Key quotations to memorise from Macbeth
The quotations on this page have been chosen because they are useful for methods analysis, which you need for AO2 in the exam. For each quotation we’ll offer several reasons for learning it, with some suggested analysis, though you will need to develop this analysis in your essays and revision notes. If there are other quotations which contain methods that your teacher has suggested you learn, that’s good too. These aren’t intended to replace those - they’re just intended to help you get started.
Act 1
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair"
Embedded and contextualised example: In the opening scene, the witches chant what seems to be a kind of mantra for them: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”.
Reasons for learning it:
Encapsulates two of the key ideas in the play - duplicity and corruption
Paradox is used to introduced the inverted morality of the witches - they aren’t just evil - they find evil beautiful
Alliteration is used to accentuate the connectedness of ‘fairness’ (goodness) and ‘foulness’ (evil) - they are closer together, more similar, than we might think - links to duplicity (seeming ‘fair’ but being ‘foul’) and corruption (being ‘fair’ and becoming ‘foul’)
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, The Witches, Power and corruption, duplicity and equivocation, good and evil, the supernatural, free will and control
“As two spent swimmers, that do cling together / And choke their art”
Embedded and contextualised example: Just before Macbeth is first introduced, the Captain describes the battle in the moments before his arrival as a stalemate, comparing it to “two spent swimmers, that do cling together / And choke their art”.
Reasons for learning it:
A simile suggesting a desperate and somewhat pitiful battle, two tired armies dragging one another gracelessly and clumsily to their deaths. It is an image wholly lacking in glory or heroism, until Macbeth arrives in a few lines time
The imagery can be zoomed into and analysed in more detail, if necessary - the sea, drowning, the idea that they are tired (“spent”)
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, masculinity, power and corruption, good and evil
“unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops”
Embedded and contextualised example: When Macbeth enters the battle, he quickly fights his way through the opposing army until he comes face to face with Macdonald, whom he “unseam[s] … from the nave to th’ chops” before chopping off his head.
Reasons for learning it:
Vivid and grotesque imagery - conveys both the horror and the glory of the war (battles “lost and won”)
Metaphor of “unseaming” - suggests Macbeth’s skill in battle - the precision of the blow, despite its brutality
Introduces the character of Macbeth in a memorable and notably brutal way - he is a man of action, a warrior
Contrasts with Macbeth’s fear after Duncan’s murder
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, masculinity, power and corruption, good and evil
“There's no art / To find the mind's construction in the face”
Embedded and contextualised example: Early in Act 1 Scene 4, Duncan expresses his regret at not detecting the thane of Cawdor’s traitorous intent, claiming that “there’s no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face.”
Reasons for learning it:
Another key quotation in relation to the theme of duplicity - people are hard to read
Metaphor of the mind as being constructed - it is something complex and intricate but hard to figure out from the outside - like trying to work out how a building was built just by looking at it
Noun “art” suggesting that to read people’s intentions is a skill, a complicated thing that nobody can really grasp
Dramatic irony is being used here as this is structurally positioned just before Macbeth’s entrance, another person whose traitorous intent Duncan will, again, fail to detect
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, Duncan, duplicity and equivocation, good and evil, power and corruption
“Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires”
Embedded and contextualised example: As he leaves for his castle, having not been made heir to Duncan’s throne, Macbeth reveals his dark thoughts, calling on the stars to “hide [their] fires” because he does not want “light [to] see his black and deep desires.”
Reasons for learning it:
Another quotation about duplicity - hiding ones “foul” thoughts from others in order to seem “fair”
Symbolic use of light and dark - good and evil
Adjective “deep” is ambiguous - it could mean that Macbeth’s evil desires are well-hidden, far from the surface; it could also suggest that they come from somewhere deep inside him, from his core; they are essential (as in ‘essence’)
Imperative clause (“Let not…”) reveals Macbeth’s desire to continue to conceal his desires - there is shame here, arguably; a desire to feel other than he does - links to free will and control
Revealed in an aside - a dramatic technique that Shakespeare uses a lot to reveal the inner thoughts of characters
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, power and corruption, good and evil, duplicity and equivocation, guilt and remorse, free will and control
“too full o' the milk of human kindness”
Embedded and contextualised example: When she hears of the witches’ prophecies, Lady Macbeth immediately decides that she will help Macbeth to become king, but she fears he is “too full o’ the milk of human kindness” to take the throne for himself.
