Macbeth: Key Character Quotations (Edexcel IGCSE English Literature)
Revision Note
GCSE English Literature exam questions usually focus on a theme, a character or a relationship between two or more characters. Examiners reward responses that track the development of characters or themes through the play.
When revising, try to consider quotes in terms of their narrative effects — how characters are presented, what attitudes or relationships are presented and why these ideas have been shown to the reader.
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
The Witches
Banquo
Examiner Tip
One thing you can do to improve the quality of your response is to focus closely on the question. To do this, consider what the character in the extract represents within society (e.g. Macbeth represents a soldier and a husband). It is always a good idea to examine contrasts and relationships too. For instance, you could consider Macbeth’s relationship with Lady Macbeth. You may also want to consider what ideas the character presents, such as how the characters respond to the witches and how this illustrates attitudes about the supernatural.
Examiners like you to use references or quotes as support for your ideas. That’s why we’ve included a “key word or phrase” from every one of our longer quotations to help you memorise only the most important parts of each quotation.
Macbeth
“Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,/Why hath it given me earnest of success,/Commencing in a truth?” - Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 3
Key word or phrase to memorise: “Cannot be ill, cannot be good” and “earnest of success” | What the quotation means: In an aside, Macbeth evaluates whether the witches’ prophecies are good or bad, but goes on to question how they could possibly be bad as the witches predicted his successful future alongside a truth (that he was Thane of Glamis and Cawdor) | Theme: Fate | |
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“I dare do all that may become a man;/Who dares do more is none” - Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 7
Key word or phrase to memorise: “dare do all” and “dares do more” | What the quotation means: Macbeth denies Lady Macbeth’s challenge to his masculinity and insists that he is a brave man, arguing that what he does already proves that, and that if he were to “do more” (kill King Duncan), he would be less of a man | Theme: Loyalty | |
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“Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,” - Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 1
Key word or phrase to memorise: “for fear” and “stones prate” | What the quotation means: When Macbeth hallucinates that he sees a dagger and begins to doubt his senses, his paranoia increases so that, by the end, he believes that every footstep alerts the castle, as if the stones talk (“prate”) | Theme: Guilt | |
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Lady Macbeth
“That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round” - Lady Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 5
Key word or phrase to memorise: “the valour of my tongue” and “All that impedes thee” | What the quotation means: After Lady Macbeth reads about the prophecy, she decides to help Macbeth overcome all obstacles to the crown (“golden round”), and says that she will need to persuade him (“pour” her “spirits”) with the power of her “tongue”, and that she may need to “chastise” (lecture) him | Theme: Loyalty | |
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“A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.” - Lady Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 2
Key word or phrase to memorise: “foolish thought” and “sorry sight” | What the quotation means: After the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth is distressed and expresses remorse, but Lady Macbeth tells him that it is silly to feel sorry for his actions | Theme: Guilt | |
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“Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” - Lady Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 1
Key word or phrase to memorise: “smell of blood still” and “all the perfumes” | What the quotation means: Lady Macbeth is overcome with guilt and imagines that she can smell King Duncan’s blood on her hands, adding that all the perfume in “Arabia” would not make her hands smell sweet as they are forever stained with guilt | Theme: Guilt | |
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The witches
“When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won” -The Witches/Second Witch, Act 1 Scene 1
Key word or phrase to memorise: “hurlyburly’s done” and “lost and won” | What the quotation means: The witches, in a deserted place, say that they will meet Macbeth once the chaos of the “battle” is over | Theme: Supernatural | |
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“Lesser than Macbeth, and greater” - The Witches/First Witch, Act 1 Scene 3
Key word or phrase to memorise: “Lesser” and “greater” | What the quotation means: The witches prophesise that Banquo will have a lesser status than Macbeth, but that he will also be better or “greater” | Theme: Fate | |
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“He will not be commanded: here's another,
More potent than the first” - The Witches/First Witch, Act 4 Scene 1
Key word or phrase to memorise: “not be commanded” and “More potent” | What the quotation means: When Macbeth returns to the witches, keen to hear more about Banquo, they warn him about his impending death, and become frustrated at his arrogant self-absorption | Theme: Supernatural | |
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Banquo
“And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betrays
In deepest consequence” - Banquo, Act 1 Scene 3
Key word or phrase to memorise: “instruments of darkness” and “honest trifles” | What the quotation means: Banquo warns Macbeth that the witches’ prophecies may be tempting him with a small truth to lead him to towards darker consequences that will cause him harm | Theme: Supernatural | |
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“Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the weird women promised, and, I fear,
Thou play'dst most foully for't”- Banquo, Act 3 Scene 1
Key word or phrase to memorise: “all” and “most foully” | What the quotation means: Banquo reflects on Macbeth’s success (that he has “all” he was promised), but he is concerned that Macbeth has won this success by “playing” unfairly | Theme: Fate | |
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“O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!
Thou mayst revenge” - Banquo, Act 3 Scene 3
Key word or phrase to memorise: “treachery” | What the quotation means: Banquo appears surprised that his friend, Macbeth, has betrayed him and sent men to murder him and his son | Theme: Loyalty | |
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Source
Macbeth: Entire Play, https://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/full.html. Accessed 31 May 2024.
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