macbeth essay quotes

Macbeth Quotes

Read our selection of the most memorable and significant Macbeth quotes. William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is one of his most often quoted plays, with famous quotes aplenty.

As ever, Shakespeare brings his Mabeth characters to life with memorable dialogue and a number of intense monologues and soliloquies. We’ve pulled together all of the top Macbeth quotes below from primary and secondary characters – as well as a good selection from the eponymous hero and his wife – shown in order of the quote appearing in the play, listing the character speaking along with act and scene.

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”

Three Witches (Act 1 Scene 1)

“What bloody man is that?”

King Duncan (Act 1 Scene 2)

“If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow and which will not.”

Banquo (Act 1 Scene 3)

“Or have we eaten on the insane root That takes the reason prisoner?”

“What! can the devil speak true?”

“Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings.”

King Duncan (Act 1 Scene 4)

“There’s daggers in men’s smiles”

Donalbain (Act 2 Scene 3)

“ Double, double toil and trouble : Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”

Witches (Act 4 Scene 1)

“By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes .”

Second Witch (Act 4 Scene 1)

“Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him.”

Third apparition (Act 4 Scene 1)

“A deed without a name.”

“When our actions do not, Our fears do make us traitors.”

Lady Macduff (Act 4 Scene 2)

“Now does he feel his title Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe Upon a dwarfish thief.”

Angus (Act 5 Scene 2)

“Tongue nor heart Cannot conceive nor name thee!”

Macduff (Act 2 Scene 3)

“The patient Must minister to himself.”

Doctor (Act 5 Scene 3)

“Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death.”

Macduff (Act 5 Scene 6)

…and here are some Macbeth quotes from Macbeth himself:

“Nothing is But what is not.”

Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 3)

“Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.”

“False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”

Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 7)

“I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none.”

“ If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well It were done quickly.”

“To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on th’other”

“ Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee: I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.”

Macbeth (Act 2 Scene 1)

“Thou sure and firm-set earth, Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate of my whereabout”

“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.”

Macbeth (Act 2 Scene 2)

“Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep:  the innocent sleep, Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast.”

“Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.”

Macbeth (Act 3 Scene 2)

“Blood will have blood.”

Macbeth (Act 3 Scene 4)

“It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood.”

“How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!”

Macbeth (Act 4 Scene 1)

“The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon! Where gott’st thou that goose look?”

Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 3)

“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”

Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 5)

“I bear a charmed life.”

Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 8)

Macbeth quotes by Lady Macbeth:

The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements”

Lady Macbeth ( Act 1, Scene 5 )

“Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness.”

Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 5)

“Come  you spirits , That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here.”

“O, never Shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time, Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under ‘t. He that’s coming Must be provide for: and you shall put This night’s great business into my dispatch, Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.”

“Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood. Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry “Hold, hold!””

“Would’st thou have that Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,” Like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?”

Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 7)

“I have given suck, and know How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this.”

“I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss ‘em. Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done’t.”

Lady Macbeth (Act 2, Scene 2)

“ Out! damned spot!  One, two, — why, then ‘tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? – Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.”

Lady Macbeth ( Act 5, Scene 1 )

“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”

Lady Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 1)

“What’s done cannot be undone.”

Are any of your favourite Macbeth quotes missing from this list? Please let us know in the comments below! We also have this list of LadyMacbeth quotes that might be of interest :)

Read Mabeth quotes in modern English :

• Is this a dagger which I see before me?
• If it were done when ’tis done
• The raven himself is hoarse
• Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
• More about the RSC’s take on Macbeth on screen

Shakespeare Quotes by Play

Hamlet Quotes | Henry V Quotes | Julius Caesar Quotes | King Lear Quotes | Macbeth Quotes | A Midsummer Night’s Dream Quotes | Much Ado About Nothing Quotes | Othello Quotes | Romeo and Juliet Quotes | The Tempest Quotes | Twelfth Night Quotes

See All Macbeth Resources

Macbeth | Macbeth summary | Macbeth characters : Banquo , Lady Macbeth , Macbeth , Macduff , Three Witches | Macbeth settings | Modern Macbeth translation  | Macbeth full text | Macbeth PDF  |  Modern Macbeth ebook | Macbeth for kids ebooks | Macbeth quotes | Macbeth ambition quotes |  Macbeth quote translations | Macbeth monologues | Macbeth soliloquies | Macbeth movies | Macbeth themes

• WhatsApp 34
• Pinterest 0

haha we laughed about the egg quote for 20 minutes in class when we learnt macbeth

are you popping bottles, sparkles and champagne?

you forgot ‘look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t’.

nah its on there m8 but you jus never read the long quotes

They didn’t i saw it. Macbeth is such an amazing play with so many plot twists. Shakespeare is an amazing playwright

nah bro macbeth is mid but a fitty

I Love the egg quote it reminded me o f eggs

What about ” I am in blood stepts so far that to wade no more would be as tedious as to return over!

this book sucks so much i want to strangle shakespeare when he was a baby so i dont have to be here 700 years later reading on some pure WAFFLE!!

macbeth is a baby

Leave a Reply

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

by William Shakespeare

Macbeth quotes and analysis.

"Double, double toil and trouble / Fire burn, and cauldron bubble" Witches, 1.1

In this famous quotation from the play, the three witches are gathered around their cauldron as they predict Macbeth's future. This scene immediately imbues the play with a dark and sinister mood, while also showcasing how the supernatural will figure into the rest of the plot. The witches' incantation is frequently quoted due to its rhymed couplets and sing-song rhythm.

"Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty!" Lady Macbeth, 1.5

In this famous quotation, Lady Macbeth expresses her desire to become more cruel so as to complete the murder of King Duncan alongside Macbeth. She asks for the spirits to "unsex" her, suggesting that in order to take part in Duncan's murder, she must dispel with femininity altogether. This quotation remains famous because it highlights the play's exploration of gender and power.

"I have given suck, and know / How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me / I would, while it was smiling in my face / Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums / And dashed the brains out." Lady Macbeth, 1.7

After asking to be stripped of her femininity, Lady Macbeth appears to have gotten her wish as she delivers this disturbing but telling speech. Here, she attempts to prove how cold-hearted she can truly be by admitting that she would have murdered her own child. This quotation also reveals that Lady Macbeth had had a child at some point, despite not having any children in the present. This speech adds depth to Lady Macbeth's character while foreshadowing her formidable behavior for the rest of the play.

"If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well / It were done quickly." Macbeth, 1.7

This quotation introduces an extended soliloquy by Macbeth in which he puzzles over whether he should murder Duncan. He speaks here in the conditional tense, which underscores his uncertainty and doubts over the task that lies before him. By the end of the speech, he has all but decided not to go through with the murder, but Lady Macbeth will convince him otherwise.

"Is this a dagger which I see before me, / This handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. / I have thee not, and yet I see thee still." Macbeth, 2.1

In this quotation, Macbeth imagines a dagger in front of him that is not really there. This instance marks the first time that Macbeth has a hallucination, suggesting his descent into stress-induced madness. It also reflects the play's overall interest in portraying the supernatural as a formidable force.

"Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine." Macbeth, 2.2

After Macbeth murders Duncan, he runs into Lady Macbeth and attempts to clean his hands of Duncan's blood. Here, he expresses his anxiety that the blood will not come off, using a metaphor for the guilt he feels over what he has done. Macbeth is crippled by shame and does not foresee any relief.

"To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus." Macbeth, 3.1

These are the words that Macbeth speaks after he has become king. Here, he devalues the simple act of becoming king (especially given the action he had to take to get there), and emphasizes that it is only a meaningful title if he can maintain it. Macbeth thus expresses anxiety and paranoia that he is unsafe in the position, which ultimately leads to his decisions to have more potential inheritors murdered.

"For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind / For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered." Macbeth, 3.1

Here, Macbeth expresses his worry that the murder of Duncan was not worth the guilt he feels, as the witches have prophesied that it is Banquo's sons who will eventually take over the throne. This quotation emphasizes Macbeth's desperate state that eventually predicts his downfall. It also highlights the play's interest in patrilineal succession, as Macbeth has no heirs, like Banquo, to continue his line after his death.

"Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold / Thou hast no speculation in those eyes." Macbeth, 3.4

When Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost, he attempts to convince himself that Banquo is not really there. In doing so, he admits that he is descending into madness with yet another hallucinatory experience. This quotation also underscores the guilt Macbeth feels over having called for the murder of Banquo and his sons.

"To bed, to bed. There’s knocking at the gate. Come, / come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s done / cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed." Lady Macbeth, 5.1

These are the final lines that Lady Macbeth speaks in the play. Her nervous cadence and erratic repetition suggest her own descent into a mad state, as she can no longer think clearly or logically. Instead, she retreats "to bed," suggesting that she has lost the strength and fervor she carried in earlier acts of the play.

Macbeth Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Macbeth is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

The third which says that Banquo's sons shall be kings, Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

Macbeth Act 1 Scene 3 questions

What is significant about the first words that Macbeth speaks in the play?

A motif or recurring idea in the play is equivocation. There is the balance of the dark and the light, the good and the bad. Macbeth's first line reflects this. It...

What news took the wind out of Macbeth's invincibility?

Macbeth rethinks his invincibility when MacDuff tells him that he was torn from his mother's womb.

Study Guide for Macbeth

Macbeth study guide contains a biography of William Shakespeare, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Macbeth
• Macbeth Summary
• Macbeth Video
• Character List

Essays for Macbeth

Macbeth essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

• Serpentine Imagery in Shakespeare's Macbeth
• Macbeth's Evolution
• Jumping the Life to Come
• Deceptive Appearances in Macbeth
• Unity in Shakespeare's Tragedies

Lesson Plan for Macbeth

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Macbeth
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Macbeth Bibliography

E-Text of Macbeth

Macbeth e-text contains the full text of Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

• Persons Represented
• Act I, Scene I
• Act I, Scene II
• Act I, Scene III
• Act I, Scene IV

Wikipedia Entries for Macbeth

• Introduction
• Sources for the play
• Date and text

43 of the best key quotes in Macbeth and their meanings

Laycie Beck

Studying Shakespeare is something everybody will do, whether it’s at school, college or university. There is no denying that Macbeth is a staple of English classes in general. But knowing the key quotes in Macbeth for your GCSEs, A-levels or degree is crucial, especially if you’re on a deadline or revising for an exam. We’ve provided a useful summary of all the Macbeth key quotes and a brief analysis to help you out.

What is Macbeth about?

Macbeth” is a renowned tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in the early 17th century. This dark and powerful play delves into the destructive effects of ambition, guilt, and moral corruption.

The story unfolds in medieval Scotland and follows the rise and fall of the titular character, Macbeth, a valiant warrior and a thane (a Scottish noble). The play begins with Macbeth earning high praise for his bravery and skill in battle, defending King Duncan’s realm. However, his encounter with three witches, or Weird Sisters, sets the stage for his tragic downfall. The witches prophesy that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor and eventually the King of Scotland.

Intrigued and ambitious, Macbeth shares this prophecy with his wife, Lady Macbeth, a character as ambitious and ruthless as Macbeth himself. Together, they hatch a plan to hasten the prophecy’s fulfilment. This leads to Macbeth’s murder of King Duncan and his subsequent ascension to the throne. However, this act of regicide plunges both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into a world of guilt, paranoia, and madness.

As the play progresses, Macbeth becomes increasingly tyrannical and bloodthirsty, ordering the murder of those he perceives as threats, including his friend Banquo and the family of his rival, Macduff. These acts of violence and betrayal create a climate of fear and unrest in Scotland.

Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth, tormented by guilt, descends into madness, leading to one of the play’s most famous scenes where she attempts to wash the imagined bloodstains from her hands. Macbeth, too, is haunted by his deeds, experiencing hallucinations and deepening paranoia.

The play reaches its climax as Macduff, seeking revenge for the slaughter of his family, leads an army against Macbeth. Despite a second set of prophecies from the witches that seem to suggest Macbeth is invincible, he is ultimately defeated and killed in battle, and Malcolm, Duncan’s son, is restored to the throne.

“Macbeth” explores themes such as the corrupting power of unchecked ambition, the moral and psychological effects of guilt and sin, and the relationship between violence and tyranny. It also delves into the supernatural and the ambiguous nature of prophecy. The play remains a timeless classic, resonating with modern audiences for its exploration of the dark aspects of human nature and the consequences of moral decay.

Most important Macbeth key quotes and analysis

1. “Fair is foul and foul is fair”

Who: The Witches

Where: Scene 1, Act 1

Meaning: This quote reflects the play’s theme of ambiguity and moral confusion. What is perceived as good (fair) is actually bad (foul) and vice versa, indicating a world turned upside down by deceit and evil.

2. “What bloody man is that?”

Who: King Duncan

Where: Scene 2, Act 1

Meaning : King Duncan is inquiring about a sergeant who is covered in blood. This sets the tone for the play’s violent and bloody nature.

3. “If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not.”

Who: Banquo

Where: Scene 3, Act 1

Meaning : Banquo is asking the witches to predict his future, as they did for Macbeth, showing his curiosity about his own fate.

4. Or have we eaten on the insane root that takes the reason prisoner?”

Meaning : Here, Banquo is questioning the reality of his encounter with the witches, wondering if they have eaten a hallucinogenic plant that has led them to hallucinate the witches.

5. “What! Can the devil speak true?”

Meaning: Banquo is shocked that the witches’ prophecy about Macbeth has come true, suggesting that sometimes evil tells the truth to serve its purposes.

6. “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.”

Where: Scene 4, Act 1

Meaning : This is King Duncan expressing that sometimes our fears are not as bad as the horrors we imagine, reflecting the theme of fear and foresight.

7. “There’s daggers in men’s smiles.”

Who: Donalbain

Where: Scene 3, Act 2

Meaning : Highlighting a theme of deception, Donalbain implies that there are hidden dangers and betrayals even in friendly appearances.

8. “Double, double toil and trouble: Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”

Where: Scene 1, Act 4

Meaning : The witches chant this as they concoct a spell, symbolising the dark and mysterious forces at work in the play

9. “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”

Who: Second Witch

Meaning: The Second Witch senses Macbeth’s approach, indicating that evil is drawn to evil.

10. “Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam wood to high Dusinane Hill shall come against him.”