Reasons for learning it:
Important metaphor that conveys Macbeth’s innate goodness at the start of the play (despite all the terrible things he will go on to do)
Imagery in the metaphor is deliberately gendered - milk symbolises femininity (since only women can produce milk) and it is equated with human kindness, suggesting that (for Lady Macbeth at least) femininity is good
Adverb “too” is interesting - how can one be “too full”? Being full is a binary - one is either full or not - but Lady Macbeth suggests something else here
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, masculinity and femininity, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“pour my spirits in thine ear”
Embedded and contextualised example: When she vows to convince Macbeth to go through with the murder of Duncan in Act 1 Scene 5, Lady Macbeth says she will “pour [her] spirits in [his] ear” in order to persuade him.
Reasons for learning it:
Another metaphor rich with meaning that links to most of the themes in the play
Metaphor evokes the idea of spirit as soul or essence (she will pour her spirit into him)
It also conveys the idea of spirit as determination or courage (like a person who has spirit or is spirited)
It also has supernatural connotations and links to Lady Macbeth’s evocation of “spirits” later in the scene.
It could also be alcohol (sprits are strong alcoholic drinks like whisky) - she will intoxicate him with her words
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, free will and control, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil, the supernatural
“look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under't”
Embedded and contextualised example: Having mostly convinced Macbeth to go through with the regicide, Lady Macbeth tells him that they need to keep their intentions secret; they must “look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t”.
Reasons for learning it:
Yet another key line when it comes to the play’s early exploration of duplicity - looking “fair” but being “foul”
A mixture of simile and metaphor with evocative imagery
The femininity of the innocent flower mixed with the poisonous nature of the serpent
The idea of striking in secret, like a snake in the grass
The overt Biblical connotations of the serpent in the garden of Eden - the root of all evil through original sin and something generally associated with the Devil - the father of lies and the embodiment of evil in the world, from a Christian perspective
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, duplicity and equivocation, masculinity and femininity, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
Act 2
“the innocent sleep, / Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care / The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, / Balm of hurt minds "
Embedded and contextualised example: Having reluctantly gone through with the regicide, Macbeth is immediately best by guilt and remorse, claiming that he heard a voice say that he will never sleep again; he then goes on to explain the importance of sleep, calling it “the innocent sleep, / Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care / The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, / Balm of hurt minds”.
Reasons for learning it:
One of the key introductions for the motif of sleep as innocence and peace of mind in the play
A series of metaphors each of which convey the same key idea in slightly different ways, all of which you could analyse (e.g. without sleep, our minds will unravel, like a sleeve that is not knitted up at the end of each day)
The semantic field of mortality (life and death) that Macbeth uses - foreboding, conveys the mortal consequences of what has happened
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“Will all great Neptune's oceans wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine”
Embedded and contextualised example: When Lady Macbeth goes off to incriminate the chamberlains, Macbeth finds himself alone, contemplating what he has done. He looks down at his bloody hands and wonders if “all great Neptune’s oceans [can] wash this blood / Clean from [his] hand? No,” he concludes. Instead his hand will “the multitudinous seas incarnadine”.
Reasons for learning it:
One of the most important lines in the entire play
Develops the other key motif in the play (alongside sleep): blood as symbolic of both violence and its consequences, especially guilt and remorse
The metaphor here is powerful and rich with meaning - the idea that all the water in the ocean cannot clean the blood (the guilt) from his hands; death and killing happen in an instant, but blood remains and stains
Quantifier “all” and adjective “great” used for emphasis - it’s not enough just to say the oceans, Macbeth needs to show their significance even more clearly
Use of Neptune, the god of the sea - a supernatural reference to further emphasise the power of the ocean in order to reinforce the greatness of his guilt
The blood will turn the ocean red - the remorse will metaphorically grow and spread until it has stained, tainted, spoiled every aspect of Macbeth’s life; he will be haunted by it forever
Cognates of the word ‘blood’ (‘blood’ and ‘bloody’) are used more than any other lexical word in the play - one might argue that, above all, this is a play about the terrible consequences of murder
The symbolic use of water as cleansing people of sin - linking to Christian ideas of baptism
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“A little water clears us of this deed”
Embedded and contextualised example: When she returns from incriminating the chamberlains, Lady Macbeth claims, in contrast to Macbeth’s metaphor about Neptune’s oceans, that “a little water clears [them] of this deed”.
