Flashcards for Macbeth

Banquo

Banquo is a Scottish general and Macbeth's closest friend at the start of the play, serving as both a moral contrast and an unwitting trigger for the tragedy.

character

Hecate

Hecate is the goddess of witchcraft and the supernatural supervisor of the Three Witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth.

character

King Duncan

King Duncan is the current King of Scotland, and his murder at the end of Act II serves as the crucial turning point of the entire play.

character

Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most complex and formidable characters, acting as both a co-conspirator and a driving force behind her husband's ascent to power through murder.

character

Lady Macduff

Lady Macduff appears in just one scene (Act IV, Scene ii), but she stands out as one of Shakespeare's most significant moral anchors.

character

Macbeth

Macbeth is the tragic hero of Shakespeare's play, introduced as a celebrated Scottish general whose valor in battle earns him the title Thane of Cawdor from King Duncan.

character

Macduff

Macduff, the Thane of Fife, serves as Scotland's instrument of justice in Macbeth.

character

Malcolm

Malcolm is King Duncan's eldest son and the rightful heir to the Scottish throne, representing legitimate and virtuous kingship in the play.

character

Ross

Ross is a Scottish nobleman and thane who serves as the play's main messenger and moral compass.

character

The Three Witches

The Three Witches—often referred to as the Weird Sisters—are the supernatural forces driving Macbeth, acting as both prophetic figures and symbols of moral chaos.

character

“Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.”

This famous chant is recited by the Three Witches (the Weird Sisters) in Act IV, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Macbeth.

The Three Witches (Weird Sisters) · Act IV

“Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?”

This famous line opens Macbeth's soliloquy in Act II, Scene 1, delivered by Macbeth as he prepares to kill King Duncan.

Macbeth · Act II, Scene 1

“Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage.”

This line is delivered by Macbeth in Act 5, Scene 5 of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, right after he hears about Lady Macbeth's death.

Macbeth · Act 5

“What's done cannot be undone.”

This chilling line is delivered by Lady Macbeth in Act 5, Scene 1, during her famous sleepwalking episode — though it reflects an earlier sentiment she voiced in Act 3.

Lady Macbeth

“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day.”

This famous soliloquy is delivered by Macbeth in Act 5, Scene 5 of Shakespeare's tragedy, right after he hears about Lady Macbeth's death.

Macbeth · Act 5

“Lay on, Macduff, and damned be him that first cries 'Hold, enough!'”

These are Macbeth's last words before he dies, delivered in Act 5, Scene 8 of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth.

Macbeth

“Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires.”

This haunting moment is delivered by Macbeth in Act I, Scene 4, right after King Duncan names his son Malcolm as the heir to the Scottish throne, a declaration that blocks Macbeth's ambitions.

Macbeth · Act I, Scene 4

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”

This eerie couplet is delivered by the Second Witch in Act 4, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Macbeth, just before Macbeth arrives to demand more prophecies at the witches' cauldron.

Second Witch · Act 4

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”

This unsettling line is delivered by the Three Witches (the Weird Sisters) in Act 1, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Macbeth, right at the play's beginning.

The Three Witches (Weird Sisters) · Act 1

“Something wicked this way comes.”

This unsettling line is delivered by the Second Witch in Act 4, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Macbeth, as the three witches gather around their cauldron.

Second Witch · Act 4

“Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' the milk of human kindness.”

This line is delivered by Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5, as she reads a letter from her husband about the witches' prophecy.

Lady Macbeth · Act 1

“Out, damned spot! Out, I say!”

This anguished cry comes from Lady Macbeth in Act V, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Macbeth, during her iconic sleepwalking episode.

Lady Macbeth · Act V

Blood

In Macbeth, blood stands as Shakespeare's key symbol of guilt, violence, and the deep moral decay that comes with unchecked ambition.

Darkness and Night

In Macbeth, darkness and night represent moral decay, hiding of evil, and a disruption of the natural order.

Sleeplessness and Sleep

In Macbeth, sleep represents innocence, conscience, and the moral order that supports human existence.

The Crown

In Macbeth, the crown represents the heavy burden of illegitimate ambition and the emptiness of power gained through violence.

The Dagger

In Macbeth, the dagger embodies the corrupting influence of unchecked ambition and the confusing line between reality and guilt-induced visions.

The Witches' Cauldron

In Macbeth, the Witches' cauldron represents the breakdown of the natural order and the tempting peril of forbidden knowledge.

Metaphor

Shakespeare fills Macbeth with metaphors that function as moral arguments.

Imagery

The play's imagery works through interconnected systems that critics like Caroline Spurgeon have thoroughly analyzed.

Dramatic Monologue

Several of Macbeth's soliloquies act as intense dramatic monologues that reveal the speaker's character through the contrast between his words and actions.

