Macbeth Character Quotes

The merciless Macdonwald –
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him…
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 slave;
Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam’d him from the nave to th’ chops,
And fix’d his head upon our battlements.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 2. The Captain tells King Duncan how the brave Macbeth led the Scots to victory against the King of Norway and executed the traitorous rebel Macdonwald. We see how Macbeth had the ability to defy fate and fortune with his sword. The quote shows that he is loyal to the King. We also witness his ruthlessness and propensity for gruesome violence. The battle “hero” is introduced as a bloodthirsty killer, who slices his opponent open from naval to jaw. This foreshadows Macbeth being a killer during the rest of the play. The passage uses metaphorical language to emphasize Macbeth’s heroic and bloody role in the battle – his sword “smoked with bloody execution.” We see simile and personification when Macbeth is likened to “valour’s minion” – the servant of courage. Macbeth is initially presented as a patriot in the play.
So foul and fair a day I have not seen

So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3. Macbeth’s line echoes the incantation spoken by the Witches and which is synonymous with the play: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” Macbeth’s first words in the drama are significant. They may refer to the good outcome of the battle that brought victory to Scotland, also the foul weather on the heath. They also link Macbeth to the Witches, foreshadowing how he will come be easily led and manipulated by them.

Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
By Sinel’s death I know I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3. After hearing the Witches’ prophecies that he will be thane of Cawdor and later king, Macbeth orders them to stay. The Witches have sparked his curiosity and he wants to know more. This reflects the theme of Macbeth’s hunger for power. We also have dramatic irony, since the audience is already aware that King Duncan ordered the execution of the thane of Cawdor for treachery and bestowed the title on Macbeth.

Say, from whence
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3. The theme of appearance vs reality, or things not being what they seem, is found in this passage. A questioning and frustrated Macbeth demands to know where the Witches got their information that he will be Thane of Cawdor and more importantly King of Scotland. He doesn’t understand how he can be Thane of Cawdor when the person in that position is still alive. Macbeth’s use of the aggressive adjective “blasted” shows how more interested he is the Witches’ predictions than his friend Banquo who has an entirely indifferent reaction. The Witches vanish just as Macbeth speaks these words.

Why do you dress me
In borrowed robes?

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3. When Ross hails Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth’s reaction comes in the form of a clothing metaphor. He tries to conceal his ambition to be king by making light of the news, and jokes about being dressed in borrowed robes. He doesn’t understand how he can have that position while the Thane of Cawdor still lives. He learns from Angus that the former Thane has been stripped of his title and sentenced to death for treason.

Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3. Macbeth uses a metaphor to compare the Witches’ statements about his thaneships of Glamis and Cawdor to the prologue of a play. He speaks these lines on realizing that their prophecy about him being Thane of Cawdor has come true. The final act of the drama he sees as having a royal theme, when he becomes King of Scotland – the Witches’ second prophecy. The passage tells us of Macbeth’s ambition and desire for power and is foreshadowing of his later ruthless actions to acquire that power.

Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
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:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother’d in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3. In Macbeth’s first soliloquy he tries to work out the implications of the Witches’ prophecy that he will be king. We get an insight into his state of mind as his ambition for power is triggered by the prophecy. For the first time he gives voice to the thought of murdering King Duncan. The thought terrifies him and leaves him confused. If what the Witches told him is good, he wonders why he is entertaining horrible thoughts of murder. But he reasons that it cannot be evil, since the Witches’ forecast that he would be Thane of Cawdor turned out to be right. Macbeth is so consumed with his own ambitious fantasizing, that he becomes detached from reality. He struggles with his conscience over whether to commit murder. But he can only think of “what is not” – his fantasy of being king. The final sentence suggests too that what seems to be real is actually not, ironically like Macbeth’s supposed loyalty to King Duncan, whom he kills. The murder of Duncan is foreshadowed in the passage.

And nothing is
But what is not.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3. Macbeth dreams of becoming King of Scotland ever since the Witches prophesied it. So caught up is he in this fantasy, he thinks of nothing else. He can only think of “what is not,” or what doesn’t exist – yet! This sentence also echoes the theme of appearance vs reality, since it suggests that things that appear to be are actually not. Macbeth’s words are ironic, since his much-lauded loyalty to King Duncan turns out not to be real and he murders the King.

