Quotations Flashcards
“Smoked with bloody execution”
He is known as a great warrior and and isn’t afraid to kill anyone, violent and destructive
“Unsex me here”
Lady Macbeth wants all of her feminine qualities removed so she can carry out the deed of killing Duncan but she can’t do it because she is female and they were perceived as weaker beings
“And take my milk for gall”
Babies represent innocence and she wants that to be taken from her and replaced with gall (poison)
“Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent underneath”
Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to act like Duncan can trust him however he needs to remain sneaky and sly
“Who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself”
As Duncan is in Macbeth’s own castle he should be protecting Duncan and shut the door on anyone trying to harm him rather than him being the one with bad intentions
“He’s here in double trust”
Duncan trusts Macbeth and he feels guilty for breaking that
“So clear in his great office”
Duncan is a good King so Macbeth doesn’t really have an reason to kill him as it isn’t like he’s a horrible king
“Have plucked my nipple from it’s boneless gums and dashed the brains out”
If Lady Macbeth has the courage to do that then so should Macbeth. She is playing on his masculinity
“Will all of great Neptune’s oceans wash this blood clean from my hand”
Symbolises the guilt he holds and is saying that even the ocean doesn’t hold enough water that could clean his hands
“My hands are of your colour but I shame to wear a heart so white”
Both of their hands are bloody however Lady Macbeth is playing on Macbeth’s masculinity by making fun of his guilt towards killing Duncan
“Blood will have blood”
As Macbeth killed Banquo (Fleance’s father) Fleance is going to want revenge
“The curtain’d sleep”
Normally you would feel safe when sleeping behind a curtain as it’s like a barrier from the outside world however now it isn’t
“Thou canst say I did it, I never shake thy gory locks at me”
Seeing Banquo’s ghost and the state he’s in makes him feel guilty as they were friends and he didn’t do anything to deserve his death
“None of woman born shall kill Macbeth”
The witches tell him this however Macduff’s mother died in childbirth so whilst Macbeth is becoming cocky over his so called ‘immortality’ Macduff can kill him, so what the witches said to him was true yet slightly led astray
“Macbeth shall never vanquished be until great Birnan Wood to high Dunisnane Hill come against him”
The witches tell him this however when the army comes to the castle they bring the leaves of the forest to camouflage them which then in turn is bringing the forest to the castle, so the witches played him
