| Though you untie the winds and let them fightAgainst the churches, though the yeasty wavesConfound and swallow navigation up,Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blowndown,Though castles topple on their warders’ heads,Though palaces and pyramids do slopeTheir heads to their foundations, though thetreasureOf nature’s tumble Even till destruction sicken, answer meTo what I ask you. | (Scene 1 Lines 51-64)Macbeth to Witches/Hecate |
| We have scorched the snake, not killed it.She’ll close and be herself whilst our poor maliceRemains in danger of her former tooth.But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worldssuffer,Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleepIn the affliction of these terrible dreamsThat shake us nightly. Better be with the dead,Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,Than on the torture of the mind to lieIn restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave.After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.Treason has done his worst; nor steel nor poison,Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothingCan touch him further. | (Scene 2 Lines 15-29)Macbeth to Lady Macbeth |
| The conversation between the son and Lady Macbeth comparing the son to a young bird. | (Scene 2 Lines 35-70)Son to Lady Macbeth |
| Thanks for that.There the grown serpent lies. The worm that’s fledHath nature that in time will venom breed,No teeth for th’ present. Get thee gone. TomorrowWe’ll hear ourselves again. | (Scene 4 Lines 31-35)Macbeth to Murderer |
| Let us ratherHold fast the mortal sword and, like good men,Bestride our birthdom. Each new mornNew widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrowsStrike heaven on the face, that it resoundsAs if it felt with Scotland, and yelled outLike syllable of dolor. | (Scene 3 Lines 3-9)Macduff to Malcolm |
| He hath not touched you yet. I am young, butsomethingYou may deserve of him through me, and wisdomTo offer up a weak, poor, innocent lambT’ appease an angry god. | (Scene 3 Lines 16-20)Malcolm to Macduff |
| It is myself I mean, in whom I knowAll the particulars of vice so graftedThat, when they shall be opened, black MacbethWill seem as pure as snow, and the poor stateEsteem him as a lamb, being comparedWith my confineless harms. | (Scene 3 Lines 61-66)Malcolm to Macduff |
| Nay, had I power, I shouldPour the sweet milk of concord into hell,Uproar the universal peace, confoundAll unity on earth. | (Scene 3 Lines 113-115)Malcolm to Macduff |
| Ay, sir. There are a crew of wretched soulsThat stay his cure. Their malady convincesThe great assay of art, but at his touch(Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand)They presently amend. | (Scene 3 Lines 161-165)Doctor to Malcolm and Macduff (Compares evil to disease)(??) |
| Ay, in the catalogue you go for men,As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels,curs,Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves are cleptAll by the name of dogs. The valued fileDistinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,The housekeeper, the hunter, every oneAccording to the gift which bounteous natureHath in him closed; whereby he does receiveParticular addition, from the billThat writes them all alike. And so of men.Now, if you have a station in the file,Not i’ th’ worst rank of manhood, say ‘t,And I will put that business in your bosomsWhose execution takes your enemy off,Grapples you to the heart and love of us,Who wear our health but sickly in his life,Which in his death were perfect. | (Scene 1 Lines 103-120)Macbeth to Murderers |
| Alas, poor country,Almost afraid to know itself. It cannotBe called our mother, but our grave, where nothingBut who knows nothing is once seen to smile;Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rent the airAre made, not marked; where violent sorrow seemsA modern ecstasy. The dead man’s knellIs there scarce asked for who, and good men’s livesExpire before the flowers in their caps,Dying or ere they sicken. | (Scene 3 Lines 189-197)Ross to Malcolm and Macduff |
| 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 inTo saucy doubts and fears.—But Banquo’s safe? | (Scene 4 Lines 23-27)Macbeth to Murderer |
| Be this the whetstone of your sword. Let griefConvert to anger. Blunt not the heart; enrage it. | (Scene 3 Lines 267-269)Malcolm to Macduff |
| O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! | (Scene 3 Lines 41-42)Macbeth to Lady Macbeth |
| It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood.Stones have been known to move, and trees tospeak.Augurs and understood relations haveBy maggot pies and choughs and rooks broughtforthThe secret’st man of blood.—What is the night? | (Scene 4 Lines 51-56)Macbeth to Lady Macbeth |
| For mine own good,All causes shall give way. I am in bloodStepped in so far that, should I wade no more,Returning were as tedious as go o’er.Strange things I have in head that will to hand,Which must be acted ere they may be scanned. | (Scene 4 Lines 167-172)Macbeth to Lady Macbeth |
Macbeth Act 3 and 4 Important/Imagery/Simile and Metaphor Quotes
August 20, 2019