MACBETH Quotations Flashcards
“Fair is foul…
and foul is fair”
“All hail Macbeth, …
Thane of Cawdor/Glamis
“Horrid image doth..
unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock against my ribs”
“Perfectest…
report”
“Thou aren’t not without ambition,…
but without the illness that would attend it”
“Unsex…
me here”
“May pour my…
spirits in thine ear”
“Take my milk for gall, you…
murdering ministers”
“The raven himself is hoarse, that…
croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan”
“Supernatural…
solicitings”
“Sightless…
substances”
“Stop up that access and…
passage to remorse”
“Direst…
cruelty”
“This blow might be the…
be-all and end-all”
“On this bank and…
shoal of time, we’d jump that life to come”
“Poisoned…
chalice”
“He’s here…
in double trust”
“His virtues…
will plead like angles”
“Vaulting…
ambition”
“We’ll proceed no further…
in this business”
“Golden…
opinions”
“Such i account…
thy love”
“I would have plucked my nipple…
from the boneless gums and dashed the brains out”
“Bring forth…
men children only”
“I dare do all…
that may become a man”
“False…
creation”
“Heat oppressed…
brain”
“The stones prate…
of my whereabout”
“Tarquin’s ravishing…
strides”
“A foolish thought…
to say a sorry sight”
“consider it not…
so deeply…it will make us mad”
“Tis the eye of…
childhood that fears a painted devil”
“A little water clears…
us of the deed”
“Do not shake…
thy gory locks at me”
“We have scorched…
the snake”
“Nought’s had…
all’s spent”
“Full of…
scorpions in my mind”
“Gentle my lord…
sleek over your rugged looks”
“No man of…
woman born”
“Be bloody, bold…
and resolute”
“Stay you…
imperfect speakers”
“Out…
damned spot”
“All the perfumes of…
Arabia will never sweeten this hand”
“The queen…
is dead”
“Life’s but a…
walking shadow”
“It is a tale told by an…
idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”
“I have supped…
full with horrors”
“I will fight until…
my flesh from my bones be hacked”
“Is this a …
dagger which i see before me”
“Fair is foul and foul is fair”
Chanted by witches in first scene, whatever is fair for common man is foul for them and vice versa
Links to witches, On Demonology and James I
“All hail Macbeth, Thane of Cawdor/Glamis”
Prophecies- Already Thane of Glamis when play begins, witches tell him he will be Thane of Cawdor
“Horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock against my ribs”
Macbeth’s physical and emotional reaction to the prophecies. He’s already reflecting on murder.
Links to regicide/chain of being
“Perfectest report”
Said by Lady Macbeth whilst reading Macbeth’s letter
“Thou aren’t not without ambition, but without the illness that would attend it”
Lady M worries that M is not mean enough
Questioning masculinity
“Unsex me here”
Said by Lady Macbeth after hearing of Duncans news after battle
By removing her gender she wouldn’t be weak and could kill Duncan herself (shes worried she might be too “milky” or “full of human kindness”)
-She accuses Macbeth of being weak later in the play
“May pour my spirits in thine ear”
Lady M’s dangerous and unsettling manipulation
“The raven himself is hoarse, that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan”
Said by Lady Macbeth after hearing of Duncans news after battle -'raven' associated with death/bad omens -'hoarse' sinister, ominous, foreboding -- dark animalistic imagery Raven is giving Duncan a fatal welcome
“Supernatural solicitings”
Said by Macbeth
- refers to the witches prophecies
- trying to figure out if the witches are trying to help him or not
“Sightless substances”
Sibilant ‘ssss’ sound as Lady M addresses the spirits – she needs them to help her become evil
“Stop up that access and passage to remorse”
Elizabethan understanding of the ‘4 humours’ – the blood carries the emotions. She wants her guilt and remorse to be blocked. Does this blockage contribute to her madness later?
“Direst cruelty”
Lady M needs the deepest kind of cruelty
“This blow might be the be-all and end-all”
Macbeth’s soliloquy – he hopes that one blow will complete the whole task.
“On this band and shoal of time, we’d jump that life to come”
Macbeth is beginning to show his doubts – he wants to be able to see into the future and know if his actions will be successful
“Take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers”
what should be nourishing becomes bitter and poisonous
“He’s here in double trust”
Macbeth worries about the depth of his betrayal
Links to regicide/great chain of being
“Vaulting ambition”
his ambition becomes a metaphorical horse which falls as it jumps
“I would have plucked my nipple from the boneless
gums and dashed the brains out”
Lady M’s dark secret of the lost baby, but her terrifying ruthless ambition is clear
“Heat oppressed brain”
Macbeth feels his brain beginning to warp
“Tarquin’s ravishing strides”
he imagines himself as a Roman rapist, like Lady M, he has to take on a different, brutal persona to be able to do the murder
“Tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil”
she mocks him for not wanting to go into the chamber after Duncan is dead. He has forgotten to plant the daggers on the guards. She has to go in to do it.
“A little water clears us of the deed”
Washing our hands means the guilt will go away too…
“We have scorched the snake”
Macbeth knows he must keep killing to secure his position as King
“Full of scorpions is my mind”
Macbeth’s metaphor for his increasing distress
“No man of woman born”
Macbeth goes back for more prophecies, and is reassured.
“Life’s but a walking shadow”
Macbeth descends into despair and nihilism
“It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”
there is some philosophical significance to his thoughts and feeling here.
“I have supped full with horrors”
He has ‘eaten his fill’ of terrible things, and is miserable and despondent. Can we feel some pathos for him here?
“I will fight until my flesh from my bones be hacked”
like the warrior he was at the start of the play, Macbeth chooses to launch himself into battle, even if it means he will die