Reasons for learning it:
The juxtaposition of this line with Macbeth’s line (above) conveys the early difference between the two when it comes to guilt and remorse
The adjective “little” used to further diminish the significance of the regicide - it doesn’t even need much water
The irony that this line later evokes given how much guilt and remorse Lady Macbeth goes on to feel, evidence in Act 5 Scene 1
The symbolic use of water as cleansing people of sin - linking to Christian ideas of baptism
Relevant characters and themes: Lady Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
Act 3
“O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!"
Embedded and contextualised example: When Lady Macbeth tries to sooth an increasingly paranoid Macbeth early in Act 3, he resists, saying, “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!”
Reasons for learning it:
Another powerful metaphor - a mind full of scorpions is pretty bad - they could sting at any time, so it would be impossible to feel safe or at peace - he cannot escape them as they’re in his mind
The adjective “full” used for emphasis - there is no room for any more scorpions - this is as bad as it could get
The exclamation mark at the end used to convey how ardently Macbeth feels this - he is not joking or being hyperbolic here - this is really how he feels
The imagery of scorpions is one of several evil images that Macbeth uses in this scene (alongside snakes, bats and beetles) all of which arguably convey his descent into evil following the regicide in Act 2
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck”
Embedded and contextualised example: Having alluded to his plans to have Banquo murdered in order to assuage his paranoia, Macbeth refuses to tell Lady Macbeth his plans, instead telling her to “be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck”.
Reasons for learning it:
Perfectly exemplifies the role reversal of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth which is so crucial to the start of the third act of the play
The irony that comes with the adjective “innocent” - the idea that Lady Macbeth could ever be innocent again after what she did in Act 1
The term of endearment at the end (“dearest chuck”) which conveys that, perhaps, the love that we saw in Act 1 still just about remains between these characters, but also the power dymanics have changed - it is now a little condescending, like a linguistic pat on the head
Repetition of “dearest” from earlier in play - but before she was “dearest partner of greatness” - now she’s a baby chicken (that’s what “chuck” means in this context - “chick”)
Possible link to Macduff’s use of chickens to describe his own wife and family after their murder (this might be pushing it a bit)
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, masculinity and femininity, power and corruption, good and evil
“It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood”
Embedded and contextualised example: Following the banquet and the appearance of Banquo’s ghost, Macbeth broods on his current circumstances, claiming that “it will have blood; they say, blood will have blood”.
Reasons for learning it:
A nice easy quotation to memorise - short and most of the words are “blood” - but one with a rich symbolic meaning because of the blood motif in the play
Macbeth is literally saying that blood will lead to more blood, but symbolically he is saying a lot more
First, violence leads to more violence, foreshadowing the terrible murders that are to come in Act 4
Second, revenge, as mentioned by Macbeth mentioned in his soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 7, is inevitable – the dead are coming back to avenge their deaths
Third, violence and murder lead to guilt and torment, as Macbeth experienced after killing Duncan, and experienced again tonight after killing Banquo - killing always has consequences in the play
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“I am in blood / stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, / returning were as tedious as go o'er”
Embedded and contextualised example: At the end of Act 3, Macbeth accepts that there is only one way forward for him: “I am in blood,” he claims, “stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er”
Reasons for learning it:
Another metaphor that plays on the motif of blood, with its double meaning
First, he has done so many terrible things – so much violence and murder – that it’s easier just to keep killing people rather than try to go back to being peaceful and good again
Second, he is dealing with so much guilt and torment now, that he might as well just put himself through even more in the hope that he comes out the other side
The imagery here (of a man halfway across a river of blood) is highly reminiscent of the “Neptune’s oceans” metaphor from Act 2 Scene 2 - things have gone exactly as Macbeth feared: the blood on his hands has turned the oceans red
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil, free will and control
Act 4
“The very firstlings of my heart shall be / The firstlings of my hand"
Embedded and contextualised example: After discovering that Macduff has already fled to England, Macbeth vows to stop procrastinating and just do what he wants: from this point forward, “the very firstlings of [his] heart shall be / The firstlings of [his] hand"
Reasons for learning it:
This quotation captures Macbeth’s moral nadir in the play - the point at which he is most evil and corrupt
The noun “firstlings” evokes an image of children - his thoughts and acts are being born - which is cruelly ironic considering the thought he has had is to murder the children of Macduff
The alliterative juxtaposition of “heart” and “hand” is used to metonymically represent desires and actions - but this too is ironic since “heart” is normally associated with goodness and emotion, neither of which Macbeth seems to possess any longer
These lines show another way in which Macbeth has changed dramatically since Act 1 Scene 7 when Shakespeare used a lengthy soliloquy to stage Macbeth weighing up the reasons for and against killing Duncan - he presented Macbeth, at this point, as a man of reason, a man who could consider things carefully and rationally - that man is gone now - the Macbeth of Act 4 is a man of pure instinct and of utter selfishness
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil, free will and control
“All my pretty ones? / Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? / What, all my pretty chickens and their dam / At one fell swoop? ”
Embedded and contextualised example: When he learns of the slaughter of his family, Macduff is overcome by grief and disbelief: “All my pretty ones?” he asks. “Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? What, all my pretty chickens and their dam at one fell swoop?”
