lady macbeth

• "Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way." (Act 1, Scene 5)

  Lady Macbeth, after recieving her husband's letter about the witche's prophecy, expresses her fear that he isn't evil enough.
• "Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valor of my tongue All that implodes thee from the golden round" (Act 1 Scene 5)

  Lady Macbeth wants to persuade Macbeth into killing the king.
• "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!" (Act 1 Scene 5)

  Lady Macbeth upon hearing that King Duncan is staying the night in her castle, purges herself of feminine qualities to have the strength to kill Duncan.
• "Make thick my blood. Stop up the access and passage to remorse" (Act 1 Scene 5)

  Lady Macbeth wants evil spirits to clog her arteries so she feels no remorse for murdering the king.
• "It will make us mad" (Act 2 Scene 2)

  Lady Macbeth foreshadows her own insanity.
• "Infirm of purpose!" (Act 2 Scene 2)

  Lady Macbeth calls Macbeth a coward.
• "What's done, is done" (Act 3 Scene 2)

  Lady Macbeth wants her husband to put the deed behind them as it's impractical to rethink the past.
• "Are you a man?" (Act 3 Scene 4)

  Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth's masculinity when he claims to see Banquo's ghost at the banquet.
• "Come to my woman's breasts, and take my milk for gall" (Act 1 Scene 5)

  Lady Macbeth wants to rid herself of her maternal instincts.
• "Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't" (Act 1 Scene 5)

  Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to appear innocent but under the surface, ready to strike Duncan (link to Adam and Eve).
• "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" (Act 1 Scene 7)

  Lady Macbeth heaps scorn on Macbeth'd declaration that they will "proceed no further" with the plan to murder king Duncan
• "But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail" (Act 1 Scene 7)

  Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth to commit to the plan to murder Duncan.
• "The thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now?- What, will these hands never be clean" (Act 5 Scene 1)

  Lady Macbeth shows remorse for killing of Lady Macduff (she had no part in it), her hands remain stained like her mind (guilty conscience).
• "All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand" (Act 5 Scene 1)

  Lady Macbeth believed she can never be washed from this diabolical sin.
• "What's done cannot be undone" (Act 5 Scene 1)

  Lady Macbeth juxtaposes her previous statement, showing her mental deconstruction and the breakdown of her moral centre.
• "A little water cleans us of this deed" (Act 2 Scene 2)

  Lady Macbeth believes water will rid them of their sin.