Quotes: Act 1 Scene 7 Flashcards
If Macbeth is going to kill Duncan, it would be best to do it quickly
If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well
It were done quickly’ (Macbeth)
Macbeth talks about how Duncan is in double trust
‘He’s here in double trust;
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself’ (Macbeth)
Macbeth talks about having no spur
‘I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
And falls on the other.’ (Macbeth)
Macbeth says that he will not kill Duncan and why
golden opinions
‘We will proceed no further in this business’
“and i have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people, which would be worn now in their newest gloss, not cast aside so soon (Macbeth)
Lady Macbeth questions whether he was drunk when he wanted to kill Duncan
‘Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress’d yourself? Hath it slept since?’ (Lady Macbeth)
Macbeth says that if he went any further he wouldn’t be a man
‘I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.’ (Macbeth)
Lady Macbeth compares her husband’s love for her in his actions
“From this time, such I account thy love”
Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth talks about how she would’ve killed a baby to keep her promise
‘I have given suck, and know
How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this’ (Lady Macbeth)
Lady Macbeth tells her husband that if he was courageous, he wouldn’t fail
‘If we should fail?’ (Macbeth)
‘We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we’ll not fail’ (Lady Macbeth)
Guilty people must conceal their feelings behind a mask of innocence
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
False face must hide what the false heart doth know’ (Macbeth)
Lady Macbeth’s plan
Macbeth adds to the plan
“When Duncan is asleep-
His two chamberlains will I with wine and wassail so convince that memory”
(Lady Macbeth)
“When we have marked with blood those sleepy two of his own chamber and used their very daggers, that they have done it?
(Macbeth)
Who is the active agent in this scene?
Lady Macbeth is.
How is Macbeth beaten by his wife in this scene?
His defences against her varied assaults are hopelessly inadequate.
Her arguments are in the form of rebukes.
What does Lady Macbeth use against Macbeth?
She uses her great resources of will and personality against her weaker partner.
She preys on his manhood.
What part of this scene is ironic?
Lady Macbeth’s entrance is an ironic interpretation of Macbeth’s soliloquy in which he has been arguing himself out of murdering Duncan.
What were Macbeth’s earlier counter-arguments?
They were all moral ones.
What has Lady Macbeth succeeded in this scene?
She has succeeded in transferring the argument from the moral plane to that of mere practicality and planning.
How is the extent of Macbeth’s submission to his wife shown in this scene?
The fact that he can accept such a plan, and even admire it, shows the extent of his submission to his wife. He is her mental captive.
What are we made vividly aware of in this scene?
the great gap between Macbeth’s desire to be king and his willingness to act to make himself so.
What does Macbeth want to be and not want to be?
He wants to be a man, not the subhuman brute that murdering Duncan would make him.
What is Lady Macbeth described to be later in the play?
She is an unnatural and unwomanly creature, possessed by demons.
When Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth’s what she would do not to break an oath like his, how does she regard such an act?
She is able to regard such an act with cruel and savage indifference.