Reasons for learning it:
This scene and this speech in particular are crucial for getting the audience to feel sympathy for Macduff and so to root for him in the final act of the play
The language is densely packed with methods
The repetition of the quantifier ‘all’ to emphasise the extent of Macduff’s loss – he has lost everything
The repeated interrogatives show his continued disbelief, his inability to accept the reality of his family’s slaughter
The short sentences help to convey how frantically his mind is working to process his grief
The final metaphor reveals the paternal affection he felt – and still feels – for his lost family: the image of chickens presents the family as fragile, innocent and harmless – as mere chickens, slaughtered by the villainous, predatory Macbeth, a kite (a bird of prey) from Hell
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, Macduff, masculinity and femininity, guilt and remorse, good and evil
Act 5
“Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him"
Embedded and contextualised example: In her final scene, Lady Macbeth unconsciously reflects, while sleepwalking, on everything that she and her husband have done, concluding her first speech by asking “who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him”?
Reasons for learning it:
This is a huge and deliberate contrast with Lady Macbeth’s earlier claim that "a little water” would clear her of the murder
The line reminds us of her role in the murder of Duncan (“the old man”) and in particular her painting of the grooms faces with his blood
The motif of blood is again used here - she had no idea that Duncan’s murder would result in so much guilt and remorse
The interrogative clause “who would have thought…” conveys her disbelief and the naivety of her former self - killing has consequences, even for the seemingly cold and emotionless - remorse is inescapable
Relevant characters and themes: Lady Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”
Embedded and contextualised example: During her final sleep-walking scene, Lady Macbeth tries to wash her hands, before smelling them and claiming that “all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”.
Reasons for learning it:
Another structural echo of the line from Act 2 Scene 2 about washing off the blood
The imagery here differs slightly from the imagery in Macbeth’s version - it is the smell of blood that she cannot get rid of, not the sight (or colour) of it - smell can often linger long after a visual stain has disappeared, as anyone who has ever been sick and tried to clean it up will know - smell can also be particularly evocative when it comes to memory; a smell can transport us back to a time in our past, almost by magic, and without our even understanding why
The imagery is more feminine than in Macbeth’s version of that line, reflecting Lady Macbeth’s reversion to her traditional feminine role by this point in the play: both perfume and the “little hand” reflect this.
Relevant characters and themes: Lady Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“What's done cannot be undone”
Embedded and contextualised example: At the end of Act 5 Scene 1, Lady Macbeth returns to bed, but before she does so she concludes her rambling final scene by claiming that “what’s done cannot be undone.”
Reasons for learning it:
It’s short and easy to learn
It is perhaps the most important structural echo in a scene full of structural echoes: in Act 3 Scene 2 she said, “What’s done is done” - though very similar in terms of the words used, the difference in meaning between these two lines is dramatic: before she wanted to put the past behind her; now she wishes to change the past but knows she cannot
Relevant characters and themes: Lady Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“his title / Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe / Upon a dwarfish thief”
Embedded and contextualised example: As the invading army gather to siege Macbeth’s castle in the final act of the play, Angus claims that Macbeth’s title “hang[s] loose about him, like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief”.
