Lady macbeth key quotes

• "Out damned spot! Out i say!" - Lady Macbeth
• "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." - Lady Macbeth
• "Look like th' innocent flower, But be the serpent under it." - Lady Macbeth
• "Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done 't" - Lady Macbeth
• "Too full o'th'milk of human kindness" - lady macbeth

  • Metaphor tells us that she thinks he is a people pleaser
  • Highlights her dominance
• "The raven himself is hoarse" - lady macbeth

  • Raven is symbolic of the messenger of death
• "This night's great business" lady macbeth

  • Euphanism
  • Metaphor
• "When you durst do it then you were a man" - lady macbeth

  • Emasculates him
  • Durst = dared, risk taking behaviour
• "Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dash the brains out" had I so sworn" lady macbeth

  • Manipulative
  • No moral values
  • Lack of self pity
• "These deeds must not be thought after these ways; so, it will make us mad" lady macbeth

  • Juxtaposes herself to act 5
  • Foreshadowment
• "Go carry them and smear the sleepy grooms with blood" lady macbeth

  • Imperative "Go carry"
  • Trying to gain control of situation
  • Tries to shift the blame yo the guards
• "A little water clears of us of this deed" lady macbeth

  • Foreshadows her behaviour in act 5
  • Contrast to macbeth
• "My hands are of your colour but I shame to wear a heart so white" lady macbeth

  • Emasculates him
• "Why do you keep alone my lord" lady macbeth

  • He was dependent on her earlier in the play and told her everything
  • He is greeting him more formally compared to earlier (my dearest partner of greatness)
• "What's done is done" lady macbeth

  • Dismissive tone
  • Ironic to her behaviour and mental state in act 5
• "Who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him" lady macbeth

  • Mocking the King's death
  • Comedic relief in the tragedy
• "The thane of Fife had a wife — where is she now" lady macbeth

  • Reference to the murder of Macduff family
  • Comedic relief
• "What's done cannot be undone" lady macbeth

  • Ironic to her earlier statement of what's done is done
  • Absolutely riddled with guilt that she is confessing everything subconsciously
• "To bed, to bed, to bed" lady macbeth

  • Repetition
  • Implies that she is tired of the reoccurring dreams
• It is too full o'th' milk of human kindness
• Art thou afread


  Implies Macbeth secretly would like to commit this crime, but he is too weak to do so.