First Witch: “When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightening, or rain?”
This quote is said by the first Witch, which sets the setting. By the witches planning to meet in “thunder, lightening, or rain,” shows that they are planning something evil. The tone in this quote is mischievous.
2.
Duncan: “No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death, and with his former title greet Macbeth.”
King Duncan gives Macbeth the title of Cawdor. He was betrayed by the current thane. The theme of this quote is loyalty. Duncan used the word bosom, which means close to your heart and being betrayed is the complete opposite of the feeling the previous thane expressed.
3.
All three witches: “Lesser than Macbeth and greater. Not so happy, yet much happier. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo.”
The witches speak in paradox throughout the play. Paradox is a seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true. The witches tell a select piece of their information about their futures. The witches act as a chorus with every reappearance in the play.
4.
Macbeth: “The thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me in borrowed clothes?”
Macbeth figures out that the information about the witches is true. The borrowed robes carry a burden that Macbeth obliged to fill. He has to gain the trust of the King. If he does not gain his trust, then his plans will be ruined, and he won’t be able to go through with it.
5.
Banquo: “And oftentimes, to win us or our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray’s in the deepest consequence.”
Banquo foreshadows wrong doings amongst the witches. Their wrong doings will directly affect the actions of Macbeth. Banquo is more logical then Macbeth. Macbeth will fall for anything if it sound plausible, more so practical. The theme of this quote is reason vs. insanity.
6.
Macbeth: “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings. My thought, whose murder is yet but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man that function is smothered in surmise, and nothing is but what is not.”
Do to the new information provided by the witches, Macbeth is considering killing King Duncan. He cannot think of doing such a crime that would be stuck with him The theme of this quote is conscience in the sense that it will be in his head the rest of his life.
7.
Macbeth: “Stars, hide your fears. Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.”
This is when he first planned to kill King Duncan. He uses the technique of the literary term, aside. The term aside is a part of an actor’s lines supposedly not heard by others onstage, intended only for the audience to hear. The theme of this quote is conscience.
8.
Lady Macbeth: “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..”
Lady Macbeth thinks her husband is too kind to kill King Duncan. She does not believe that Macbeth has what it takes to achieve the means necessary to become king. She thinks little of him when it comes to his passion for becoming kind and she decides that she needs to encourage him.
9.
Lady Macbeth: “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.”
Lady Macbeth wants to be unsexed because she feels that as a woman, she cannot do what a man can do. She is degrading herself as a woman. The theme here is underestimation. She is underestimating herself to the extent that she actually wants to be a man