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 every thing
Safe toward your love and honour.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 4. Macbeth pledges his loyalty to King Duncan and assures him that he will do everything he can to protect him. Of course Macbeth soon does the very opposite when he invites Duncan to his castle. In this passage Macbeth presents himself to the King as a patriot, saying that the chance to serve him is its own reward. There is an example of both dramatic irony and deception, since the audience knows that Macbeth wants to kill Duncan and become king himself.

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.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 4. Just after King Duncan names his son Malcolm his successor, Macbeth asks the stars to hide their light so that his disloyal desire to take the throne cannot be seen by anyone. He means to achieve this goal by killing Duncan if necessary. A metaphor is used to describe his evil desires as “black and deep.” In this passage the stars are also personified. Macbeth speaks these lines in an aside, because he wishes to conceal his ambitious intentions from other people. Among the themes in play here is appearance vs reality, also fate and free will. Macbeth is not prepared to leave it to fate for the Witches’ prophecy of him becoming king to come true. He decides to act on his own free will and commit regicide to ensure his ascent to power.
the milk of human kindness - lady macbeth

Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5. Lady Macbeth fears that her husband is too compassionate to be able to murder Duncan to make the Witches’ prophecy that he will be king come true. A metaphor likens human kindness to “milk,” conjuring up a feminine image that is maternal and nurturing. Lady Macbeth’s words are ironic, since it suggests that Lady Macbeth is a lot less full of that milk than her husband. The passage also suggests that Macbeth is not totally evil at this point.

Thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5. Lady Macbeth accepts that her husband is not lacking in ambition. But she is afraid that he doesn’t enough wickedness – “the illness” – to achieve greatness. Determined that Macbeth will be king, she doesn’t know if he has the killer instinct to do what needs to be done – kill Duncan. “Illness” is a metaphor for the ruthlessness needed to commit regicide.

If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7. In Macbeth’s second soliloquy he is plagued with self-doubt over whether he should kill King Duncan and the consequences for him if he does. If he carries out the assassination, he believes that it must be done quickly. But he fears the retribution he will face, both in this world and the next. The killing might not bring an end to the whole affair, his violent deed could return to haunt him and trigger a cycle of violence that could destroy him. Using the metaphor of a “poisoned chalice,” Macbeth foresees that justice could ensure that he drink from the same cup that he himself poisoned. In other words he may end up dead like Duncan. The dark imagery of “bloody instructions” and “poisoned chalice” suggests that Macbeth knows the King’s murder would unleash a dark and evil period in Scotland. And it does. The passage foreshadows that and Macbeth’s eventual death. An ocean metaphor is used to compare time to a bank or shoal (a shallow part of the ocean). Shakespeare uses another metaphor to compare the murder to bloody instructions being taught.

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.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7. Macbeth is having second thoughts about murdering Duncan in his bed while a guest at Macbeth’s palace. Despite his hunger for power, his conscience and sense of morality still seem to be working. With some irony, he says that as the King’s kinsman and host, he should be the one protecting him from the “murderer,” instead of killing him.

Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7. In this soliloquy Macbeth is struggling with the idea of murdering Duncan, a good man who has been an exemplary King. He recognizes Duncan’s virtues and uses a simile to equate them to angels crying out against his murder. A complicated simile and metaphor follows, likening the pity for the murdered King to a newborn baby or angel riding the wind to spread news of this horrible deed throughout the land. Shakespeare also personifies “virtues” and “pity” in this passage.

I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself,
And falls on the other.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7. Ambition is one of the strongest themes in Macbeth. In the final words of Macbeth’s soliloquy, he reveals that the sole reason for his murder of Duncan is his ambition. An extended equestrian metaphor explains that he has no other motivation to spur himself to commit regicide than ambition. Shakespeare also personifies ambition as overleaping and falling, which also foreshadows Macbeth’s downfall.

He hath honour’d 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.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7. Clothing symbolism and imagery play an important role throughout the play. Macbeth uses a clothing metaphor to say that he should enjoy the new honor of Thane of Cawdor bestowed on him by Duncan and the praise heaped on him by people. This shows that he is changing his mind about killing Duncan.
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