macbeth quotations

“fair is foul and foul is fair” 1:1 - WEIRD SISTERS, SUPERNATURAL

“fair is foul and foul is fair” 1:1 - WEIRD SISTERS, SUPERNATURAL

• AO2 - Chiasmus - reversal of words

• AO2 - Oxymoron - contradicting words next to each other

  • AO1 - Helps create a sense of confusion and discomfort and links this unnerving sense with the supernatural characters and themes within the play

    • AO3 - The supernatural nature of the Weird Sisters would have struck fear in the Jacobean audience due to their religion-fuelled hatred of the Devil and his 'agents'

“like Valour’s minion” 1:2 - MACBETH

• AO2 - Simile

• AO1 - Sets Macbeth up as a stereotypical hero

“so foul and fair a day” 1:3 - MACBETH, FATE

• AO2 - Chiasmus - reversal of words

• AO2 - Oxymoron - contradicting words next to each other

  • AO1 - Repetition of the poignant phrase from the Weird Sisters demonstrates how Macbeth and the supernatural are intrinsically linked

“instruments of darkness” 1:3 - BANQUO, WEIRD SISTERS, LOYALTY

• AO1 - Portrays Banquo as a god-fearing, ideal Jacobean noble

  • Banquo is staying LOYAL to the societal convention of Jacobean society by being distrustful of the witches

  • AO3 - Shakespeare aims to please James I by portraying his ancestor, Banquo, as a noble character in juxtaposition to his real identity

    • Banquo was an accomplice to Duncan's death in reality

  • AO3 - Fear of witchcraft in Jacobean society

    • Stems from a belief that the Gunpowder Plot was linked to witchcraft

“my dearest partner of greatness” 1:5 - MACBETH, LADY MACBETH, POWER, LOYALTY

• AO3 - The concept of Macbeth viewing his wife as equal would have unnerved a Jacobean audience due to the intrinsic cultural and societal value that women were inferior to men

  • This belief stemmed from a literalist view of Genesis 1, which stated the Eve (women) was made as a subordinate to Adam (men)

“your majesty loads our house” 1:6 - LADY MACBETH

• AO1 - Lady Macbeth is a sycophant, utilising polite compliments and adherence to societal hierarchy to enthral and welcome her guests (significant guest is Duncan)

• AO1 - Lady Macbeth is ingratiating herself with Duncan in order to utilise the advantage of misconceived conceptions about femininity to assist her husband in his quest for the monarchy

“vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself” 1:7 - MACBETH, FATE

• AO1 - Macbeth aims to justify his future actions (regicide) by blaming his ambition, severing his negative characteristics from his own identity

• AO1 - Links to how Macbeth is actively seeking out his future (according to the prophecies)

  • Macbeth is being pushed tirelessly both by his ambition but also by his wife towards his fatal error (links to tragedy definition)

“dashed the brains out, had I so sworn” 1:7 - LADY MACBETH, POWER

• AO1 - highlights the monstrous nature of Lady Macbeth, leading the audience to believe she is almost supernatural at this point due to her blatant lack of superficial empathy or remorse

  • Also demonstrates her unmoving nature, which could arguably construe her as a strong character, at least in comparison to her husband, who's fraying psyche is beginning to become evident at this stage in the play

• AO3 - Lady Macbeth disregards any of her inherent maternal instincts within this quotation

  • This would have upset and unnerved a Jacobean audience who would have believed that it was a woman's sole reason of existence to procreate and rear children

    • This quotation thus would be Lady Macbeth reversing natural order in a traditional Jacobean perspective

“I think not of them” 2:1 - MACBETH, LOYALTY

• AO1 - It is clear to the audience the false nature of this statement due to Macbeth's previous monologues

  • This could be construed as the significant turning point in the close relationship between Macbeth and Banquo

    • AO2 - Macbeth and Banquo initially share iambic pentameter, which signals their close relationship

“it is a knell / that summons thee to heaven or hell” 2:1 - MACBETH, KINGSHIP, FATE, GUITL (lack of)

• AO2 - The rhyming nature of this couplet (pair of lines) stamps finality to Macbeth's lengthy soliloquy

  • The finality of this statement signifies the decision Macbeth is stiffened in his resolve

    • This may stem from Macbeth's frantic desire to reclaim his masculinity after his wife wounded his ego

      • AO3 - Links to the Jacobean concept that the man should always remain superior to the woman, especially within relationships

• AO1 - Macbeth's lack of clarity on whether Duncan would go to Heaven or Hell promotes his character as narcissistic and self-absorbed

  • Macbeth's eagerness to view the rest of the world as immoral instead of reflecting on the cruelty of his own actions demonstrates his narcissistic nature

