Macbeth.
AQA GCSE Shakespeare

Quote Analysis

Each entry covers: Quote → Overview → Analysis → Context & Why.

1.1 & 1.3 — The Influence of the Witches
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair: / Hover through the fog and filthy air."
The Witches, 1.1
"So fair and foul a day I have not seen."
Macbeth, 1.3
Overview
  • Ominous, foreboding, corrupting
  • The witches invert normality and disorientate our moral compass
Analysis
  • 'Hover' — floating, supernatural presence
  • 'Fair is foul' — a paradox that deliberately confuses good and evil, rejecting order and creating chaos
  • 'Fog and filthy air' — truth being obscured, things hidden from sight
  • Trochaic tetrameter is the opposite of the iambic rhythm used by human characters — abnormal, unhuman
  • Speaking together in a chant creates a spell-like effect
  • Chiasmus (mirroring) in the first line reflects how normality is being inverted
  • Macbeth echoes these words later — enchanted by their supernatural power
Context & Why
  • King James I and Daemonologie — witchcraft was a genuine Jacobean fear
  • Christian views about witches, God and the devil
  • Shakespeare creates a mixture of fear and fascination, entertaining the audience while making Macbeth's hamartia clear
1.2 — Macbeth as a Hero
"with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution, like valour's minion carved out his passage"
Sergeant, 1.2
Overview
  • Brave, strong, violent
  • Fighting on the side of the king, God and justice
Analysis
  • 'Brandished' — skilful, confident, defiant
  • 'Smoked' — metaphor creating a hot, angry, hellish image
  • 'Execution' — unaffected by deaths; carrying out duty and bringing justice to traitors on behalf of king and God
  • Simile 'like valour's minion' — a follower of bravery, not worried about himself; but better at following than giving orders? Foreshadows failure as a ruler
  • 'Carved' — violent, physical image of butchering — is this too extreme?
Context & Why
  • King James feared treason (Gunpowder Plot, 1605)
  • Jacobeans admired brave actions done for king and country
  • Violence was more a part of everyday life (public executions)
  • Responsibility and duty that came with title and reputation (Aristotle)
1.3 — Macbeth's Reaction to the Prophecies
"Two truths are told / As happy prologues to the swelling act / Of the imperial theme. — I thank you gentlemen."
Macbeth, 1.3
Overview
  • Tempted, ambitious, spellbound
  • His hamartia of excessive ambition is made clear
Analysis
  • 'Truths', 'happy' — thinks of the prophecies positively
  • 'Swelling' — image of childbirth, the birth of his ambition; present continuous (-ing) suggests it is ongoing and not yet ready to happen
  • 'I thank you gentlemen' — quickly and easily hides his true feelings; duplicitous
  • Semantic field of theatre: 'prologues', 'act', 'theme' — he dramatises his own narrative and casts himself as the hero; ironic, as the audience knows he will be a tragic hero whose downfall is inevitable
  • Caesura reflects the contrast between his inner thoughts and outward actions
Context & Why
  • Aristotle's ideas about tragic heroes: hamartia of ambition
  • Supernatural origins of his knowledge foreshadow his downfall
  • Theme of inner truth against outward appearances ('fair is foul')
1.5 — Lady Macbeth Summons Spirits
"Come, you spirits … unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / of direst cruelty!"
Lady Macbeth, 1.5
Overview
  • Confident, evil, transgressive, unafraid
  • Her links to the supernatural are made clear
Analysis
  • 'Come' — imperative verb, controlling and powerful
  • 'Unsex' — wants to be freed from the limitations of being female in Jacobean society
  • 'Spirits' — she asks for help from supernatural forces; evil and blasphemous
  • Trochaic metre in 'Come, you spirits' — inverts the normal iambic rhythm of human speech and echoes the language of the witches from 1.1
  • 'Direst cruelty' — superlative; she is fully aware that regicide is the worst crime of all — does her self-awareness make this worse?
