Key quotes Act 3

“O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!"

• Another powerful metaphor - a mind full of scorpions is pretty bad - they could sting at any time, so it would be impossible to feel safe or at peace - he cannot escape them as they’re in his mind

• The adjective “full” used for emphasis - there is no room for any more scorpions - this is as bad as it could get

• The exclamation mark at the end used to convey how ardently Macbeth feels this - he is not joking or being hyperbolic here - this is really how he feels

• The imagery of scorpions is one of several evil images that Macbeth uses in this scene (alongside snakes, bats and beetles) all of which arguably convey his descent into evil following the regicide in Act 2

“Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck”

• Perfectly exemplifies the role reversal of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth which is so crucial to the start of the third act of the play

• The irony that comes with the adjective “innocent” - the idea that Lady Macbeth could ever be innocent again after what she did in Act 1

• The term of endearment at the end (“dearest chuck”) which conveys that, perhaps, the love that we saw in Act 1 still just about remains between these characters, but also the power dymanics have changed - it is now a little condescending, like a linguistic pat on the head

• Repetition of “dearest” from earlier in play - but before she was “dearest partner of greatness” - now she’s a baby chicken (that’s what “chuck” means in this context - “chick”)

• Possible link to Macduff’s use of chickens to describe his own wife and family after their murder (this might be pushing it a bit)

“It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood”

• Macbeth is literally saying that blood will lead to more blood, but symbolically he is saying a lot more

• First, violence leads to more violence, foreshadowing the terrible murders that are to come in Act 4

• Second, revenge, as mentioned by Macbeth mentioned in his soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 7, is inevitable – the dead are coming back to avenge their deaths

• Third, violence and murder lead to guilt and torment, as Macbeth experienced after killing Duncan, and experienced again tonight after killing Banquo - killing always has consequences in the play

“I am in blood / stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, / returning were as tedious as go o'er”

• Another metaphor that plays on the motif of blood, with its double meaning

• First, he has done so many terrible things – so much violence and murder – that it’s easier just to keep killing people rather than try to go back to being peaceful and good again

• Second, he is dealing with so much guilt and torment now, that he might as well just put himself through even more in the hope that he comes out the other side

• The imagery here (of a man halfway across a river of blood) is highly reminiscent of the “Neptune’s oceans” metaphor from Act 2 Scene 2 - things have gone exactly as Macbeth feared: the blood on his hands has turned the oceans red