| Banquo: “Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,As the weird women promised, and I fearThou play’dst most foully for’t.” (referring to Macbeth) | You have received the predictions the witches made, you are King, Cawdor and Glamis. I am afraid that you did evil deads to make these come true. |
| Donalbain: “There’s daggers in men’s smiles.” | These men are not as they seem, there is something evil and violent about them |
| Lady Macbeth: “Out, damned spot! out, I say!” | Trying to wash invisible blood off her hands, she sees the figurative become literal in her mind. Her guilt can not be washed away. |
| Lady Macbeth: “Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done’t.” (referring to Duncan) | If he hadn’t looked so much like my father I would have killed him myself – a hint at some morality or ethical boundary that she is unwilling to cross |
| Lady Macbeth: “Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full of the milk of human kindness.” (referring to Macbeth) | I am afraid that Macbeth is too kind a man to actually go through with murder |
| Lady Macbeth: “A little water clears us of this deed.” | Following the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth comforts Macbeth by promising that they can wash away the evidence. |
| Lady Macbeth: “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.” (referring to Macbeth) | Pretend to be innocent, but in your heart be sly and evil |
| Lady Macbeth: “Come, you spiritsThat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,And fill me from the crown to the toe top-fullOf direst cruelty!” | Take away my feminine and innocent tendencies, make me like a man, strong enough to commit the deeds. |
| Lady Macbeth: “But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we’ll not fail.” | Don’t be a coward, if you are courageous we shall not fail |
| Macbeth: “All our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! | All the decisions we have made in the past have lead us to our doom and death. life is like a candle, easily blown out – in response to the suicide of his wife. |
| Macbeth: “She should have died hereafter.” (referring to Lady Macbeth) | She should have lived to an old age and died a natural death. |
| Macbeth: “From this momentThe very firstlings of my heart shall beThe firstlings of my hand.” | Whatever I think I shall act upon without thinking too much, I will act on instinct |
| Macbeth: “They say, blood will have blood.” | Violent acts lead to violent revenge |
| Macbeth: “False face must hide what false heart doth know.” | We must pretend to be innocent, and appear innocent despite what wicked deeds our hands have done. |
| Macbeth: “Let not light see my black and deep desires.” | Let not God or good see how evil my thoughts really are. |
| Macbeth: “Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand?” | In his mind Macbeth imagines a dagger, the symbol of the death he is about to commit. The handle towards my hand refers to him accepting that he will commit the crime. |
| Macbeth: “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,That struts and frets his hour upon the stage. | A metaphor comparing life to an actor who only exists for the hour (the approximate length of a Shakespearean play). Life is brief. This is also an example of irony. |
| Macduff: “Macduff was from his mother’s wombUntimely ripp’d.” | Macduff was born via a cesarean section. |
| witches: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” | Not everything that appears to be good is good. Evil may come in disguise. |
Macbeth quotes and meanings
July 30, 2019