Macbeth Quotes From Act 4

Question: “Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth” (4.1.81-83).

Answer: SPOKEN BY SECOND APPARITION TO MACBETH; no man who is born from a woman can defeat Macbeth, later proven true because Macduff was born by c-section, sets Macbeth up for failure by giving him false hope

Question: “Macbeth shall never vanquished be until / Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him” (4.1.92-94).

Answer: SPOKEN BY THIRD APPARITION TO MACBETH; Macbeth believes he won’t ever be defeated because he knows that nothing can move a forest

Question: SPOKEN BY MACBETH- SOLILOQUY?; now that he knows Macduff is fighting against him in England, his anger will become actions

Answer: “The flighty purpose never is o’ertook / Unless the deed go with it: from this moment / The very firstlings of my heart shall be / The firstlings of my hand.”

Question: SPOKEN BY LADY MACDUFF- SOLILOQUOY?; she calls her husband a traitor to their family after he flees for England, he is cowardly to flee and leave his family behind

Answer: “When our actions do not, / Our fears do make us traitors” (4.2.2-3).

Question: “By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something wicked this way comes” (4.1.44).

Answer: SPOKEN BY WITCHES TO EACH OTHER; calling Macbeth, sort of bragging because his wickedness is partially their creation

Question: “Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell” (4.3.23).

Answer: SPOKEN BY MALCOLM TO MACDUFF; some angels are still good but others are bad that actually appear to be good, Macbeth is a corrupt man who appears to be good

Question: “This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,

Was once thought honest” (4.3.13-14).

Answer: SPOKEN BY MALCOLM TO MACDUFF; Malcolm believes that Macbeth is a tyrant, says none of his companions support him anymore, Macbeth is thought to be dishonest and corrupt

Question: “Double, double toil and trouble” (4.1.10).

Answer: SPOKEN BY WITCHES- SPELL CHANT; reminder that their speech is full of double meanings, many characters in the play act as “doubles” for Macbeth (sort of people he might have been if his ambition hadn’t taken over)