Macbeth Quote Analysis

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Macbeth Quote Identification Identify: a) Who is speaking b) To whom he/she is speaking

c) The situation, meaning, or importance of the quotation

Act I 1. "Fair is foul, and foul is fair”  (I.i,10) a. The a. The witches b. Audience of play c. The witches’ chant, "fair is foul and foul is fair," reverberates throughout the entire play. They suggest that appearances can be deceiving and remind of the difference between reality and illusion, good and evil, etc. 2. "So foul and fair a day I have not seen." (I.iii,38) a. Macbeth b. Banquo c. Macbeth’s first line in the play echoes the witches’ witches’ words and establishes a connection between between them and Macbeth. It also suggests that Macbeth is the focus of the drama’s moral confusion. 3. "You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so.”  (I.iii, 45-47) a. Banquo b. Witches c. Banquo is perturbed by the grotesque figures of speech & the lingering aura of the witches. He asks whether they are mortal, noting that they don’t seem to be “inhabitants of the earth,” and wonders whether they are really women since they have beards like men. 4. "Good, sir, why do you start, and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair?”  (I.iii, 51-52) a. Banquo b. Macbeth c. Banquo wonders why Macbeth looks so startled and afraid of the nice things the witches are saying.  This is foreshadowing the tense uneasiness that permeates the play after the murders. 5. "Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. greater. Not so happy, yet much happier. Thou shalt get kings, though thou I.iii,65-67) be none"( I.iii,65-67) a. Witches (1 st Witch – 1st sentence; 2nd Witch – 2nd sentence; 3rd Witch – 3rd sentence) b. Banquo c. Speaking in riddles, the witches prophesize that Banquo will be the father of royalty, but not a king himself. This foreshadows his murder and his son’s rise to the throne. 6. "Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?”  (I.iii, 108-109) a. Macbeth b. Ross c. The witches’ prophecy comes true – the king has made him thane of Cawdor, as the former thane is to be executed for treason. 7. "Come what may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day." (I.iii, 146-147) a. Macbeth b. Aside c. Macbeth muses that what’s mean to be is meant to be, which can be interpreted as dooming himself  through his actions to follow in the play. 8. "There's no art To find the mind's construction in the face .” (I.iv,59-60) a. King Duncan b. Malcolm

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2 c. King Duncan says that the former Thane of Cawdor who turned out to be a traitor seemed to be a "gentleman" he could trust. Duncan’s insistence that it's impossible to read a man's mind by looking at his "face" suggests that he has learned his lesson because he acknowledges that outside appearances cannot be trusted. Ironically, he makes the exact same mistake when he names Macbeth Thane of  Cawdor and puts his faith in the man who will eventually murder him. 9. "Your face, my Thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. " (I.v, 59-60) a. Lady Macbeth b. Macbeth c. Lady Macbeth is shrewd here, here, noting that anyone could read the perturbed perturbed thoughts in Macbeth's mind “like a book,” just by looking at his face. She warns him to calmly appear the way company expects him to look. 10. " Away, and mock the time with fairest show. False face must hide what the false heart doth know .” (I.vii, 81-82) a. Macbeth b. Lady Macbeth c. Macbeth resolves to murder the King. He says his false face will cover his plan to murder Duncan, and in doing so convinces himself to fool his own heart. He instructs Lady Macbeth to leave and be a friendly hostess, hiding with a false pleasant face what she knows in her evil heart.

Act II 11. “My hands are of your color, but I shame To wear a heart so white.”  (II.ii, 62-63) a. Lady Macbeth b. Macbeth c. Lady Macbeth admits that she is just as guilty as Macbeth, but insists that she would be ashamed if she was as weak as her husband in an effort to chastise Macbeth’s apprehensions. 12. "O gentle lady, ‘Tis not for you to hear what I can speak. The repetition in a woman’s ear, Would murder as it fell..”  (II.iii, 75-78) a. Macduff  b. Lady Macbeth c. Macduff insists that his news isn’t fit for Lady Macbeth’s ears, assuring that if he repeated it to her, it would kill her as soon as she heard it. Ironically, it wouldn’t kill her because she is involved in the plot. 13. "Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time, for from this instant There’s nothing serious in mortality. All is but toys ." (II.iii, 83-86) a. Macbeth b. Banquo; Lennox and Ross are also present c. Macbeth exhibits signs of grave remorse, believing that there is nothing worth living for after murdering the graceful and renowned kind. He feels empty, as if the wine of life has been poured out and only the dregs remain. Macbeth views his predicament as a sick joke, and laments that if he had only died an hour before this event I could say I had lived a blessed life. 14. "There’s daggers in men’s smiles ." (II.iii, 133) a. Donalbain b. Malcolm c. Donalbain realizes that wherever they go, men will smile at them while hiding daggers, and that their closest relatives are the ones most likely to murder them. 15. "By the clock ‘tis day, Ant yet dark nights strangles the traveling lamp. Is’t night’s predominance, or  the day’s shame, That darkness does the face of earth entomb When living light should kiss it” “Tis unnatural, Even like the deed that’s done ." (II.iv, 6-11) a. Ross b. Old Man c. Ross evokes the old man to take a gander at the skies, which appear to be threatening the Earth with storms because they are upset about what mankind has been doing. The clock says it’s daytime, but dark

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3 night is strangling the sun. The changing weather further accentuates the ominous mood cast after Duncan’s murder.

