Quotes from Act I
Macbeth
Name__________________________________
Directions: For each quote listed, paraphrase the quote and then talk about the
significance of the quote (for example, does it foreshadow something? Does it provide
insight into a character’s personality? Etc.)
1. Macbeth: “If chance will have me king, why, chance may/ crown me/ without my
stir.” I.iii.157-159
2. Duncan: “There’s no art/ to find the mind’s construction in the face./ He was an
absolute gentleman on whom I built/ an absolute trust.” I.iv.13-16
3. Macbeth: “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step/ On which I must fall down or
else o’erleap,/ for in my way it lies.” I.iv.55-57
4. Lady Macbeth: “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/ What thou art promised.
Yet I do fear thy nature;/ It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness/ to catch the nearest
way.” I.v.15-18
5. Lady Macbeth: “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.” I.v.47-50
6. Lady Macbeth: “Bear welcome in your eye,/ your hand, your tongue. Look like th’
innocent/ flower,/ but be the serpent under ‘t.” I.v.75-78
7. Macbeth: “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 his murderer shut the
door,/ Not bear the knife myself.” I.vii.12-16
8. Macbeth: “False face must hide what the false heart doth/ know.” I.vii.95-96