s saying the perfect king is a balance between clemency and cruelty
• He is a perceptive person that can see beyond the veil of lies (unlike his father): tests Macduff when he comes asking for help. Doesn’t trust the killer has been found when they say that the gaurds killed Duncan, instead leaves to England
• He is not burtal or inhumane (unlike Macbeth): after testing Macduff, he assures him and asks him not to be offended - cares about his people
• Shows that Malcolm wants the best for his country
• Eerie and ominous undertone as mimics “all hail Macbeth” by witches
• Tainted reign?
• Fleance was meant to be king: Macbeth by Robin Lough shows Fleance coming back on the stage at the end - idea that there has not been a full restoration of order

Question 10

“What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won” : “Oh valiant cousin” : “He was a man on whom I built my absolute trust”

Answer 10

• Shows that Duncan is full of too much clemency as a king
• Duncan is a good king: rewards people for serving him
• Use of the pre-modifying adjective “absolute” emphasises that he puts faith in someone to easily
• Prolepsis as Duncan is betrayed by old Thane of Cawdor and the new Thane of Cawdor (Macbeth)
• Pre-modifying adjective “noble” strengthens the respect and admiration that Duncan expresses towards Macbeth
• In Hollinshed’s chronicles, it is mentioned that the perfect king is a balance of clemency anc cruelty (a mix of Duncan and Macbeth)