Symbolism

Sleep is one of the play's most powerful symbols.

Irony

Dramatic irony runs throughout the play because the audience, having witnessed the witches, knows more than many of the characters.

Paradox

The witches' opening chant—'Fair is foul, and foul is fair'—sets up paradox as the main theme of the play.

Personification

Abstract forces take on physical forms in Macbeth, transforming moral concepts into active characters.

Alliteration

Shakespeare employs alliteration throughout Macbeth to connect images and lend a spell-like, incantatory quality to speeches.

Pathetic Fallacy

The natural world in Macbeth reflects and intensifies human evil in ways that extend beyond just the weather.

Blank Verse

Macbeth is mainly written in unrhymed iambic pentameter, but Shakespeare intentionally strays from this norm to create drama.

foul

Wicked, evil, or morally corrupt. In this play it describes what is dark and sinister, set against what appears good or beautiful.

adjective · Chapter 1

milk of human kindness

A natural tendency toward compassion and mercy. Lady Macbeth uses it to mean Macbeth is too gentle and soft-hearted to seize power by ruthless means.

phrase · Chapter 1

catch the nearest way

To take the most direct route to a goal, even if it means doing something wrong or violent. Here it refers to murdering the king to gain the throne immediately.

phrase · Chapter 1

'twere

A contraction of 'it were,' an archaic form meaning 'it would be.' Used in conditional or hypothetical statements in Early Modern English.

Chapter 1

heath

A wide, open stretch of wild, uncultivated land, typically covered with low shrubs. In the play it is the bleak outdoor setting where the Witches gather.

noun · Chapter 1

thane

A Scottish nobleman who holds land granted by the king and owes him military service. It is a rank below the king but above ordinary soldiers.

noun · Chapter 1

incarnadine

To turn something a deep crimson or blood-red color. Macbeth uses it to say his guilty hand would stain the entire ocean red rather than be washed clean.

verb · Chapter 2

multitudinous

Existing in vast, countless numbers. Here it emphasizes the immense, seemingly infinite expanse of all the world's oceans combined.

adjective · Chapter 2

Neptune

The Roman god of the sea, invoked here as a way of referring to all the oceans of the world. Macbeth uses the name to suggest no amount of seawater could wash away his guilt.

noun · Chapter 2

clutch

To grasp or seize something tightly with the hand. Macbeth reaches for the phantom dagger but finds he cannot grip it because it is a hallucination.

verb · Chapter 2

thus

In this condition or position — specifically, being king. Macbeth means that simply holding the crown is worthless unless his hold on power is also secure.

adverb · Chapter 3

tedious

Tiresome and taking too long; not worth the effort. Macbeth uses it to say that going back to innocence would be just as wearisome as pressing forward in evil.

adjective · Chapter 3

wade

To walk through something that resists movement, like deep water. Macbeth uses it as a metaphor for being so deep in bloodshed that stopping is no easier than continuing.

verb · Chapter 3

displaced

Driven away or ruined something that was present. Here it means Macbeth's wild behavior has destroyed the cheerful mood of the royal banquet.

verb · Chapter 3

admired

Causing wonder or astonishment, in the older sense of the word. The phrase 'most admired disorder' means behavior so strange it leaves everyone speechless with amazement.

adjective · Chapter 3

resolute

Firmly determined and unwilling to back down, especially in the face of danger. The Witches urge Macbeth to act with bold, unshakeable decisiveness.

adjective · Chapter 4

scorn

Open contempt or mockery; treating something as beneath notice. To 'laugh to scorn' means to dismiss a threat as laughably unworthy of fear.

noun · Chapter 4

dam

A mother, used here of animals or, contemptuously, of a human mother. Macduff uses it to lament that his wife and all his children have been killed together.

noun · Chapter 4

fell

Fierce, savage, and deadly. In 'one fell swoop' it describes a single act of brutal, merciless violence that destroys everything at once.

adjective · Chapter 4

at one fell swoop

In a single sudden and savage stroke, destroying everything at once. The phrase captures the speed and totality of the attack on Macduff's family.

phrase · Chapter 4

petty

Small, trivial, and insignificant. Macbeth uses it to describe the slow, meaningless crawl of time, day after day, leading nowhere worth going.

adjective · Chapter 5

syllable

The smallest unit of spoken sound in a word. Macbeth uses it metaphorically to suggest that even the tiniest fragment of time has been recorded, and all of it is empty.

noun · Chapter 5

damned spot

An imaginary bloodstain that Lady Macbeth believes she can see on her hand while sleepwalking. It represents her overwhelming guilt over the murders she helped plan.

phrase · Chapter 5

warlike shield

A shield carried into battle as a symbol of a warrior's readiness to fight to the death. Macbeth throws it before him as a final defiant gesture of military courage.

phrase · Chapter 5