Macbeth: Key Quotes & Analysis

A1, S7: Kingship & Tyranny

'His virtues plead like angels' (Macbeth)
Contemplates killing King Duncan who was much more of a kind noble king, as the semantic field of heaven 'angels', 'virtues' perhaps suggests divine approval.

A4, S3: Kingship & Tyranny

'Devilish Macbeth' (Malcolm)
'Devilish' draws allusions to how Macbeth is the supreme spirit of evil 'Satan', highlighting his moral corruption and unfitness to rule.

A1, S7: Ambition

'Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself' (Macbeth)
The metaphor displays ambition as being excessive and potentially dangerous.
Also presented as controlled and personified into a living thing.

A3, S1: Ambition

'To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus' (Macbeth)
This shows that ambition does not bring power; it only breeds further paranoia

A1, S5: Gender

'Unsex me here’ (Lady Macbeth)
Lady Macbeth rejects her traditional female role to prepare for the plot against King Duncan. This links gender to agency.

A1, S7: Gender

'I dare do all that may become a man; who dares do more is none.' (Macbeth)
Macbeth is conflicted by his ambition and his wife's urge to kill Duncan; as he fears that it would subvert patriarchal standards and also understands that such an act would violate his moral code.

A1, S3: Fate and Free Will

'If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me' (Macbeth)
Early on in the play, he is leaving fate to decide: uninfluenced by the apparitions of the supernatural witches.

A3, S4: Fate and Free Will

'I am in blood stepped in so far.' (Macbeth)
Acknowledges his own choices, suggesting that fate didn't force him, but rather mislead him.

A2, S2: Loyalty and Guilt.

'Will all of great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hands?' (Macbeth)
Hyperbole shows how deeply guilt stains him.
Godly power is needed as he broke the great chain of being.
He is calling to a Pagan God as he has committed an unforgivable sin: shows the immoral extent of his actions.

A3, S2: Loyalty and Guilt

'O, full of scorpions is my mind'. (Macbeth)
Metaphor links [guilt and anxiety] to [poison and danger]

A1, S1: The Supernatural

'Where shall we meet again? In thunder, in lighting or in rain' (The Witches)
The pathetic fallacy of the 'thunder, lightning and rain' perhaps foreshadow something sinister is about to happen. Sets the tragic tone for the rest of the play.
Decisive word 'or' suggests that they can control/choose the weather: they have god-like powers. Establishes role of the witches.

A2, S1: The Supernatural

'A dagger of the mind' (Macbeth)
The effects of the supernatural have begun to take root: Macbeth experiences the supernatural vision of murdering King Duncan.

A4, S1: The Supernatural

'Something wicked this way comes.' (Witches)
Use of irony: although the witches would be considered to be the most evil, Macbeth is classified as being 'wicked' or evil, emphasising the damaging nature of his actions.