Context & Why
  • Alignment with the devil and witches symbolises her rejection of the Great Chain of Being and Divine Right of Kings
  • Transgresses the expectations of Jacobean women
  • She does not want to be 'male' but to be without gender — more supernatural, liminal — a fourth witch
1.7 — Lady Macbeth Emasculates Macbeth
"how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me … I would have dash'd the brains out had I so sworn"
Lady Macbeth, 1.7
Overview
  • Manipulative, violent, shocking, evil
  • Transgresses the maternal role
Analysis
  • 'Dash'd' — violent verb; emasculates Macbeth by being more aggressive than him
  • Maternal imagery in 'babe' and 'milks' — she uses the experience of losing a child against Macbeth; emotional blackmail
  • Contrast between motherhood and violence shows her ability to move easily between roles — versus the fixed hierarchy of the Great Chain of Being; deeply transgressive
Context & Why
  • Goes against the orthodox Jacobean expectation that women obey their husbands and raise male heirs
  • Would create fear and suspicion in a Jacobean audience
  • Is Shakespeare villainising her, or making a comment about society?
  • Suggests humans are capable of worse evil than the supernatural witches
2.1 — The Dagger Soliloquy
"Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee."
Macbeth, 2.1
Overview
  • Uncertain, disturbed, hallucinating
  • Raises the question of whether the dagger is supernatural or psychological
Analysis
  • 'Dagger' — murder, assassination, secrecy
  • 'Clutch' — greed; his ambition leading him on
  • 'Come' — imperative language as he tries to assert control, but fails; is he being controlled by an outside force?
  • Rhetorical question expresses doubt and equivocation
  • Recapitulates the image of Macbeth with his 'brandished steel' in 1.2 — but now a dagger (murder, secrecy) rather than a sword (honour, execution)
Context & Why
  • Jacobean belief in the supernatural (Daemonologie) — was the dagger sent by witches to control Macbeth?
  • A modern audience might take a more psychological reading: the dagger as a symbol of his repressed desires
  • Shakespeare questions where true evil lies: in the outside world, or inside us?
2.2 — Macbeth's Guilt
"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No"
Macbeth, 2.2
Overview
  • Guilty, remorseful, ungodly
  • The moment when he realises he is doomed
Analysis
  • 'Blood' — symbol of sin and guilt
  • Symbolism of water in 'ocean' and 'wash' — purifying, cleansing, but ultimately not enough
  • Rhetorical question conveys uncertainty and doubt
  • Hypophora in 'No' — a moment of realisation; his downfall is inevitable
  • Allusion to 'Neptune' — gives his guilt an epic, classical scale; shows his broken connection to the Christian God through regicide
  • Caesura — a pause for the moment of realisation; a shift in his characterisation as a tragic hero
Context & Why
  • The Great Chain of Being and Divine Right of Kings — Macbeth has transgressed the natural order
  • A turning point in his development as a tragic hero
  • The permanence of guilt — stained forever: echoed later by Lady Macbeth's 'what's done cannot be undone' (5.1)
3.2 — Macbeth's Hubris in Killing Banquo
LADY MACBETH: "What's to be done?" / MACBETH: "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck."
3.2
Overview
  • Secretive, sinister, purposeful
  • The moment when Macbeth's hubris is made clear — he begins to act alone
Analysis
  • 'Be innocent' — imperative phrase; he takes ownership of the murder — does he want to protect his wife, or does he feel too guilty to share his plans?
  • 'Dearest chuck' — gentle, tender tone; shows love and protectiveness for his wife
  • Lady Macbeth's question 'What's to be done?' shows her lack of knowledge — places her beneath Macbeth in power at this point; he is almost patronising
  • A structural turning point as the balance of power shifts between the two characters
Context & Why
  • A turning point in his development as a tragic hero (peripeteia)
  • Hubris — his main goal is already achieved; this murder is more personal, and therefore an even worse betrayal (Banquo is a close friend)
  • Goes against King James I's advice in Basilikon Doron
3.4 — Banquo's Ghost
"This is the very painting of your fear: / This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said, / Led you to Duncan."
Lady Macbeth, 3.4
Overview
  • Assertive, bold, self-controlled
  • Lady Macbeth sees the reality of the situation clearly
Analysis
  • 'Painting of your fear' — metaphor; the ghost is not real but is in Macbeth's imagination, caused by his repressed emotions rather than the witches
  • 'You' — accusatory tone through direct address; mocking and shaming him
  • 'Led' — Macbeth tries to blame outside objects for his actions, avoiding personal responsibility
Context & Why
  • Central question of whether evil is external or internal
  • Is Macbeth under supernatural control ('charm', 'rapt') or driven by his own 'vaulting ambition'?
