Notes on Top 50 Quotes from Macbeth

Introduction

• The play begins with the witches' foreboding spell.
• They discuss their plan to meet Macbeth and chant, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair."

Report of the Battle

• King Duncan receives a report of the battle.
• Sergeant praises Macbeth: "disdaining Fortune with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution."
• Duncan learns about the betrayal by the Thane of Cawdor.
• Orders the execution of the Thane of Cawdor, awarding the title to Macbeth: "What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won."

Prophecies from the Witches

• Weird sisters appear to Macbeth and Banquo.
• Witches to Macbeth: "All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter."
• Banquo's prophecy: "Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none."
• Banquo warns: "The instruments of darkness tell us truths."

Arrival at Forres

• Duncan praises Macbeth: "I have begun to plant thee and will labor to make thee full of growing."
• Duncan announces his son, Malcolm, as the next in line to the throne.
• Macbeth's aside: "Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires."

Letter to Lady Macbeth

• Macbeth writes to Lady Macbeth, sharing news of the witches and his promotion.
• Lady Macbeth fears Macbeth is "too full of the milk of human kindness."
• Lady Macbeth's invocation: "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here."
• Advises Macbeth: "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it."

Duncan's Arrival at Inverness

• Duncan arrives, praises the castle: "This castle hath a pleasant seat."
• Macbeth debates killing Duncan: "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition."
• Lady Macbeth mocks Macbeth's hesitation: "When thou durst do it, then you are a man."

The Murder of Duncan

• Macbeth sees a vision of a dagger: "Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?"
• Lady Macbeth's reaction to the murder: "It was the owl that shrieked."
• Macbeth returns, holding bloody daggers; Lady Macbeth: "Infirm of purpose, give me the daggers."
• Macbeth laments: "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?"
• Porter imagines himself as Hellgate's porter.
• Macduff announces Duncan’s death: "Horror! Horror! Horror!"
• Macbeth kills the chamberlains: "His silver skin laced with his golden blood."
• Malcolm and Donalbain flee: "The near in blood, the nearer bloody."

Macbeth's Kingship

• Banquo recalls the witches’ prophecy: "Thou shalt get kings."
• Macbeth’s resentment: "Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown."
• Macbeth’s paranoia: "O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife."

Banquo's Murder

• Banquo is killed; Fleance escapes: "Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!"
• Banquo’s ghost appears at the banquet: "Thou canst not say I did it; never shake thy gory locks at me."
• Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s sanity: "Are you a man?"
• Macbeth resolves to visit the witches: "I am in blood stepped in so far..."

Second Encounter with the Witches

• Witches chant: "Double, double, toil and trouble."
• Warnings to Macbeth:
  • "Beware Macduff."
  • "None of woman born shall harm Macbeth."
  • "Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him."
• Macbeth orders the murder of Macduff’s family.

Macduff's Family

• Lady Macduff laments: "I am in this earthly world."
• Malcolm tests Macduff’s loyalty: "It weeps, it bleeds..."
• Ross informs Macduff about his family's murder: "What, all my pretty chickens and their dam at one fell swoop?"
• Malcolm and Macduff resolve to invade Scotland.

Lady Macbeth's Collapse

• Lady Macbeth sleepwalks: "Out, damned spot!"
• Macbeth's despair: "Life’s but a walking shadow..."

Battle and Macbeth's Death

• Malcolm’s soldiers use branches from Birnam Wood.
• Macbeth’s confidence: "I bear a charmed life."
• Macduff’s revelation: "From his mother’s womb untimely ripp’d."
• Macbeth’s final stand: "Before my body, I throw my warlike shield."
• Macduff kills Macbeth.
• Malcolm’s restoration: "Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland in such an honor named."
• Describes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth: "This dead butcher and his fiend-like queen."