MACBETH QUOTE SHEET
To keep things simple for exam revision and essay planning/writing under timed
conditions in the exam, I would advise structuring all your Macbeth essays in the
same way.
Deal with 3 distinct sections of the play (and therefore, 3 distinct points in Macbeth’s
journey/ downfall) – beginning, middle and end. This means you can focus on
learning a manageable number of quotations.
In the Exam, you will obviously have to change the wording of topic sentences/
POINT and your EXPLANATION in order to make it relevant to the task. This
structure will suit many different essay questions.
1.
MACBETH AT THE START OF THE PLAY
The positive public image (Act 1 scene 2)
At the start of the play the Scottish King, Duncan, and his loyal subjects are fighting
the Norwegians who have invaded Scotland and are being helped by MacDonwald
and Cawdor (both Scottish Thanes and traitors). An army sergeant brings news from
the battlefield to Duncan, telling of Macbeth’s great bravery:
SERGEANT
But all's too weak;
For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name)
Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like Valour's minion, Carved out his passage
Till he faced the slaveWhich ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chops,
And fixed his head upon our battlements.
DUNCAN
O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!”
The private conflicted Macbeth (Act 1 scene 3)
When Macbeth hears the witches’ prophecies, that he will be king, his ambition
makes his mind jump immediately to the quickest route to the crown – murder – but
his conscience and moral integrity are still strong enough at this point to overrule this
ruthless streak:
“why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair,
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature?”
“If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me
Without my stir.”
When Malcolm is made heir to the throne, Macbeth loses sight of his usual moral
code:
“The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars hide your fires!
Let not light see my black and deep desires!”
2.
MIDDLE OF THE PLAY – MACBETH’S TURNING POINT
Macbeth’s debate - soliloquy (Act 1:7)
Upon returning from battle, Lady Macbeth tells her husband he is to kill Duncan that
night while they have the chance because Duncan is staying with them. During the
feast at his castle, Macbeth leaves the room and debates the morality of their planned
actions. Here we see his “vaulting ambition” to be king, struggling with his
conscience and sense of loyalty to Duncan:
“If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere will
It were done quickly. If th’ assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success…
…But in these cases
We still have judgement here – that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor…
…He’s here in double trust:
First as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed – then, as his host,
Who should against the murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself!...
…I have no spur
To prick the side of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
And falls on the other…
After the murder (Act 2 scene 2)
“But wherefor could not I pronounce ‘Amen’?
I had most need of blessing and ‘Amen’
Stuck in my throat.”
“’Glamis hath murdered sleep – and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more!’”
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No – this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarndine,
Making the green one red.”
3. THE END OF THE PLAY: THE TYRANT KING
Macbeth cannot enjoy his prize of being king because he has played foully for it.
Now he has started on the path of evil and murder, he cannot get out of it. He cannot
break the cycle of violence. He selfishly sets out to wipe out anyone who may reveal
his secret or usurp his power.
The Threat of Banquo (Act 3 scene 2)
“We have scotched the snake, not killed it”
“O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
Thou know’st that Banquo and his Fleance lives.”
“Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill”
After Banquo’s death (Act 3 scene 4)
At the feast when he hears of Banquo’s death but Fleance’s escape, he is tormented
again by his conscience. However, he realises now he will never be safe and decides
he must continue on this path if he is to keep his secret and protect his power.
“It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood”
“For mine own good
All causes shall give way: I am in blood
Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er”
The Threat of Macduff
Macbeth believes Macduff to be a threat to his throne now and when he visits the
witches they tell him “Beware Macduff” but they also say “none of woman born will
harm Macbeth” and that he will not be “vanquished” until the moment Birnam wood
moves to Dunsinane hill. As he believes these things are impossible, Macbeth
becomes arrogant, thinking himself invincible but he still wants to be sure so he plans
to kill Macduff and his whole family. He now feels no guilt and does not debate his
actions as he had done previously:
“From this moment
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand. And even now
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:
The castle of Macduff I will surprise,
Seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o th’sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool;
This deed I’ll do before this purpose cool.”
Tyrant King (Act 4 scene 3)
When Ross arrives in England to meet with Malcolm and Macduff, he reports that
Scotland has changed under Macbeth’s rule. It is now a fearful place to live, the
implication being that Macbeth is not ruling wisely. He has become a tyrant:
“Alas, poor country,
Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot
Be called our mother, but our grave”
CONCLUSION – MACBETH’S FINAL STAND
By the end of the play as Macbeth prepares to face Malcolm’s army he finds out his
wife has died and he is alone. He seems full of regret for his past actions, realising
that he has essentially destroyed any chance of finding fulfilment and meaning in life
due to the poor decisions he has made. He has lost everything that he once valued: his
wife, the respect of his peers, the blessing of God, a clear conscience and his own
sense of morality so that he no longer feels any true emotions. Although he has
gained the crown and the power that he desired, he has not been able to enjoy it at all
because, in gaining it, he betrayed his own sense of humanity. A true villain would be
able to live with their actions and take delight in the power and riches gained by foul
play but Macbeth’s conscience has always stopped him from enjoying his ill-gotten
gains:
“She should have died hereafter;
There would have been time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
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.”
However, his conscience does not plague him so much that he decides to put a stop to
the bloodshed and surrender or end his own life. It is clear he has become so corrupt
that he is almost blind to his heinous actions and deaf to his conscience:
“Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
On mine own sword? Whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better upon them.”
(Translation: While I see living men, it is better I inflict wounds upon them, than they
on me)