What do we learn about Macbeth’s battlefield deeds? | He is heroic, courageous, defeated the Thane of Cawdor, and halted the Norwegian invasion. |
What are the recent activities of the Thane of Cawdor? | He’s a traitor for helping the Norwegians and is sentenced to death. |
What reward does Macbeth receive from the king? | The title: Thane of Cawdor. |
What do the three witches predict for Macbeth? | He’ll be a king in the future eventually but he’ll become Thane of Cawdor first. |
What do the three witches predict for Banquo? | His descendants will be kings but he’ll never be king. |
How do Macbeth and Banquo react to the witches’ prophecies? | Banquo doesn’t believe the witches at all, saying they are evil creatures.Macbeth on the other hand is intrigued by the witches’ prophecies. |
How does Lady Macbeth first learn of the witches’ prophecies? | In a letter sent from her husband. |
What in Macbeth’s personality does she fear will hold him back? | He’s too nice and kind to take the matter into his own hands. |
What action does Lady Macbeth plan to take during the king’s visit? | She plans to kill the king. |
How does she intend to accomplish it? | Get the guards drunk until they’ve blacked out, use the guards’ daggers to kill the king, and place the bloodied daggers back on the guards. |
Both the witches and Macbeth make statements about “foul and fair.”What are two possible meanings for the witches’ words?What does Macbeth mean by his remark? | The Witches: What do you think is good probably isn’t while what you think is bad probably is.Macbeth: The weather was bad (foul) but they won the battle (fair). |
Why is Macbeth indecisive about killing the king? | Duncan (the king’s name) has been good to him. If they fail, there will be retribution in the form of Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s deaths. Finally, you shouldn’t kill a guest in your own home. |
How does Lady Macbeth convince her husband? | By questioning his manliness and calling him a coward. |
How does the plan go? | Lady Macbeth has to take charge because of her rattled husband. It’s later revealed that he killed the guards, which wasn’t part of the plan either! |
What does the drunken proper imagine he is doing? | He’s the gatekeeper to hell. |
What does the drunken porter represent? | Comic Relief |
Compare and contrast Macbeth’s reaction to Lady Macbeth’s reaction. | Macbeth feels guilty and hears noises and voices and even starts halluctioning. At one point before the murder, he sees a bloodied dagger pointing to Duncan’s bedchamber.Lady Macbeth is calm, cool, and collected and orders her husband to wash up. |
How is the murder discovered? | Macduff had an appointment with Duncan but when he enters the king’s room, he discovers the body. |
What causes Lady Macbeth to faint? | Macbeth saying that he killed the guards, though she may have been overdramatic. |
Why do Malcolm and Donalbain flee the castle? | They don’t want to be murdered like their father, Duncan, was. |
Who does Macduff say has killed Duncan? | The guards but only because the sons bribed them. This makes them fall under suspicion even further after they fled for their lives. |
Why does Ross have doubts about accepting the guards as murderers? | They were suppose to protect Duncan and would gain nothing from killing him. |
Macbeth speaks of vaulting ambition in his soliloquy. How can this result in either great success or great destruction? | Success=You don’t give up, you’ll be more successful.Destruction=You try too hard, you destroy anything in your way. |
In Act III Scene I, what does Banquo say about the witches’ prophecies? | He suspects that Macbeth cheated his way to the throne and wonders if his own prophecy will come true. |
Why does Macbeth view Banquo as a rival? | The witches prophesied Banquo would be father of a line of kings while Macbeth would have no sons. |
What does Macbeth plan to do with Banquo and Banquo’s son, Fleance? | He hires three murderers to kill them. |
How does the plot against Banquo and Fleance go wrong? | Banquo is dead but Fleance escapes and his whereabouts are unknown for the rest of the play. |
What supernatural event happens at the banquet? | Banquo’s ghost appears sitting in Macbeth’s chair and no one else but Macbeth can see it. |
Compare and contrast Macbeth’s feelings about murdering Duncan with his feelings about murdering Banquo. | Duncan: He didn’t want to do it because Duncan was a good man and he was guilty of doing it.Banquo: He took charge and didn’t feel guilty after the murder (well… maybe the ghost incited such guilt). |
What does the final scene reveal about the opposition to Macbeth? | Macduff has fled to England to plead for King Edward’s aid while news of plots has prompted Macbeth to prepare for war. |
How has the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change? | Macbeth takes charge and doesn’t tell Lady Macbeth much anymore.Lady Macbeth still criticizes him though. |
Who doubted Macbeth’s mourning over Duncan’s death? | Lennox |
What do the three apparitions symbolize and tell Macbeth? | First Apparition: Armed Head aka Macduff warning to beware the Thane of Fife aka MacduffSecond Apparition: A Bloody Child aka Macduff saying no one born of a woman can harm Macbeth.Final Apparition: A Child With A Crown On It’s Head aka Malcolm saying that Macbeth won’t be defeated until the Birnam Woods marches toward Dunsinane Hill. |
What happens to Macduff’s family? | Macduff’s family is murdered by murderers hired by Macbeth. |
What does the murder of Macduff’s family suggest about Macbeth’s state of mind? | He’s psychotic and power-hungry and has completely lost it. |
How does Malcolm test Macduff? | He pretends to be evil in order to check Macduff’s reaction. |
What convinces Malcolm what Macduff is trustworthy? | When Macduff gives up all hope and refuses to help Malcolm. |
What news does Ross bring from Scotland? | Macduff’s wife and children are dead. |
What does the dialogue in iii reveal about Malcolm’s character? | He wants to be a good king: Gold-orientated, upstanding gentleman, intelligent, honest, polite, respectful, etc. |
What is Macbeth’s tragic flaw? | Ambition |
Tragic Flaw | Character Weakness |
What previous events does Lady Macbeth refer to in her sleepwalking? | Duncan’s death, Macduff’s family and wife being dead, and Banquo’s death. |
How have Macbeth and Lady Macbeth reversed roles at the end of the play? | Lady Macbeth is now extremely guilty to the point of insomnia and mental illness.Macbeth is calm, cool, and collected. |
What happens to Lady Macbeth before the final battle? | She kills herself off-screen due to her guilty conscience. |
What does Macbeth learn in Act V, Scene V, that makes him doubt the apparitions prophecies. | The “woods” aka Malcolm’s 10,000 English soldiers and co. in disguise are coming toward Dunsinane. |
In Act V, Scene VIII, why does Macbeth tell Macduff he doesn’t wish to fight him? | He has the blood of his family on his hands and doesn’t wish to fight him too. |
What does Macduff tell Macbeth concerning the apparitions’ second prophecy. | Macduff’s mother died in childbirth but Macduff was saved via C-Section. |
What is Macbeth’s fate? | Macduff kills him and brings his head to the crowd. |
At the end of the play, who’s crowned king of Scotland? | Malcolm |
Macbeth Acts I-V
August 24, 2019