Quotes

• "brave" "noble" "valiant cousin, worthy gentleman"


  Macbeth is described with positive, heroic adjectives at the start by others, showing he is an heroic warrior.

  Even King Duncan is one of the speakers, showing how well-respected Macbeth is.
• Macbeth and Banquo are described as "eagles" and "lions"


  Similes show that Macbeth is brave and fearsome in battle. He is compared to the kings of land and sky, foreshadowing that he will become king.

  KINGSHIP

  AMBITION
• "let not light see my black and deep desires"

  "Come thick night and pall me in... smoke from hell"


  Adjectives "black" and "deep" show that he has negative feelings; "deep desires" is alliteration emphasising how negative his temptations are. He juxtaposes the "light" and "black" to emphasise the negativity, wickedness and evil of his desires.

  Noun "hell" emphasises wickedness and evil. Verb "pall" is to cover a dead body - it foreshadows death, reveals Macbeth's murderous character and shows he wants to be covered or hidden (or untrustworthy).

  THE SUPERNATURAL

  AMBITION

  KINGSHIP
• I fear thy nature; It is too full of the milk o' human kindness to catch the nearest way


  Lady Macbeth speaks in a soliloquy (so we can trust her words) about Macbeth. She worries he is too kind to kill Duncan and seize the crown.

  This emphasises how good & decent Macbeth is at the start.

  The euphemism "catch the nearest way", meaning murder or regicide, shows how awful, terrible a crime it is - she can't bring herself to say it.

  AMBITION
• Hie thee hither that I may pour spirits in thine ear


  Lady Macbeth (alone on stage) orders Macbeth to return home, suggesting she has power over him. "pour spirits" suggests that she is supernatural and witch-like, and will use demons to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan.

  AMBITION

  THE SUPERNATURAL
• 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!'


  Lady Macbeth, again ordering to show her dominance and power - this time, she commands hell to shroud her actions and hide them from heaven. It shows that she is devious and calculating, suggests she is witch-like and hell-loving, and that she truly understands how appalling her crime is.

  AMBITION

  THE SUPERNATURAL
• fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood


  Lady Macbeth ordering again - showing her power. "crown" means her head, but emphasises why she's doing this; "toe-top full" is alliterative to emphasise that she wants to be filled with cruelty from head to toe.

  AMBITION

  THE SUPERNATURAL
• With his surcease success


  Shakespeare uses obvious sibilance to make 'surcease' (the death of Duncan) sound like 'success' (achieving a goal or attaining a higher social status), and make Macbeth sound snake-like, warning us of his nasty, sneaky, venomous side.
• What does Macbeth mean by "Bloody instructions"?


  It refers to the violent lessons learned from committing murder.
• How does Macbeth feel about the consequences of killing Duncan?


  He worries it will normalize regicide in Scottish society.
• What does "even-handed justice" imply in Macbeth's context?


  It suggests that actions have consequences that may come back to the perpetrator.
• What does the metaphor "poison'd chalice" represent in Macbeth?


  It symbolizes something that appears beautiful but is deadly inside.
• How does the metaphor "poison'd chalice" relate to Macbeth himself?


  It reflects his outward ambition and inner moral corruption.
• What are the key themes presented in the excerpt from Macbeth?


  • Ambition
  • Kingship
  • Justice
• He's here in double trust;

  First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,

  Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,

  Who should against his murderer shut the door,

  Not bear the knife myself.


  Macbeth is ashamed of his thoughts and believes he is undermining Duncan's trust in him. It is beneath him and his bravery to be sneaky, false and cunning.

  JUSTICE
• I have no spur

  To prick the sides of my intent, but only

  Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself

  And falls on the other.


  Macbeth knows that he has no reason to kill Duncan except for his own ambition: Duncan is a good king - "Duncan

  Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been

  So clear in his great office, that his virtues

  Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against

  The deep damnation of his taking-off" (note the euphemism 'taking-off" which shows Macbeth is hiding behind language because he knows what's he's doing is wrong".

  AMBITION

  KINGSHIP

  POWER
• MACBETH (at the start of this section): "We will proceed no further in this business:"

  MACBETH (at the end of this scene): "I am settled"


  Macbeth seems like he's in control: the pronoun "we" shows he's made the choice for both him & Lady Macbeth.

  Macbeth thinks he's in control at the end, thinking he's made the decision to kill Duncan "I am settled".

  Actually, Lady Macbeth has just changed his mind.

  GENDER

  AMBITION

  POWER
• "From this time

  Such I account thy love."


  Lady Macbeth bullies Macbeth into killing Duncan by saying he doesn't really love her if he won't kill to make her queen. Comment on the emotive language.

  AMBITION

  GENDER

  POWER
• "When you durst do it, then you were a man;

  And, to be more than what you were, you would

  Be so much more the man."

  "coward"


  Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth's bravery and masculinity to bully him into killing Duncan.

  GENDER

  AMBITION

  POWER
• M: "If we should fail?"

  LM: "screw your courage to the sticking-place,

  And we'll not fail."


  Macbeth weakly asks a question about failure, showing he's still worried and nervous and scared. Lady Macbeth orders Macbeth to 'man up' and stop being a coward.

  AMBITION

  POWER

  GENDER - How would a Shakespearean audience react to a woman ordering a 'brave', 'worthy' man about?
• Is this a dagger which I see before me,

  The handle toward my hand?


