GCSE Macbeth Quotes

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (Act 1, Scene 1)-Witches

• Meaning: Good and bad are mixed up; nothing is what it seems.

• Technique: Paradox + chiasmus; chant‑like sound makes it creepy.

• Use for: Morality, deception, appearance vs reality, witches’ influence.

CRITICAL VIEW: Machiavellian reading: Morality is performative, not absolute. Power corrupts moral clarity. Political warning about ambition.

“For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name” (Act 1, Scene 2)-Seargent

• Meaning: At the start, Macbeth is seen as a heroic warrior.

• Technique: Epithet “brave”; praise from another character.

• Use for: Tragic hero, how far he falls, first impressions of him.

CRITICAL VIEW: Tragic structure: Military hero ≠ moral protagonist. "Brave" = martial courage, not ethical virtue. Materialist: State violence (war) glorified; individual violence (murder) condemned. Difference = who authorizes violence.

“Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires” (Act 1, Scene 4) Macbeth

• Meaning: He wants to hide his evil thoughts from everyone (and from God).

• Technique: Addressing “stars”; light vs “black” darkness.

• Use for: Ambition, appearance vs reality, inner conflict.

From a theological perspective, this demonstrates concupiscence (inclination toward sin). The performative contradiction is crucial: by naming his desires as "black," he acknowledges their immorality, making him more culpable than if he believed himself justified.

CRITICAL VIEW: Theological: Internalization of guilt BEFORE crime. Intention itself corrupts (not just act). Performative contradiction: Naming desires as "black" = acknowledges immorality = MORE culpable.

“Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” (Act 1, Scene 5) Lady Macbeth

• Meaning: Look kind on the outside but be deadly inside.

• Technique: Flower vs serpent image (good vs evil).

• Use for: Appearance vs reality, manipulation, Lady Macbeth’s danger.

CRITICAL VIEW: Feminist: Lady M adopts masculine political strategies denied to women. BUT must "look like" flower = constrained by performative femininity even while subverting it.

Genesis 3:1 "the serpent was more subtil than any beast" - making this regicide not just political murder but theological sin that damns their souls.

“Unsex me here” (Act 1, Scene 5) Lady Macbeth

• Meaning: She wants to stop being “feminine” so she can be cruel and powerful.

• Technique: Imperative (“unsex”) to supernatural forces.

• Use for: Gender, power, Lady Macbeth’s shocking ambition.

CRITICAL VIEW: Feminist debate: Critiques patriarchal power (masculine traits = socially constructed, not natural) OR reinforces norms (transgression punished by madness/death). Judith Butler: Gender as performance, not essence.

“I have no spur… but only vaulting ambition” (Act 1, Scene 7) Macbeth

• Meaning: The only reason he has to kill is his own ambition.

• Technique: Horse metaphor; “vaulting” suggests jumping too far and falling.

• Use for: Tragic hero, ambition as his fatal flaw, free will (he chooses).

CRITICAL VIEW: Metatheatrical: Macbeth watches himself like his own tragedy. Renaissance "self-fashioning" - creates own identity but can't escape it.

Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums and dash’d the brains out” (Act 1, Scene 7) Lady Macbeth

• Meaning: She says she’d kill her own baby rather than break a promise.

• Technique: Violent, shocking imagery of a mother killing a child.

• Use for: Lady Macbeth’s ruthlessness, gender expectations, manipulation.

CRITICAL VIEW: Feminist: Extreme rhetoric needed to claim masculine power. Psychoanalytic: Violent fantasy compensates for actual powerlessness. Historical: Shocking to Jacobean audience - women = naturally nurturing.

“When you durst do it, then you were a man” (Act 1, Scene 7) Lady Macbeth

• Meaning: She says he’s only a “real man” if he kills Duncan.

• Technique: Insult + conditional (“when… then”) to pressure him.

• Use for: Gender, manipulation, power in their marriage.

