Violence: the full guide is being written.
Until it is ready, here is the theme's shape through the text and its key quotes from the Summary.
The shape of the theme
Where it rises and falls
Central in 5 of the 28 scenes; it runs strongest in Act 4 and quietest in Act 1.
- Quotes on the theme (a bigger dot, more quotes)
- Set as an AQA extract
Use this in the exam: find your extract's scene, then follow the theme forward. Tracing how it rises, falls or changes from the extract to the whole play is what the top level rewards.
Key quotes
14 quotes, in the order they come in the text. Point at or tap an underlined word for its note.
What bloody2 man1 is that? He can report, / As seemeth3 by his plight, of the revolt / The newest state.
Duncan to his sons and lords
Act 1, Scene 2, line 1
For brave Macbeth1 (well he deserves that name), / Disdaining Fortune,2 with his brandished steel, / Which smoked with bloody execution,3 / Like Valor's minion,4 carved out his passage / Till he faced the slave
Captain to Duncan
Act 1, Scene 2, line 18
Till he unseamed1 him from the nave to th' chops, / And fixed his head upon our battlements.2
Captain to Duncan
Act 1, Scene 2, line 24
O, never1 / Shall sun3 that morrow see!2
Lady Macbeth to Macbeth
Act 1, Scene 5, line 71
We still have judgment here,1 that we but teach / Bloody instructions,2 which, being taught, return / To plague th' inventor.3
Macbeth to himself (soliloquy)
Act 1, Scene 7, line 8
and withered murder,1 / Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf, / Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, / With Tarquin's ravishing2 strides, towards his design / Moves like a ghost.3
Macbeth to himself (soliloquy)
Act 2, Scene 1, line 64
Hear it not, Duncan,1 for it is a knell2 / That summons thee to heaven or to hell.3
Macbeth to the sleeping Duncan (soliloquy)
Act 2, Scene 1, line 76
I have done the deed.1 Didst thou not hear a noise?2
Macbeth to Lady Macbeth
Act 2, Scene 2, line 19
O horror, horror, horror!1 / Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name2 thee!
Macduff to Macbeth and Lennox
Act 2, Scene 3, line 73
O, yet I do repent1 me of my fury,2 / That I did kill them.3
Macbeth to everyone present
Act 2, Scene 3, line 124
Here lay Duncan, / His silver skin laced with his golden blood,1 / And his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature2 / For ruin's wasteful3 entrance
Macbeth to Macduff
Act 2, Scene 3, line 130
And with him / (To leave no rubs nor botches1 in the work) / Fleance, his son,2 that keeps him company, / Whose absence is no less material to me / Than is his father's, must embrace the fate3 / Of that dark hour.
Macbeth to the Murderers
Act 3, Scene 1, line 152
It is concluded.1 Banquo, thy soul's flight,2 / If it find heaven,3 must find it out tonight.
Macbeth to the absent Banquo (soliloquy)
Act 3, Scene 1, line 161
I am in blood1 / Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,2 / Returning were as tedious3 as go o'er.
Macbeth to Lady Macbeth
Act 3, Scene 4, line 168