30 key Macbeth quotes you should know
Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays. Macbeth quotes are essential to anyone trying to understand the play and the lessons taught through it.
Source: Original
Macbeth quotes are essential to anyone who is trying to learn more about this famous play. William Shakespeare was brilliant in portraying themes of ambition, betrayal and guilt throughout this play.
Here are some key quotes that every fan should know.
Macbeth key quotes
These important key quotes tell the reader what happens in the play and how the characters interact with each other
- False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
Macbeth says this to himself. He is telling himself that he must hide his true intentions to commit regicide because if he does not speak it, no one can read his heart and know of his impending treachery.
Source: Original
- Present fears are worse than horrible imaginings
The main character thought this after Ross confirmed to him that he had been promoted to Thane of Cawdor, making the witches' first prediction come true.
- It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
- We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it: she'll close and be herself, whilst our poor malice remains in danger of her former tooth
Source: Original
- Sleep shall neither night nor day hang upon his penthouse lid; He shall live a man forbid: Weary sev'nights nine times nine shall he dwindle, peak, and pine: Though his bark cannot be lost, yet it shall be tempest-tossed
This is a critical quote in the play as it lets the reader into the truly evil mind games of the witches. While they cannot kill their victims, they provide appropriate situations whereby their victims will cause themselves unspeakable harm.
- If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not.
One of Macbeth supernatural quotes, it is said by Banquo as he questions the witches. He is curious and wants to know if they have the ability to see into the future and determine which hopes and dreams will come true and which ones will not
Macbeth witches quotes
In William Shakespeare's play, the witches play a crucial role as they bring to light his ambition as well as predict that he will become a wicked person and murderer later on in the play.
These two are the most notable quotes by the witches
- "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!" - The Weird Sisters to Macbeth
- "Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. Not so happy, yet much happier. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:..." - The Weird Sisters to Banquo
These are Macbeth important quotes. Said in Act One, they are a premise to the play.
Other quotes by the witches are:
- When the battle's won and lost
This paradox is said to the main character. It meant that while he might be victorious, every win shall lead to more loss. For example, Macbeth killed Banquo to prevent the witches prophesy about his family members becoming king.
While he thought that he had ended Banquo's family tree by killing him, he forgot about his son, who eventually fulfilled the witches' prophesy.
- Fair is foul and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.
Source: Original
Said by the witches in the first act, it sets the mood of the play by implying that what is right is wrong, and what's wrong is right.
- Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble
Macbeth character quotes
These are some of the most notable sayings and quotes by some important characters in the play
- "But 'tis strange and 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
In Act One, Scene Three, right after the first witch's prophecy comes true, Banquo distrusts their intention. This quote means that evil people will sometimes tell good people the truth, and this truth will lead people into self-destruction.
- "If chance will have me, king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir." - Macbeth
He believed that he did not have to lift a finger to make himself king, but destiny would eventually make his wish come true.
Source: Original
- "There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face: he was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust." - King Duncan
This saying simply means that it is not easy to tell one's heart, nor is there a way to read someone's mind by simply looking at their face. King Duncan said this after he learned that his friend MacDonwald had been executed for treason.
- "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." - Macbeth
When it comes to Macbeth quotes ambition, this saying fits quite perfectly. The quote is divided into three parts.
In the first part of the quote, Macbeth acknowledges that he desires the throne and that he is willing to do whatever it takes to have it, including murder.
In the second part, while he accepts that he will have to kill people, he refuses to acknowledge these actions as his own.
Source: Original
The third part, 'let that be what the eye fears, when it is done, to see', means that while the main character does not wish to acknowledge his actions and betrayals, he still desires the results of his deeds; which in this case, is himself on the throne.
- "This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto our gentle senses." - King Duncan
- "O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife" - Macbeth
This saying signifies the uneasiness that he feels knowing that his friend Banquo and his son, Fleance, are alive. They represent a threat to his ambition, and he can not rest easy until his plot to kill them comes to fruition.
- "Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art in desire" - Lady Macbeth
Source: Original
- 'To trade and traffic with Macbeth in riddles and affairs of death; and I, the mistress of your charms, the close ~contrive of all harms, was never call'd to bear my part, or show the glory of our art?' - Hecate
Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, says the above in a monologue where she shows her anger at the three witches for meddling in the main character's affairs without consulting her first.
Lady Macbeth key quotes
Most of Lady Macbeth quotes can be classified as Macbeth quotes ambition. She is more ambitious, ruthless, cunning, manipulative, and stronger than her husband.
At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is a strong, ambitious and ruthless woman. She is willing to do anything to achieve her desires.
She also pushes her husband throughout the play to do unspeakable things to fulfil her wishes for a higher social status.
At the end of the play, however, Lady Macbeth is a broken person who is haunted by her past actions. Some of her most notable quotes are as follows:
- Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here
Source: Original
This is one of the many Macbeth supernatural quotes in the play. In this instance, Lady Macbeth sees femininity as a sign of weakness and not strength.
Thus, she calls on to spirits to divest her of her feminine weakness and fill her with masculine resolve to enable her to help her husband get rid of Kind Duncan of Scotland.
- Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall
- Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t
In this scene, Lady Macbeth is advising her husband that he should play the harmless and welcoming host so that no one, including the king, shall know of his true intentions to kill him.
Source: Original
- What beast was’t then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man
Here, she decided to manipulate her husband by attacking his manhood once his resolve about killing the king begins to waver.
- Yet I do fear thy nature: it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness
The milk of human kindness, in this case, refers to compassion. She believes that her husband is too compassionate to choose the quickest way to the throne, which would be through the death of King Duncan.
- 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
Source: Original
This Lady Macbeth saying is also considered as one of Macbeth supernatural quotes. Here, she is calling on to spirits to give her the strength to commit the highest form of treason, regicide.
Macbeth quotes about guilt
These Macbeth guilt quotes show how the characters, after a lifetime for murder and betrayal, are coming back to regret their actions
- "Yet who would have the thought the old man to have so much blood in him?" - Lady Macbeth
After killing the king, the lady starts a slow guilt-ridden descent into madness. This sentence is said as she sleepwalks through the castle.
- My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white
This statement shows the guilt felt by both Macbeth and his wife about their actions. However, it again shows Lady Macbeth shaming her husband for his cowardice of being unable to face his actions.
- Out, damned spot! Out, I say
This is probably one of the most famous quotes by Lady Macbeth. Her guilt has started making her hallucinate, and one of these hallucinations include seeing a non-existent spot of blood on her hands.
- Thy bones are marrowless; thy blood is cold. Thou hast no speculation in those eyes.
These words are said by a confused the main character who is not sure if he is seeing a vision of his dead friend or not. They show that he is wracked with guilt for ordering the death of his loyal friend and his son.
- To bed, to bed. There’s knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What is done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed.
Lady Macbeth says these words after she has gone mad. After years of violence, her once domineering and assertive personality has been reduced to a shadow of its former self.
No matter how much she repents and regrets her actions, nothing can alleviate her conscience from the guilt of it all.
- Is this a dagger which I see before me? The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
Source: Original
His heart heavy after killing the king, the main character starts hallucinating a dagger floating in the air.
While Macbeth quotes might be a little complicated due to the outdated English used throughout the play, they are quite brilliant once you understand their meaning. They teach valuable lessons about the dark side of ambition.
Source: Legit.ng