CRITICAL VIEW: Gender paradox: She defines masculinity while occupying feminine position. Performativity: Manhood = achieved through deeds, not innate. Power dynamics: Uses only weapon available (emotional manipulation) since she lacks physical/political power.

“Is this a dagger which I see before me?” (Act 2, Scene 1) Macbeth

• Meaning: He can’t tell if the dagger is real or in his mind.

• Technique: Question + hallucination = confusion and inner conflict.

• Use for: Supernatural vs psychology, guilt, build‑up to Duncan’s murder.

CRITICAL VIEW: Psychoanalytic: Unconscious desire manifesting visually - id materializes before ego. Metatheatrical: Creates tension - audience can't see dagger (usually). Questions what's "real" in theater.

“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” (Act 2, Scene 2) Macbeth

• Meaning: He feels his guilt is so huge it can’t be washed away.

• Technique: Hyperbole (whole ocean) + question that expects “no”.

• Use for: Guilt, consequences, contrast with “A little water clears us”.

CRITICAL VIEW: Physiological guilt: Can't be intellectually dismissed - manifests in body. Early modern humoral theory. Gender dimension: Macbeth's immediate visceral guilt vs Lady M's delayed eruption.

“A little water clears us of this deed” (Act 2, Scene 2) Lady macbeth

• Meaning: She thinks washing their hands will solve the problem.

• Technique: Understatement (“little”) and calling murder “this deed”.

• Use for: Guilt (denial), contrast with later “Out, damned spot” and Neptune line.

CRITICAL VIEW: Gender split: Macbeth = immediate emotional/spiritual guilt; Lady M = delayed psychological breakdown. Repression: Conscious denial creates unconscious return. Surface vs depth: She addresses physical blood, ignoring spiritual stain.

“Full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife” (Act 3, Scene 2) Macbeth

• Meaning: His mind is full of painful, dangerous thoughts.

• Technique: Metaphor – scorpions = stinging worries/guilt.

• Use for: Mental decline, guilt, change in his relationship with Lady M.

CRITICAL VIEW: Interiority: Private mental state diverges from public performance. Psychoanalytic: Internalized guilt - superego attacks ego. Gender: Cannot maintain emotionless "manliness" - admits vulnerability then overcompensates with violence.

Scorpions = biblical demonic torment (Revelation 9:3-10)

“I am in blood stepped in so far…” (Act 3, Scene 4) Macbeth

• Meaning: He’s killed so much that turning back is as hard as carrying on.

• Technique: Blood = metaphor for murder; balanced sentence = stuck either way.

• Use for: Consequences, tyranny, Macbeth’s transformation into a true killer.

Moral desensitization: Evil becomes habitual. Marxist: Power structures require ongoing violence to maintain themselves. Existentialist: Accepts radical freedom - defined through violence, must continue that identity.

“Blood will have blood” (Act 3, Scene 4) Macbeth

• Meaning: Violence leads to more violence; killings must be paid for.

• Technique: Short, proverb‑like phrase; repetition of “blood”.

• Use for: Consequences, fate, justice, Macbeth’s awareness of the cycle.

CRITICAL VIEW: Cosmic justice: Operates independently of human law. Marxist: Violence maintains class power BUT generates resistance that overthrows tyrant. Determinism: Trapped by fate OR by choices fate predicted?

Genesis 9:6: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed" = divine retributive justice.

“Out, damned spot!” (Act 5, Scene 1) Lady Macbeth

• Meaning: She can’t escape her guilt; it haunts her.

• Technique: Exclamation + imagined blood stain = madness.

• Use for: Lady Macbeth’s downfall, guilt, contrast with her earlier confidence.

CRITICAL VIEW: Gender split: Macbeth = immediate emotional/spiritual guilt; Lady M = delayed psychological breakdown. Repression: Conscious denial creates unconscious return. Surface vs depth: She addresses physical blood, ignoring spiritual stain.