  • AO3 - Stemming from the Divine Right of Kings and the Great Chain of Being, a Jacobean audience would believe that their monarch's final resting place was Heaven

“these hangman’s hands” 2:2 - MACBETH, VIOLENCE, FATE, GUILT

• AO2 - Motif of hands as symbols of guilt and immorality

  • Links to Lady Macbeth's later handwashing compulsions stemming from the culmination of her guilt and remorse overcoming her impassive front

  • Concept similar to Chekhov's Gun where there is a hidden significance in the mention of the object near the beginning of the play which is to be revealed later on in the denouement

“his silver skin laced with his golden blood” 2:3 - MACBETH, DUNCAN, KINGSHIP, GUILT?

• AO2 - hyperbolic language

  • Macbeth utilises this exaggerated language to fool the character's present and promote his innocence

    • AO1 - Demonstrates that even though his psyche is at war with itself due to his immoral actions, his self-preservation is key

• AO2 - Metaphor

  • Common semantic field of monarchs being associated with precious metals and jewels

• AO3 - Links to a Jacobean belief that the monarch was physically and mentally superior, due to concepts such as the Divine Rights of Kings and the Great Chain of Being

“dark night strangles the travelling lamp” 2:4 - MACBETH, VIOLENCE

• AO1 - The violent nature of this quotation mirrors how the cruelty of Macbeth's actions overcame Duncan through the use of violent conflict

• AO1 - This quotation utilises visual imagery to demonstrate the biblical concepts of dark overcoming light

  • Also relates to how Macbeth's ambition is overcoming his nobility and morality

• AO1 - The lamp may refer to the wider concept of God being referred to as light, a symbol of hope

  • Symbolises how Macbeth's reversal of nature, through usurping the throne, overcomes the righteous power of the divine

    • Overcoming the Divine Rights of King

“Upon my head […] a fruitless crown” 3:1 - MACBETH, KINGSHIP, FATE, POWER

• AO1 - This quotation signals how Macbeth's ambition has led to his gluttony ("staunchless avarice")

  • AO3 - Gluttony is one of the seven Deadly Sin mentioned in the Bible

    • Christianity was the national faith in Jacobean England - the audience would have been able to recognise this concept within Macbeth

• AO1 - It could be inferred that this was the true fate of Macbeth - not glory from achieving the throne but instead a life consigned to paranoia and gluttony

• AO2 - Metaphor

  • AO1 - Fertility is a common theme throughout, where it as a semantic field is used to abuse the recipient

• AO1 - This quotation symbolises how Macbeth has realised the futility of his reign, resigned to the fact that his descendants will never rule

  • His throne lacks power and his short kingship is sure to be forgotten in history due to its lack of purpose and Macbeth's status as a usurper

“O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife” 3:2 - MACBETH, FATE, GUILT

• AO2 - Lyrical locution

  • AO1 - Macbeth beginning to talk in an elongated and approaching nonsensical manner inadvertently signals to the audience his decaying mental state

“You know your own degrees” 3:4 - MACBETH, POWER, LOYALTY

• AO3 - This quotation simulates the strict societal hierarchy set out by the concept of the Great Chain of Being

  • Macbeth utilises this rigid societal convention to enact his power over others

  • AO1 - This is juxtaposed with Macbeth and his wife climbing the social ladder to reach monarchy

    • AO2 - Dramatic irony

  • AO3 - there was set seating plan within Jacobean England based on one's place within society

    • Your superior or inferior status was determined by factors such as socioeconomic class, gender and race

“angels are brightest still, though the brightest fell” 4:3 - MACBETH

• AO1 - Likens Macbeth's character to that of Lucifer

  • AO3 - Lucifer is an infamous character within the Bible, a fundamental person who details to Christians the consequences of disobeying God through immoral actions

    • A Jacobean audience would have been well aware of Lucifer as both the Bible and the Church of England would warn against following Lucifer's path

    • Lucifer can be utilised as an ambassador for the degradation of one's morality due to unchecked ambition

“will these hands ne’er be clean” 5:1 - LADY MACBETH, GUILT

• AO1 - Lady Macbeth's compulsions around cleaning her physically clean hands links to how her guilt is dissolving her common sense

  • Her guilt is manifesting as hallucinations of blood and anguish

    • Caused by her sleep deprivation (hysterical somnambulism)

“I play the Roman fool and die” 5:8 - MACBETH, FATE

• AO3 - Links to Shakespeare's 1599 play about Julian Caesar

  • This play was a tragedy, with Julian Caesar being the tragic hero

    • Likens Macbeth to Caesar, his ambition leading to his tragic downfall