Macbeth Quotes Flashcards
Quotes about ambition.
“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on the other.” - Macbeth
“Strange things I have in head, that will to hand,
Which must be acted ere they may be scanned.” - Macbeth
“From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand.” - Macbeth
Quotes about fear.
“Our fears in Banquo stick deep.” - Macbeth
“‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy than in destruction dwell in doubtful joy.” - Lady Macbeth
“What need we fear who knows it.” - Lady Macbeth
Quotes on manliness and manipulation.
“When thou durst do it, then you were a man.” - Lady Macbeth
“Art thou afraid to be the same in thine own act and valour, as thou art in desire?” - Lady Macbeth
“…yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness” - Lady Macbeth
“Are you a man?” - Lady Macbeth
“…unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty!” - Lady Macbeth
Quotes about guilt.
“…had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t” - Lady Macbeth
“Macbeth shall sleep no more” - Macbeth
“Will these hands ne’er be clean?” - Lady Macbeth
“If it were done when ‘Tis done, the ‘twere well it were done quickly…” - Macbeth
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean for my hand?” - Macbeth
“Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!” - Macbeth
“Out, damnèd spot! Out, I say!” - Lady Macbeth
Quotes describing fate and prophecy.
“All hail Macbeth, king hereafter!” - Witches
“Beware Macduff! Beware the Thane of Fife!” - Witches
“Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none” - Witches
“What’s done cannot be undone” - Lady Macbeth
Quotes on betrayal.
“…look like th’innocent flower but be the serpent under’t…” - Lady Macbeth
“Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all. As the weird women promised, and I fear thou play’dst foully for’t.” - Banquo
“What is a traitor? One who swears and lies.” Lady Macduff and son
Quote on sickness.
“…unnatural deeds do need unnatural troubles…” - Doctor
“He cannot buckle his distempered cause
Within the belt of rule.” - Caithness
“Not so sick, my lord, as she is troubled with thick-coming fancies that keep from her rest.” - Doctor
Quotes on good and evil.
“The night is long that never finds the day.” - Macduff
“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.” - Macbeth
“Threescore and ten I can remember well, within the volume of which time I’ve seen hours dreadful and things strange, but this sore night hath trifled former knowings.” - Oldman
Quotes about Macbeth.
”..brave Macbeth…” - Soldier
“…abhorréd tyrant…” - Malcolm
“Yet do I fear thy nature: It is too full of the milk of human kindness” - Lady Macbeth
“The dead butcher and his fiend-like queen.” - Malcolm
Quotes about equivocation.
“Fair is foul and foul is fair!” - the Witches
“…could not equivocate to heaven…” - the Porter
“A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed” - the Old Man
“…none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” - the Witches
“Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until great Burnham Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him.” - the Witches
“I will not be afraid of death and bane” - Macbeth
“Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped.” - Macduff
“Lesser than Macbeth, but greater” - to Banquo from Witches
“To doubt th’equivocation of the fiend” - Malcolm
What is the word for “sudden realisation” in regards to a tragedy, as described by Aristotle?
Agnorisis
What is the word for a release of tension at the end of a tragedy, as named by Aristotle..
Catharsis
What makes a tragedy according to Aristotle?
- The text is dignified.
- It should focus on a hero or heroes, named so for their rank and ability.
- The tragic hero should causing suffering for himself and those around him.
- The hero should have some profound recognition of his ways: agnorisis.
- The audience should feel sympathy for the character.
- The tragedy to bring emotions of fear and pity, but inevitably lead to a release of tension: catharsis.
- The plot should involve irony and reversals.
What is the definition of a tragedy in Shakespeare’s times?
- Tragic heroes (mostly men) tend to be of a high rank or ability in society.
- The tragic hero tends to become alienated from his own society through his experiences or the choices that he made.
- The decisions of the hero affect the whole community.
- At the end of the play, the tragic hero recognises the consequences of his actions and from this draws meaning or universal significance.
