MACBETH’S AMBITION

The following quotes reveal Macbeth’s ambition.

Choose five lines. Paraphrase them.

Discuss what each quote reveals about Macbeth?

What judgment can you make about Macbeth given that quote?

Act I Scene ii:

The Prince of Cumberland!--That is a step,
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies.

Stars, hide your fires!

Let not light see my black and deep desires:

The eye win at the hand! Yet let that be,

Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.

Act I Scene iii

Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
By Sinel's death I know I am Thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting?--Speak, I charge you.

This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill; cannot be good:--if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair,
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature?

Act I Scene vii If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly

.--I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,
And falls on the other.

I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

Whiles I threat, he lives;

Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

Act II Scene ii Still it cried, “Sleep no more!” to all the house:

“Glamis hath murder’d sleep, and therefore Cawdor

Shall sleep no more,--Macbeth shall sleep no more!”

Act II Scene iii Who can be wise, amaz’d, temperate, and furious,

Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man:

The expedition of my violent love

Outrun the pauser reason. Here lay Duncan,

His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood;
And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature
For ruin's wasteful entrance: there, the murderers,
Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers
Unmannerly breech'd with gore: who could refrain,
That had a heart to love, and in that heart
Courage to make's love known?

Act III Scene i To be thus is nothing;
But to be safely thus:--our fears in Banquo.
Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature reigns

That which would be feared. 'tis much he dares;
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety.

Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour at most,
I will advise you where to plant yourselves;
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time,
The moment on't; for't must be done to-night
And something from the palace; always thought
That I require a clearness; and with him,--
To leave no rubs nor botches in the work,--
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me
Than is his father's, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart:
I'll come to you anon.

Act III Scene ii We have scortch'd the snake, not kill'd it;
She'll close, and be herself; whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth.

QUOTE/ PARAPHRASED QUOTE

WHAT DOES THIS QUOTE REVEAL ABOUT MACBETH?

WHAT JUDGMENT CAN YOU MAKE ABOUT MACBETH?

Short Essay: What do you know about Macbeth? Thesis Statement: In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is….