Macbeth: Key Quotations (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

Key Quotations

The best way to revise quotations is to group them by character or theme. Below you will find definitions and analysis of the best quotations, arranged by the following themes:

• Ambition and Power

• The Supernatural

• Appearance versus Reality

• Corruption of Nature

Ambition and Power

Principally, Macbeth is a play about ambition and its consequences. It can also be seen as a warning against those who seek to undermine or overthrow the rule of a rightful king.

“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, only vaulting ambition” Macbeth, Act I, Scene VII

Meaning and context

• Macbeth is saying that it is his own ambition that is his only motivation to murder King Duncan

• This soliloquy comes as Macbeth is deciding whether to kill King Duncan or not

Analysis

• Shakespeare has his protagonist, Macbeth, clearly state his hamartia (“ambition”) to the audience

• It is implied that there is no other motivation for Macbeth (“no spur”)

• Shakespeare could be suggesting that Macbeth’s fatal flaw (“ambition”) overcomes all of his other, positive character traits

• Later in the same soliloquy, Macbeth says this ambition “overleaps itself” (trips itself up), suggesting Macbeth is aware on some level that he is doomed if he commits regicide

“When you durst do it, then you were a man” Lady Macbeth, Act I, Scene VII

Meaning and context

• Lady Macbeth is suggesting that only if Macbeth commits the murder of King Duncan that he could be considered a real man

• This comes after Macbeth has expressed doubts about the plan to commit regicide

Analysis

• Lady Macbeth is attacking Macbeth’s masculinity

• It would hurt Macbeth’s pride; in the Jacobean era, manliness would have been equated with strength, so here Lady Macbeth is calling Macbeth weak

• It is an example of role reversal: Lady Macbeth, unusually for a woman, is manipulating and dominating a man

• As a woman, Lady Macbeth’s power is in her skills of deception and manipulation

“Life [...] is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” Macbeth, Act V, Scene V

Meaning

• Macbeth is suggesting that although in life lots seem to happen, ultimately, it is meaningless and without purpose

• This powerful soliloquy comes after Macbeth is told of the death of Lady Macbeth

Analysis

• This is an example of nihilism: a belief that life is pointless (“signifying nothing”)

• For a largely Christian Jacobean audience, this rejection of God’s plan and the suggestion of a rejection of Heaven and Hell, would have been shocking

• However, it is also a moment of pathos: the audience, despite his blasphemous words, would still feel sympathy for a once noble general who has lost his wife

• It perhaps also represents a moment of anagnorisis: a tragic hero’s realisation that all his actions were for “nothing” and that he will be defeated 

The Supernatural

The vast majority of people in Jacobean England were Christian and believed in the literal word of the Bible. Supernatural events or characters, therefore, would have been seen as evil and the work of the devil.

Paired Quotations:

“Stars hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires” Macbeth, Act I, Scene IV

“Come, thick night and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of Hell [...] nor Heaven peep through” Lady Macbeth, Act I, Scene V

Meaning and context

• Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are asking for their evil desires to be hidden from God

• Both quotations come as they are plotting the murder of King Duncan

Analysis

• Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are both on their own on stage when they speak these lines, suggesting that they reveal the characters’ true feelings

• The fact that Macbeth echoes Lady Macbeth’s words shows that they still have a close relationship based on shared ideas (unlike later in the play)

• However, it is also significant that Macbeth speaks these lines after Lady Macbeth; Shakespeare could be suggesting that Macbeth is led, or controlled, by Lady Macbeth’s thinking

• The religious symbolism  (“stars”, “light”, "Heaven”) suggests that both characters are aware of the significance and consequences (“Hell”) of committing regicide

• Both characters use imperative verbs (“hide”, “come”) to command the natural world (“stars”, “night”). This could be seen as blasphemous and an attempt to disrupt the Great Chain of Being or God’s plan

“The dead butcher and his fiend-like queen” - Malcolm, Act V, Scene IX

Meaning and context

• Malcolm is describing the now-dead Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

• This comes as part of the final soliloquy of the play after Macduff has killed Macbeth and Malcolm is restored to the throne

 Analysis

• A “butcher” is someone who kills without feeling or remorse. Shakespeare is suggesting that, because of his ambition, Macbeth turned from noble general to common murderer

• Malcolm doesn’t refer to either character by name: this omission shows their immediate fall in status

• Lady Macbeth is described as a “fiend”: a demon. She is being compared to the evil forces present in the play – the witches – who aim to bring chaos to the kingdom of Scotland

Appearance versus Reality

Shakespeare plays with the concept of perception throughout Macbeth: are we seeing what’s really there? And are characters who they seem to be? 

