Macbeth Quotes

Question 1

“Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until great Birnamwood to Dinshaine Hill shall come against him”

Answer 1

-The preposition “until” suggest that, however unlikely it seems, this will happen.
-Macbeth will be safe until the first move to his castle
-Seems impossible, makes Macbeth confident
-supernatural image, in keeping with ghosts, witches and floating daggers


Question 2

“Out, out, brief candle! Life is but a walking shadow.

Answer 2

-Repetition of “out” reminds us of lady Macbeth plea “out damned spot!”
-It’s a metaphor for life, brief, wavering and vulnerable
-Acting metaphor seem self-conscious -Shakespeare himself was a player

Question 3

“It will have blood; they say blood will have blood.”

Answer 3

-Proverbial language- he is Recounting a well-used phrase
-Motive of blood - reminds us of the blood on Macbeth’s hand when he kills Duncan
-Each of our actions has an outcome. What goes around, comes around. Macbeth acknowledges that murder is only avenged by murder.
- Macbeth knew that killing Duncan would lead to his “deep damnation “

Question 4

“Will all great neptunes ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?”

Answer 4

-Rhetorical question Macbeth, and the audience, know the answer is no
-Reference to Greek God of the ocean. Heightens Macbeth’s plane emphasises his despair
-Blood on hand is recurring metaphor for guilt, Foreshadowing for when we see it later on in the play with Lady Macbeth”out dammed spot”
-Macbeth is responsible for killing Duncan and he does not want to accept that

Question 5

“We have scotch’d the snake, not killed it.”

Answer 5

• “We “could be the royal “we “or the collective personal pronoun that includes Lady Macbeth.
• motive of the snake image has biblical connotations in association with evil. It is ironic that Macbeth is, in fact, the source of evil.

Question 6

“Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle towards my hand?”(act 2)

Answer 6

• The “handle toward” Macbeth could be an invitation or an accusation
• “My hand” shows that he is responsible for murdering the king. Irony that lady Macbeth would like to sleep while appearing to wash her hands
• This ghostly dagger suggests Macbeth fear and pre-empts his guilt 

Question 7

‘Bleed, bleed, poor county’ (Act4, Macduff)

Answer 7

-Repetition of bleed Emphasises his despair
-Recurrence of blood motive. The entire country is ‘bleeding’ or suffering under Macbeth’s rule

Question 8

“Out,damned spot! Out, I say!”

Answer 8

• Repetition of ‘out’ emphasises her desire to be rid of the spot
• She attempts to come on the spot, but her words have no affect
• Refers to help. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are both “damned “for what they have done
• This could be a metaphor for Macbeth a ‘damned spot’ in Scotland’s history

Question 9

“When you durst do it, then you are a man” (act 1 LB)

Answer 9

-She is provoking him, daring him to almost, revealing that her opinion is important to Macbeth
-‘when’ - Conditional tense suggest that Macbeth is not currently ‘a man’ in her eyes.
- Presenting the idea of masculinity-brave, protector, fearless - particularly important in an 11th century century warrior like Macbeth. Lady Macbeth challenges her husbands masculinity

Question 10

“Come you spirits… Unsex me here” Act 1LM

Answer 10

• “come” -Imperative verb suggests that Lady Macbeth is commanding the spirits of darkness
• Lady Macbeth is connected with the supernatural
• Asks that her feminine nature be subdued so that she can commit to her evil plan
  

Question 11

“Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it” Act 1 LM

Answer 11

• Deception - she asked Macbeth to appear innocent was secretly plotting murder
• Use of imperative that shows that Lady Macbeth is in control here “be”
• Serpent symbolises evil- connected to biblical image of garden of Eden

Question 12

Banque quotes

Answer 12

“To win us to our harm the instruments of darkness tell us truths”-Act 1, sceptical of witches, theme of light and dark
“Have we eaten the insane root?” -Act 1
“The right, valaient Banquo”- compares Banquo to Macbeth Act 1
“Good sir” “my lord” - to talk to Macbeth, he is loyal
“ So all hail Macbeth and Banquo” -witches compare Macbeth and Banquo

Question 13

Macduff quotes

Answer 13

“Bleed , bleed poor country” Act 4
“Tyrabt, show thy face” Act 5, he want to kill Macbeth
“ she” refers to Scotland as a person

Question 14

The witches quotes

Answer 14

“All hair Macbeth”- Act 1 foreshadowing
“So all hail Macbeth and Banquo”
“Instruments if darkness” - Banquo showing witches are evil
“Something wicked this way comes” - referring to Macbeth as “wicked”
“Fair is foul and foul is fair” - appearance vs reality

Question 15

Malcom quotes

Answer 15

“This tyrant… was once thought honest (4:3) talked about how Macbeth used to be good
“Angles are bright still, though the brightest fell”(4:3) he cannot trust anyone and anyone could be bad, biblical connotations

Question 16

“Fair is foul and foul is fair”

Answer 16

Shakespeare’s use of parallelism​ in the ​paradoxical​ phrase “​Fair is foul, and foul is fair​” foreshadows the rest of the play.

