AQA English Literature Other Macbeth Quotes

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Captain: “For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, Which smoked with bloody execution”

• Recount of the battle against Norway and portrayed as hero, skilled with his sword

• Violence and bloodshed are romanticized

• His action are righteous and honorable but later in the play, these same actions are viewed a tyrannical and horrific

• Criticizing the culture of aggressive masculinity and honorable warfare

Macbeth: “The thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me In borrowed robes?”

• Suggests Macbeth has acquired the title when it doesn’t belong to him

• The echo of Duncan’s rhyming couplet links Macbeth’s success with the former Cawdor’s death, foreshadowing Macbeth’s fate

Lady Macbeth: “Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t.”

• Enjambment and turning point of the word “but“ highlight her slyness and contrast between her appearance and reality

• Imperative verb “look‘ emphasizes her power in their relationship as she gives him commands

• Imagery reminds church-going contemporary audiences of the serpent in the Garden of Eden as Lady Macbeth’s language links her to the weak woman who tempted Adam to disobey God

• Shows her as manipulative and sinful, deliberately playing on contemporary perceptions of woman

Lady Macbeth: “Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers.

• She infantilizes and emasculates Macbeth

• She criticizes him for his imprudence in bringing the murder weapons with him

• She criticizes him for fearing the dead and compares him to a child scared of a painted devil

• Shows she has power over their relationship

Macbeth: “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine Making the green one red”

• Blood is used to symbolize guilt and water is used to symbolize purity

• He becomes more increasingly desensitized to seeing blood throughout the play

• The metaphor suggest no amount of “water” will ever remove the “stain” of regicide, but instead make the sea’s natural colors from green to red, emphasizing the murder’s naturality and heinousness.

• Hyperbolic language exemplifies his guilt

• Neptune is the Roman God of the sea

Donalbain: “There’s daggers in men’s smiles. The near in blood, The nearer bloody”

• Suggest their father’s killer could be hiding behind a friendly facade as they conceal daggers, including violent imager

• This is what prompts Donalbain and his brother Malcolm to flee Scotland

• This includes juxtaposition and metaphor to help his dialogue stand out and emphasize the danger Donalbain and Malcolm are in

• A pun and repetition are also used to reinforce it

Macbeth “I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er”

• He knows he can never undo his actions and damage

• Blood symbolizes guilt and newfound resolve to preserve his own life

• This play is celebrated as characters used to be 2D, one dimensional characters before Shakespeare’s time

Lady Macbeth: “Are you a man?”

• Turning point of their relationship as they start talking less and less - Macbeth now starts to go to the witches for advice

• Macbeth is unaffected and hallucinates again

• Belittling rhetorical question is used to mock and emasculates Macbeth

• Her power in this scene ends up being ironic as she eventually suffers the same unwell state of mind as Macbeth, leading to her suicide

Macbeth: “Seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls”

• Euphemism could reflect he believes he is justified and doesn’t want to admit his that what he is doing is ultimately wrong

• He has now passed the point of no return, with no sense of morality

Macduff: “Each new morn New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows Strike heaven on the face, that is resounds As if it felt with Scotland and yelled out Like syllable of dolor.”

• Shakespeare shows details of the terrible state of Scotland, being in chaos and suffering in the present and emphasizes Macbeth’s tyranny and villainy.

• “widow” and “orphan” emphasizes the bloodshed of Macbeth’s reign

• “howl” and “cry” and “dolor”, connotating pain and sadness, highlights the consequences of his murderous acts whilst also creating sympathy for the people of Scotland

• The metaphor and godly connotations of “heaven: suggests his blasphemy and his breakage of the divine right of kings as well as natural order through his evil actions

• Macduff being the messenger, suggests that he is noble, patriotic and loyal in nature

Lady Macbeth: “Here’s the smell of the blood still. At the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, Oh, Oh!”

• This metaphoric, hyperbolic phrase shows how her conscience is being tormented by the guilt of her crimes to gain power

• The doctor is powerless, stating that she needs divine intervention

• Arabia is known for its rich perfumes, emphasizing the idea that even the most luxurious and powerful means can’t cleanse her of her actions, feeling no amount of perfume and mask the bloodstains of guilt

• The “little hand” symbolizes her role in the murder and inability to clean the moral stain of her deeds

• Contextually, woman are expected to “perfume” themselves to be deemed as acceptable in patriarchal norms but Lady Macbeth did the opposite and broke social norms

• Unveils how society has forced woman to behave by making them feel little and insignificant to men, who are considered their social superiors

• Woman are taught to punish themselves for ambition, leading her to her suicide, showing Lady Macbeth regrets going against social norms

• Shakespeare promotes this order as he knows it will please King James, who is a patron, and cements the political messages that he rules by divine rights

Macbeth: “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot”

• Metaphor and theatrical imagery is used to articulate his disappointment after realizing life has become a burden and his story will end in death, seeing for the first time that life is short, by comparing it to a candle, and that any passion (such as the throne) is meaningless

• He realizes that the throne inconsequential in the context of the vast nothingness after human life, calling himself an “idiot”

• Alternatively, this soliloquy could be interpreted as his mourning for Lady Macbeth

• The word “brief” metaphorically represents that her life ended before her time and the “candle” represents how she was useful but dangerous, being portrayed as a fatal character with a driving influence

• The word “shadow” shows he longer has someone to guide him and is lost

• The word “walking” shows he is living but with no pace or excitement, giving up on his ambition for the throne

• This famous soliloquy contrasts with Lady Macbeth’s final soliloquy as her language is fricative and harsh compared to Macbeth’s somber and poetic language