AQA GCSE English Literature: Macbeth - Key Quotes Analysis

Macbeth - Key Quotes Analysis:

“Unseamed him from the knave to the chops”

• This is Macbeth ‘unseaming’ the rebel Macdonwald.

• This foreshadows Macbeth’s own ‘unseaming’ by Macduff.

• It is also a clothing metaphor suggesting Macdonwald is being stripped of his title due to his traitorous actions, like Macbeth is later.

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“Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?”

• Macbeth asks this when he is deemed Thane of Cawdor.

• This suggests his suspicion that there may be trickery at play.

• It also indicates that this title is not rightly his, it is ‘borrowed.’

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“Unsex me here”

• This imperative rejects Jacobean ideas of femininity which impede Lady Macbeth from committing acts of violence which are associated with masculinity.
• Jacobean femininity, symbolised by milk and breasts elsewhere in the soliloquy, denotes weakness and compassion which Lady Macbeth must rid herself of in order to become powerful.
• This can link to Queen Elizabeth I who said she had the body of a ‘weak woman’ but the ‘heart of a king’ to be credible.

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“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself”

• This metaphor suggests the only motivation Macbeth has to commit regicide is unchecked or ‘vaulting’ ambition which disrupts the natural order or divine right.
• Shakespeare warns against ‘vaulting’ or ruthless ambition and through Macbeth’s downfall reveals its destructive consequences.

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“When you durst do it then you were a man”

• Shakespeare reveals that Lady Macbeth emasculates Macbeth in order to control his actions.

• To be masculine in the Jacobean period was to take action and be courageous (inaction indelibly associated with femininity) thus to be a ‘man’ Macbeth must act.

• Ironically, although Lady Macbeth desires great power, her power remains passive – she has power through manipulation.

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“Is this a dagger I see before me The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee”

• The dagger is a visual representation leading Macbeth (literally and metaphorically) to the murder of Duncan and foreshadows bloodier visions to come.
• The feminine iambic pentameter suggests uncertainty and weakness which diminishes as the soliloquy progresses

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“Infirm of purpose. Give me the daggers!”

• Macbeth returns with the daggers which Lady Macbeth ridicules.
• She criticises his resolve and significantly takes action and seizes the weapons with the imperative ‘Give me the daggers!’.
• Thus, here she takes the masculine role – active, powerful and violent.

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“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?”

• Here, Shakespeare uses blood to symbolise guilt and water to symbolise purity.
• The metaphor of Neptune’s ocean suggests that no amount of ‘water’ will ever remove the sacrilegious ‘stain’ of regicide.

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“Be innocent of the knowledge dearest chuck”

• Shakespeare shows the change in Macbeth’s character and his relationship with Lady Macbeth.
• Not only is he independently murderous, but he also distances himself from the previously dominant Lady Macbeth – she is no longer his ‘partner of greatness,’ she is dismissed as ‘dearest chuck.’

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“Full of scorpions is my mind”

• This metaphor reveals both Macbeth’s paranoia and his ‘deep and dark desires.’
• The metaphorical scorpions have replaced the ‘milk of human kindness’ cementing Macbeth as a villain.

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“Out, damned spot Out, I say!”

• The repetition of ‘out’ portrays Lady Macbeth as frenetic as she desperately tries to rid herself of this metaphorical ‘spot’.
• The imperative further demonstrates Lady Macbeth’s loss of power as it proves futile.

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“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”

• This contrasts with Lady Macbeth’s earlier remark demonstrating her guilt.
• The metaphor suggests the irreversibility of her actions – nothing will rectify it.
• The adjective ‘little’ also connotes weakness, childishness and fragility reinforcing Lady Macbeth’s fall from power.

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“Give me my armour”

• This imperative suggests power and authority.
• Here Macbeth is reverting back to his soldier persona from the start of the play.
• This is the role that is truly his, it ‘fits’ him, unlike the ‘giant' role of King which he usurped.

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“Life is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing”

• This metaphor suggests that with his wife dead (perhaps the source of his power) and an army marching towards him, Macbeth succumbs to a pessimistic, even nihilistic, outlook.
• However, the metaphor also implies his crimes are meaningless suggesting Macbeth perhaps does not feel true guilt.

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“Dead butcher and fiend-like queen”

• ‘Butcher’ connotes violence and brutality and epitomises Macbeth as a leader – he has brutally ‘butchered’ Scotland in his own quest for power.
• ‘Fiend-like’ suggests evil and the supernatural connecting Lady Macbeth to the witches.

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