Question 17

Witches context

Answer 17

:​ The inclusion of ‘magical’ creatures is contextually significant as the contemporary audience​ was interested in, believed in and was fearful of witches. In 17th Century James I was king and he wrote the book ​‘Daemonologie’​ which explained how to identify a witch and how to tourture them. These witches would be seen as a very real and genuine threat to the​ contemporary audience​, who actually believed that witches lived amongst them and are more than a fictional fantasy​.

Question 18

Effect of witches in to James 1

Answer 18

Shakespeare uses the character of the Witches in order to appeal to the current monarch James I, who had a passion for the​ history of witchcraft​.

Question 19

Witches and religion

Answer 19

the Witches ​subvert the holiness ​of Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism were the mainstream contemporary religions). Shakespeare portrayed the witches as evil

Question 20

Structure of the witches speech

Answer 20

• TROCHAIC TETRAMETER
  Shakespeare uses ​trochaic tetrameter​ when the Witches’ speak. The audience will notice this shift in meter between the characters and place importance on what is being said. This causes the witches to stand out as different and other-worldly, as this is a difficult and unnatural way to speak, causing them to be perceived as ​supernatural​ and ​dangerous​.

Question 21

Lady Macbeth and the witches

Answer 21

Lady Macbeth can be interpreted as a fourth witch, of perhaps an even greater evil. It is important to understand why Shakespeare portrays Lady Macbeth as similar to the Witches(to vilionise women in a patriotic society)
STRUCTURALLY She lapses into​ rhyming couplets​ when trying to persuade Macbeth to commit regicide​ and evil deeds. SIMILARLY TO HOW THE WITCHES TALK.

Question 22

Role of Banquo

Answer 22

-BANQUO is similar to Macbeth in that they both have​ ambitious ​thoughts, however Banquo demonstrates restraint as he doesn’t act upon these desires​.
-The character of Banquo is the opposite to Macbeth, as he represents the route that Macbeth chose not to take.
- Banquo still has ambition but he does not let in take control of him which shows the audience Banquo is better than Macbeth

Question 23

What message is Shakespeares telling the audience through Banquo?

Answer 23

Shakespeare uses the ​constructs of Macbeth and Banquo​ to show how men can react when shown temptation.
-Banquo is portrayed as Macbeth’s ​FOIL ​and is therefore ​symbolic​ of man’s ability to​ resist temptation​.

Question 24

Banquo context

Answer 24

RELIGION—:​ Banquo would have been perceived by a contemporary audience as a moralistic character​ as his values were in line with those of the Christian Church SO WOULD HAVE BEEN APPROVED OF.

Question 25

Role of Macduff

Answer 25

the ​opposite to the character of Macbeth​ and therefore they are the foil​ of each other.
- Macduff is unwavering in his loyalty to Duncan and to his country Scotland (bleed, bleed pur country.)

Question 26

Macduff biblical symobolism

Answer 26

Arguably, these characters may also have a Biblical ​symbolism​ – a representation of​ sin being defeated and order restored​.

Question 27

Macduff divine right of kings

Answer 27

Macduff uses ​metaphorical language​ to describe Duncan’s death:
- “​most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope the lord’s anointed temple​”
This shows Macduff believes in divine right of kings which would cause the audience to like and respect him

Question 28

How is Macduff described by Ross?

Answer 28

“​he is noble, wise, judicious​”.
DECLARATIVE

Question 29

What is Macbeths role?

Answer 29

Macbeth is the ​eponymous​ character of this Shakespearean tragedy.
He is a ​tragic hero​, (meaning he starts out in a position of glory and success, but falls from grace due to an error in judgement of his own making)
. Every tragic hero has a fatal flaw, or ​hamartia​: Macbeth’s is his unchecked ambition​. He can’t restrain himself from going after what he wants, regardless of moral consequence

Question 30

Lady Macbeths Main role

Answer 30

-Lady Macbeth’s main role in the play is to shake things up and cause havoc, meaning her aim is to fool and manipulate as many people as possible with her deceitful ways.
-She benefits hugely from the ​divide between appearances and reality​.

Question 31

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand

Answer 31

Lady Macbeth Act 5 scene 1

Question 32

False face must hide what the heart doth know

Answer 32

Macbeth Act 1 schene 3

Question 33

Vaulting amibition oerleaps itself

Answer 33

Macbeth