Summary AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 1 Section A - Macbeth: Quotes
8 views 0 purchase
Course
English
Institution
GCSE
This document contains an extensive list of key quotes from Macbeth, organised by character and by theme (including ambition, guilt, supernatural, kingship, loyalty/betrayal, appearance/reality, order/disorder, evil, manliness, femininity, violence, fate and free will). The techniques used in each ...
Quotations - Characters
Macbeth
• “He seamed him from the nave to the chops, / And fixed his head upon our battlements.” – A Captain (about Macbeth) A1
S2 L22-3
o Theme: Violence / War
o Technique: Violence imagery, Foreshadowing
• “What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.”
o Theme: Good and Evil
• “Why do you dress me / In borrowed robes?” – Macbeth A1 S3 L108-9
o Technique: Clothes Imagery Pattern
• “There’s no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face; / He was a gentleman on whom I built / An absolute
trust.” – Duncan A1 S4 L11-4
o Theme: Deception
o Technique: Echoes (L. Macbeth A1 S5 L64-5), (Macbeth A3 S2 L34-5)
• “he [Macbeth] is so valiant, / And in his commendations I am fed; / It is a banquet to me.” – Duncan A1 S4 L54-6
o Translation: ‘Macbeth is so brave that I have a lot of praise for him’
o Theme: Kingship
o Technique: Dramatic Irony (We know Macbeth will betray Duncan)
• “I do fear thy nature, / It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness” – L. Macbeth (about Macbeth) A1 S5 L15-6
o Theme: Good and Evil
• “Wouldst thou have that / Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, / And live a coward in thine own esteem, / Letting ‘I
dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’, / Like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?” – L. Macbeth A1 S7 L41-4
o Translation: ‘Do you wish to have the crown but not have the courage to take it, just like a cat who likes eating fish
but is afraid to get its paws wet’
o Theme: Ambition
o Technique: Simile; Comparison of Macbeth to a cat
• “I am in blood / Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er” – Macbeth A3 S4
L135-7
o Translation: ‘I am already so committed to this life of murder that it would be easier to continue than to give up now.’
• “Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth.” –
Second Apparition A4 S1 L78
o Theme: The Supernatural
• “Then live, Macduff, what need I fear of thee? / But yet I’ll make assurance double sure. / And take a bond of fate – thou
shall not live.”
o Theme: Fate, Ambition
• “The castle of Macduff I will surprise; / Seize upon Fife; give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword / His wife, his babes, and all
unfortunate souls / That trace him in his line.” – Macbeth A4 S2 L149-52
• “the heart I bear, / Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear” – A5 S3 L9-10
o Theme: Ambition
• “I have almost forgot the taste of fears” – Macbeth A5 S5 L9
, 5
Quotations - Characters
Lady Macbeth
• “Look like th’ innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t.” – L. Macbeth A1 S5 L64-5
o Theme: Deception
o Technique: Echoes (Duncan A1 S4 L11), (Macbeth A3 S2 L34-5)
• “Hie thee hither / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, / And chastise with the valour of my tongue / All that
impedes thee from the golden round.” – L. Macbeth A1 S5 L25-8
• “Come thick night, / And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, / That my knife sees not the wound it makes,” – L.
Macbeth A1 S5 L51-2
o Technique: Darkness Imagery, Echoes (Macbeth A1 S3), (Macbeth A3 S2)
• “Wouldst thou have that / Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, / And live a coward in thine own esteem, / Letting ‘I
dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’, / Like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?” – L. Macbeth A1 S7 L41-4
o Translation: ‘Do you wish to have the crown but not have the courage to take it, just like a cat who likes eating fish
but is afraid to get its paws wet’
o Technique: Simile; Comparison of Macbeth to a cat
• “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” – L.Macbeth A1 S7 L47-51
o Translation: ‘What ambition made you suggest this plan to me? When you suggested it, you were a man and if you
were to become a king, you would be even more of a man.’
• “My hands are of your [Macbeth’s] colour, but I shame / To wear a heart so white.” – L. Macbeth A2 S2 L64-5
o Translation: ‘My hands are bloody like yours, but I’d be ashamed if I was a coward like you’
o Technique: Contrasting Macbeth w/ L. Macbeth, Hand Imagery Pattern
• “T’is safer to be that which we destroy / Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.” – L. Macbeth A3 S2 L6-7
o Technique: Rhyming Couplet
• “Out damned spot! Out I say One, two: / why, then, t’is time to do’t.” –L. Macbeth A5 S1 L31-2
o Technique: L. Macbeth was very controlling in the previous acts – now she has lost all control
• “I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he/ cannot come out on's grave.” – L. Macbeth A5 S1 L61-2
• “What's done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, / to bed!” - L. Macbeth– A5 S1 L66-67
o Theme: Guilt
• “all the perfumes / of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” – A5 S1 L49-50
o Technique: Hand Imagery Pattern
o Theme: Guilt
• “this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen,” – Malcolm A5 L9 S35
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller JunaidAli025. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $6.49. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
