1. Important quotes that shape Macbeth
MACBETH KEY QUOTES
Important quotes that shape Macbeth

2. ACT I

3. “Fair is foul and foul is fair.” The Witches
Meaning: Good is bad and bad is good
Significance to the play: Things aren’t always what they may seem.
Examples: The witches’ prophecies might not be what they seem to be: Macbeth is not the person Duncan thinks

4. “The Thane of Cawdor lives, why do you dress me in borrowed robes
“The Thane of Cawdor lives, why do you dress me in borrowed robes?” Macbeth
Meaning: The Thane of Cawdor is alive, why do you call me by someone else’s title
Significance:
While Macbeth asked this of Ross, he does not ask the same question of the witches; he simply believes them.
The witches hailed him as King and he jumps, with his ambition, into thinking of a murder plot

5. “Oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray’s in deepest consequence.” Banquo
Meaning: Oftentimes instruments of darkness gain our trust by telling us trifles of truth, but we do not know if they are telling the truth for the important, bigger, things
Significance: Banquo is showing that he doesn’t trust the witches. Even though the first two parts of Macbeth’s prophecies were true, there is no saying the witches aren’t tricking them to lead them to despair.

6. “Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o’th’ milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great; art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it.” Lady Macbeth
Meaning: I fear that you are too good of a person to kill King Duncan. You have the ambition, but not the ability to carry it out.
Significance: Lady Macbeth is taking the reins in the plan to murder Duncan. She knows that Macbeth wants to be King, but will try to back out.

7. “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
Meaning: Spirits, make me more manly so that I can carry out these terrible deeds. Fill me with the direst cruelty.
Significance: Lady Macbeth is overcoming her femininity. She is also expressing the importance of being manly and masculine. She later expresses the importance of masculinity to Macbeth, saying that if he was a man he could kill.

8. “I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.” Lady Macbeth
Meaning: I would bash my child’s brains as it smiles at me from my nipple if I had promised you I would do so.
Significance: Lady Macbeth is crazy. This shows a crucial part of her personality and also how convincing she is to Macbeth. She is passionate and heartless.

9. ACT II

10. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand
“Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?” Macbeth
Meaning: Do I see a dagger in front of me with the handle facing my hand?
Significance: Macbeth is hallucinating that he sees a dagger floating in front of him. His guilt is taking over him and making him lose touch with reality. (Things aren’t always what they appear)

11. “I go and it is done: the bell invites me
“I go and it is done: the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan, for it is knell That summons thee to heaven, or to hell.” Macbeth
Meaning: The bell calls me to do my deed. The bell will take you to heaven or hell.
Significance: The bell is the call to Macbeth that it is safe to kill Duncan. He knows that he will now go through with Duncan’s murder. Therefore, the bell calls Duncan to heaven or hell.

12. “I could not say ‘Amen’, When they did say ‘God bless us.’ “ Macbeth
Meaning: I could not say Amen at the end of the prayer.
Significance: This quote shows Macbeth’s separation from God and all things good. He has crossed over to the bad side and cannot return.

13. “My hands are of your color; but I shame to wear a heart so white
“My hands are of your color; but I shame to wear a heart so white.” Lady Macbeth
Meaning: My hands are red like yours but I would shame to have a heart as white as yours
Significance: Lady Macbeth is as guilty of the murders as Duncan, but she is not as much of a coward as he. She doesn’t feel guilty.

14. “Will all of great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood from my hand
“Will all of great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood from my hand?” Macbeth
Meaning: Will the water of the ocean wash this blood from my hands?
Significance: While the water can literally wash his hands, it is impossible to clean his hands of what has been done. He can not symbolically wash the blood from his hands. He is forever guilty, and there is no going back.

15. ACT THREE

16. “We have scotched the snake, not killed it” Macbeth (Act 3)
Meaning: We have hurt the snake but not killed it
Significance:
We have only addressed half of the threat.
We are still at risk while Banquo and Fleance are alive.
Macbeth is willing to do whatever he needs to in order to be king.

17. “The worm that’s fled Hath nature that in time will venom breed, no teeth for the present.” Macbeth
Meaning: The young one that fled has the makings for trouble, but he cannot hurt us now.
Significance: Macbeth knows that killing Banquo was not sufficient; Fleance is still alive, and thus his reign is not secure.

18. “I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er” Macbeth
Meaning: I have stepped so far in blood I cannot get out- the going back would be as hard as going forward.
Significance: Macbeth is stuck and cannot get out of the situation he has gotten himself into.

19. ACT FIVE

20. “Out, damned spot; out, I say. One, two,—why, then ’tis time to do’t
“Out, damned spot; out, I say. One, two,—why, then ’tis time to do’t.” Lady Macbeth
Meaning: Get out damned spot- it’s time to do it.
Significance:
Lady Macbeth is guilty and she can’t contain it anymore. She is admitting guilt.
This is essentially Lady Macbeth coming full circle from not feeling guilty to hallucinations.
Lady Mac and Mac have switched places

21. " Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. 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.“ Macbeth
Significance: Macbeth is saying that life is nothing. Existence is temporary and after death, we matter no more. Life signifies nothing.

22. THEMES
Violence: Macbeth is a violent warrior; through violence Macbeth achieves greatness; Macbeth is defeated through violence
Ambition: Macbeth’s downfall: ambition leads him to kill Duncan and all those thereafter
Guilt: Macbeth feels guilty for murdering Duncan and Banquo; Lady Macbeth feels guilty and kills herself
Fate and Free Will: Macbeth believes that he needs to act in order for these things to come true; Banquo was waiting for them to happen.
Versions of Reality: Things aren’t always what they seem. We know this through what the witches tell Macbeth.

23. TRAGEDY
A Tragic Hero Is: A character of whom has the potential for greatness, but falls from glory
A Tragic Flaw Is: The thing that causes the Tragic Hero to fall from grace and stray from the path of greatness
Macbeth’s Tragic Flaw Was: Listening to the witches, and his ambition to make what they say come true