| “Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air” (I, i, 11-12) | three witches – chant before they meet Macbeth, meaning that things that seem fair have foul intentions and vice versa |
| “But I am faint; my gashes cry for help” (I, ii, 42) | the sergeant – after he reports the progress of the war to King Duncan and the dies |
| “So foul and fair a day I have no seen” (I, iii, 38) | Macbeth – right before encountering the witches |
| “All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis… Thane of Cawdor… king hereafter” (I, iv, 48-50) | three witches – prophesize to Macbeth |
| “Lesser than Macbeth and greater” | (first) witch – prophesizing Macbeth vs Banquo’s future |
| There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust” | King Duncan – after the previous Thane of Cawdor is executed for being a traitor, meaning that a person cannot judge someone’s intentions by looking at their facial expressions |
| “Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down or else o’erleap” | Macbeth – plans to kill Malcolm in order to become next inline for the throne |
| “That I may pour my spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valor of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round” | Lady Macbeth – desire and ambition for power |
| “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here” | Lady Macbeth – manly in her wants and ways |
| “Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” | Lady Macbeth – biblical allusion towards Macbeth, telling him to seems innocent to King Duncan, but then murder him in his sleep |
| “Leave all the rest to me” | Lady Macbeth – foreshadowing King Duncan’s murder |
| “Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire” | Lady Macbeth – asking Macbeth if he scared to be the man he wants to be |
| Milk | symbolizes the feminine inferiority that Lady Macbeth usually uses towards Macbeth to show his lack of ambition and his cowardliness when it comes to his desire for power |
| “Away and mock the time with fairest show; false face must guide what the false heart doth know” | Macbeth – his ambitions within his heart are false |
| “Fair and noble hostess” | King Duncan – theme of ‘fair is foul’ is recurring as King Duncan describes Lady Macbeth as he stays at the Macbeth household, foreshadowing his murder because ‘fair’ is foul |
Macbeth Act 1 Quotes
September 5, 2019