Macbeth Quotes

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair” Witches: Act 1-1 v.12Good people can truly be evil, and evil people can show some good. Appearances can be deceiving and the difference between reality and illusion, good and evil, etc. is often as murky as the “fog and filthy air.”
“So foul a fair a day I have not seen” Macbeth: Act 1-3 v.39This is when Macbeth has just finished fighting in the battle and he is stating that is has been both a good and bad day. Bad because he had to kill many people in the battle but good because they won.
“Nothing in his life, Became him like the leaving it” Malcolm: Act 1-4 v.8-9Malcolm is here discussing the execution of the previous Thane of Cawdor who committed treason. He is saying that the Thane is now known for what he did wrong and not what he may have done right.
“Yet do I fear thy nature. It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness…” Lady Macbeth: Act 1-5 v.15-16Here Lady Macbeth is talking to her husband about the possibility of killing King Duncan in order for Macbeth to reign as king. She is getting to the point that Macbeth is too kind and gentle to do such a deed, implying that Macbeth is nowhere near a “real” man.
“Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here…” Lady Macbeth: Act 1-5 v. 44-45Here Lady Macbeth is talking to the greater mankind wishing to be unsexed because she wishes to commit the murder herself due to her husbands kindness. Woman were not supposed to be strong and capable of murdering, so she is wishing to act like a man.
“..look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t.” Lady Macbeth: Act 1-5 v. 73-74Here L. Macbeth is continuing to convince her husband that killing Duncan is what’s right so that they can have their power now! She is telling him to act kind and innocent (how a flower appears) and secretly be the conniving malicious murderer (the serpent).
“If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well It were done quickly…” Macbeth: Act 1-7 v.1-2This is where Macbeth is seriously weighing the pros and cons of killing Duncan.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?..” Macbeth: Act 2-1 v. 42-3Here is in Act 2 when Macbeth finally decides he is going to kill Duncan in order to preceed him in the throne. The actual decision he has made has turned into a nut case that is hallucinating himself holding daggers.. Perhaps guilt is already paining him.
“Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care…” Macbeth: Act 2-2 v.78-9Sleep is a repeating symbol in this book that represents a person being a peace. When Macbeth commits the murders he claims he heard a distant voice saying “macbeth doth muder sleep” as in Macbeth has ruined peace for himself. Guilt will keep him awake and on edge until the truth is revealed.
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean was this blood Clean from my hand?” Macbeth: Act 2-2 v. 78-9Blood is also another reoccuring symbol in the play that represents the guilt of the muders. After killing Duncan Macbeth feels seriously guilty. He knows that he has blood on his hands (the literal and symbolic) and believes that there is enough blood that all the oceans could not clean his hands. The large amount of blood (guilt) would turn the oceans red.
August 14, 2019