English Quotes - Macbeth 2023

Thou art not without ambition, but without the illness to attend it

repetition of ‘without’

emphasises Macbeth's lack of wickedness. Lady Macbeth believes Macbeth needs more evil in him to become King,

implies that she will poison him and give him the illness he needs.

Vaulting ambition o’er leaps itself, and falls on the other

diction, extended horse metaphor

willing to step over each other, knows it will fall down like a horse - horses are noble like macbeth

Stars hide your fires … let not light see my black and deep desires

Soliloquy

shakespeare uses the dramatic form to allow the audience to connect with macbeth more + make him more relatable - showing a part of him he doesnt want people to see - soliloquy talking to himself

Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold, thou hast no speculation

metaphorical language

Representation of guilt -> reassuring himself that Banquo is dead 

His guilt starts to override his sense of reality, he starts to become incapable of distinguishing between hallucinations and reality.  

Shows Macbeth losing his sanity.

This is a sorry sight -> A foolish thought to say a sorry sight

Irony, contradiction (his bloody hands -> it’s not foolish)

Will these hands ne’er be clean … here’s the smell of blood still

Blood = metaphor for guilt

She’s trying to push the blood off her hands - symbolising she’s haunted by Dunacan

To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus

Repetition of thus, euphemism of thus as king

To be king is nothing unless I am safely king’ shows how Macbeth’s ambitions have led him to desire more and more, not even king being enough if his descendants are not guaranteed the throne

Out out brief candle

soliloquy, light and dark, metaphor for life

Nihilism - life is short and inconsequential, everything will be lost to time, like it’s a brief candle 

Thou liest, abhorrent tyrant

high modality language, diction

Siward notably calls him ‘tyrant’ - this marks Macbeth as truly now a tyrant and not a true ‘king’ - natural order of being.

Beware Macduff … none of woman born shall harm Macbeth

foreshadowing

Macduff was a c-section baby. macduff will kill macbeth

Shame to wear a heart so white

metaphor

She’s shaming him for pale, weak heart - white represents purity and innocence

yet i do fear thy nature, it is too full o’th milk of human kindness”

metaphor, symbolism

macbeth has a womanly nature - milk comes from women

white and mild, symbolising purity, women’s breast milk - questions masculinity

come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here”

soliloquy, allusion to supernatural → natural order, context

spirits removing femininity (aka compassion etc) so she can kill duncan - allusion to spirits → ambition corruption , turning to paganism

makes thick my blood

soliloquy, metaphor, blood motif

jacobean england - emotional states were determined by the balance of bodily fluids → and to have thick blood is to have a cold heart, something that lady macbeth wants

thickened blood → menstruation → femininity

when you durst do it, then you were a man

contradicting social hierarchy

attacks masculinity - if he doesnt kill duncan hes not a man

fair is foul and foul is fair

juxtaposition, foreshadowing tragic hero, alliteration, repetition

Macbeth isn’t inherently bad - he just has certain traits that drive him to do such deeds (tragic hero again). 

Blood will have blood

repetition

blood shed through violence seeks more blood in revenge, creating a cycle of violence; he feels trapped in the inevitability of this violence. - a murder will avenge another muder. 

unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles

repetition

Natural order of things (e.g. women), supernatural = devil/evil

Why should I play the Roman fool and die on my own sword

classical reference

alludes to ancient romance who thought suicide was nobler —> macbeth will fight to the bitter end

Fleance escapes

stage direction

prophecy continues - “banquos kids will be kings” - fleance wasn’t killed, macbeth couldn’t avoid this fate

He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust

statement

duncan trusts him → divine right of kings

Look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t

metaphor, biblical allusion

Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth to deceive Duncan by pretending to be something he's not and appear innocent to earn his trust

is this a dagger which i see before me

visual imagery

Macbeth is unsure of the existance of the dagger. 

But by having a vision of a dagger, it is clear that the violent ambition of Macbeth is clearly tempting Macbeth to commit the murder of Duncan.

macbeth does murder sleep

motif of sleep, personification

Sleep is meant to be a symbol of peace and rest but -> its turned into a bad thing coz duncan was murdered in his sleep ->'murdering sleep' -> insomnia

out, damned spot

symbolism, metaphor

blood = crimes, she’s trying to rub off the guilt of her crimes