Key Quotes from Macbeth: Analysis and Themes

Introduction

• Video covers 12 important quotes from Macbeth.
• These quotes provide insight into characters and themes.
• Useful for exam revision as they illustrate various points.

Quote 1: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair"

• Context: Closing line from the first scene, spoken by the witches.
• Significance:
  • Sets the tone for the play.
  • Indicates the presence of the supernatural.
  • Warns against trusting appearances.
  • Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's deception.
  • Witches' deceptive promises.
  • Macbeth reiterates similar theme later.

Quote 2: "Stars hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires"

• Context: Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 4.
• Significance:
  • Reveals Macbeth's ambition and moral conflict.
  • Shows awareness of morally wrong desires.
  • Literary devices: Alliteration and juxtaposition.

Quote 3: "Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full of the milk of human kindness"

• Context: Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5.
• Significance:
  • Reveals Macbeth's character as non-murderous by nature.
  • Lady Macbeth's manipulative nature.
  • Implies gender role inversion.
  • Foreshadows Lady Macbeth's guilt and punishment.

Quote 4: "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here"

• Context: Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5.
• Significance:
  • Desire to be stripped of femininity to commit murder.
  • Highlights gender roles and supernatural influence.
  • Foreshadows Lady Macbeth's mental breakdown.

Quote 5: "Is this a dagger which I see before me"

• Context: Macbeth in Act 2, Scene 1.
• Significance:
  • Reveals hesitation and inner conflict about killing Duncan.
  • Themes of fate vs. free will.
  • Foreshadows future hallucinations.

Quote 6: "Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it"

• Context: Lady Macbeth in Act 2, Scene 2.
• Significance:
  • Shows Lady Macbeth's vulnerability and potential empathy.
  • Questions her ability to commit murder.
  • Highlights unnatural gender role inversion.

Quote 7: "Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep"

• Context: Macbeth after Duncan's murder.
• Significance:
  • Supernatural voice reflects Macbeth's guilt.
  • Sleep symbolizes innocence.
  • Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's insomnia and guilt.

Quote 8: "'Tis unnatural, even like the deed that's done"

• Context: An old man in Act 2, Scene 4.
• Significance:
  • Remarks on unnatural events post-Duncan's murder.
  • Highlights disruption in natural order.
  • Foreshadows Macbeth's downfall.

Quote 9: "Nought's had, all's spent, where our desire is got without content"

• Context: Lady Macbeth in Act 3, Scene 2.
• Significance:
  • Reveals Lady Macbeth's remorse and guilt.
  • Discusses the hollowness of their achievements.

Quote 10: "Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"

• Context: Lady Macbeth in Act 5, Scene 1.
• Significance:
  • Displays Lady Macbeth's mental decline.
  • Symbolizes guilt through blood and sleeplessness.
  • Contradicts previous composure.

Quote 11: "Out, out brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow"

• Context: Macbeth in Act 5, Scene 5.
• Significance:
  • Reflects on life's pointlessness after Lady Macbeth's death.
  • Metaphors of candles and shadows.
  • Consequence of ambition and defiance of natural order.

Quote 12: "This dead butcher and his fiend-like queen"

• Context: Malcolm in Act 5, Scene 11.
• Significance:
  • Final portrayal of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
  • Describes them as ruthless and remorseless.
  • Highlights their fall from grace and tragic choices.

Conclusion

• Reminder of the complexity of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
• Final quote underscores their tragic downfall.
• Encourages audience to reflect on ambitious choices.