Macbeth quotes

• Dead butcher and his fiend-like queen
• I fear though has played'st most foully for it
• Is this a dagger I see before me ? Though marshall'st me the way that i was going
• I would while it was smiling In my face have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums
• Too full o the milk of human kindness
• Unseamed him from the nave to th chops
• Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it
• Stars hide your fires let not light see my black and deep desires
• Instruments of darkness
• Oh full of scorpions is my mind dear wife
• His brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution
• Fair is foul and foul is fair hover through the fog and filthy air
• I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition which o'er leaps itself
• Dead butcher and his fiend-like queen

  1. Said by Malcom
  2. He is insulting macbeth and lady macbeth after he is crowned king of Scotland
  3. Noun butcher shows that macbeth is the lowest of the lower class
  4. Themes - evil
• Fair is foul and foul is fair

  1. Said by the witches
  2. At the opening of the play
  3. They are planning to meddle and turn macbeths world upside
  4. Themes - supernatural, power, fate vs free will
  5. Shakespeare has used foreshadowing, alliteration, juxtaposition, rhyme, equivocation, trochaic tretrameter, oxymoron
• I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition which oer leaps itself


  Said by macbeth

  Macbeth doesn't want to go ahead with lady macbeths plan

  His ambition is taking control of him

  Themes - ambition,

  Metaphor
• I fear though has played most foully for it


  Said by banquo

  Banquo suspects macbeth of killing king Duncan so he can become king

  Banquo is smarter than they think. Macbeth has betrayed banquos

  Themes - ambition, evil, betrayal
• Too full of the milk of human kindness 


  Said by lady macbeth

  She has received the letter from macbeth about his encounter with the witches

  She is worried that macbeth is too nice and weak to kill king Duncan

  Themes- gender , betrayal,

  Metaphor
• Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it 


  Said by lady macbeth

  She tells macbeth to leave everything to her and he's hound be as innocent and act as normal as possible

  She is taking control of the relationship as she is pushing macbeth to do the regicide

  Themes -evil, ambition

  Metaphor
• His brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution 


  Captain says this about macbeth

  Thescene when macbeth is fighting

  Tells us that macbeth is violent and a confident soldier

  Themes- violence,

  Hyperbole
• Oh full of scorpions is my mind dear wife 


  Saidy by macbeth

  Said after Duncan has been killed but he is still unsatisfied

  An indication that he is he is going insane of how guilty he feels

  Themes- ambition( macbeth wants more), power , guilt

  Metaphor
• Instruments of darkness 


  Said by banquo

  After the witches have told banquo and macbeth the prophecies

  Shows that banquo is more aware and clever of what the witches are doing and how they going to harm him

  Themes - evil, supernatural

  Metaphor
• I would while it was smiling In my face have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums


  Said by lady macbeth

  Says this when she is trying to shame macbeth for questioning the plan

  She shows that she disrupts the typical idea of what women are like

  Themes - evil,violence, gender

  Hyperbole
• Is this a dagger I see before me? Though marshall'st me the way that I was going 


  Said by macbeth

  He says this in his soliloquy before he has made the decision to kill the king

  It shows that violent ambition is tempting macbeth

  Themes - ambition, violence, appearance vs reality
• Stars hide your fires let not light see my black and deep desires 


  Said by macbeth

  Macbeth has declared his loyalty to Duncan who announces that Malcom will become king

  Macbeth wants his hellish evil thoughts to be hidden from the heaven above

  Themes - evil, appearance vs reality

  Personification
• Unseamed him from the nave to the chops


  Captain says this about macbeth

  What macbeth does to the traitor , confident soldier

  Could show what is to come for macbeth

  Themes- violence, evil

  Foreshadowing
• So foul and fair a day


  Said by macbeth

  Same oxymoron that the witches say when they make their first appearance at the start of the play

  Shows that the witches are already in macbeths head without him even realising

  Themes - supernatural
• Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand
• In act 2 macbeth weakness is emphasised by lady macbeth strength
• Banquo also experienced the prophecies but is mentally stronger because he steps away from it
• Lady macbeth is more ambitious than her husband as she encourages him to kill duncan
• All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand 


  "All" suggests that there is nothing that can solve lady macbeth blood on her hands

  Noun "perfumes" is symbolic of her desperation to cover up her guilt as the fact she's trying to mask the smell of blood represents her trying to conceal her act

  Adjective "little" provides connotations of vulnerability and fragility which is reflective of her mental state

  "Hand" links to hand imagery throughout the play which representative of guilt and responsibility of crime