Who: Third Apparition

Meaning: The Third Apparition’s prophecy suggests that Macbeth will not be defeated until an impossible event (a forest moving) occurs, giving Macbeth a false sense of security.

11. “A deed without a name.”

Meaning: Here the Witches are refering to their own actions, which are so unnatural and horrific that they cannot be named.

12. “When our actions do not, our fears do make us traitors.”

Who: Lady Macduff

Where: Scene 2, Act 4

Meaning: Lady Macduff suggests that fear can lead us to betray ourselves or others, reflecting on the consequences of fear and paranoia.

13. “Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name thee!”

Meaning: This is a reaction from Lady Macduff, where she is expressing her inability to fully comprehend or articulate the horror and evil she is facing.

14. “The patient must minister to himself.”

Who: Doctor

Where: Scene 3, Act 5

Meaning:  The Doctor implies that some ailments, particularly those of the mind or soul, must be healed by the individual, not by a physician.

15. “Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death.”

Where: Scene 6, Act 5

Meaning:  Lady Macduff refers to the signs that foretell violence and death, possibly alluding to the omens and prophecies in the play that predict tragedy.

Macbeth quotes from Macbeth himself

Of course, many of the key quotes in Macbeth come from Macbeth himself. As the central character in William Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name, he undergoes a profound and tragic transformation throughout the play. Initially presented as a valiant and respected hero, Macbeth’s character evolves dramatically following his encounter with the supernatural (the Weird Sisters) and under the influence of his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth.

His bravery, ambition, and self-doubt are key attributes that struggle for dominance within him, according to Sparknotes.   As the play progresses, these traits, particularly his ambition and susceptibility to doubt and guilt, lead him down a dark path. Macbeth becomes a figure of tyranny and moral decay, illustrating the catastrophic effects of unchecked ambition and a weak character. His journey from hero to villain is marked by his increasingly ruthless actions, including regicide and other murders, and is driven by both human flaws and supernatural elements. Ultimately, Macbeth’s tragic downfall is a result of his internal conflicts and the consequences of his actions, making him a complex and deeply flawed character in Shakespearean literature If you’re in need of Macbeth quotes from the man himself, look no further…

16. “I have no spur, to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself and falls on the other”

Who: Macbeth

Where: Scene 7, Act 1

Meaning: Macbeth acknowledges that he has no real reason to kill Duncan, only his excessive ambition, which might lead to his downfall.

17. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.”

Where: Scene 2, Act 2

Meaning:  Macbeth realises that his guilt (symbolised by the blood on his hands) is so great that it would turn the oceans red, rather than being washed away.

18. “Nothing is but what is not.”

Meaning:  Macbeth is contemplating the paradoxical nature of reality, suggesting that what exists is defined by what does not.

19. “Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day.”

Meaning:  Here, Macbeth is expressing a sense of fatalism, accepting whatever may happen in the future.

20. “False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”

Meaning:  The advice given here by Macbeth is that one must hide their true, evil intentions behind a false appearance.

21. “Stars hide your fires; let not light see my dark and deep desires”

Meaning: Talking to the stars, Macbeth is asking them not to shine on his evil plans, so that his intentions remain hidden.

22. “I dare do all that may become a man; who dares do more is none.”

Meaning: Macbeth asserts that he is willing to do anything that is appropriate for a man to do; anyone who does more is not a true man.

23. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee: I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.”

Where: Scene 1, Act 2

Meaning: While hallucinating a dagger, Macbeth is manifesting his guilt and intent to murder Duncan

24. “I am in blood, steeped in so far, that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er”

Where: Scene 4, Act 3

Meaning:  Macbeth acknowledges that he is so deep into his murderous actions that it’s as hard to stop as it is to continue.

25. “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly.”

Meaning: This is the moment that Macbeth is musing that if the murder could be completed quickly and have no consequences, it would be best to get it over with quickly.

26. “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep: the innocent sleep, sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care, the death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, chief nourished in life’s feast.”

Meaning: Tormented by guilt after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is feeling that he has murdered the peaceful innocence of sleep.

27. “Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.”

Where: Scene 2, Act 3

Meaning:  This quote suggests that once you start doing evil things, they strengthen and perpetuate themselves through further evil actions.

28. “Blood will have blood.”

Where: Scene

Meaning: Macbeth means that one violent act will inevitably lead to another, as each act of violence necessitates further violence to cover it up.

29. “Thou sure and firm-set earth, hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear thy very stones prate of my whereabouts.”

Meaning:  So consumed by guilt and fear, Macbeth is imagining the ground itself might betray his murderous actions.

30. “How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!”

Meaning:  Macbeth addresses the witches, acknowledging their dark and mysterious nature.

31. “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Where: Scene 5, Act 5

Meaning: After hearing of his wife’s death, Macbeth reflects on the futility and meaninglessness of life.

32. “I bear a charmed life.”

Where: Scene 8, Act 5

Meaning:  Macbeth believes he is invincible because of the witches’ prophecy that no man born of a woman can harm him.

33. “The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon! Where gott’st thou that goose look?”

Meaning:  In a state of paranoia and anger, Macbeth berates a servant.

Macbeth quotes by Lady Macbeth

Among all of Shakespeare’s plays, Lady Macbeth is one of the most complex and powerful female characters, is central to the dramatic development of “Macbeth.” Known for her burning ambition to be queen, she exhibits a fascinating blend of strength, ambition, and psychological complexity. Initially, she is portrayed as a strong, manipulative figure, deeply involved in plotting King Duncan’s murder and challenging traditional gender roles. Her taunting of Macbeth’s courage and her lack of humanity highlight her ruthless nature.

However, as the play progresses, Lady Macbeth’s facade of strength crumbles under the weight of guilt and madness. Her descent into madness, marked by sleepwalking and obsessive hand-washing, reflects her deep remorse and inability to cope with the consequences of her actions. This transformation from a figure of immense power and control to a tragic, guilt-ridden character underscores the themes of ambition, power, and the psychological repercussions of guilt in Shakespeare’s work. If you’re studying Macbeth, it’s a good idea to know about Lady Macbeth and her most important key quotes and lines from Macbeth.

34. “The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements.”

Who: Lady Macbeth

Where: Scene 5, Act 1

Meaning:  Lady Macbeth sees the raven as a symbol of Duncan’s impending death at her castle.

35. “Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness.”

Meaning:  Fearing that Macbeth is too kind and moral to seize the crown by murder, Lady Macbeth is questioning his nature.

36. “O, never shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men may read strange matters. To beguile the time, look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue. Look like the’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t. He that’s coming must be provide for: and you shall put this night’s great business into my dispatch, which shall to all our nights and days to come give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.”

Meaning:  Lady Macbeth instructs Macbeth to hide his true intentions and act welcoming to King Duncan.

37. “Would’st thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem, letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,” like the poor cat i’ the’ adage?”

Meaning: Challenging Macbeth’s manhood, Lady Macbeth is accusing him of being a coward for hesitating to murder Duncan.

38. “Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”

Where: Scene 1, Act 5

Meaning: Here Lady Macbeth is showing how she is tormented by guilt, imagining that her hands will never be free of the smell of blood.