Act III 16. "Things without all remedy Should be without regard. What’s done is done ." (III.ii, 11-12) a. Lady Macbeth b. Macbeth c. Duncan’s murder weighs heavily on Macbeth’s conscience, and Lady Macbeth insists that if you can’t fix it, you shouldn’t waste your time thinking about it because what’s done is done. 17. "Better be with the dead Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, Than on the torture of the ." (III.ii, 19-22) mind to lie In restless ecstasy ." a. Macbeth b. Lady Macbeth c. Duncan’s murder is weighing heavily on Macbeth’s conscience, and he laments that he’d rather be dead than endure endless mental torture and sleep deprivation. 18. " And make our faces vizards to our hearts, Disguising what they are ."(III.ii, 33-34) a. Macbeth b. Lady Macbeth c. Macbeth realizes that he and his wife are in a dangerous situation where they have to flatter Banquo and hide their true feelings. 19. "Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill .” (III.ii, 54) a. Macbeth b. Lady Macbeth c. Macbeth realizes that bad deeds force you to commit more bad deeds, and calls on Lady Macbeth to come with him. 20. "I am in blood Stepped in so far that should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er  .” (III.iv, 136-138) a. Macbeth b. Lady Macbeth c. Macbeth admits that he has walked so far into the river of blood in murdering Duncan and Banquo that even if he stopped now, it would be as hard to go back to being good as it is to keep killing people.

Act IV 21. "Double, double toil and trouble, Fire burn and caldron bubble ." (IV.i, 10-11) a. 3 witches b. Life in the cavern c. Speaking in trochaic tetrameter, the witches witches predict trouble, which arrives when Macbeth enters the cave. 22. "By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes ." (IV.i, 44-45) a. 2nd Witch b. 1st and 3rd witches c. The 2nd witch can sense the aura of wickedness that surrounds Macbeth wherever he goes. 23. "But I remember now I am in this earthly world, where to do harm is often laudable, to do good sometime Accounted dangerous folly. Why, then, alas, Do I put up that womanly defense, To say I have done no harm? – What are these faces?”  (IV.ii, 70-75) a. Lady Macbeth b. Aside c. Lady Macbeth reminds herself that she lives on Earth, where doing evil is often praised and doing well is sometimes a stupid and dangerous mistake. She uses this argument to justify why she should offer a womanish defense of innocence.

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4 24. " Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell. Though all things foul would wear the brows of  grace, Yet grace must still look so." (IV.iii, 22-24) a. Malcolm b. Macduff  c. Malcolm states that angels are still bright even though Lucifer, the brightest angel, fell from heaven. Even though everything evil wants to look good, good still has to look good too, which 1) reveals his insight on Macbeth having a false good and virtuous nature.; 2) Revealing his fear that Macduff might betray him to win Macbeth’s favor; 3) Truth has to appear to be the truth 25. "The night is long that never finds the day." (IV.iii, 243) a. Malcolm b. Macduff  c. Malcolm comforts Macduff’s anger toward Macbeth by saying that a new day will come at last.

Act V 26. “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 the starting…Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O!" (V.i, 28-41) a. Lady Macbeth b. Sleeptalking c. Lady Macbeth unintentionally revealed her role in Duncan’s murder in her sleeptalking, trying to rid blood from her hands and insisting on indifference to fear of being accused. 27. "To bed, to bed, there’s knocking at the gate. Come, come, give me your hand. What’s done cannot  be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed ." (V.i, 51-55) a. Lady Macbeth b. Sleeptalking (Macbeth) c. Lady Macbeth further reveals her role in Duncan’s murder in her sleeptalking by telling Macbeth to be quiet and go to bed upon hearing knocking. She says that what’s done cannot be undone. 28. "Those he commands move only in command, Nothing in love. Now does he feel his title Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe Upon a dwarfish thief ." (V.ii, 19-22) a. Angus b. Menteith, Caithness, Lennox, and soldiers enter with a drummer and flag c. Angus comments that the soldiers Macbeth commands are only following orders, and that they don’t fight because they love Macbeth. He characterizes Macbeth as being too small to be a great king and behaving like a midget trying to wear the robes of a giant. 29. "She should have died hereafter, There would have been a time for such a word. 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. 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 on more. It  is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing ." (V.v, 17-28) a. Macbeth b. Seyton c. Macbeth insists that the queen would have died later anyway because every day takes fools that much closer to their deaths. He comments that life is nothing more than an illusion and that it’s like a poor actor who struts and worries for his hour on the stage and then is never heard from again. Macbeth is insightful in saying that life is a story told by an idiot: full of noise and emotional disturbance but devoid of  meaning. 30. "The time is free ." (V.viii, 55) a. Macduff  b. Sward, Ross, and Malcolm

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5 c. When Macduff says "the time is free," he signals that Macbeth's reign has come to an end and the people of Scotland now live in freedom from tyranny. In another sense, there is also an underlying suggestion here that time came to a halt when Macbeth murdered Duncan and became king. Now that the rightful heir, Malcolm, will be crowned monarch, lineal succession will be reestablished. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________   ____________________________________________  1. Which quote quote do do you find most most significant significant to the play and why? why? "The time is free ." (V.viii, 55); 55); With Macbeth’s head head in hand, Macduff decrees that Macbeth's reign has come to an end and the people of Scotland now live in freedom from tyranny and will be ruled by the rightful heir, Malcolm. 2. Which Which quote quote is your your favo favorit rite e and why? why? be applied to real life – appearances are "Fair is foul, and foul is fair”  (I.i,10); it can always be usually deceiving! 3. Which Which ones ones had you you heard heard before before? ? First time exposed to these quotes!

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