Explain this quote: "I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none." in Macbeth act 1?

Question

I don't quite get it, i saw this in another question thats it in plain english but it's confused me more, well it's more the 2nd part i don't get.

I dare to do everything that it's appropriate for a man to do. Whoever dares to do more isn't a man.

if you dare to do more then wouldn't that make you more of a man or am i missing something? :S

Thanks

Answer 1

I think it means to try to be something that is more in your reach, and not to be too quick to become something greater.

Answer 2

The first line is clear as a bell, Mac will do anything and everything to achieve his aim and thus prove he is a total man. Shakespeare leaves it open with the second line: "Who dares do more is none." None what? None. What is none? It means no one, not one - nobody. So the daring to do more is beyond the reach of any mortal man. So one might conclude that it would take on the power of a god or supernatural power to do more than Mac would. - But this is the great thing about Shakey Willy, we can interpret him in just about any way that suits the person reading his work.

Answer 3

To understand this quote you need to understand that language has changed. Becoming used to mean suitable; appropriate; proper. So what Macbeth is actually saying is this:

I dare to do everything that is suitable for a gentleman to do. Anyone who does more than what is gentlemanly is not a gentleman.

This is a rebuke for being called a coward. Macbeth says he s not a coward; he does everything a proper gentleman would do in his situation. What she s asking him to do would be to violate his honor, and make him less than a man.

Answer 4

Dare To Be A Man

Answer 5

If you sensed the context and tone in which V said it this means that a man needs to do what he needs to become, and those who dont dare, are none, meaning you are not a man, because real men take dare take risks and chances. Theres no certainty only opportunity.

Answer 6

Doing that which is becoming of a man means being able to know when to start, how to go about it and especially knowing when to stop. Doing more than what is suited to a man just makes you a glutton for attention, and a fool for believing that you can get better than anyone else not by the skills required but by an excess of them. A REAL man is not a show-off and will draw attention to himself by the confidence and congruence shown in the normality of accepted deeds.

Answer 7

I do believe it means that I do the crazy stuff I do but I won't look to do more because that could only be accomplished by some god-like figure. Ex. I will stand up to this oppresive government... that's crazy because I could get killed, but I'm a man, and trying to.. let's say singlehandedly topple the government would be god-like. so I am a man, and I do as great as a man can do.

It's really hard to explain, I kind of understand it half intuitively, so words escape me, but I hope this helps.

Answer 8

Pretty much i think it simply means that he will do what it takes to become a man but if you are doing more than that means you are trying to hard to become a man at that point it means that your are trying to prove your a man and a man does not need to prove he is a man he just is. Lets say a dog grows up with a pack of wolfs right therefore he will find he is different, and if he denies he is a dog then he will forever try to prove that he is a wolf, he cannot become a wolf because he has already become a dog. but throught the struggle of trying to become a wolf he has therefore abandoned his identity of a dog therefore he has in his eyes become more than a dog but not a wolf so he is nothing. so if a boy tries to hard to become a man then it means he is not a man and he will forever be a boy trying to become a man but if he is not a boy and not a man than what is he?

Answer 9

All you guys are taking this quote out of context. Didn't you see Wayne's World (“He’s a dead man.”). In this scene, Macbeth is talking to a woman who wants him to kill her husband. She's basically saying that if he doesn't kill her husband, like he promised, than he's really not the man he claims to be. Macbeth's response is, “Lady, I do what I gotta do to be a man; but killing your husband is kinda going overboard. And it aint manly behavior.”

Answer 10

"I dare do all that may become a man" translates as "I dare do anything that is fitting for a man to do", effectively "I am nothing less than a real man". (This is an older meaning of the word "become".)
"Who dares do more is none" means "There is nobody (none) who dares more than I do".

Answer 11

"if you dare to do more then wouldn't that make you more of a man or am i missing something?"

In my way of thinking doing more to prove you're more of a man just proves to me that they're overcompensating for a lack of masculinity,

in other words if feel the need to say you have a big penis chances are it isn't true, if not physically, then metaphoricaly