Macbeth Group

Question:

jsbrin
jsbrin
Student
High School - 12th Grade

What phrase in Act III, scene 2 is alike to this one, and why are they different?

"What’s done cannot be undone.” Lady Macbeth, 5.1.71

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Posted by jsbrin on Tuesday April 22, 2008 at 5:07 PM and tagged with act iii, compare, contrast, macbeth, quotes.

Answers:


  1. gbeatty Teacher
    College - Freshman

    That would be this line from Lady Macbeth:

    "With them they think on? Things without all remedy
    Should be without regard: what's done is done."

    In context, this one refers to the uselessness of fretting about things that are done and past.

    By contrast, she speaks the lines in Act V from a disturbed mind, and they are deeply ironic. What's done is not done--it haunts her forever.

     

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/macbeth-text/3357

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    Posted by gbeatty on Tuesday April 22, 2008 at 6:00 PM