Quote cards

Fair is foul, and foul is fair

Witches · Act 1, Scene 1 · the supernatural · appearance and reality

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Good things are bad. Bad things are good. That is the rule of the play.

So foul and fair a day I have not seen

Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 3 · the supernatural · appearance and reality

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Macbeth's first words copy the witches. He has not met them yet.

Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires

Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 4 · ambition · guilt · appearance and reality

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Macbeth asks the stars to go dark. He does not want anyone to see what he wants.

Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness

Lady Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 5 · gender and manhood · ambition

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Lady Macbeth thinks her husband is too kind. She wants to make him hard.

Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here

Lady Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 5 · gender and manhood · the supernatural · violence

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She asks the spirits to take away the woman in her. Then she can be cruel.

Look like th' innocent flower, But be the serpent under 't

Lady Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 5 · appearance and reality

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Look like a nice flower. Be the snake under it. That is her plan.

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

Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 7 · ambition

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Macbeth has no good reason to kill. Only wanting more. Wanting more jumps too far and falls.

When you durst do it, then you were a man

Lady Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 7 · gender and manhood · violence

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She says a real man would do it. He believes her.

Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?

Macbeth · Act 2, Scene 1 · the supernatural · guilt · violence

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Macbeth sees a knife in the air. Real or not, it points him to the king's room.

Macbeth does murder sleep

Macbeth · Act 2, Scene 2 · guilt

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A voice says he has killed sleep itself. He will not sleep well again.

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?

Macbeth · Act 2, Scene 2 · guilt · violence

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Can the whole sea wash the blood off his hands? No.

A little water clears us of this deed

Lady Macbeth · Act 2, Scene 2 · guilt · appearance and reality

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She says a bit of water will clean them. In Act 5, nothing can.

To be thus is nothing, But to be safely thus

Macbeth · Act 3, Scene 1 · ambition · kingship

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Being king is nothing if you are not safe. So Macbeth must kill again.

O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!

Macbeth · Act 3, Scene 2 · guilt

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His mind is full of stings. He stops telling his wife his plans.

Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake Thy gory locks at me

Macbeth · Act 3, Scene 4 · guilt · the supernatural

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Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost at dinner. No one else can. They see a king going mad.

I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er

Macbeth · Act 3, Scene 4 · violence · guilt

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He is so deep in blood that going back is as hard as going on. So he goes on.

By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes

Witches · Act 4, Scene 1 · the supernatural · appearance and reality

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The witches call Macbeth 'something wicked'. He is one of them now.

none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth

Apparition · Act 4, Scene 1 · fate and free will · the supernatural · appearance and reality

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No one born from a woman can hurt Macbeth. He feels safe. He should not.

Out, damned spot, out, I say!

Lady Macbeth · Act 5, Scene 1 · guilt

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Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep. She washes her hands. The blood is not there. She still sees it.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

Macbeth · Act 5, Scene 5 · fate and free will

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Day follows day. None of them mean anything.