Macbeth: Key Quotations | AQA GCSE English Literature Revision Notes 2017 (2024)

Shakespeare plays with the concept of perception throughout Macbeth: are we seeing what’s really there? And are characters who they seem to be?

“Come you spirits [...] Unsex me here” Lady Macbeth, Act I, Scene V

Meaning and context

• Lady Macbeth is calling on evil spirits to take away her feminine traits
• This is part of a long soliloquy after Macbeth has written her a letter outlining the witches’ prophecies

Analysis

• Shakespeare has Lady Macbeth use imperative verbs (“Come”; “unsex”) when commanding evil spirits:
• This shows her power at this point in the play (or at least the power she believes she commands)
• The fact that she is commanding evil spirits shows her hubris: it is arrogant for humans to believe they can control evil forces
• She wants to remove her feminine traits (being nurturing, dutiful, powerless) and become “unsexed”:
• She wants to subvertthe characteristics of a typical woman
• Shakespeare could be suggesting that only by adopting male characteristics can women gain power
• This would have been seen as disturbing to a Jacobean audience and very unnatural, perhaps akin to the actions of a witch

“Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent underneath it” Lady Macbeth, Act I, Scene V

Meaning and context

• Lady Macbeth is suggesting that Macbeth hide his true, treasonous self from King Duncan
• This comes as the couple are first plotting the murder of Duncan

Analysis

• This quotation is reflective of Lady Macbeth’s duplicitousnature
• Her use of the imperative verb“look” also shows her power over Macbeth
• She has no trouble acting like “an innocent flower” in the very next scene when greeting King Duncan
• The “serpent” has religious connotations: it is a reference from the Christian Bible to the snake (a representation of the Devil), who tempts Eve in the Garden of Eden:
• Lady Macbeth is also a woman who is tempted by evil and, in turn, tempts a man (Macbeth)
• In the Bible, this temptation causes the fall of man. In Macbeth, it causes the downfall of Lady Macbeth and her husband
• This could be Shakespeare suggesting that committing blasphemous acts will always lead to ruin

Paired Quotation:

“Out, damned spot: out, I say!” Lady Macbeth, Act V, Scene I

“Out, out, brief candle” Macbeth, Act V, Scene V

Meaning and context

• Lady Macbeth is desperately pleading for the hallucination of blood on her hands to disappear
• It comes as she is losing her mind and just before her suicide
• Macbeth is commenting on the brief nature of life
• It is part of a long soliloquy after he is told about the death of Lady Macbeth

Analysis

• Lady Macbeth’s desperation is apparent in her ramblings: to show this, Shakespeare:
• uses lots of punctuation to reflect her disjointed mind
• uses repetition (“out”) to show her increasing desperation

• The use of imperative verbs (“out”) is ironic: whereas earlier in the play she used commanding language with evil spirits, she has now completely lost power. Commands have turned into pleas of desperation
• Macbeth echoes the language of Lady Macbeth (“out, out”)
• However, unlike other times when Macbeth echoes the language of Lady Macbeth or the witches, this quotation doesn’t imply he is being led by them
• Lady Macbeth’s desperation has turned into a reflection of Macbeth:
• It is a realisation that what he – and Lady Macbeth – have done was worthless
• It creates a sense of pathosfor the audience
• Macbeth using Lady Macbeth’s words brings the couple closer again

Paired Quotation:

“A little water clears us of this deed” Lady Macbeth, Act II, Scene II

“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” Lady Macbeth, Act V, Scene I

Meaning and context

• Lady Macbeth at first suggests that it won’t take much for their consciences to be cleared after Duncan’s murder; later, she realises that nothing could remove the feelings of guilt
• These quotations come before the murder of King Duncan, and then after Lady Macbeth has lost her mind, right before her suicide

Analysis

• Lady Macbeth displays hubriswhen she confidently asserts that she and her husband will not be troubled by feelings of guilt or remorse
• Her confidence contrasts with Macbeth’s belief that all the water in “Neptune’s ocean” couldn’t wash the blood (symbolising guilt) from his hand
• “Hands” here represent responsibility
• It is ironic that later in the play, Lady Macbeth sees blood on her hands (guilt and responsibility for the murder of Duncan)
• However, it also becomes clear that her original confidence was misplaced: her “little hand” is dirtied by blood, and seemingly nothing (even “all the perfumes of Arabia”) can cleanse it of her guilt and responsibility
• Shakespeare could be suggesting that once Lady Macbeth accepted responsibility for the murder, the guilt was overwhelming