39. “Come, you spirits, that tend on mortal thoughts. Unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood. Stop up the’ access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visiting of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, wherever in your sightless substances you wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, to cry “Hold, hold!””

Meaning: Lady Macbeth calls on evil spirits to make her ruthless and capable of committing murder.

40. “When thou durst do it, then you were a man”

Meaning:  This is another quote where Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s manhood, suggesting that he would be more of a man if he went through with the murder.

41. “I have given suck, and know how tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.”

Meaning:  Lady Macbeth is expressing her commitment to their murderous plan, suggesting she would kill her own child if she had sworn to do so, as Macbeth has sworn to kill Duncan.

42. “I laid their daggers ready; he could not miss ’em. Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t.”

Meaning:  Here she reveals she would have killed Duncan herself if he hadn’t reminded her of her father, showing her ruthless nature and commitment to their plan.

42. “Out! Damned spot! One, two – why, then ’tis time to don’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? – Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.”

Meaning:  In her madness, Lady Macbeth is obsessively trying to wash away an imaginary bloodstain, symbolising her guilt over the murders.

43. “What’s done cannot be undone.”

Meaning: Lady Macbeth is acknowledging that the consequences of their actions are irreversible, expressing despair and resignation.

The key quotes in Macbeth come from all different characters, with many from the leading characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. They’re bound to be an essential element of any assignment or exam surrounding the infamous Shakespeare play. If you’re planning to do more literature study in the future, then you’ll need to know the best universities for English Literature in the UK . Luckily, we’ve found them for you.

Popular Posts

15 best small festivals in the uk 2024, how to stop your housemates stealing your food, quiz: what degree should you do based on your personality, my top tips on how to survive a university placement (and still make time to study), the pros and cons of studying abroad, featured writers.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

• Partner With Us
• Write For Us
• Get In Touch

Privacy Overview

Bhcjks6msgh, view our latest deals.

Macbeth: Key Quotes Explained

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

If, as the old quip has it, Hamlet is a great play but it has too many quotations in it, a similar charge might be laid against Macbeth , one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. So many lines in the play have become proverbial and are often quoted outside of the context of the play itself.

But what are the most famous quotations from Macbeth , and what do they mean? Let’s look at some of the most important quotations found in this short tragedy.

‘When shall we three meet again?’

This opening scene of the play , according to the stage directions, takes place in ‘an open place’. Immediately, Shakespeare establishes an atmosphere of foreboding: the storm which begins Macbeth heralds the turbulent events which are going to follow, all of which the Witches have prophesied. The opening lines of the play run:

FIRST WITCH When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

SECOND WITCH When the hurly-burly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won.

‘ Fair is foul, and foul is fair ’.

This line is spoken by the three Witches or Weird Sisters towards the end of the play’s opening scene:

‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair Hover through the fog and filthy air.’

The line ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’ is almost proverbial, and was already so when Shakespeare wrote this line. In Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene from the 1590s, for instance, we find the line, ‘Then faire grew foule, and foule grew faire in sight’.

Once again, here, we have the natural order being overturned and inverted, with the pair of opposites dissolving into one: fair has been rendered foul, and foul has become fair. Good and evil appear to have swapped places.

‘By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.’

This line is spoken by one of the Weird Sisters as Macbeth approaches them with Banquo, and suggests that the Witches have a kind of ‘sixth sense’ (the strange tingling they experience in their thumbs) about Macbeth being a bad egg.

‘I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition …’

Macbeth’s own description of his ‘vaulting ambition’ has become familiar to many a student of Shakespeare’s play: it neatly encapsulates the strong sense of ambition he feels, an ambition over which he does not have full control.

He is like a rider on a horse that got out of control, and whether or not the horse runs is not within his power (hence the reference to the ‘spur’, used by a rider to kick the horse into a run).

‘Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?’

So begins one of the most famous soliloquies in Shakespeare’s Macbeth – indeed, perhaps in all of Shakespeare. We have analysed it in detail here . It begins:

Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

‘Is this a dagger which I see before me’ is often staged, and filmed, with the dagger suspended in mid-air.

‘Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness’.

Spoken by Lady Macbeth to her husband, these lines reveal Lady Macbeth to be the more brutal and unfeeling of the pair, with no misgivings about murdering the king in order to achieve their aims.

In speaking these words, Lady Macbeth gave us a now ubiquitous phrase (‘milk of human kindness’, although Shakespeare may also have intended ‘milk of humankindness’, i.e. those qualities which make us part of humankind), drawing on early modern notions of milk-drinking as leading to softness and soppiness of temperament.

‘If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well It were done quickly’.

So begins one of the most famous and revealing soliloquies spoken by Macbeth. The words appear in act I scene VII of the play and see Macbeth, in a room in his castle, meditating on whether to go through with his (and his wife’s) plan to murder Duncan, the king, and seize the throne of Scotland for himself.

This speech also features the earliest known use of the word ‘assassination’.

‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?’

Spoken by Macbeth shortly after he has murdered Duncan in his bed, and his hands are still covered in the late king’s blood, this question is followed by an admission that nothing can wash the stain of this crime from his hand:

No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.

‘I am in blood Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.’

As you may have gathered by now, many of the most memorable quotations from Macbeth involve blood. In this quotation from Act 3, Macbeth acknowledges that he has already committed so many vile deeds that he may as well continue: he is beyond redemption, and there’s no way back now.

‘Double, double toil and trouble: Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.’

Spoken by the Witches in Act 4, these incantations are among the most memorable lines in the whole play, with the air of magic and witchcraft contained within them (they are spoken by the Weird Sisters as they put various disgusting ingredients into their bubbling cauldron) embodying the general mood of the play.

‘Out, damned spot! out, I say!’

Like Macbeth’s earlier complaint that all of Neptune’s oceans could not wash his bloody hand clean, Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking mutterings betray her guilt: the blood on her hands may be metaphorical (or hallucinatory), but the guilt she feels is the same. Her conscience has been well and truly pricked, and she will die (offstage) shortly after this. We have analysed this scene here .

‘What’s done cannot be undone.’

Also spoken by Lady Macbeth as she sleepwalks around the castle grounds, this line points up another aspect of the play’s linguistic fingerprint: the word ‘done’ and its homophones, present in Duncan, Dunsinane, and all the various uses of the word ‘done’ in the play (‘If it were done’, etc.).

‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow’.

Spoken upon hearing of the death of his wife, Macbeth’s speech from towards the end of this play has become famous for this line as well as the phrases ‘full of sound and fury / Signifying nothing’ and ‘Out, out, brief candle!’ The speech begins:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death.

Macbeth’s speech is about the futility and illusoriness of all life and everything we do: we are all bound for the grave, and life doesn’t seem to mean anything, ultimately. He is responding to the news that Lady Macbeth is dead here; it’s the beginning of the end for him.

Discover more from Interesting Literature

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.

Type your email…

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Macbeth Quotes

Every masterpiece or a literary piece has unique quotations expressing universal themes. These quotes are often quoted by all in common conversation and specific writings, speeches, and addresses. Some of the famous quotes from Macbeth , which convey the same collective themes and expressions, are discussed below.

Famous Quotes from Macbeth

“When shall we three meet again / In thunder, lightning, or in rain ? / When the hurly burly ‘s done, /When the battle ‘s lost and won.”

