Lady Macbeth Quotes

Yet do I fear thy nature;

It is too full o' the milk of human kindness

To catch the nearest way. (Act 1, Scene 5)

Lady Macbeth, after receiving her husband's letter about the witches' prophecy, expresses her fear that he isn't evil enough

Hie thee hither,

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear

And chastise with the valor of my tongue

All that impedes thee from the golden round (Act 1, Scene 5)

Lady Macbeth wants to persuade Macbeth into killing the King

Come, you spirits

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,

And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full

Of direst cruelty! (Act 1, Scene 5)

Lady Macbeth, upon hearing that King Duncan is to stay the night in her castle, purges herself of her feminine qualities to have the strength to kill Duncan

Make thick my blood

Stop up the access and passage to remorse (Act 1, Scene 5)

Lady Macbeth wants evil spirits to clog her arteries so she feels no remorse for murdering the King

Come to my woman's breasts, and take my milk for gall (Act 1, Scene 5)

Lady Macbeth wants to rid herself of her maternal instincts

Look like th' innocent flower,

But be the serpent under 't (Act 1, Scene 5)

Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to appear innocent but under the surface, ready to strike Duncan (link to Adam and Eve)

I have given suck, and know

How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:

I would, while it was smiling in my face,

Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,

And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you

Have done to this (Act 1, Scene 7)

Lady Macbeth heaps scorn on Macbeth's declaration that they will "proceed no further" with the plan to murder King Duncan

But screw your courage to the sticking-place,

And we'll not fail (Act 1, Scene 7)

Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth to commit to the plan to murder King Duncan

Had he not resembled

My father as he slept, I had done't (Act 2, Scene 2)

Lady Macbeth, worried that Macbeth will fail to murder King Duncan, reveals a weakness while boasting of her strength

It will make us mad (Act 2, Scene 2)

Lady Macbeth foreshadows her own insanity

Infirm of purpose! (Act 2, Scene 2)

Lady Macbeth calls Macbeth a coward

A little water clears us of this deed (Act 2, Scene 2)

Lady Macbeth believes water will rid them of their sin

What's done, is done (Act 3, Scene 2)

Lady Macbeth wants her husband to put the deed behind them as it is impractical to rethink the past

Nought's had, all's spent,

Where our desire is got without content;

'Tis safer to be that which we destroy

Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy (Act 3, Scene 2)

Lady Macbeth finds that getting what you want doesn't bring peace

Are you a man? (Act 3, Scene 4)

Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth's masculinity when he claims to see Banquo's ghost at the banquet

Out, damned spot! out, I say!—One: two: why,

then, 'tis time to do't.—Hell is murky!—Fie, my

lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we

fear who knows it, when none can call our power

to account?—Yet who would have thought the old

man to have had so much blood in him? (Act 5, Scene 1)

In the first speech of Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene, memories of the night of the murder tumble out. (Shows irony as she cannot get rid of the metaphorical blood stain on her hands)

The thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now?—

What, will these hands ne'er be clean? (Act 5, Scene 1)

Lady Macbeth shows remorse for the killing of Lady Macduff (she had no part of it) - her hands remain stained like her mind (guilty conscience)

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand (Act 5, Scene 1)

Lady Macbeth believes she can never be washed from this diabolical sin

What's done cannot be undone (Act 5, Scene 1)

Lady Macbeth juxtaposes her previous statement - showing her mental destruction and the breakdown of her moral centre

Banquo's buried; he cannot come out on's grave (Act 5, Scene 1)

Lady Macbeth reveals that Banquo is dead to the gentlewoman and doctor - reveals their treachery out of sheer guilt (believes she is talking to Macbeth)