English resources/Macbeth/The supernatural
The supernatural in Macbeth
Witches. A floating knife. A ghost at dinner. Every one tells the truth. Every truth hurts the person who hears it.
The quotes
16 quotes, in the order they happen.
Fair is foul, and foul is fair
Witches · Act 1, Scene 1 · the supernatural · appearance and reality
Good things are bad. Bad things are good. That is the rule of the play.
When the battle's lost and won
Witches · Act 1, Scene 1 · the supernatural · appearance and reality
A fight can be won and lost at the same time. That is Macbeth's whole story.
So foul and fair a day I have not seen
Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 3 · the supernatural · appearance and reality
Macbeth's first words copy the witches. He has not met them yet.
Lesser than Macbeth and greater
Witches · Act 1, Scene 3 · fate and free will · the supernatural
The witches tell Banquo he is lower than Macbeth, but higher too. His sons will be kings.
The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's In deepest consequence
Banquo · Act 1, Scene 3 · the supernatural · appearance and reality
Banquo sees the trick. The witches tell small true things so you believe one big lie.
Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here
Lady Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 5 · gender and manhood · the supernatural · violence
She asks the spirits to take away the woman in her. Then she can be cruel.
Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell
Lady Macbeth · Act 1, Scene 5 · the supernatural · guilt · appearance and reality
She asks the night to hide the murder. Her husband asked the stars the same thing.
Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?
Macbeth · Act 2, Scene 1 · the supernatural · guilt · violence
Macbeth sees a knife in the air. Real or not, it points him to the king's room.
Come, seeling night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day
Macbeth · Act 3, Scene 2 · the supernatural · violence
Now Macbeth asks the night to hide his crime. His wife used to say this. They have swapped.
Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake Thy gory locks at me
Macbeth · Act 3, Scene 4 · guilt · the supernatural
Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost at dinner. No one else can. They see a king going mad.
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble
Witches · Act 4, Scene 1 · the supernatural
The witches' spell. It rhymes. No one else in the play talks like this.
By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes
Witches · Act 4, Scene 1 · the supernatural · appearance and reality
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
No one born from a woman can hurt Macbeth. He feels safe. He should not.
Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him
Apparition · Act 4, Scene 1 · fate and free will · the supernatural · appearance and reality
A forest cannot walk, so Macbeth thinks he is safe. The army carries branches.
I bear a charmèd life, which must not yield To one of woman born
Macbeth · Act 5, Scene 8 · fate and free will · the supernatural · appearance and reality
Macbeth still trusts the witches. The next line breaks him.
Macduff was from his mother's womb Untimely ripped
Macduff · Act 5, Scene 8 · fate and free will · the supernatural · appearance and reality
Macduff was cut out of his mother, not born. So the spell does not protect Macbeth.
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