  • Shakespeare suggests we should not be distracted by superficially frightening things, but look inward to find their true cause
4.3 — Macbeth as Tyrant King
"O nation miserable, / With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter'd,"
Macduff, 4.3
Overview
  • Macbeth's kingship is undeserved, corrupted and saddening
  • Power earned through blood and violence
Analysis
  • 'Tyrant' — Macbeth is cruel and corrupt; he does not deserve the title of king
  • 'Untitled' — Macduff refuses to acknowledge his legitimacy; he cannot believe Macbeth was chosen by God
  • 'Nation miserable' — personification; the country is given feelings, placing the nation above individual rulers
  • Apostrophe in 'O' — expresses Macduff's personal sadness; deeply connected to his country with no desire to rule himself, contrasting with Macbeth's selfishness
Context & Why
  • The Divine Right of Kings and disruption of the Great Chain of Being
  • Macduff and Malcolm symbolise the good qualities of a king, providing a contrast to Macbeth
  • Flattery of King James I as a good and legitimate king
5.1 — Lady Macbeth's Madness
"Out, damned spot! out, I say! / One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't"
Lady Macbeth, 5.1
Overview
  • Hysterical, fearful, uncertain
  • Remorseful, desperate, powerless
Analysis
  • 'Spot' (of blood) — a metaphor for guilt
  • 'Damned' — evil, from the devil; a sign of sin against God
  • Imperative verb 'out' — she tries to be powerful and controlling as she was at the start, but must repeat it because she can no longer control things as she wishes
  • 'One, two' — the bell from the night of Duncan's murder plays repeatedly in her subconscious
  • Fragmented metre — her mind has been broken and destroyed by her actions; delivery would be heightened and fearful, reflecting her loss of control
Context & Why
  • Shakespeare's sources: his son-in-law John Hall, and Timothy Bright's Treatise on Melancholie
  • Jacobean religious belief that madness was a punishment for sin
  • Psychologically, a result of repressing her guilt about Duncan's murder ('consider it not so deeply')
5.5 — Macbeth's Loss of Hope
"Out, out, brief candle! / Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player"
Macbeth, 5.5
Overview
  • Despairing, philosophical, existential
  • He realises that life is transient and empty of meaning
Analysis
  • Metaphor of 'candle' — his wife brought him light and happiness for a short time, but life is short ('brief'), fragile and easily extinguished
  • Metaphor of 'shadow' — life now seems dark, empty and impossible to escape
  • Layered metaphors end in 'player' (actor) — life as a performance; superficial and 'poor': unrewarding and lacking meaning
  • 'Out, out' — ambiguous: a tragic echo of Lady Macbeth's 'Out, damned spot'? Or does he feel life is not worth living?
Context & Why
  • Arguably a form of anagnorisis: he still believes he cannot be killed, but seems to recognise that existence is hollow and his quest for power worthless
  • Existential anguish as punishment for regicide — lost all connection with God and comfort from the natural order
5.8 — Macbeth's Realisation
"And be these juggling fiends no more believed, / That palter with us in a double sense"
Macbeth, 5.8
Overview
  • Doomed, foolish, hubristic
  • Easily manipulated and blinded by ambition
  • A moment of tragic realisation
Analysis
  • 'Fiends' — sees the witches as monstrous and hellish; realises their connection to the devil and his own transgression
  • 'Juggling' — the witches 'play' with truth and confuse Macbeth with half-truths; seen in their paradoxical language and trochaic metre in Act 1
  • 'No more' — his changed viewpoint; he recognises his hubris and hamartia, but it is too late
  • Dramatic irony: Macduff calls Macbeth 'fiend of Scotland' (Act 4) and Malcolm calls Lady Macbeth 'fiend-like queen' (Act 5)
Context & Why
  • A moment of anagnorisis (Aristotle) — recognition of his hamartia confirms his downfall as a tragic hero
  • He sees his actions clearly as transgressions against God, recognising that he has followed evil, supernatural forces
  • And yet — does he still refuse to fully blame himself?