Macbeth
Play
Summary
Macbeth is a valiant Scottish general who, goaded by prophecy and his wife's iron will, murders King Duncan to seize the throne of Scotland. What follows is a catastrophic descent into tyranny, paranoia, and nihilism as he kills to preserve what he has won, until he stands entirely alone against the world he has made.
Notable Quotations
"Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?" *(II.1)*
"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.2)*
"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, / To the last syllable of recorded time; / And all our yesterdays have lighted fools / The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! / Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage / And then is heard no more: it is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing." *(V.5)*
"Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires." *(I.4)*
"I have almost forgot the taste of fears." *(V.5)*
"Yet I will try the last. Before my body / I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, / And damned be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'" *(V.8)*