Macbeth quotes

• What does the phrase "Fair is foul and foul is fair" suggest about the play's themes?

  It indicates chaos and corruption that will unfold throughout the play.
• What does Macbeth's description as "valour's minion" signify?

  It highlights Macbeth's heroic and honorable origins.
• What does Macbeth mean when he says, "Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more"?

  He expresses his intrigue about the Witches' prophecies.
• How does Banquo's quote about the "instruments of darkness" reflect his character?

  It shows his skepticism and wariness about the Witches' prophecies.
• What does Lady Macbeth mean by "Unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty"?

  She desires to be stripped of feminine weakness to commit regicide.
• What does Lady Macbeth mean when she tells Macbeth to "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't"?

  She instructs him to appear innocent while hiding his true intentions.
• What does Macbeth mean by "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition"?


  He expresses his fear and concern about his ambition leading to regicide.
• What does Lady Macbeth mean by "Screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail"?

  She encourages Macbeth to muster his courage to follow through with their plan.
• What does Macbeth question when he says, "Art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?"

  He questions the reality of his paranoid hallucination.
• What does Macbeth mean when he asks, "But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'?"

  He expresses a crisis of faith after committing regicide.
• What does Macbeth mean by "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?"

  He laments the permanence of his guilt after the murder.
• What does Lady Macbeth mean when she says, "My hands are of your colour; but I shame to wear a heart so white"?

  She dismisses Macbeth's guilt, indicating her own resolve.
• What does Macduff mean by "Awake, awake...see the great doom's image"?

  He expresses horror upon discovering Duncan's murder.
• What does Banquo mean by "I stand...against...treasonous malice"?

  He shows his commitment to avenging Duncan's death.
• What does Macbeth mean when he says, "They hailed him father to a line of kings"?

  He expresses jealousy of Banquo's prophesied lineage.
• What does Macbeth mean by "O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!"?

  He reveals his anguish and turmoil regarding his kingship.
• What does Macbeth mean by "Never shake thy gory locks at me"?

  He attempts to show bravery when confronted by Banquo's ghost.
• What does Lady Macbeth mean by "O proper stuff! This is the very painting of your fear"?

  She rebukes Macbeth for his fear and hallucinations.
• What does Macbeth mean by "I am in blood stepped so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er"?

  He resolves to continue his violent actions rather than turn back.
• What does Macbeth mean by "Now I see 'tis true, for the blood-boltered Banquo smiles upon me"?

  He expresses misplaced fear regarding Banquo's lineage and the Witches' prophecies.
• What does Macbeth command when he says, "Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line"?

  He issues a ruthless command to kill the Macduffs.
• What does Macduff mean by "All my pretty chickens and their dam at one fell swoop?"

  He expresses shock and grief upon hearing of his family's murders.
• What does Malcolm mean by "Let grief convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it"?

  He encourages Macduff to channel his grief into vengeance.
• What does Lady Macbeth mean by "All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand"?

  She laments her guilt while sleepwalking, indicating her remorse.
• What does the doctor mean by "Foul whisperings are abroad: unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles"?

  He comments on the wicked repercussions of regicide and rebellion.
• What does Macbeth mean by "I have almost forgot the taste of fears"?

  He expresses hubris in the face of Malcolm's army.
• What does Macbeth mean by "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"?

  He experiences an existential crisis upon hearing of his wife's death.
• What does Macbeth mean by "Swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, brandished by man that's of a woman born"?

  He expresses scorn for his enemies, believing he is invulnerable.
• What does Macbeth realize when he says, "Macduff was from his mother's womb untimely ripped"?

  He experiences anagnorisis, realizing he has been deceived by the Witches.
• What does Malcolm mean by "This dead butcher and his fiend-like queen"?

  He accurately assesses the tyrannical nature of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
• "Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't." - Act 3 Scene 2
• "I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition" - Act 1 Scene 7
• "When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And, thus as he was valiant" - Ross (Act 3, Scene 2)
• "Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under it." - Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 5)
• "Out damned spot! Out I say!" - Act 5 Scene 1
• "Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts" - Act 4 Scene 1
• "Come, thick night, / And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell" - Act 4 Scene 1
• "Out damned spot! out iota!" - Act 5 Scene 1