(Lines 1-4, Act I, Scene I).

These are the initial lines spoken by First Witch and Second Witch when weaving a spell to lure Macbeth. These lines are rhyming with each other to show that the incantation of the witches has begun. The main theme of these lines is to decide when the witches would meet next. While the first witch expresses the unfavorable weather, the Second Witch says that they might meet after all the chaos is over and one of the kingdoms has won the war in Scotland.

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair / Hover through the fog and filthy air.”

(Lines 12-13, Act I, Scene I).

Three witches who appear in Macbeth in the first scene speak these lines as they continue to weave their spell. They say that whatever they do seems good, but it will bring evil. In the same way, whatever seems bad is actually good. They agree with each other to vanish after the incantation is over and while the air is still dirty and misty. Perhaps to make things from bad to worse.

“If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me / Without my stir.”

(Lines 144, Act I, Scene III).

Macbeth speaks these words in an aside when he is with Banquo, his loyal friend. As one of the witches prophecies came true and he already became Thane of Cawdor by chance. He is thinking about his future as a king. He believes that if the luck made him a Thame, he could also become a king. In that case, he doesn’t have to kill the king. In other words, he believes in destiny and prophecy will create a situation for him to be the king without him trying.

“Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness .”

(Lines 16-17, Act I, Scene V).

Lady Macbeth speaks these lines to evaluate that Macbeth is not as ruthless as she is. She thinks that he is too kind and compassionate to kill the King or anybody else. In fact, she is also afraid that Macbeth is unprepared in spite of the promise given by the witches. According to Lady Macbeth kind people cannot be in the higher position as they may lack authority.

“Where we are, / There’s daggers in men’s smiles, / The near in blood, the nearer bloody.”

(Lines 139-141, Act II, Sc. III).

Donalbain speaks these lines to Malcolm, his brother. They come to know, King Duncan, their father, has been murdered. Following the murder of the King, Macbeth also kills the guards in rage. As they try to recover from their loss, they understand that they cannot trust anyone. Also, people can pretend to be friends while harboring hate in their heart, and enemies are usually closer than their friends. The last line shows Donalbain’s mistrust on people around them. They know that their own relatives are now after their lives to get the throne of their father.

“Things without all remedy / Should be without regard: What’s done is done.”

(Lines 10-12, Act III, Scene II).

Lady Macbeth speaks these words to her husband, Macbeth, after he kills King Duncan. Macbeth suffers from hallucinations and mental breakdown after the murder. Hence, Lady Macbeth tells that there is no point of regretting over things that already happened because you cannot reverse it. Lady Macbeth encourages her husband to remove any regrets and forget the crime.

“I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none.”

(Lines 45-47, Act I, Sc. VII).

These lines are spoken by Macbeth when Lady Macbeth coaxes her husband to kill the King and become the king himself. However, he is not ready and tries to explain Lady Macbeth that he is happy with the honor he had already received. He is already a man and doesn’t need a dare to prove otherwise or commit an evil act. Here, Macbeth has not yet given into his wife’s manipulation to kill the king.

“Double, double toil and trouble; / Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”

(Act IV, Scene I).

The above lines are spoken by three witches while they are casting a spell over Macbeth. It doesn’t have a specific purpose. However, it could mean that though Macbeth would become the King he will face many troubles and eventually destroy himself.

“Here’s the smell of blood. / All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”

(Lines, 144, Act V, Sc. I).

Lady Macbeth speaks these words as she begins to feel guilty after King Duncan’s death. While Macbeth is able to accept his crime and becomes ambitious, Lady Macbeth loses her grip over the situations and becomes weaker. Also, remorse begins to weigh heavily upon her. Being a weak-minded, she starts sleepwalking and suffers from acute depression. As she recalls King’s death realizes that she played a huge part in the murder, she will not be able to wash away or hide her crime.

“ Out, out , brief candle! / Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage / And then is heard no more. It is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.”

(Lines 26-31, Act V, Scene V).

Macbeth speaks these words after Lady Macbeth’s death. He expresses that human life is nothing but a walking shadow. He also compares life with a candle that burns brightly before it melts away. He realizes that because of his actions he will face terrible consequences and his demise is inevitable. He further explains that life is nothing and humans are mere actors on the stage. Each has a small part to play before they become insignificant.

Related posts:

• Macbeth Themes
• Macbeth Characters
• Macbeth Motifs
• Hamlet Quotes
• Romeo and Juliet Quotes
• Othello Quotes
• The Awakening Quotes
• Frankenstein Quotes
• Oedipus Rex Quotes
• The Metamorphosis Quotes
• Odyssey Quotes
• Beloved Quotes
• Antigone Quotes
• Lord of the Flies Quotes
• Alice in the Wonderland Quotes
• Animal Farm Quotes
• The Scarlet Letter Quotes
• Great Expectations Quotes
• Heart of Darkness Quotes
• A Doll’s House Quotes
• Twelfth Night Quotes
• Fair is Foul, Foul is Fair
• Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
• 10 Examples of Irony in Shakespeare
• 1984 Quotes
• The Crucible Quotes
• Slaughterhouse-Five Quotes
• Catch-22 Quotes
• Inferno Quotes
• Fahrenheit 451 Quotes
• Into the Wild Quotes
• The Alchemist Quotes
• Night Quotes
• Life of Pi Quotes
• The Invisible Man Quotes
• The Tempest Quotes
• The Iliad Quotes
• The Jungle Quotes
• Siddhartha Quotes
• The Stranger Quotes
• The Aeneid Quotes
• Dracula Quotes
• Pride and Prejudice Quotes
• To Kill a Mockingbird Quotes
• The Great Gatsby Quotes
• Death of a Salesman Quotes
• Things Fall Apart Quotes
• The Things They Carried Quotes
• A Tale of Two Cities Quotes
• Jane Eyre Quotes
• The Grapes of Wrath Quotes
• Crime and Punishment Quotes
• Their Eyes Were Watching God Quotes
• Wuthering Heights Quotes
• In Cold Blood Quotes
• The Kite Runner Quotes
• The Glass Castle Quotes
• Julius Caesar Quotes
• King Lear Quotes
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Quotes
• 10 Memorable Uses of Apostrophe by Shakespeare
• Brevity is the Soul of Wit
• Et Tu, Brute?
• The Fault, Dear Brutus
• Wherefore Art Thou Romeo
• Frailty, Thy Name is Woman
• A Pound of Flesh
• A Rose by any Other Name
• Alas, Poor Yorick!
• All the World’s a Stage
• Neither a Borrower Nor a Lender Be
• My Kingdom for a Horse
• Once More unto the Breach
• Lady Doth Protest too Much
• To Sleep, Perchance to Dream
• Hamlet Act-I, Scene-I Study Guide
• Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
• There is a Tide in the Affairs of Men
• That Way Madness Lies
• The Winter of Our Discontent
• Hamlet Act-I, Scene-II Study Guide
• Hamlet Act-I, Scene-III Study Guide
• Romeo and Juliet Aside
• Romeo and Juliet Characters
• Romeo and Juliet Dramatic Irony
• Romeo and Juliet Foreshadowing
• Romeo and Juliet Personification
• Romeo and Juliet Similes
• Romeo and Juliet Soliloquy
• Romeo and Juliet Themes
• Hamlet Symbolism
• Hamlet Characters
• Hamlet Themes
• Beowulf Quotations
• Song of the Witches: Double, Double Toil and Trouble
• Twelfth Night Characters
• Twelfth Night Themes
• 10 Irony Examples in Shakespeare

Post navigation

• Quote of the Day
• Picture Quotes

Macbeth Essay Quotes

Standart top banner.

Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness.

If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.

False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

I am in blood Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er.

A little water clears us of this deed.

Fair is foul, and foul is fair, hover through fog and filthy air.

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other side

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.

Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it.

My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white.

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand! Oh, oh, oh!

Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return to plague the inventor.

I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more, is none

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

The instruments of darkness tell us truths.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? - Lady Macbeth

We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail.

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury; signifying nothing.

By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.

Nothing in his life became him like leaving it.

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

last adds STANDART BOTTOM BANNER

Send report.

• The author didn't say that
• There is a mistake in the text of this quote
• The quote belongs to another author
• Other error

Top Authors

Get Social with AzQuotes

Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Every day we present the best quotes! Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends

SIDE STANDART BANNER

• Javascript and RSS feeds
• WordPress plugin
• ES Version AZQuotes.ES
• Submit Quotes
• Privacy Policy

Login with your account

Create account, find your account.

'Macbeth' Quotes Explained

• Doctor of Arts, University of Albany, SUNY
• M.S., Literacy Education, University of Albany, SUNY
• B.A., English, Virginia Commonwealth University

Macbeth , William Shakespeare's bloodiest play, is one of the most quoted dramatic works in the English language. Memorable lines from the tragedy explore themes like reality and illusion, ambition and power, and guilt and remorse. Famous quotations from Macbeth are still recited (and sometimes spoofed) today in movies, TV shows, commercials, and even the daily news.

Quotes About Reality and Illusion

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air." (Act I, Scene 1)

The Tragedy of Macbeth opens with an eerie, supernatural scene. Amidst thunder and lightening, three witches moan into the wind. They tell us that nothing is as it seems. What's good ("fair") is evil ("foul"). What's evil is good. Everything is strangely reversed.

The witches—also called "weird sisters"—are odd and unnatural. They speak in sing-song rhymes, but describe filth and evil. There's an unexpected rhythm to their words. Most of Shakespeare's characters speak in iambs , with the emphasis falling on the second syllable: da- dum , da- dum . Shakespeare's witches, however, chant in  trochees . The emphasis falls on the first syllable: Fair is foul , and foul is fair .

This particular quote is also a paradox . By pairing opposites, the witches disrupt the natural order. Macbeth aligns himself with their twisted thinking when he echoes their words in Act I, Scene 3: "So foul and fair a day I have not seen[.]"

Shakespeare's witches are fascinating because they force us to question the natural order of things, as well as our notions about fate and free will. Appearing at key moments in Macbeth , they chant prophesies, spark Macbeth's lust for the throne, and manipulate his thinking.

"Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?" (Act II, Scene 1)

The witches also set the tone for moral confusion and hallucinatory scenes like Macbeth's encounter with a floating dagger. Here, Macbeth is preparing to murder the king when delivers this haunting soliloquy . His tortured imagination ("heat-oppressed brain") conjures the illusion of the murder weapon. His soliloquy becomes a chilling apostrophe in which he speaks directly to the dagger: "Come, let me clutch thee."

The dagger, of course, cannot respond. Like many things in Macbeth's distorted vision, it's not even real.

Quotes About Ambition and Power

"Stars, hide your fires;

Let not light see my black and deep desires."

(Act I, Scene 4)

Macbeth is a complex and conflicted character . His comrades call him "brave" and "worthy," but the witches' prophecy has awakened a secret longing for power. These lines, spoken by Macbeth as an aside, reveal the "black and deep desires" he struggles to hide. Lusting for the crown, Macbeth plots to kill the king. But, on reflection, he questions the practicality of such an action.

"I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but only

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself

And falls on the other."

(Act I, Scene 7)

Here, Macbeth acknowledges that ambition is his only motivation ("spur") to commit murder. Like a horse spurred to leap too high, this much ambition can only result in downfall.

Ambition is Macbeth's tragic flaw , and it's possible that nothing could have saved him from his fate. However, much of the blame can be placed on his wife. Power-hungry and manipulative, Lady Macbeth vows to do whatever it takes to advance her husband's murderous plan.

"…Come, you spirits

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,

And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full

Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;

Stop up the access and passage to remorse,

That no compunctious visitings of nature

Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between

The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,

And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,

Wherever in your sightless substances

You wait on nature's mischief!"

(Act I, Scene 5)

In this soliloquy, Lady Macbeth braces herself for murder. She rejects Elizabethan notions of womanhood ("unsex me"), and begs to be rid of soft emotions and female "visitings of nature" (menstruation). She asks the spirits to fill her breasts with poison ("gall").

Women's milk is a recurring motif in Shakespeare's play, representing the soft, nurturing qualities Lady Macbeth renounces. She believes that her husband is "too full o' the milk of human kindness" (Act I, Scene 5) to kill the king. When he waffles, she tells him that she would rather murder her own infant than abandon their murderous plan.

"…I have given suck, and know

How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:

I would, while it was smiling in my face,

Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,

And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you

Have done to this."

In this shocking rebuke, Lady Macbeth attacks her husband's manhood. She implies that he must be weak—weaker than his wife, weaker than a nursing mother—if he cannot keep his vow to take the throne.

Elizabethan audiences would have been repulsed by Lady Macbeth's raw ambition and reversal of traditional sex roles. Just as her husband crossed moral boundaries, Lady Macbeth defied her place in society. In the 1600s, she may have appeared as weird and unnatural as the witches with their eerie incantations.

Today's attitudes are very different, yet ambitious and powerful women still arouse suspicion. Critics and conspiracy theorists have used the name "Lady Macbeth" to deride public figures like Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard .

Quotes About Guilt and Remorse

"Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more!

Macbeth does murder sleep.'

What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes.

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood

Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather

The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,

Making the green one red."

(Act II, Scene 2)

Macbeth speaks these lines immediately after murdering the king. To "murder sleep" has a double meaning. Macbeth has killed a sleeping man, and he's also killed his own serenity. Macbeth knows that because of this action, he will never be able to rest peacefully. 

The guilt Macbeth feels stirs hallucinations and gruesome visions of blood. He's shocked by the sight of his murderous hands. ("They pluck out mine eyes.") In his tormented mind, his hands are soaked with so much blood, they would turn the ocean red. 

Lady Macbeth shares Macbeth's crime, but does not immediately show guilt. She coldly returns the daggers to the crime scene and smears blood on the king's sleeping grooms so that they will be blamed. Seemly unruffled, she tells her husband, "A little water clears us of this deed" (Act II, Scene 2).

"Out, damned spot! out, I say! — One: two: why,

then, 'tis time to do't. — Hell is murky! — Fie, my

lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we

fear who knows it, when none can call our power to

account? — Yet who would have thought the old man

to have had so much blood in him.

The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? —

What, will these hands ne'er be clean? — No more o'

that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with

this starting.

