Macbeth Character Quotes

I d d a t m b a m; w d d m i n 

“I dare do all that may become a man;Who dares do more is none” – Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7

• Macbeth’s loyalty is challenged 

• While their relationship is close, gender issues cause conflict as a result of Lady Macbeth’s masculine qualities

• Alliterative anaphora “dare do all” and “dares do more” stresses Macbeth’s attitudes towards masculinity:  

  • Macbeth’s repetition of “dare” links to bravery and, perhaps, recklessness

  • His loyalty to the king, Macbeth suggests, makes him more of a man

H n m s w w t w, f f t v s p o m w 

“Hear not my steps which way they walk, for fear thy very stones prate of my whereabout” – Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1

• Macbeth is experiencing psychological turmoil and guilt

• His soliloquy highlights his need to detach from reality

• He personifies the stones, saying they will reveal what he has done

A f t, t s a s s

“A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight” – Lady Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2

• There is a role reversal and as Macbeth weakens and Lady Macbeth is emotionless

• Lady Macbeth highlights her disgust at Macbeth given the sibilance ‘sorry sight’

“Here's the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” – Lady Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1

• This links to Macbeth’s hyperbole of Neptune’s Ocean

• Lady Macbeth has drastically changed as she had said earlier that a ‘little water clears us of this deed’

• She has been stained by regicide and her guilt leads to mental decline

W t h-b d, w t b l a w

“When the hurly-burly’s done,When the battle’s lost and won” – The Witches (Second Witch), Act 1, Scene 1

• ‘Hurly-burly’ highlights the chaos to come from the witches 

• Shakespeare creates dramatic irony as he highlights the power of supernatural within the play

L t M, a g

“Lesser than Macbeth, and greater” – The Witches (First Witch), Act 1, Scene 3

• Oxymoron ‘lesser and greater’ presents alternative versions of success 

• Macbeth becomes King but Banquo’s legacy lives on 

O t! F, g F, f, f, f,! T m r 

“O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!Thou mayst revenge” – Banquo, Act 3, Scene 3

• This signals the peripeteia in the play as Macbeth has submitted to his egotistic and violent character which leads to his mental decline

• His ‘treachery’ is irredeemable

• Banquo’s cry for revenge also reveals that loyalty can create an endless cycle of revenge