top 10 quotes about Macbeth

• Mr Everything English: 'In thunder lightning or in Rain'
• Witches


  • They can control the weather
  • They can't physically control Macbeth
• Thunder


  Foreshadows the noise and rumbling of the play
• Lightning


  Foreshadows the act of murder by Macbeth
• Rain


  Foreshadows the consequences and suffering that follows Macbeth's actions
• The three words 'thunder lightning rain' can symbolically represent the entire plot of the play
• The opening with the witches mocks religion by giving supernatural power to women
• Captain: 'His dagger is smoked with bloody execution and Macbeth unseened him from the Nave to the chops'
• Smoked


  Implies the speed and power of Macbeth's killing
• Unseened


  Macbeth kills his enemy precisely and painfully, enjoying the act of killing
• Macbeth's killing


  Shows his skill, precision and lack of panic on the battlefield
• Macbeth


  • A patriarchal figure
  • Motivated by his desires and love of killing
• Banquo: 'You should be women and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so'
• Beards


  Signify the witches have sacrificed their femininity for power
• Witches vs Lady Macbeth

  The witches have more power than the supposedly powerful Lady Macbeth
• Even powerful women like Lady Macbeth feel powerless in a patriarchal society
• Instruments of Darkness


  The witches who tell truths to win people over and then betray them
• The witches tell truths

  To win people over
• The witches tell truths

  To then betray them in deeper consequences
• The witches are described as "instruments of Darkness"
• Banquo recognizes that the witches' prophecies are meant to betray them
• The witches' first prophecies to Macbeth


  Are clear and straightforward (he will be Cawdor, then king)
• The witches' later prophecies to Macbeth


  Are confusing and misleading (no man born of woman can harm him, Birnam Wood will come to Dunsinane)
• The witches know exactly how to manipulate and dismantle people
• Banquo recognizes the power and danger of the witches' prophecies early on
• Banquo and Macbeth's responses to the witches' prophecies

  Banquo does nothing, Macbeth accelerates and does his worst
• Shakespeare may be suggesting that if you do nothing, fate will turn out to favor you anyway</b>
• The witches don't have much power other than the power of manipulation they use to influence their target
• The dark and tell us truths metaphor foreshadows something
• Banquo is the antithesis to Macbeth


  Banquo's response to the prophecies is to do nothing, whereas Macbeth's response is to accelerate it and do everything
• Shakespeare is suggesting that if you do nothing, fate will turn out to favor you anyway
• Banquo's silence speaks volumes because he knows the prophecies will come true
• Banquo is not as innocent as he may seem, he just watches the downfall of Macbeth
• Macbeth also knows that Banquo is a threat to him
• Both Macbeth and Banquo are examples of characters that were completely manipulated and destroyed
• Banquo's silence is because he knows fate is God's plan, so he does nothing to go against it
• Banquo suspects Macbeth killed Duncan, yet he still goes along with Macbeth
• The quote "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it" shows Lady Macbeth commanding Macbeth on how to behave
• The quote


  • Simile comparing Macbeth to a flower and a serpent
  • Symbolism of the flower and serpent
  • Foreshadowing of Macbeth's downfall
  • Reveals the patriarchal relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth's evil side eventually takes over and destroys the good in him