| Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle toward my hand? | (Macbeth soliloquy) Sees a hallucination of dagger, but grabs it and goes to kill Duncan. Theme(s)- The Power of Ambition & The effects of guilt on the conscience |
| Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more. | (Macbeth to Lady Macbeth) Macbeth won’t be able to sleep anymore because of what he has done.Theme-The effects of guilt on the conscience |
| From this instant there’s nothing serious in morality. | (Macbeth to Lennox, Donalbain, Lady Macbeth, Macduff, Ross, and Banquo) No longer wants to live because Duncan is dead.Theme-Appearances vs. Reality |
| If I had died but an hour before this chance, / I had lived a blessed time; for, from this instant, / There’s nothing serious in mortality: / All is but toys: renown and grace is dead; / The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees / Is left this vault to brag of . (Act II, scene III). | Macbeth to everyonethe hearers assume Macbeth’s lamentation is caused by the death of the king; Macbeth actually speaks of his murdering of the king. In this passage, Macbeth expresses his guilt over what he has done.Theme-The effects of guilt on the conscience |
| How is’t with me, when every noise appals me? / What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes. / Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red. (II, ii, 56-61) | Macbeth says this to himself after murdering Duncan. His guilt causes him to shake at every noise. His hands symbolize the murder. Neptune is an allusion to the Roman god of the sea, whose waters could not wipe the blood–meaning guilt–from Macbeth’s hands. Theme-The effects of guilt on the conscience |
| My hands are of your color, but I shame/ To wear a heart so white.” | Lady Macbeth to Macbeth after she placed the daggers with the guards.Lady Macbeth does not feel the same guilt that Macbeth does. She says her hands are of his color, meaning that they are too covered in blood and therefore guilt of the crime, but she would be ashamed to have a heart so cowardly as she thinks Macbeth’s isTheme-The manipulation and cruelty of traditional gender roles |
| And Duncan’s horses – a thing most strange and certain…contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would make war with mankind/ ‘Tis said they eat each other. | This is a conversation occurring between Ross and an old man. King Duncan has just been murdered and all of the horses are fighting with each other. The fact that the horses are fighting with each other has a deeper meaning than it suggests. Significantly, this quote uses nature as symbols to represent all of the turmoil that has recently happened. The quote reflects the theme of “order vs chaos” as ” by using horses, which are noble and strong creatures, to symbolize the power struggle between Macbeth and King Duncan. The horses, who are most likely related and usually get along well, symbolize Macbeth’s relationship with King Duncan since they were cousins and Macbeth was loyal to him. |
Macbeth Quotes Act 2
August 27, 2019