[Music] hi everybody welcome back to my channel in this video we are going to go through the 12 most important quotes in macbeth which really give a lot of insight into the main characters and themes of the play if you happen to be revising for an exam it would be extremely useful to memorize these because they can be used to illustrate almost any point you're making most of these quotations are really short and some of them even rhyme just to make it easier to remember with that said let's jump straight into the first one fair is foul and foul is fair [Music] this is the closing line from the first scene in macbeth so it sets the tone for the rest of the play it is spoken by the witches which indicates that the supernatural is going to be a significant presence throughout the story it is also a very catchy line because it is an inversion or the same thing said backwards fear is foul and foul is fair shakespeare has purposely written this line to stand out and linger in the minds of his audience because it is very important to understanding the play the witches are warning us not to trust appearances and this theme comes up often macbeth and his wife may put on a pretense of loyalty to the king but behind his back they are plotting to murder him the witches themselves are very deceptive they tell macbeth plenty of fair sounding promises but they are almost always half truths which end terribly for him we see a lot of allusion to this line later in the play as macbeth says in act 1 scene 3 so foul and fair a day i have not seen which foreshadows his involvement with the witches and also reminds the audience to beware of his deceptive words stars hide your fires let not light see my black and deep desires in this quote spoken by macbeth in act 1 scene 4 he reveals the depth of his ambition and admits that he is aware that his desires are morally wrong because of this he wants to hide his thoughts from god who is represented by the symbols of stars and light he seems afraid to even fantasize about killing king duncan as he knows that his sense of reason will be overpowered by his ambition importantly these words show that macbeth is conflicted because although he intensely desires power he is also unwilling to openly challenge god by murdering the divinely appointed king the literary devices used in these lines highlight this dilemma as the alliteration of let and light and deep and desires as well as the juxtaposition of the word stars fires and light with black and deep emphasize the choice he must make between the path of morality or the path of uncontrolled ambition yet do i fear thy nature it is too full of the milk of human kindness this quote is from lady macbeth in act 1 scene 5 and refers to her husband macbeth it is one of the first lines she speaks and it reveals a lot about both of their characters she knows that although he is a soldier and regularly participates in acts of violence he is not a murderer by nature which proves that macbeth is not a two-dimensional villain and may be a kind and empathetic person at heart by saying she fears his nature however she is implying that she sees these traits as weaknesses the wording she uses for the milk of human kindness is a subtle dig at his masculinity as it associates his good qualities with breastfeeding because it would have been very unusual for a woman in shakespearean times to have these views she is setting herself up to be a villain in the eyes of the audience and a manipulator as well because lady macbeth knows that she will have to convince her husband to go through with the murder by accepting this role however she is just as guilty as macbeth and must therefore be punished in equal measure if you're enjoying this video so far please give us a like it really helps out the channel come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top full of diarist cruelty this is one of the most famous quotes in this play and it appears in act 1 scene 5 where lady macbeth is asking dark spirits to strip her of her femininity so that she can take on the role of a cold-blooded killer there are many alliterative words used such as fill full crown cruelty toe top which gives the impression of a ritual or invocation these few lines really illustrate the idea of gender roles in this play as she believes that in order to achieve any kind of power at a time where women were incredibly restricted she needs to embody traits associated with masculinity such as ruthlessness and cruelty because she does not trust her husband to be man enough to kill the king she must play the masculine role to see it through however this was not considered to be natural behavior which is why she must call on the supernatural to make this change it also reveals that she is not normally disposed towards cruelty since she must ask to be filled with it and this foreshadows her inability to cope with the consequences of her unnatural deeds is this a dagger which i see before me macbeth speaks this well-known line as he is on his way to kill king duncan in act 2 scene 1 and it is an important milestone in this play because it reveals his hesitation and inner conflict right up to the point of murder the vision of a bloody dagger brings up the theme of fate vs free will because it is not clear whether it is a supernatural sign guiding him towards his destiny or a hallucination proceeding from his anxiety adult mind he may be using fate and the vision as an excuse to kill the king because he would not be able to reconcile his conscience with the act otherwise regardless this vision leads him to finally make the choice to serve his selfish ambition despite all his previous misgivings and also foreshadows the other ghosts and hallucinations which will haunt him and his wife later for more information on fate vs free will take a look at my video on the themes in macbeth had he not resembled my father as he slept i had done it while she is waiting for her husband to do the dirty work of killing the king lady macbeth says this line in act 2 scene 2 which potentially exposes a softer more vulnerable side to her character clearly she is capable of empathy if she relates