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Setting
Act 1, scene 6
Explanation and Analysis—Delicate Air:
In Act 1, Scene 6, Shakespeare employs olfactory imagery to describe Macbeth's castle at Inverness. Duncan and Banquo, oblivious to the fact that the castle will soon become the site of a violent murder, comment on the excellent quality of the air:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Duncan: This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.Banquo: This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
By his loved mansionry, that the heaven’s breath
Smells wooingly here. No jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendant bed and procreant cradle.
Where they most breed and haunt, I have
observed,
The air is delicate.
Related Themes:
Act 2, scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Water:
Water is mentioned frequently in Macbeth, often in relation to blood, and it's used as a motif that represents the permanence of guilt.
In Act 2, Scene 2, Macbeth ponders whether an entire ocean would be capable of washing Duncan's blood off his hands:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Macbeth: Will all great Neptune's ocean wash the blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
Act 3, scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Death and Peace:
In Act 3, Scene 2, Macbeth makes an ironic statement about death and peace:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave.
After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.
Treason has done his worst; nor steel nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing
Can touch him further.
Related Themes:
Act 3, scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Macbeth's Confidence:
In Act 4, Scene 1, the Weird Sisters reveal several prophecies to Macbeth. Most notably, one of their summoned apparitions declares that "Macbeth shall never vanquished be until / Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him." Macbeth, believing such a thing to be impossible, interprets the prophecy as an assurance that he will never be defeated:
Unlock with LitCharts A+That will never be.
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree
Unfix his earthbound root?
Related Themes:
Act 4, scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Macbeth's Confidence:
In Act 4, Scene 1, the Weird Sisters reveal several prophecies to Macbeth. Most notably, one of their summoned apparitions declares that "Macbeth shall never vanquished be until / Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him." Macbeth, believing such a thing to be impossible, interprets the prophecy as an assurance that he will never be defeated:
Unlock with LitCharts A+That will never be.
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree
Unfix his earthbound root?
Related Themes:
Act 5, scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Delicate Air:
In Act 1, Scene 6, Shakespeare employs olfactory imagery to describe Macbeth's castle at Inverness. Duncan and Banquo, oblivious to the fact that the castle will soon become the site of a violent murder, comment on the excellent quality of the air:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Duncan: This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.Banquo: This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
By his loved mansionry, that the heaven’s breath
Smells wooingly here. No jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendant bed and procreant cradle.
Where they most breed and haunt, I have
observed,
The air is delicate.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Water:
Water is mentioned frequently in Macbeth, often in relation to blood, and it's used as a motif that represents the permanence of guilt.
In Act 2, Scene 2, Macbeth ponders whether an entire ocean would be capable of washing Duncan's blood off his hands:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Macbeth: Will all great Neptune's ocean wash the blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
Act 5, scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Death and Peace:
In Act 3, Scene 2, Macbeth makes an ironic statement about death and peace:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave.
After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.
Treason has done his worst; nor steel nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing
Can touch him further.
Related Themes:
