Quote Cards Flashcards
Key Quotes - Duncan
“The Lord’s anointed temple” - referring to his body - Macduff - (2:3,l.61)
“The great doom’s image” - referring to his body - Macduff - (2:3,l.72)
“His silver skin laced with his golden blood” - referring to his body - Macbeth (over the top) - (2:3,l.105)
“his virtues/ Will plead like angels” referring to Duncan’s goodness as a king - Macbeth - (1:7,l.19)
Key Quotes - Macbeth
“I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition” - referring to his flaw, hamartia - Macbeth - (1:7,l.25-27)
“too full o’th’milk of human kindness” - refers to him being too kind/soft - Lady Macbeth -(1:5,l.15)
“I dare do all that may become a man” - his rebuttal to manipulation from Lady Macbeth, shows sense of masculine pride - Macbeth - (1:7,l.46)
“our partner’s rapt” - means he’s entranced by the witches prophecy - Banquo - (1:3,l.142)
“This is a sorry sight” - Macbeth reflecting on the murder of Duncan - Macbeth - (2:2,l.23)
“O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” - Macbeth is tortured by guilt - Macbeth - (3:2,l.36)
“I am in blood/ Stepped in so far that should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” - Macbeth admitting his crimes are irreversible and has to keep going - Macbeth - (3:4,l.136-8)
“this dead butcher” - Calling Macbeth a bloody murderer - Malcolm - (5:9,l.36)
Key Quotes - Lady Macbeth
“unsex me here/ And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull/ Of direst cruelty” - Asks for her gentle emotions to be removed so she can be evil - Lady Macbeth - (1:5,l.39)
“look like th’innocent flower,/ But be the serpent under’t “ - describes her deception - Lady Macbeth - (1:6,l.63-4)
“My hands are of your colour, but I shame/ To wear a heart so white.” - Taking charge after the murder and Macbeth’s cowardly nature - Lady Macbeth - (2:2,l.67-8)
“his fiend-like queen” - Malcolm telling her evil intent - Malcolm - (5:9,l.36)
“Out, damned spot!” - Can’t get rid of the guilt - Lady Macbeth - (5:1,l.30)
Key Quotes - Banquo
“Lesser than Macbeth, and greater” - Ultimately, his descendants will become kings, James I - First Witch - (1:3,l.64)
“Noble Banquo” - He is a noble man - Duncan - (1:4,l.29)
“in his royalty of nature/ Reigns that which would be feared” - Macbeth commenting on Banquo’s character - (3:1,l.49-50)
“For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind” - Macbeth has sinned but he’s not going to see the benefit for himself - Macbeth - (3:1,l.66)
“never shake/ Thy gory locks at me!” - Banquo returning as a ghost - Macbeth -(3:4,l.50)
Key Quotes - Macduff
“no man that’s born of woman/ Shall e’er have power upon thee” - Macduff was born by c-section and hence not born of woman so able to kill Macbeth - Macbeth - (5:3,l.6)
“My voice is in my sword” - Man of action - Macduff - (5:9,l.8)
“His flight was madness” - He shouldn’t have left his wife and children - Lady Macduff - (4:2,l.4)
“I must also feel it as a man” - Shows that he has passion and emotion as well as bravery (after wife’s death) - Macduff - (4:3,l.224)
Key Quotes - The Witches
“The instruments of darkness tell us truths… to betray’s.” - The witches are devil’s servant who tell false truths to trick the character (prophecy, equivocation) - Banquo - (1:3,l.124)
“There to meet with Macbeth” - shows their focus on Macbeth from the start -Third Witch - (1:1,l.8)
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair/ Hover through the fog and filthy air” - magical riddle or chant showing their link to witchcraft - All Witches - (1:1,l.12-3)
“And be these juggling fiends no more believed” - Macbeth realises he’s been tricked by the witches and that they’re playing with humans - Macbeth - (5:8,l.19)
