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Summary Macbeth top quotes with grade 9 analysis to memorise for exams
AQA GCSE Macbeth top quotes with grade 9 analysis to memorise for exams
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1) “I am in blood stepp’d in so far that should I weighed no more returning were as tedious as go’er” - Macbeth• Macbeth says this when he decides that he’s going to keep killing, even after Duncan, even though this is completely
unnecessary.
• Killing macduff’s family wasn’t going to effect his kingship whatsoever
• he is corrupt, a tyrant and bloodlust- shown in this quotation
• CONTEXT: Gunpowder plot 1065. Shakespeare is trying to war James I not to become a violent king and take revenge.
Although Shakespeare wishes to flatter king James, he also teaches him how to behave. Or he could also be further flattering
king James by telling his audience that if James went on and took revenge this is what the consequences would’ve been,
however because he is such a loving, rightful king, he didn’t. (Link back to queen Elizabeth)
• THEME: This metaphor of stepping into a river of blood conveys his bloodlust, which (along with paranoia) is Macbeth’s motive
to kill.
2)“what done, cannot be undone”- Lady Macbeth
• she says this to her husband after he kills king Duncan
• This link to the idea of fate- once you have started something, you can’t stop it
• CONTEXT: Great Chain of Being. Patriarchy- this could kink to the fact that a women’s role in society can never be changed,
no matter what. Lady Macbeth’s motivation in the play is her desire to change her status as a women wheres she’s not
allowed any power or authority unless she’s married to it- maybe that’s why she has such ambition to make Macbeth king out
of fate- change Macbeth’s status so she can change hers
• THEME: violence and bloodlust and kingship
• at the end of the play, patriarchy punishes her, god punishes her and she eventually commits suicide- she will ultimately go to
hell
• “Unsex me here”
3) “It will have blood they say blood will have blood”- Macbeth
• CONTEXT: he is turning away from Christianity
• THEME: supernatural- LM and Macbeth are Turing away form religion and seeking help form the supernatural (“you spirits unsex
me here”) - help form satan
• “it”- Macbeth’s guilt- he’s afraid to voice the identity of who he is calling
• THEME: bloodlust and violence- repetition of the word “blood”. Macbeth’s motivation for his murders is bloodlust, which is
caused by being a warrior in this martial society
• THEME: fate- repetition of ‘will’, invoking the idea of fate here. As a triaging hero, he doesn’t believe he can change his fate-
opposite to a Greek tragic hero (they avoid their fate, whereas Macbeth tried to change it)
4) “Me thought I heard a voice cry, sleep no more” - Macbeth
• Macbeth says this right after the killing of Duncan
• CONTEXT: Divine rights of king. We can see in this quote that he is being punished by god- guilt. Christianity. Flattery-
Shakespeare was trying to flatter king James so he made a play criticing those who commit regicide- warning not to overthrow
the king- Gunpowder plot 1605
5) “will all great Neptune’s oceans wash this blood clean form my hands” -Macbeth
• Macbeth’s guilt
• THEME: guilt due to ambition. Ambition leads to paranoia and bloodlust
• CONTEXT: Christianity And Divine right of kings
• “Neptune”- the use of this metaphor shows that he is rejecting a Christian god= hubris
• this rejection of Christianity makes a Jacobean Christian audience turn against Macbeth; flattering king James as Macbeth
commits regicide. This would be an unchristian act for you to turn against king=turn against god
•
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