Macbeth Act 1 Passage Analysis Test
Quotation Analysis
Download this document from Haiku.
1. For TEN of the quotations write the context: Who is speaking? To Whom? And in
what context are they speaking? (2 points)
2. For FIVE of the quotations, any ones you wish, analyze the dominant literary aspect,
its effect, and the significance of the quotation to the larger text. (5 points)
Note: You are being assessed on your use of language. Strive for precise and concise use of
vocabulary. Check your sentences for unnecessary repetition and redundancy. Be purposeful
in your employment of sentence structure. Vary your sentence lengths and use punctuation
effectively.
When you are finished, put your name and class period on the top left hand margin of the
document and submit to drop box in Haiku.
___________________________________________________________________________
Example 1.
“Doubtful it stood,
as two spent swimmers that do cling together
and choke their art.”
In this opening scene of the play, the injured Captain reports to King Duncan the details of the
battle between Scotland and Ireland, in which Scotland has emerged victorious. This simile
effectively displays the exhaustive physical struggle between both armies and the uncertain
outcome of the battle. The visual image of the simile demonstrates clearly the close proximity of
soldiers fighting in this time period. The monologue creates tension as the suspense of the battle
builds.
Example 2:
“This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.”
These lines are spoken by King Duncan to Banquo and various other thanes as he approaches and
stands before Macbeth’s castle, Iverness. The significance of the quotation is three-fold: firstly, it
shows Duncan’s pleasant and optimistic nature and helps the audience see that he is a righteous
and true king; secondly, it serves as dramatic irony, as the audience is aware of, or at least
suspects, that Duncan is not entering a pleasant castle, but instead his tomb; thirdly, it makes
reference to the sanctity of the guest-host relationship. As a guest in Macbeth’s home, Duncan
has the cultural and moral right to expect to be treated well, and the impending murder is a serious
cultural taboo.
1.
“That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not,
and say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate”
2.
“If good, 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? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.”
3.
“No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death
And with his former title greet Macbeth.”
4.
There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face.
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.”
5.
“The service and the loyalty I owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness’ part
Is to receive our duties, and our duties
Are to your throne and state, children and servants,
Which do but what they should by doing everything
Safe toward your love and honour.”
6.
The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step o
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,
The eye wink at the hand. Yet let that be,
Which the eye fears when it is done to see.”
7.
“Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promis’d; 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 on it.”
8.
“The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
under my battlements.”
9.
“Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here
And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull
Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse…”
10.
“Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry, ‘Hold, hold.’”
11.
“O never
Shall sun that morrow see.
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time, bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue; look like th’innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t.
12.
“I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’other-”
13.
“We will proceed no further in this business.
He hath honoured me of late, and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.”
14.
“Prithee, peace.
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.”
15.
“What beast was’t, then
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man.”