Macbeth Quote Bank (to memorise)

Term: 1️⃣ (1:1) WITCHES — "Where shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain... there to meet with Macbeth"

Def: L- Imagery and tricolon - meetings shrouded in foul weather; pathetic fallacy connotes evil and foreboding | DEV- Alliteration of "m" in "meet with Macbeth" creates rolling mystery; links Macbeth to witches and shared evil | CONT- James I's Demonologie and witch hunts - witches were feared as real threats in Jacobean society

Term: 2️⃣ (1:1) WITCHES — "Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air"

Def: L- Oxymoron shows natural order reversed; rhyming couplet = unnatural | DEV- Alliteration of "f"; abrupt ending builds suspense | CONT- Equivocation linked to Catholics; riddling speech hated by Protestants | LNK- 1:3 Macbeth: "So foul and fair a day I have not seen"

Term: 3️⃣ (1:3) MACBETH — "Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act of the imperial theme"

Def: L- Alliteration of "t" mirrors immediate ambition and trust in witches | DEV- "Happy" shows excitement and desire for crown | CONT- RSC production uses lighting for asides to show inner ambition

Term: 4️⃣ (1:3) MACBETH — "Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind"

Def: L- Aside shows inner thoughts and deceit | DEV- Superlative "greatest" shows ambition to be King

Term: 5️⃣ (1:4) MACBETH — "Stars hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires"

Def: L- Light imagery perverted; conceals treason | DEV- Aside shows deceit; Malcolm as Prince of Cumberland sparks ambition | DEV- Rhyme links Macbeth to witches | CONT- Heaven/God watching; regicide as a sin

Term: 6️⃣ (1:3) MACBETH — "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir"

Def: L- Personification of "chance" | DEV- Repetition shows belief in fate | CONT- Strong Jacobean belief in fate

Term: 7️⃣ (2:1) MACBETH — "Is this a dagger which I see before me?"

Def: L- Rhetorical question shows loss of control and guilt | CONT- Box Clever production shows physical dagger = supernatural | CONT- Hallucinations linked to Devil in Jacobean beliefs

Term: 8️⃣ (3:2) MACBETH — "O full of scorpions in my mind, dear wife! / Thou know'st that Banquo... lives"

Def: L- Scorpions = poison, corruption, unnatural thoughts | DEV- Exclamation shows distress and loss of control | CONT- Exotic + biblical connotations of cruelty and death

Term: 9️⃣ (3:1) MACBETH — "Whole as the marble, founded as the rock... but now I am cabined, cribbed, confined"

Def: L- "Marble" and "rock" = strength and purity | DEV- Tricolon + alliteration = claustrophobia and downfall | CONT- Marble = prestige; vulnerability = fear of God's judgement

Term: 🔟 (5:3) MACBETH — "Bring me no more reports... till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, I cannot taint with fear"

Def: L- Conditional "till" shows faith in prophecy | DEV- Dramatic irony as Birnam Wood later moves

Term: 1️⃣1️⃣ (5:5) MACBETH — "Our castle's strength will laugh a siege to scorn"

Def: L- Personification shows overconfidence | DEV- Inversion of natural order = madness | CONT- Hubris shows unfitness to rule; supports Divine Right logic for removal

Term: 1️⃣2️⃣ (1:2) MACBETH (EARLY VIOLENCE) — "Unseamed him from the nave to the chaps"

Def: L- "Unseamed" suggests ease and brutality | DEV- Homophone "seem" hints at deception | CONT- Violence celebrated in wartime culture

Term: 1️⃣3️⃣ (1:5) LADY MACBETH — "Come, you spirits... unsex me here and fill me toe-top full of direst cruelty"

Def: L- Imperatives show command and desire for gender reversal | DEV- Superlative "direst" shows extreme cruelty | CONT- Shocking to Jacobean gender expectations

Term: 1️⃣4️⃣ (1:5) LADY MACBETH — "Take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers... in your sightless substances"

Def: L- Imperative "take"; alliteration of "murdering ministers" | DEV- Milk vs gall = nurture vs poison | CONT- Gender role reversal; Judi Dench production shows possession

Term: 1️⃣5️⃣ (1:5) LADY MACBETH — "Come thick night, pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell"

Def: L- Imperative + superlative "dunnest" = embrace darkness | DEV- Hell imagery shows awareness of punishment | CONT- Jacobean shock at rejection of God

Term: 1️⃣6️⃣ (1:7) LADY MACBETH — "I would, while it was smiling... have plucked my nipple... and dashed the brains out"

Def: L- Violent verb "dashed" = extreme determination | DEV- Juxtaposition with nurturing imagery | CONT- Violates maternal and gender expectations | CONT- Fassbender production includes dead child

Term: 1️⃣7️⃣ (2:3) MACDUFF — "Most sacrilegious murder hath broke open / the lord's appointed temple."

Def: L- King as God's temple = extended metaphor | DEV- "Most" emphasises severity | CONT- Divine Right of Kings; pleasing James I

Term: 1️⃣8️⃣ (4:3) MACDUFF / MALCOLM — "Dispute it like a man... but I must also feel it as a man"

Def: L- Parallelism = emotion + action both part of manhood | DEV- Imperative "dispute" | CONT- Challenges Jacobean masculinity | LNK- Malcolm 5:8: "He is worth more sorrow"

Term: 1️⃣9️⃣ (1:3) BANQUO — "Or have we eaten on the insane root that takes the reason prisoner?"

Def: L- "Prisoner" = awareness of deception | CONT- Witches feared for seductive powers | CONT- Banquo shown as moral and king-like to please James I

Term: 2️⃣0️⃣ (4:1) WITCHES — "Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; come like shadows, so depart"

Def: L- Simile "like shadows" = evil and darkness | DEV- Rhyme shows unnatural nature | CONT- Mirror possibly shown to James I to show legitimacy

Term: 2️⃣1️⃣ (1:3) WITCHES to MACBETH & BANQUO — "Your children shall be kings // you shall be king"

Def: L- Shared line shows closeness | DEV- Modal verb "shall" = certainty; ambition planted | CONT- Banquo's lineage links to James I