“Come you spirits [...] Unsex me here” Lady Macbeth, Act I, Scene V

Meaning and context

• Lady Macbeth is calling on evil spirits to take away her feminine traits

• This is part of a long soliloquy after Macbeth has written her a letter outlining the witches’ prophecies

Analysis

• Shakespeare has Lady Macbeth use imperative verbs (“Come”; “unsex”) when commanding evil spirits:

  • This shows her power at this point in the play (or at least the power she believes she commands)

  • The fact that she is commanding evil spirits shows her hubris: it is arrogant for humans to believe they can control evil forces

• She wants to remove her feminine traits (being nurturing, dutiful, powerless) and become “unsexed”:

  • She wants to subvert the characteristics of a typical woman

  • Shakespeare could be suggesting that only by adopting male characteristics can women gain power

  • This would have been seen as disturbing to a Jacobean audience and very unnatural, perhaps akin to the actions of a witch

“Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent underneath it” Lady Macbeth, Act I, Scene V

Meaning and context

• Lady Macbeth is suggesting that Macbeth hide his true, treasonous self from King Duncan

• This comes as the couple are first plotting the murder of Duncan

Analysis

• This quotation is reflective of Lady Macbeth’s duplicitous nature

• Her use of the imperative verb “look” also shows her power over Macbeth 

• She has no trouble acting like “an innocent flower” in the very next scene when greeting King Duncan

• The “serpent” has religious connotations: it is a reference from the Christian Bible to the snake (a representation of the Devil), who tempts Eve in the Garden of Eden: 

  • Lady Macbeth is also a woman who is tempted by evil and, in turn, tempts a man (Macbeth)

  • In the Bible, this temptation causes the fall of man. In Macbeth, it causes the downfall of Lady Macbeth and her husband

  • This could be Shakespeare suggesting that committing blasphemous acts will always lead to ruin

Paired Quotation:

“Out, damned spot: out, I say!” Lady Macbeth, Act V, Scene I

“Out, out, brief candle” Macbeth, Act V, Scene V

Meaning and context

• Lady Macbeth is desperately pleading for the hallucination of blood on her hands to disappear

• It comes as she is losing her mind and just before her suicide

• Macbeth is commenting on the brief nature of life

• It is part of a long soliloquy after he is told about the death of Lady Macbeth

Analysis

• Lady Macbeth’s desperation is apparent in her ramblings: to show this, Shakespeare: 

  • uses lots of punctuation to reflect her disjointed mind

  • uses repetition (“out”) to show her increasing desperation

• The use of imperative verbs (“out”) is ironic: whereas earlier in the play she used commanding language with evil spirits, she has now completely lost power. Commands have turned into pleas of desperation

• Macbeth echoes the language of Lady Macbeth (“out, out”)

• However, unlike other times when Macbeth echoes the language of Lady Macbeth or the witches, this quotation doesn’t imply he is being led by them

• Lady Macbeth’s desperation has turned into a reflection of Macbeth:

  • It is a realisation that what he – and Lady Macbeth – have done was worthless

  • It creates a sense of pathos for the audience

  • Macbeth using Lady Macbeth’s words brings the couple closer again

Paired Quotation:

“A little water clears us of this deed” Lady Macbeth, Act II, Scene II

“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” Lady Macbeth, Act V, Scene I

Meaning and context

• Lady Macbeth at first suggests that it won’t take much for their consciences to be cleared after Duncan’s murder; later, she realises that nothing could remove the feelings of guilt

• These quotations come before the murder of King Duncan, and then after Lady Macbeth has lost her mind, right before her suicide

Analysis

• Lady Macbeth displays hubris when she confidently asserts that she and her husband will not be troubled by feelings of guilt or remorse

• Her confidence contrasts with Macbeth’s belief that all the water in “Neptune’s ocean” couldn’t wash the blood (symbolising guilt) from his hand

• “Hands” here represent responsibility

• It is ironic that later in the play, Lady Macbeth sees blood on her hands (guilt and responsibility for the murder of Duncan)

• However, it also becomes clear that her original confidence was misplaced: her “little hand” is dirtied by blood, and seemingly nothing (even “all the perfumes of Arabia”) can cleanse it of her guilt and responsibility

• Shakespeare could be suggesting that once Lady Macbeth accepted responsibility for the murder, the guilt was overwhelming

Corruption of Nature

Jacobean audiences believed in a set structure in the world: the world according to God’s plan. Any disruption to the world was, therefore, disruption to God’s ordained order.

Paired quotation:

“Fair is foul and foul is fair” Three Witches, Act I, Scene I

“So foul and fair a day I have not seen” Macbeth, Act I, Scene III

Meaning and context

• The witches are warning the audience that what may be seen as good might well be bad, and vice versa

• It comes from the very first scene of the play

• Macbeth is commenting on the very strange weather that comes after his victory in battle

• His lines come just before his first encounter with the witches

Analysis

• The witches are presenting the audience with a paradox: a contradictory statement that suggests that the play will involve the themes of deception and appearance versus reality

• It is also a suggestion from Shakespeare of the disruption and chaos to come, of a kingdom turned upside down

• The paradox suggests that the words of the witches might be in the form of riddles: confusing, or misleading, just as their prophecies are to Macbeth

• Macbeth, without having met the witches, echoes their language:

  • This suggests he is already being led by them, or under their spell

  • This suggests to the audience that perhaps his “fair” character will be corrupted and become most “foul”

“Macbeth does murder sleep!” Macbeth, Act II, Scene II

Meaning and context

• Macbeth is quoting a voice he can hear that tells him that he has murdered sleep

• It comes immediately after the murder of King Duncan when Macbeth returns to Lady Macbeth

Analysis

• Macbeth returns from murdering Duncan in a panicked state and is hallucinating

• He hears a voice telling him he will no longer be able to sleep

• “Sleep” symbolises peace or calm, so this is a suggestion that Macbeth will no longer be at peace because he committed regicide

• Shakespeare could be suggesting that in the act of murdering a king, he has murdered his own chance at peace – and perhaps eternal peace: Heaven

• The voice he can hear might be interpreted as his own conscience