Here's the smell of the blood still: all the

perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little

hand. Oh, oh, oh!

Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not so

pale. — I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he

cannot come out on's grave.

To bed, to bed! there's knocking at the gate:

come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What's

done cannot be undone. — To bed, to bed, to bed! "

(Act V, Scene 1)

The king is only one of many killings during Macbeth's bloody reign. To hold onto his ill-gotten crown, he orders the slaughter of his friend Banquo and the entire household of Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife. Macbeth suffers fits of hysteria and hallucinates Banquo's ghost with blood-clotted hair. But it's the hard-hearted Lady Macbeth who eventually collapses under the weight of guilt, and she is the one who gives this monologue.

Sleepwalking, she wrings her hands and babbles about the stain of so much spilled blood. 

The phrase "Out, damned spot!" can seem comical to modern readers. Lady Macbeth's distraught words have been used in advertisements for products ranging from household cleaners to acne medicines. But this is the raving of a woman who teeters on the brink of madness. 

Parts of Lady Macbeth's monologue, like the incantation of the witches, depart from the traditional iambic pentameter. In a metrical pattern called a spondee , she strings together syllables that have equal weight: Out-damned-spot-out . Since each one-syllable word is equally stressed, the emotional tension is heightened. Readers (or listeners) are more likely to feel the impact of each word.

The words themselves seem nonsensical. They are non sequiturs , jumping from thought to thought. Lady Macbeth is reliving all the crimes, remembering sounds, smells, and images. One after the other, she names murder victims: the king ("the old man"), Macduff's wife, and Banquo.

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time,

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing."

(Act V, Scene 5)

Unable to recover from her guilt, Lady Macbeth kills herself. When this news reaches Macbeth, he's already in deep despair. Abandoned by his noblemen and knowing his own days are numbered, he delivers one of the most desolate soliloquies in the English language.

In this extended metaphor , Macbeth compares life to a theatrical performance. Days on earth are as short-lived as the candles that illuminate the Elizabethan stage. Each person is nothing more than a shadow cast by that flickering light, a silly actor who struts about and then vanishes when the candle is snuffed. In this metaphor, nothing is real and nothing matters. Life is "a tale told by an idiot… signifying nothing."

American author William Faulkner titled his novel The Sound and the Fury  after a line from Macbeth's soliloquy. Poet Robert Frost borrowed a phrase for his poem, " Out, Out — ." Even the cartoon Simpson family embraced the metaphor with a melodramatic rendition by Homer Simpson .

Ironically, Shakespeare's tragedy ends soon after this somber speech. It's easy to imagine audiences blinking from the theater, wondering, What's real? What's illusion? Are we part of the play?

• Garber, Marjorie. “Shakespeare and Modern Culture, Chapter One.” 10 Dec. 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/books/chapters/chapter-shakespeare.html. Excerpted from the book, Pantheon Publishers.
• Liner, Elaine. “Out, Damned Spot!: The Best Pop Culture References That Came from Macbeth.” 26 Sept. 2012, www.dallasobserver.com/arts/out-damned-spot-the-best-pop-culture-references-that-came-from-macbeth-7097037.
• Macbeth . Folger Shakespeare Library, www.folger.edu/macbeth.
• Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth . Arden. Read online at shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/index.html
• Themes in Macbeth . Royal Shakespeare Company, cdn2.rsc.org.uk/sitefinity/education-pdfs/themes-resources/edu-macbeth-themes.pdf?sfvrsn=4.
• Wojczuk, Tana. The Good Wife – Hillary Clinton as Lady Macbeth . Guernica, 19 Jan. 2016. www.guernicamag.com/tana-wojczuk-the-good-wife-hillary-clinton-as-lady-macbeth/.
• The Theme of Guilt in "Macbeth"
• 'Macbeth': Themes and Symbols
• 'Macbeth' Overview
• Famous Quotes From 'Macbeth'
• 'Macbeth' Summary
• 'Macbeth' Characters
• 128 Unforgettable Quotes From Shakespeare's Macbeth
• Lady Macbeth Character Analysis
• Everything You Need to Know About 'Macbeth'
• Macbeth Character Analysis
• Understanding Macbeth's Ambition
• Top 5 Female Villains in Shakespeare Plays
• Why the 'Macbeth' Witches Are Key to Shakespeare's Play
• 'Hamlet' Quotes Explained
• 10 Shakespeare Quotes on Tragedy
• Romantic Shakespeare Quotes

If you get a question about guilt in the exam, there are two ways you can approach it:

A) you can look at how macbeth and his wife feel guilty about what they've done - of course they do: they killed a good king and, when it comes to it, they don't have a clue what they're doing. they weren't made to be rulers. they're rubbish at it. so what happened was that they killed a good king and were rubbish at ruling the state., b) who was guilty for killing duncan because if macbeth was begin controlled by a magic spell then was it fair to say that he takes responsibility for the crime, in short: any: question about guilt can approach either of these ideas and still do well., i've written more about lady macbeth here as i find her a more interesting character when looking at guilt, but there's plenty for both of them....

