Macbeth

• 'is this a dagger which i see before me [...] Thou marshall'st me the way that i was going' Macbeth - Act 2 : Scene 1, just before Macbeth murders Duncan
• 'All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter' - Witch, Act 1 : Scene 3
• 'Out damned spot! out I say!' Lady Macbeth, Act 5 : Scene 1
• 'Look like th' innocent flower but be the serpent under it' Lady Macbeth, Act 1 : Scene 5
• 'i have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself' - Macbeth - Act 1 : Scene 7
• 'stars hide your fires/let light not see my black and deep desires' Macbeth Act1, Scene 4
• 'fair is fould and foul is fair' - Witches Act 1,Scene 1
• 'I am afraid to think what i have done; look on my hands; ha! they are staind with blood' - Lady Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2
• 'unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty' - Lady Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5
• 'Come to my woman's breasts and take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers' - Lady Macbeth, Act 1 : Scene 5
• 'Thou canst say i did it. Never shake thy glory locks at me' - Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 4
• 'Methought i heard a voice cry Sleep no more; Macbeth does murder sleep', Macbeth, Act 2
• 'Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand' Macbeth
• 'My hands are of your colour, but i shame to wear a heart so white' Lady Macbeth
• 'lets make us med'cines of out great revenge/to cure this deadly grief' act 3, scene 3 - malcom to ross
• 'O full of scorpions is my mind dear wife' - macbeth, act 5, scene 9
• 'Out damned spot! Out I say!' - lady mcbeth, act 5, scene 1
• 'I have almost forgot the taste of fears' - macduff, act 5, scene 7
• 'I have almost forgot the taste of fears' - lady macbeth, act 1, scene 7
• 'I have lived long enough, my time is flown, the bell invites me, hourly rings on my fearful toll' - Duncan, act 5, scene 8
• 'Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts unsex me here' - Lady Mactheth, Act 1, Scene 5
• 'Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it' - macbeth, act 2, scene 2
• 'The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of dunncan here' - Banquo, act 3, scene 2
• 'A little water clears us of this deed' - macbeth, act 2, scene 2
• 'Fair is foul and foul is fair' - witches, act 1, scene 1
• 'Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it' - Lady Mactheth, Act 1, Scene 7
• 'I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself and falls on th'other' - Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7
• 'Thou canst not say I did it' - Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 2
• Jacobean era


  The time under James I
• Macbeth was written


  1606
• When Shakespeare was writing Macbeth, James I was a relatively new king of England (he succeeded Elizabeth I in 1603)
• Shakespeare was very popular with Elizabeth I
• Shakespeare wanted to remain a favourite of the new king James I
• James I had been King of Scotland since 1567
• This is why Shakespeare set Macbeth in Scotland
• James I believed he was descended from a medieval thane called Banquo
• Shakespeare's Banquo is brave, loyal and conscientious


  This can be seen as Shakespeare flattering his new king
• When he took over the throne he became ruler of England, Scotland and Ireland
• As king, James I aimed to unify the three nations into "Great Britain"
• In Jacobean England, there was a widespread belief in witches