Macbeth Act I Quotes

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1. Fair is foul, and foul is fair,
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
Speaker: All the witches
Audience: Themselves
Meaning/Significance: Through a paradox, the witches add to the moral confusion of the play and explain their plot involving Macbeth. They say that something is fair is foul, which contradicts itself, and then they reverse it, showing the phrase’s transitivity. However, something can be fair and foul if it is beneficial to one person and negative to another. In context, it indirectly states that something good will happen to Macbeth and at the same time hurt someone else. The use of repeating the phrase backwards not only emphasizes it but also shows the transitivity and how an event can be beneficial to one and bad for another, and vice versa. The paradox’s confusion is highlighted by saying how the witches will travel through “fog” and “filthy air.” In addition, Macbeth’s first words are very similar to what the witches said, suggesting a link between the two.
Location: Act I, Scene i, Line Numbers 10–11

2. No more than Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
Speaker: King
Audience: Ross
Meaning/Significance: The King respects Macbeth greatly and wishes to crown him Thane. However, Macbeth’s ambition may be too great and he may try to become king. The king is naïve for not realizing that Macbeth wants to be king. Through foreshadowing, Macbeth may end up on the same path as the Thane of Cawdor: deception to acquire power. This is the beginning of the rising action.
Location: Act I, Scene ii, Line Numbers 63–65

3. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis,
But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives…
Speaker: Macbeth
Audience: The Three Witches
Meaning/Significance: Macbeth’s ambition is shown when he asks the witches to tell him more about the Thane of Cawdor, foreshadowing Macbeth’s desire to amass more and more power and eventually become king. Through dramatic irony, the audience knows that the Thane of Cawdor has been killed or will shortly, but Macbeth doesn’t know of any such plan. This further leads to the confusion that is already evident throughout the play from the witches and their dialogue.
Location: Act I, Scene iii, Line Numbers 70–72

4. Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
And you whose places are the nearest, know,
We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
The Prince of Cumberland…
Speaker: King
Audience: Lennox, Malcolm, Donalbain, Attendants, Macbeth, Banquo, Ross, and Angus
Meaning/Significance: With the crowning of Malcolm as the Prince of Cumberland, he be-comes the heir to the throne. This conflicts with Macbeth’s ambition for the throne, fore-shadowing a conflict between Macbeth and Malcolm. Their similar names accentuate their differences; Malcolm will get the throne normally because he is the heir, whereas Macbeth must steal the crown away. This also foreshadows unrest that will occur when Macbeth tries to seize power because the King says that Malcolm is the best choice for the next king.
Location: Act I, Scene iv, Line Numbers 35–39

5. The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires…
Speaker: Macbeth
Audience: Himself
Meaning/Significance: Macbeth’s ambition is now pronounced, as before it could only be in-ferred. To get to the throne, Macbeth says that he must kill Malcolm or bypass him, mean-ing kill the king. Personification is used when Macbeth calls on the stars. Stars have always represented destiny in people’s eyes. In this example, Macbeth compares them to the hea-vens and God by stating that he doesn’t want God to know what he is envisioning. The rhymes help to make Macbeth’s soliloquy stand out amongst the blank verse.
Location: Act I, Scene iv, Line Numbers 48–51

6. Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way.
Speaker: Lady Macbeth
Audience: Herself
Meaning/Significance: Lady Macbeth reveals how much more ambitious she is than Mac-beth. It is ironic that Lady Macbeth would want to be queen more than Macbeth would want to be king because men are usually portrayed as more ambitious. In the play, Shakespeare makes the women characters (Lady Macbeth and the witches) very important, a contrast to most play at the time. The significance of “milk” is that it is white and thus symbolizes purity and innocence. Macbeth is at this time beginning to doubt whether or not he should kill the king.
Location: Act I, Scene v, Line Numbers 15–18

7. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty!
Speaker: Lady Macbeth
Audience: Herself
Meaning/Significance: Lady Macbeth associates herself with evil and witches by wanting spirits to go in her. Mystery and wickedness, which were associated with the witches, is now associated with Lady Macbeth. She also questions sexuality. She wanted to be “unsexed” which means she wants to be less like a woman and, indirectly, more like a man. She says this because she is the driving factor behind the plot to kill the king, and since she is a woman and not supposed to do malicious acts, she wishes to be more like a man and con-vince her husband to go through with the plan.
Location: Act I, Scene v, Line Numbers 40–43

8. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like th’ innocent flower,
But be the serpent under ’t.
Speaker: Lady Macbeth
Audience: Macbeth
Meaning/Significance: Lady Macbeth alludes to the Bible when she says that to be like the serpent. In the Garden of Eden, there is a magical apple tree that grows apples that Adam and Eve can’t eat. However, the serpent in the garden convinces them to eat the apple, causing God to become angry with the two humans. Macbeth is like the serpent here by be-ing sly and sneaky, so as to become the king.
Location: Act I, Scene v, Line Numbers 62–65

9. Give me your hand.
Conduct me to mine host: we love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him.
By your leave, hostess.
Speaker: King
Audience: Lady Macbeth
Meaning/Significance: The king is still naïve to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s plan. His naivety shows his innocence and his goodness. When the king saves to Lady Macbeth to give him her hand, it means that they want to remain peaceful toward each other. When the king saves that he and the rest of the nobles will continue to grave Macbeth, it means that even if Macbeth does come to the throne, everyone will still respect him and love him, heightening the king’s innocence.
Location: Act I, Scene vi, Line Numbers 28-31

10. We will proceed no further in this business:
He hath honored me of late, and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.
Speaker: Macbeth
Audience: Lady Macbeth
Meaning/Significance: Macbeth does not feel like going through with the conspiracy. Ironi-cally, Macbeth, the man, does not wish to become king, whereas his wife does. Macbeth does not want to betray the king because betraying him means that Macbeth is betraying Scotland.
Location: Act I, Scene vii, Line Numbers 31–35

11. Which nev’r shook hands, nor bade farewell to him [Macbeth],
Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops,
And fixed his head upon our battlements.
Speaker: Captain
Audience: King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, and Attendants
Meaning/Significance: The captain praises Macbeth’s prowess in battle even though he is merciless and splits people open. The characters overlook this though, showing the respect and admiration they have for Macbeth. During the Renaissance and Middle Ages, violence was not seen as corrupt or evil, but as valiant.
Location: Act I, Scene ii, Line Numbers 21–23

12. I have given suck, and know
How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dashed the brains out…
Speaker: Lady Macbeth
Audience: Macbeth
Meaning/Significance: Lady Macbeth uses imagery of breastfeeding to show what will hap-pen if Macbeth does not go through with the plan. If Macbeth doesn’t go through with the conspiracy, then it will be as if he has killed all that Lady Macbeth has worked for and cared for. Lady Macbeth’s speech also question sexuality. Breasts and breastfeeding have always been associated with women, whereas fighting and killing only with men. However, their roles seem to better fit the opposite, as Macbeth is more timid and Lady Macbeth is more ambitious.
Location: Act I, Scene vii, Line Numbers 54–58