duncan to her father but there is also room to question whether it is an excuse to hide her inability to kill in shakespearean times it was assumed that although women were capable of manipulation and cunning they were incapable of violence so for all of lady macbeth's attempts to embody masculine traits she must still rely on her husband to carry out the murder additionally because she has tried to force her nature into what was seen as an unnatural masculinity she suffers a complete mental breakdown at the end of the play this implies that she is being punished for venturing outside of her gender norms and supports an old-fashioned view of women as the weaker sex sleep no more macbeth does murder sleep right after he murders king duncan macbeth tells his wife that he heard a voice saying these haunting words there is a supernatural element to the shapeless voice which reflects his mental state as he knows that he has condemned his soul by committing regicide because he has such a strong reaction to what he has done it allows the audience to feel some sympathy for macbeth despite his terrible crime in comparison if he was not affected by the murder he would be much more of a two-dimensional villain but he immediately realizes that there will be far-reaching consequences for his actions sleep is often used throughout this play as a symbol of innocence and in this line it is personified which implies that macbeth has destroyed the innocence of himself and his wife from here on out they are both troubled by insomnia and sleepwalking which eventually triggers lady macbeth's break from reality it is unnatural even like the deed that's done this line is spoken by an old man in act 2 scene 4 who remarks on the strange events that happen after duncan's death the murder of a divinely appointed king at the time would have disrupted the natural order and nature reacts violently as a result there are rumors of earthquakes and bizarre occurrences such as the king's horses breaking loose and eating each other the significance of these words being spoken by this nameless old man is to emphasize that these events are not commonplace as he says he has not seen the like in all his years of living it is very clear that macbeth has committed a heinous sin by usurping the throne and this quotation foreshadows the failure of his reign as even nature is seemingly against him not had all spent where our desires got without content in act 3 scene 2 lady macbeth has a moment alone where she says this line and it is so important because we are able to see a different side to her than the facade she puts on in the presence of others it is revealed that she too is suffering from remorse although she never shows this to her husband and instead rebukes him constantly for his inability to move on from their crime however neither of them are disposed to villainy and murder and therefore they are not suited to deal with the consequences of their actions both she and macbeth actually wish they were dead rather than be tortured by their guilt and her words reflect this all of their success is meaningless and hollow because they cannot enjoy it and must constantly live in fear of the repercussions out damned spot out i say here's the smell of the blood still all the perfumes of arabia will not sweet in this little hand these words are from the very well-known sleepwalking scene in act 5 scene 1 which displays lady macbeth's dramatic mental decline she has been troubled by sleepwalking and hallucinations of blood on her hands that cannot be washed clean both the symbols of blood and lack of sleep have been forefront throughout the play as representations of guilt so it is a fitting end for lady macbeth who has put on a show of strength and composure thus far her inability to get rid of the sight and smell of blood in her hands is in direct contradiction to her words after the murder of king duncan where she says a little water clears us of this deed she knows now that she will never be rid of the guilt which haunts her and this knowledge drives her to take her own life out out brief candle life's but a walking shadow it is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing after hearing of his wife's death in act 5 scene 5 macbeth reflects on the briefness and pointlessness of life using the metaphors of candles and shadows it is a rather cold reaction in comparison to mcduff's passionate response to his family's slaughter and shows just how worn down he is by his guilt and paranoia he remarks that there is no real joy or meaning to be found in life and shakespeare seems to suggest that this is the consequence of going against god in the natural order to serve one's own ambition all the burning emotions and desire for power seem to have fizzled out as he prepares to fight malcolm's army but his negative perspective on life is purely a result of his immoral actions he has of his own accord turned what could have been a long and happy life into a short and miserable one this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen malcolm speaks this line in act 5 scene 11 before he goes to scone to be crowned the new and rightful king of scotland this is the last description of macbeth and lady macbeth in the play and aptly sums up what people think of him as a king or rather a tyrant there's no sadness for his death or respect for the man he once was as everyone is now aware of his crimes and by referring to him as a butcher malcolm is implying that he is a ruthless remorseless killer lady macbeth is also called fiendlike and these descriptions dehumanize them both they are definitely not entirely accurate depictions of the macbeths as we know that they are far more complex than a pair of outright villains but as a new king malcolm would obviously not be sympathetic towards them in comparison to the way macbeth is portrayed at the beginning of the play this quote reminds us how far macbeth has fallen from grace in the eyes of his country and what tragic choices led him to this point thanks for watching guys if you enjoyed this video please leave a like and subscribe for more content see you next time [Music] you