Reasons for learning it:
It’s a meaningful simile which captures a key idea about power and authority from the play, using the motif of clothing, which is used throughout
The role of kingship is equated to the robe of a giant - kings are big men, great men, men of significance - they are not ordinary people but something almost supernatural, like giants
Macbeth, in contrast, is a “dwarfish thief” - he stole the throne, and he is not just not a giant (not a great man), he is a dwarf - he is less than an ordinary man - this is a dramatic contrast to the way he was introduced at the start of the play, as a hero - this is how public opinion works - when we fall we fall hard
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“my way of life / Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf; / And that which should accompany old age, / As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have”
Embedded and contextualised example: Early in Act 5, when left alone on stage, Macbeth reflects on what he has done and the consequences it has had, claiming that his “way of life / is fall’n into the sear, the yellow leaf / And that which should accompany old age, / As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / [he] must not look to have”.
Reasons for learning it:
This is the first attempt Shakespeare makes to humanise Macbeth again in Act 5, to remind the audience that he wasn’t always a monster
The metaphor of Macbeth’s life as a “yellow leaf” that has fallen (not IS falling) conveys the sense that he thinks things are ending, winter is here - the fall has already happened - there’s no stopping it now
The asyndetic list of of abstract nouns (“honour, love, obedience, troops of friends”) conveys both the sense that the list could go on (these are just some of the things Macbeth doesn’t have) but also the sense of abundance - there are just so many things that he is missing out on - his life has been a failure
These lines are delivered when Macbeth is alone on stage - he is saying them to himself, suggesting that this is not for show - he really feels this way
This is the first of several moments of recognition that Macbeth has in Act 5. Moments of recognition, where the tragic hero is shown to realise, at last, the consequences of his actions, are an important convention of Classical tragedy: before his demise, the tragic hero should understand to some degree what he has done, and Shakespeare is employing that convention here.
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition, good and evil
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day ”
Embedded and contextualised example: Having learnt of Lady Macbeth’s suicide, Macbeth is plunged even deeper into despair, not just for himself but for life in general: “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day”.
Reasons for learning it:
It’s the start of one of the greatest speeches ever written
Shakespeare slows the rhythm of the speech here to reflect the idea that life is long and tedious - he uses an eleven syllable line with three dacytls (‘tomorrow’ – a stressed syllable plus two unstressed syllables) and two caesurae, in contrast to the iambic pentameter of the previous line - the line is slow and repetitive, just like life
We also get the repetition of ‘and’ and the double repetition of ‘tomorrow’, further conveying the repetitiveness of life
The double repetition of ‘tomorrow’ even begins to drain the word of its meaning – it starts to become noise rather than language, like when you repeat any word too many times, reflecting the meaninglessness that Macbeth sees in life in general
The rhythm remains slow in the next part when the days of our lives are said to metaphorically “creep”, further implying slowness, and the long vowel sound (‘ee’) adds to the weary, despairing tone of the speech
We also get more repetition, this time of ‘day’, to further convey the repetitiveness of life: it’s just one damned thing after another
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition
“it is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing”
Embedded and contextualised example: Macbeth concludes his soliloquy about the meaninglessness of human life by comparing it to “a tale / told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / signifying nothing”.
Reasons for learning it:
The “idiot” in the metaphor (recalling the “fool” from earlier in the speech) suggests the story of life is not a good one - it is not wise or deep or sophisticated - it is dull or, worse, non-sensical, ridiculous, absurd - it may seem dramatic (be “full of sound and fury”, like an action movie, like the actor “strut[ting] and fret[ting]” upon the stage) – but it doesn’t mean anything - tyhere is no point to it
Shakespeare ends this speech with the pronoun “nothing”, which captures how Macbeth feels about life - nothing matters - it means nothing
The final line is just six syllables long - the remaining beats of the iambic pentameter are absent, missing - at the end of the line, at the end of the speech, at the end of life, there is nothing, emptiness, oblivion
This speech is not a passionate outpouring of grief like we saw after Duncan’s death, nor is it the dumbfounded disbelief we saw when Macduff heard about his own wife’s death - it is something arguably worse: a weary, hopeless articulation of existential despair, of the utter meaninglessness of all human life
Relevant characters and themes: Macbeth, guilt and remorse, power and corruption, greed and ambition