Macbeth (AQA GCSE English Literature) Flashcards
Exam code: 8702
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Key quote: "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, only vaulting ambition"
Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7
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Cards in this collection (10)
Key quote: "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, only vaulting ambition"
Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7
Analysis
Macbeth openly acknowledges his tragic flaw of unbridled ambition as his sole motivation for planning to murder King Duncan.
Key quote: "When you durst do it, then you were a man"
Lady Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7
Analysis
Lady Macbeth attacks Macbeth's masculinity to manipulate him into committing murder, displaying her power through deception.
Key quote: "Life ... is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"
Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 4
Analysis
Macbeth's pessimistic view reflects his realisation that all his ambitious actions were ultimately meaningless and will lead to his defeat.
Key quote: "Stars hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires"
Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 4
Analysis
Macbeth commands the natural world to hide his evil intentions from God, suggesting awareness of the blasphemous consequences.
Key quote: "The dead butcher and his fiend-like queen"
Malcolm, Act 5, Scene 9
Analysis
Malcolm disparages Macbeth as a murderer and Lady Macbeth as demonic, showing their fall from grace.
Key quote: "Come you spirits ... Unsex me here"
Lady Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5
Analysis
Lady Macbeth commands evil spirits to strip her of feminine traits, subverting gender roles through unnatural means.
Key quote: "Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent underneath it"
Lady Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5
Analysis
Lady Macbeth instructs Macbeth to practise deception, using the biblical metaphor of a serpent, a symbol of treachery.
Key quote: "Out, damned spot: out, I say!"
Lady Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1
Analysis
Lady Macbeth's desperate pleading and hallucinations symbolise her loss of power and mental instability due to her guilt.
Key quote: "Fair is foul and foul is fair"
Three Witches, Act 1, Scene 1
Analysis
The witches' paradoxical language warns of deception and upheaval, foreshadowing the corruption of natural order.
Key quote: "Macbeth does murder sleep!"
Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2
Analysis
Macbeth's exclamation and the personification of sleep suggest both his guilt and his realisation that murdering the king has robbed him of peace and perhaps eternal rest.
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