Macbeth Time Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the Norton edition.
| Quote #1 My noble partner |
The witches have a relationship to the present and the future unlike any other figures in the play. After they predict that Macbeth will be named king, Banquo, using an agricultural metaphor, asks them to "look into the seeds of time" and tell him what his own future has in store.
| Quote #2 [Aside] Come what come may, |
After hearing the witch's prophesy that he'll become king, Macbeth pushes thoughts of "murder" from his mind and says he won't lift a finger against the present king – instead, he'll leave his future to "chance." Here, Macbeth suggests he's willing to let time "run" its course and make him king. The thing is, we also notice that Macbeth speaks these lines in the kind of sing-song, rhyming voice that recalls the chanting of the weird sisters, which alerts us to the fact that Macbeth's probably not going to sit back and bide his time.
| Quote #3 Thy letters have transported me beyond |
When Lady Macbeth reads her husband's letter (bearing news of the witch's prophesies), her thoughts immediately turn toward the "future" that she imagines for herself and her husband. In this passage, she's says it's as though the news has "transported [her] beyond this ignorant present." Her dreams of being the wife of a king are so vivid and so real to her, it's as though time has completely collapsed. Lady Macbeth feels the "future in the instant."
We also want to note that her use of the term "transported" is significant because it recalls Macbeth's earlier reaction to the witch's omen. Banquo twice describes his friend as being "rapt" (1.3.2, 1.3.9). The verb "rapt" can mean "To carry away in spirit; to enrapture, transport" (Oxford English Dictionary). So, it's as though both Macbeth and his wife are carried away by the witch's prophesy.
