Macbeth Act III Quotes

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1. Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the weird women promised, and I fear
Thou play’dst most foully for ’t.
Speaker: Banquo
Audience: Himself
Meaning/Significance: Banquo realizes that all of the prophecies the witches have men-tioned have happened so far. He begins to suspect that Macbeth became king dishonorably. This is the first time that Banquo questions his good friend. Because he is the only one be-sides Macbeth who knows of the prophecy and because the second prophecy states that his sons will become king, Macbeth wishes to prolong his reign by killing Banquo.
Location: Act III, Scene i, Line Numbers 1–3

2. We hear our bloody cousins are bestowed
In England and in Ireland, not confessing
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
With strange invention.
Speaker: Macbeth
Audience: Banquo
Meaning/Significance: Macbeth tells Banquo that Malcolm and Donalbain have fled the country, that they have not come out and confessed, and that they are spreading lies about what really happened. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth becomes more paranoid and is blaming other people for Duncan’s murder. Instead of being indecisive as he was before Duncan’s murder, he is now decisive.
Location: Act III, Scene i, Line Numbers 29–32

3. To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus—
Our fears in Banquo stick deep,
And in his royalty of nature reigns that
Which would be feared.
Speaker: Macbeth
Audience: Himself
Meaning/Significance: Macbeth says that being king is nothing, but being safely king is the best. He fears Banquo because it is in his nature to tell the truth and how Macbeth killed Duncan. This foreshadows an attack on Banquo from Macbeth so that Banquo won’t be able to tell what really happened. This also foreshadows that Macbeth will take all the necessary steps to allow him to be king as long as possible.
Location: Act III, Scene i, Line Numbers 48–51

4. To leave no rubs nor botches in the work—
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me
Than is his father’s, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour.
Speaker: Macbeth
Audience: The two murderers
Meaning/Significance: Macbeth wants for the murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance. He reasons that it is fate that has caused this and not choice. Macbeth states that Fleance’s death is no more important to him that Banquo’s, but the prophecy only said that Banquo’s sons would become king so Fleance should be of greater importance. This foreshadows that Fleance will not be killed. Also, Macbeth states that the killing of Fleance is caused by fate; however, it was the witches who planted the seeds of ambition into Macbeth and so it is caused by Macbeth and not by fate.
Location: Act III, Scene i, Line Numbers 134–138

5. …better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy.
Speaker: Macbeth
Audience: Lady Macbeth
Meaning/Significance: Macbeth states that it would be better for him to be dead so that he does not have to live with a guilty conscience. Macbeth again shows his weakness in front of his wife; however, his wife is also questioning their plans. Macbeth is honest unlike his wife. It is somewhat paradoxical how Macbeth says that they had to send people to “peace” to get in “peace.” It can be said that for Macbeth to be in true “peace,” he should kill himself or be killed. This foreshadows Macbeth’s actual death, an event that rids him of his guilt conscience and sends him to peace.
Location: Act III, Scene ii, Line Numbers 19–22

6. Thou art the best o’ th’ cutthroats,
Yet he’s good that did the like from Fleance;
If thou didst it, thou art the nonpareil.
Speaker: Macbeth
Audience: First Murderer
Meaning/Significance: Macbeth compliments the murderer and tells him that he is the best. He then says that if he killed Fleance he would be the best ever. However, he didn’t kill him and only completed half of his mission. Macbeth uses a pun in the beginning when he says that the First Murderer is the best “cutthroat,” because he is a good murderer and because he cut Banquo’s throat. However, since the murderers were not able to cut Fleance’s throat, he will still be alive and the prophecy remains true and unbreakable. With an uncut throat, Fleance will be able to tell everyone what happened, foreshadowing how Macbeth’s botched assassination will haunt him.
Location: Act III, Scene iv, Line Numbers 18–20

7. Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect,
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,
As broad and general as the casing air:
But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears.—But Banquo’s safe?
Speaker: Macbeth
Audience: Macbeth, “But Banquo’s safe?”: First Murderer
Meaning/Significance: Macbeth says that this has been the first fault in his plan that had otherwise been so strong. Now that Fleance has escaped, Macbeth is afraid of what will happen. Macbeth uses parallel structure and similes to show how strong his plan had been. However, marble can be chipped apart and rocks can erode, so his similes represent how he is now in trouble. He uses alliteration of “c” that all have the meaning of tightly surrounded to show how he is paranoid that someone may attack him from any side.
Location: Act III, Scene iv, Line Numbers 22–26

8. O proper stuff!
This is the very painting of your fear.
This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said,
Led you to Duncan.
Speaker: Lady Macbeth
Audience: Macbeth
Meaning/Significance: Lady Macbeth says that the Ghost of Banquo is just another “painted devil.” She then says that it is another foreshadowing. Lady Macbeth continues to argue that anything intangible can never hurt you; however, Duncan’s death caused great emotional distress with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Location: Act III, Scene iv, Line Numbers 61–64

9. The times has been
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end; but now they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools.
Speaker: Macbeth
Audience: Lady Macbeth
Meaning/Significance: Macbeth says that in the past, people’s legacies and impacts left the physical world when they were dead, but now their ghosts continue to plague the physical world. Macbeth says that they will “come back to life” and seek justice and revenge. Mac-beth continues to defy his wife’s idea that dead people cannot affect you and argues that they indirectly try to achieve justice and revenge.
Location: Act III, Scene iv, Line Numbers 79–83

10. I am in blood.
Stepped in so far, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er.
Speaker: Macbeth
Audience: Lady Macbeth
Meaning/Significance: Macbeth states that he is already bloody and getting bloodier will not hurt him any more. Macbeth reasons that he has already done enough evil that he is al-ready doomed and thus can be as evil as he needs to be to continue to be on the throne. This marks a definite shift in Macbeth’s attitude, where he now is calling out his victims who may not even be dangerous.
Location: Act III, Scene iv, Line Numbers 137–139

11. O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!
[Exit Fleance]
Thou mayst revenge. O slave! [Dies.]
Speaker: Banquo
Audience: Fleance
Meaning/Significance: Banquo tells his son to run away and revenge him. This marks the climax when Fleance is able to escape because Macbeth failed to disprove the prophecy by killing one of Banquo’s sons. Now that he has survived, it would appear that the prophecy is unbreakable. When Banquo tells Fleance to revenge him, it foreshadows how he will re-venge him through the killing of Macbeth.
Location: Act III, Scene IV, Line Numbers 17–18

12. Thither Macduff
Is gone to pray the holy King, upon his aid
To wake Northumberland and warlike Siward;
That by the help of these, with Him above
To ratify the work, we may again
Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights…
Speaker: Lord
Audience: Lennox
Meaning/Significance: The Lord says that Macduff has gone to ask the King of England to call to arms against Macbeth so that the Scottish can be at peace again. Shakespeare pays homage to the Scottish King James so as to be in good favor with him by portraying the King of England as holy and just and to juxtapose his actions with the King of Scotland, Macbeth. This marks the beginning of the falling action, where Macbeth’s murders catch up to him and those who have lost seek to gain retribution.
Location: Act III, Scene vi, Line Numbers 29–34