  Macbeth hallucinates a dagger. This foreshadows his insanity (he also speaks directly to the dagger: "Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going") and demonstrates his "bloody nature".

  SUPERNATURAL - does the dagger 'tell' him to kill Duncan?

  AMBITION

  VIOLENCE
• Hecate


  Greek goddess, associated with witchcraft and crossroads. She also performed human sacrifices as "offerings" to the gods.

  Used more than once.

  SUPERNATURAL

  POWER

  GENDER - Is Shakespeare trying to blame women for men's failures (e.g. Lady Macbeth, the Witches, even Eve (of Adam & Eve, who spoke to the serpent & took the forbidden fruit)?
• Wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'?

  I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen'

  Stuck in my throat.


  After the murder, Macbeth can't say 'Amen', showing that he has gone against God's will in killing Duncan. God has abandoned him (foreshadowing how Scottish people will abandon him).

  RELIGION

  VIOLENCE

  JUSTICE
• it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house:

  'Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor

  Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.'


  Sleep is about rest & peace - including Rest In Peace. This shows the enormity of the crime and how Macbeth will never recover from it.

  RELIGION

  REGRET

  VIOLENCE

  JUSTICE
• Lady Macbeth: Infirm of purpose!

  Give me the daggers


  Macbeth has messed up & brought the daggers from the chamber.

  Angry, Lady Macbeth shouts at him then takes charge.

  GENDER

  RELATIONSHIP

  VIOLENCE

  POWER
• M: 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.

  LM: A little water clears us of this deed


  Water is about cleanliness but also purity. It is used a lot in 'Macbeth'.

  Macbeth's crime is so great that, if he put his bloody hands in the ocean, it would turn the green ocean red.

  Lady Macbeth says that washing their hands will free them from guilt and blame.

  GENDER

  VIOLENCE

  POWER

  JUSTICE
• To be thus is nothing;

  But to be safely thus

  Upon my head they [The Witches] placed a fruitless crown,

  And put a barren sceptre in my gripe


  Macbeth is glad to be king but he is worried that he won't pass the crown on - being king is "nothing" if he can't pass it on.

  This foreshadows Banquo's murder.

  AMBITION

  POWER
• Full of scorpions is my mind


  Macbeth is descending into madness (foreshadowing lady Macbeth's madness).

  This metaphor shows how he's unravelling at the enormity of his crime. Is God punishing him?

  POWER

  JUSTICE

  VIOLENCE
• In restless ecstasy, Duncan is in his grave.

  After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well.


  Macbeth regrets killing Duncan and his jealous of him. Remember, "Macbeth will sleep no more" so he is jealous that Duncan "sleeps well".

  REGRET

  JUSTICE
• "To be thus is nothing;

  But to be safely thus.--Our fears in Banquo

  Stick deep"

  "They hail'd him father to a line of kings:

  Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,

  And put a barren sceptre in my gripe"


  Macbeth is scared of Banquo, remembering The Witches' third prophecy. Macbeth believes being king is "nothing" if he can't head "a line of kings".

  AMBITION

  POWER

  SUPERNATURAL
• LM: "My lord"

  M: "love" "dear wife" "dearest chuck"


  Act 3 scene 2 - the Macbeths' relationship seems better due to the loving, caring words they use for each other (compared to the earlier bullying by LM). The audience might be shocked because something horrible (a murder) has brought them closer together.

  RELATIONSHIP

  GENDER
• "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck"


  Macbeth seems to be back in charge. He is hiding his order to have Banquo killed from LM to keep her "innocent" so she isn't troubled by further death.

  RELATIONSHIP

  POWER

  GENDER
• LM: "Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus,

  And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat"


  Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost and is overcome with shock. LM takes charge of the situation.

  SUPERNATURAL

  POWER

  GENDER
• "the times have been,

  That, when the brains were out, the man would die,

  And there an end; but now they rise again,

  With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,

  And push us from our stools: this is more strange

  Than such a murder is."


  Macbeth reacts to Banquo's ghost's appearance. He is worried that his crimes (killing Duncan & Banquo) are so great that he has changed nature, allowing the dead to rise (showing how huge & terrible his crime is).

  "Push us from our stools" reminds us that Banquo's children are destined to take Macbeth's throne.

  POWER

  AMBITION

  VIOLENCE

  SUPERNATURAL
• a wayward son,

  Spiteful and wrathful, who

  Loves for his own ends


  Hecate describes Macbeth.

  Useful as she is an evil with goddess so if she's saying bad things about him, he must be awful.

  Noun "son" shows how close he is to the supernatural.

  SUPERNATURAL

  VIOLENCE
• What does the name "Lennox" signify in the context of the quote provided?


  "Tyrant" and "our suffering country under a hand accursed"
• What does the Lord express a desire for in his speech?


  To have meat, sleep, and freedom from fear
• How do the minor characters in Act 3, Scene 6 contribute to the understanding of Macbeth's reign?


  They provide a perspective of fear and suffering under Macbeth's rule
• What themes are highlighted in the dialogue about Macbeth's reign?


  • Power: Macbeth's tyrannical rule
  • Religion: Contrast with Edward's piety
  • Violence: Fear of "bloody knives" and lack of freedom
• How is Macbeth described in the dialogue from Act 3, Scene 6?


  As a "tyrant"