Important Macbeth Quotes Act 3 (from handout)

Act 3, Scene 1 - Banquo suspects Macbeth

“I fear thou play’st most foully for’t…”

Act 3, Scene 1 - Banquo ponders the witches and considers that they may have fortunes in store for him.

“oracles” “set me up in hope”

Act 3, Scene 1 - Macbeth affirms his need to stay king to Banquo.

“To be thus is nothing But to be safely thus…”

Act 3, Scene 1 - Ironically, Macbeth invites Banquo to the feast.

“fail not our feast”

Act 3, Scene 1 - Macbeth’s soliloquy on Banquo (similar to “if it were done, when ‘tis done”).

“dauntless temperament”, “wisdom”, “valour”

Act 3, Scene 1 - Macbeth consorts with murderers. He becomes like Lady Macbeth.

“manliness”

Act 3, Scene 2 - Lady Macbeth does not feel fulfilled by her queenship. The murder was not worth it.

“Nought’s had, all’s spent, where our desire is got without content”

Act 3, Scene 2 - Lady Macbeth inquires about Macbeth’s troubled appearance.

“rugged looks”

Act 3, Scene 2 - Macbeth alludes to the conflicts in his mind but does not share anything real. Animal imagery.

“O full of scorpions is my mind”

Act 3, Scene 2 - Macbeth demonstrates that he does not need Lady Macbeth as a spur for evil anymore. Though he cares for her, he does not clue her in to his plans.

“Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck… Till thou applaud the deed.”

Act 3, Scene 3 - The second murder says they failed at the most important part of the job.

“best half of the affair”

Act 3, Scene 4 - Macbeth is informed that Fleance escaped.

“Fleance is ‘scaped.”

Act 3, Scene 4 - Banquo’s ghost sits in Macbeth’s chair, symbolising his family’s claim to the throne.

“Macbeth’s place”

Act 3, Scene 4 - Lady Macbeth takes charge after Macbeth acts erratically.

“My lord is often thus, and has been since his youth.”

Act 3, Scene 4 - Macbeth resolves to choose evil. Sunk cost fallacy.

“I am in blood, Stepped in so far that should I wade no more,

Returning were as tedious as go o'er.”

Act 3, Scene 5 - Hecate’s views on Macbeth.

“spurn fate, scorn death, and bear His hopes above wisdom”

Act 3, Scene 6 - Lennox calls Macbeth this. It is clear that the populace of Scotland do not like Macbeth as their king.

“tyrant”

Act 3, Scene 6 - Lennox comments that Macbeth only does things to benefit himself. A parallel to how Duncan “hath borne his faculties so meek…”

“has borne all things well.”

Act 3, Scene 6 - Lennox comments on the general state of Scotland under Macbeth.

“our suffering country Under a hand accursed”