Macbeth Quotes Flashcards
fair is foul and foul is fair (Act 1 Scene 1)
Ambiguous statement could have double meaning. Reflects overall theme can be hard to distinguish between fair and foul (good and evil)
So foul and fair a day i have not seen (Act 1 Scene 3)
Dramatic irony. Macbeth unwittingly makes similar remark to witches. Reader would recognise this.
Be warned…The instruments of darkness tell us truths; win us with honest trifles only to betray us in deepest consequence. (Act 1 Scene 3)
Banquo warns Macbeth early on about the witches. His advice reflects the them of deception
Stars hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires. (Act 1 Scene 4)
Macbeth, in the beginning, is ashamed of his evil thoughts. Wants to hide his evil thoughts from God. Fits the theme of divine right of Kings.
Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts unsex me here
Lady Macbeth conjures up spirits (potentially the witches) to remove her feminine traits to make her manly enough to murder
Come thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell
Lady Macbeth’s lines similar to Macbeth’s spoken earlier. Calling on the night’s darkness to hide her actions. Trying to hide her actions from heaven and God. Fits the theme of divine right of kings.
Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t (Act 1 Scene 6)
Lady Macbeth’s words fit the theme of deception and appearance vs reality. Trying to disguise evil be looking innocent. Also has religous inagery the serpent reprsenting sin.
Is this a dagger which i see before me? I have thee not yet i see thee still (Act 2 Scene 1)
Macbeth interprets that seeing a dagger is his fate
Macbeth shall sleep no more
Macbeth’s guilty consciene will forever rob him of sleep. A curse for killing Duncan while he sleeps.
What is the first apparition the witches give
“Beware Macduff” - Possible threat if Macduff
What is the second apparition the witches give
A bloody child. “None of Woman born shall harm Macbeth” comforts Macbeth as it is impossible.
What is the third apparition the witches give?
A crowned child. “Macbeth shall never be vanquished until great birnhan wood to high Dunsinane Hill comes against him. Macbeth relieved as the forest cannot move.
“Secret, black, and midnight hags!!
Shift in tone of Macbeth’s character. Now arrogant and demanding when adressing witches compared to beginning with shock and surprise.
“There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom i built an absolute trust.
Duncan in reference to previous thane of Cawdor being a traitor. Foreboding as Macbeth later becomes a traitor under the same title and leads to Duncan’s demise. Fits the theme of deception and appearance vs reality.