Macbeth's guilt

During the opening of the play, macbeth makes it clear that he doesn't want to kill duncan. he calls the idea a "horrid image" and says that it will "shake his single state of man" so violently that he won't be able to do it. he argues that he should be "shutting the door" against anyone who wants to kill duncan, and that duncan's death will be so awful that even the angels will rage "trumpet tongued" against his death. so macbeth seems to know that killing duncan won't get what he wants, but he does it anyway. as a result, quite predictably, he feels really guilty afterwards ., here are some key quotes looking at macbeth's regret for what he did to duncan:, i had most need of blessing, and 'amen' stuck in my throat - just after killing duncan, macbeth must have said a prayer but he cannot say amen which suggests that god cannot bless him., methought i heard a voice cry 'sleep no more macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep . - the fact that macbeth stops being able to sleep is commonly cites as being a result of him feeling guilty. however, although there are repeated connections between sleep and innocence the line "sleep no more macbeth does murder sleep" is written in speech marks, and macbeth clearly says that he "heard a voice cry" it, and it's what the witches did to the sailor during the opening, so it would seem to make much more sense that macbeth can't sleep as a result of the witches' magic spell than any sense of guilt., i am afraid to think what i have done; - macbeth doesn't fear the norwegian army, but he is afraid to face what he's done., will all great neptune's ocean wash this blood / clean from my hand - the image of having bloo d on your hands runs through macbeth, and here he's arguing that even all the water in the sea won't wash his hands clean of their guilt., we sleep / in the affliction of these terrible dreams / that shake us nightly: - regardless of who caused his inability to sleep, macbeth cannot sleep throughout most of the play. here, he talks about his sleep being haunted by terrible dreams that shake him awake again. this is a clear reference to how he cannot escape his guilt for what he's done., better be with the dead .. . than on the torture of the mind to lie / in restless ecstasy. - in this quote he can't sleep, but lies with his mind being tortured. in fact, it is so bad that he would rather be dead, o, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife - t his is the classic line to show macbeth's unstable mental state. sc orpions attack from both ends, they're desert dwellers - like the serpent from the bible - and they're inside his brain; the centre of his sense of self., however, despite this macbeth quickly finds himself in a position where he can't go back. he says that he is "in blood stepp'd so far that should i wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er." which is essentially a way of saying that he's already done so much wrong that it would be as bad to go back as to continue. and so, although he feels guilty, he doesn't turn back and eventually kills banquo as well as macduff's wife and child, and seems pretty non-plu s sed about his wife's death when that gets announced. as a result of all this, it's tough to feel that sorry for him., below, i've gathered a collection of quotes from the play that reflect the mess that macbeth is in by the end. he feels bad about killing more people, but can't seem to stop himself:, i am in blood / stepp'd in so far that, should i wade no more, / returning were as tedious as go o'er: - this is a great line when looking at macbeth's mental state. here, he claims that he's so knee deep in blood that it's as "tedious" to continue killing people as it would be to try to return to his old state of decency. "tedious" is a pretty crazy word to use to describe what he's talking about, but the image is clear: he's over committed now, so he may as well see the whole thing through..., i have almost forgot the taste of fears; - remember when macbeth was afraid to think on what he'd done well by the end that is not the case... he's committed so many terrible acts that he's forgot what it feels like to be afraid of anything his life is a big old mess and that's pretty much how he ends up..., lady macbeth and guilt:, lady macbeth's guilt, when it comes to guilt, lady macbeth comes up most often. she starts the play being adamant that she will feel no regret - she's the classic image of the psychopathic killer. she remains like this for acts 1, 2 and 3 (though there are four lines in act 3 where she's a bit sorry.) she doesn't appear in act 4 at all, then, suddenly in act 5 she's so full of regret that she commits suicide., so, in a nutshell, her character arc goes:, act 1: no remorse act 2: no remorse act 3: no remorse act 4: no appearance act 5: suicidal regret, on the back of this, it's not unreasonable to argue that her character arc is a little lacking. when did she change her mind did something happen to change it what motivated her to rethink her actions why did she just suddenly realise what she'd done, and go through one of the biggest u-turns in literary history, entirely off-stage shakespeare never really explains, and it's absolutely reasonable to argue that this constitutes a considerable missing element in the play., quotes about lady macbeth not feeling any guilt :, stop up the access and passage to remorse - in lady macbeth's m agic spell from act 1 scene 5 she asks the spirits to stop her from feeling any "remorse" - which means regret or guilt. so here, she is using magic to stop guilty feels from being able to access her., the bit when she said she'd kill her own baby - if ever there was a sign that someone lacked the capacity to feel regret or remorse it's the fact that they say they'd kill their own baby to fulfil a promise. lady macbeth really is psychotically ruthless., these deeds must not be thought / after these ways; so, it will make us mad - one thing with this play is that the characters quite often predict what will eventually happen to them. here, lady macbeth recognises that if they spend too long thinking about what they've done - if they dwell on their feelings of guilt - that it will make them mad. which is exactly what happens to her, my hands are of your colour; but i shame / to wear a heart so white. - h e re, lady m a cbeth claims that her hands are as bloody as macbeth's but she'd be ashamed to pretend that she was pure. she accepts what she's done and won't pretend to feel guilty when she doesn't. she won't pretend to have a pure white heart when she knows her heart is bad., things without all remedy / should be without regard: what's done is done. - here , she's basically saying that if you can't do anything to fix something, you shouldn't think about it. she's arguing that because they can't change what they've done they shouldn't worry about it anymore. there is no time or space in lady macbeth's world for feelings of guilt., note : there are loads more of these, but they're a pretty good selection, four lines in act 3:, nought's had, all's spent, where our desire is got without content: 'tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy., these four lines from act 3 are really important as they're the only time prior to her sleepwalking scene that she expresses anything close to any regret for what they've done. really, to take her character from not feeling any guilt to feeling so much that she's suicidal takes a change in her character which we don't ever see., but really, if you look closer at these lines she's not actually feeling regret for what they've done, she's just angry that they've got what she wanted but still aren't happy. she's also troubled by the fact that they're not safe in their position, which isn't really a feeling of regret at all but just a concern for their position., so really, she doesn't actually express any regret until she suddenly becomes suicidal., quotes about lady macbeth feeling regret:, out, damned spot out, i say - here, lady macbeth is sleepwalking a nd trying to wash the blood from her hands. the most common argument here is that she cannot escape what she's done - she has blood on her hands and she cannot escape that fact. she discovers, in fact, that you can boss other people around, but she cannot manage her own conscience. this is what eventually brings her down., what, will these hands ne'er be clean ... here's the smell of the blood still: all the / perfumes of arabia will not sweeten this little hand. - these t wo lines come from the same scene where she's fretting about the blood on her hands., it is very telling though that lady macbeth's expressions of guilt come while she's sleepwalking. sleeping - and dreaming - are often considered to be interesting states as they allow us to get in touch with our subconscious. here, it could be that shakespeare is saying that although lady macbeth may seem like she feels no guilt, she is actually just repressing it. it's possible that shakespeare is really just saying that even someone as evil as lady macbeth can't escape her subconscious feelings of guilt., why did shakespeare leave her lacking so much detail, this is a completely reasonable question and if you're going to mention this idea in an essay you should really look at this. without being able to ask shakespeare himself, i've put together a few ideas that seem reasonable:, a) if we'd spent time with her, going through the slowly dawning process of remorse, there was a danger that we'd develop some sympathy for her position. shakespeare didn't want this. because the whole point of the play was to put people off doing what she did, any element of sympathy for her would have been frowned upon by king james. as a result, shakespeare cut out her descent into madness, and made sure we feel no sympathy for her at all., b) she was a woman and, as such, her character didn't need to be as developed as the male characters on stage. the play itself is really a study in macbeth's motivations anyway, and although his wife steals the scenes she's in she's only ever a secondary character. you could argue that there was just no need to delve into her reasons that deeply., c) she never actually felt any regret consciously... this is a tough one to argue but the fact is that the only time we see her feeling regret is when she's sleepwalking; so she really only dreams the regret that we see. here, shakespeare could be highlighting the way that you can't escape your actions, even if it only in your sleep that they come back to haunt you. this argument is complicated a little when you consider that she killed herself, but...., did she definitely kill herself, the fact is that we think lady macbeth killed herself because malcolm says that macbeth's "fiend-like queen, who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands took off her life." but this is the only reference to her having killed herself., during the action of the play, we hear some women screaming off stage and then a character called seyton (whose name sounds suspiciously like satan) goes to check on her and comes back saying she's dead. now, i'm not saying that satan killed her and then malcolm just cast it aside on the grounds that she was dead and he didn't need to know anymore, but it actually makes a lot more sense of her character arc if she was killed by seyton and his minions rather than that she killed herself., whichever way you choose to look at it, the fact remains that shakespeare doesn't spend long enough on her regret for me to find her character arc very believable, and although you should avoid directly criticising shakespeare you're well within your rights to observe this., who was guilty, essentially, if you're going to argue that macbeth wasn't in control of himself when he killed duncan you'll need to refer to the sections on ambition and the supernatural ., but, if you do this, it's important to bear in mind that macbeth did kill duncan., so while you can argue that he was being controlled by a magic spell or being manipulated by his wife, you can't avoid the fact that he was holding the knife that ended duncan's life. and that's a fact....