Macbeth

• stars hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires

  shows the duality between light and dark, such as stars and black and deep desire. It is a symbol for the conflict between Macbeth's conscience and his ambition. Stars could be referred to as the gods/heaven and he doesn't want them to witness his sins. It also shows Macbeth wants to operate in darkness so he can avoid detection
• i have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself And falls on th'other.

  Killing duncan satisfies his ambition. Ambition make people illogical and make them overestimate themselves. SELF DESTRUCTIVE. Metaphor of horse racing mimicking the way people treat life as a race to power. Macbeth is trying to control his ambition, but feels his ambition will take over him and become animalistic. Jacobeans believed the only thing separating man from animal was logic
• Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player / that struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.


  change in tone expresses he has finally awaken from his stupor. The nouns candle, shadow, player, and tale connate imitation and emptiness. Semantic field show how people focus on the wrong things in life. He was so focused on ambition he missed what really mattered.
• false face must hide what false heart doth know

  he has decided he will go along with lady Macbeth's plan to kill Duncan. Telling himself that he must put on a false pleasant face to hide his false, evil heart.
• is there a dagger which i see before me, The handle toward my hand?

  hallucinating that he sees a dagger before he kills Duncan