Macbeth Explanation

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand

This is said by Lady Macbeth in Act V, Scene I, of William Shakespeare's great tragedy Macbeth. Here, Lady Macbeth describes her mood of despair.

Lady Macbeth said this while sleeping. She is talking incoherently while waking in her sleep. She seems to have found a spot of blood on her hand. She is trying to wash it clean, but she cannot wipe it out in spite of her best attempts. She cannot get rid of the smell of blood, which offends her delicate senses. She wants to remove the smell of blood from the perfumes of Arabia, which was the fabled home of perfumes. But she says that all the perfumes brought from Arabia will not be able to impart fragrance to her little feminine hands. Here, the contrast between "all the perfumes" and "little hands" is worth nothing.

There's no art.

To find the mind's construction in the face:

He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust.

These lines are spoken by Duncan, king of Scotland, in Act I, Scene IV, of Shakespeare's great tragedy Macbeth. In these lines, Duncan's meek and trustful nature is described.

The Thane of Cawdor proved false to the king, joined the king of Norway, and labored in the country's wreck. For this reason, Duncan sentenced him to death. But in his death, the Thane of Cawdor confessed his sin and expressed his deep repentance. Duncan confesses here that he had built an absolute trust in the Thane of Cawdor. He trusted him most, but he was most deceived. Duncan is helpless, saying that there is no art that can teach one how to read a man's mind in the face. The face is not the index of the mind. He had put implicit confidence in Cawdor, and Cawdor had deceived him. Duncan was deceived by the apparent goodness of Cawdor.

Stars, hide your fires!

Let not light see my black and deep desires.

These lines, taken from Shakespeare's Macbeth, are part of an aside made by Macbeth in Act I, Scene IV. Here we find a deeply stirred Macbeth engrossed in a dramatic aside.

When Duncan proclaims that his eldest son, Malcolm, has been nominated as his successor to the throne of Scotland, Macbeth gets a shock. This proclamation stuns Macbeth and seems to overcome his scruples about committing murder to usurp the throne of Scotland. His imagination is afire, and he seems to have taken a resolution to commit the heinous crime under the cover of the night's darkness. And though he is speaking to himself in the daytime, in his vivid imagination, he pictures the darkness of the night when he intends to accomplish the dark deed. Hence, he appeals to the stars to put out their light so that his secret and diabolical design may not be revealed in any way.

These lines convince us beyond doubt that the conception of Duncan's murder is already clear in Macbeth's mind. He has taken the witches seriously and decided that the only way in which he can attain the throne is by killing Duncan.

Had I but died an hour before this change, I would have lived a blessed time, for from this instant on, there's nothing serious about mortality: all is but toys.

These lines, taken from Act II, Scene III of Shakespeare's Macbeth, are spoken by Macbeth when the murder of Duncan has been discovered. Here, Macbeth hypocritically expresses his sense of shock and grief over the murder of Duncan, which he himself has committed.

Coming back from the chamber of the murdered Duncan, Macbeth feigns grief to deceive other people. He declares that he would have lived a happy life if he had died an hour before this horrible incident—the murder of King Duncan. He says that from this moment onwards, there will be nothing worthwhile in human life. With the king dead, all things seem to him to be nothing but trifles. All renown and grace seem to have vanished from this world forever, and the joy of life has been taken away. The man, who was a source of life to people, is gone, and people can now only boast of the

worthless things that remain under the sky. These lines show the pretended grief of Macbeth over the murder that he has himself committed. These lines therefore show Macbeth as a dissembler. Here, Macbeth certainly wins our admiration for the way in which he is trying to throw dust into the eyes of everybody.

Macbeth's Explanations

We have scorched the snake, not killed it. She'll close and be herself while our poor malice remains in danger of her former tooth.

These lines, taken from Act III, Scene II of Shakespeare's Macbeth, are part of a speech made by Macbeth to his wife after finalizing his plan for the assassination of Banquo. Here, Macbeth is thinking of dangers for his life.

By killing Duncan, Macbeth says, they have only wounded the snake, not killed it. The wound will heal up and the snake will become dangerous again, while his and his wife's feeble hostility towards the snake will remain in danger of the snake's poisonous bite as before. The snake of whom he now feels afraid is, of course, Banquo. Macbeth fears that Banquo and Fleance will initiate a fresh attack against him.

These lines express the state of affliction that Macbeth is experiencing after his murder of Duncan; it is not a feeling of remorse but a feeling of the shakiness of his own position. He is haunted by the possibility of the throne eventually passing to Banquo's descendants.

Unnatural deeds

Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds Their deaf pillows will reveal their secrets. She needs more of the divine than the physician.

These lines, taken from Act V, Scene 1, of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, are part of a speech made by the Doctor to the gentlewoman who has brought him there to treat Lady Macbeth. Here, the doctor comments on the condition of Lady Macbeth.

After observing Lady Macbeth walking and talking in her sleep, the doctor makes his own comments that unnatural deeds are bound to produce unnatural disease in those who are involved in such deeds. Guilty minds reveal their secrets through words that burst out in their sleep. The doctor says that guilty minds are bound to be the victims of inexplicable diseases. And such minds infected with sin and crime are prone to relieve themselves of their secrets, at least by giving them out to their pillows, if they are unable to disclose them to anyone else. The doctor concludes that the care of such diseases is beyond the power of any physician. Hence, Lady Macbeth is in need of divine help.

Evil has begun to destroy itself. Lady Macbeth has broken down under the strain, and the crimes of which she is guilty will not let her rest in peace. The doctor's words, of course, illustrate a well-known aspect of human life.