Macbeth Quote Sheets

Act 1 - Scene 1
Written in Trochaic tetrameter, unusual form that unnerves audience, emphasizes Otherness
W - Thunder and lightning (1.1) Foreshadows the violence and chaos to come, nature is disrupted.
There is also a storm when M kills Duncan.
W - hurly-burly (1.1) Witches take pleasure in chaos.
W - When the battles lost, and won (1.1) First evidence of ambiguity, sounds foreshadowing but
vague.
W - Fair is foul and foul is fair (1.1) The Witches embrace the corrupting of order. They are the dark
mirror of Gods plan, terrifying the audience.

Act 1 Scene 2
C Merciless MacDonald - worthy to be a rebel. (1.2) Only fit to be a traitor, foreshadowing of M.
C Brave Macbeth (1.2) Macbeth is looked upon favourably.
C Disdaining fortune (1.2) M does not respect luck or destiny
C valours minion (1.2) Emphasises Ms greatness
C smokd with bloody execution (1.2) Shows how M is a trained killer, grotesque image
D O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman (1.2) Foreshadowing
R Bellonas bridegroom (1.2) M is the epitome of war and violence

Act 1 Scene 3
W Where hast thou been sister? / Killing swine (1.3) They take please in the disruption of order
W Though his bark cannot be lost, / Yet it shall be tempest-tossed. (1.3) Shows the limits of their
power
W The weird sisters (1.3) They and destiny, Shakespearian pun
M So foul and fair a day (1.3) The witchs pervasive evil has begun to influence him, he is primed
to be perverted
B What are these? So withered and wild. B is disgusted while M is intrigued
W(B) Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. / Not so happy, yet much happier. witches riddling
B why do you start? B interprets Ms intrigue as fear. M tries to later laugh off his intrigue
M you imperfect speakers M wants to know more
B What, can the devil speak true Witches first prophecy comes true, B is surprised
A treasons capital, professed and proved Cawdors downfall was his treachery, foreshadowing, M
gains his power through false means
B Instruments of darkness B very much sees the witches as an evil force
M prologues to the swelling act regal language, as if he already is the king
M Cannot be ill, cannot be good moral turpitude has influenced him
M Unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs M knows he is interested by their
prophecies
M Without my stir M tries to put these thoughts to rest

Act 1 Scene 4
MA He dies as one that had been studied in his death foreshadowing
D He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust - really foreshadowing about M, but also
shows Ds misjudgement of character. Comically juxtaposed with the immediate placement of the line,
O valiant cousin
M The service and loyalty I owe makes the final act more despicable
M That is a step on which I must fall down shows Ms determination and willingness to act to make
it so
M Stars, hide your fires, / Let not light see my black and deep desires he knows his desires are
wrong

Act 1 Scene 5
LM yet do I fear thy nature, / It is too full othmilk of human kindness shows the differences in
their philosophies, she can see things objectively and realistically
LM art not without ambition Ms ambition was already there
LM pour my spirits in thine ear / And chastise you with the valour of my tongue they have a
controlling relationship, LM knows how to control M, aggressive persuasion
LM fatal entrance of Duncan / Under my battlements. Come you spirits / That tend on mortal
thoughts, unsex me here she is unable to do it herself, she has desire to be immoral
LM Make thick my blood. / Stop up the access and passage to remorse she is still capable of
emotion despite her evil, and she sees this as a flaw
LM Dunnest smoke of hell she knows how bad an action this is. The blanket of dark, is
foreshadowing
LM look like thinnocent flower, / But be the serpent undert this is what their life becomes after
the act and shows Ms situation
LM heaven peeop through the blanket of dark to cry Hold, hold! she knows that it is unnatural
Act 1 Scene 6
D This castle hath a pleasant seat foreshadowing
D Honoured hostess Foreshadowing

Act 1 Scene 7
M If it were done when tis done, then twere well / It were done quickly he wants to gain from it
without consequence, natural cowardice
M If thassassination / Could trammel up the consequence same as above
M poisond chalice acknowledgement of evil
M hes here in double trust he hears himself thinking, thinking in praxis
M Vaulting ambition he recognises his fatal flaw
M We will proceed no further in this business he is uncomfortable thinking about this moral
quandary
LM Was the hope drunk / wherein you dressed yourself? her persuasion begins. Live a coward
LM When you durst do it, then you were a man she is attracted to evil. Brings his love into question
LM while it was smiling in my face, / Have pluckd my nipple from his boneless gums / And dashd the
brains out grotesque image of her determination
LM We fail? ambiguity, lack of concern or failure to think the plan through
LM screw your courage to the sticking-place more persuasion

Act 2 Scene 1
B A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, / And yet I would not sleep he knows something is
going on. Introduces recurring idea of lack of sleep
M If you shall cleave to my consent, when tis, / It shall make honour for you bit weird, attempt to
buy B off, telling him of his desires
B So I lose none / In seeking to augment it, but still keep / My bosom franchisd and allegiance clear
he is okay with it provided he loses nothing from it
M Is this a dagger which I see before me the dagger is beckoning to be used, hallucination or
apparition
M fatal vision hes aware that it could be a hallucination yet it still spurs him on. The final catalyst
before the action
M Thou marshallst me the way that I was going he is unsure so likes to be reassured, even if a
hallucination
M gouts of blood grotesque image suggest that even him, a soldier, is repulsed by an action as
unnatural as this
M That summons thee to heaven or to hell he knows this action will damn him

Act 2 Scene 2
M - I could not say Amen he knows he is damned
LM Had he not resembled / My father as he slept she still experiences human emotion
M Sleep no more: / Macbeth does murder sleep he may never be at rest again
LM So brain-sickly of things they feel no joy in having done it
M Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No: this my hand will rather
/ The multitudinous seas incarnadine his actions can never be washed away
M To know my deed, twere best not know my self he must create a new self for he may never rest
as himself. The beginning of his journey to a psychopath
LM A heart so white she is disgusted by his natural reaction to the situation

Act 2 Scene 3
M O horror, horror, horror epizeuxis shows his horror