Macbeth

act one
1. what is the point of the first scene literally and in reference to the
whole play?
the theme of the play is set: fair is foul, and foul is fair (i, i 10); the
witches have the power to create confusion and deception

2. what does duncan call macbeth when he hears macbeth has defeated
macdonwald?
valiant and worthy (i, ii, 24)

3. who is sentenced to death?

current thane of cawdor for being a traitor (i, ii, 66-67)

4. what do the witches predict in i.iii for macbeth? for banquo

m: thane of glamis, thane of cawdor, king; b: lesser than m and
greater (not king but will have honors), not so happy yet much
happier (m unhappy reign b happy), thou shalt get kings though
thou be none (b will bear kings but he won’t be king) (49-50;65-
67)

5. what news does ross bring macbeth?

king duncan told him to give macbeth title of thane of cawdor (i,
iii, 105)

6. banquo, like macbeth, is surprised that the witches have predicted

macbeth's new title. he is, however, leery. what does he say about the
motives of the "instruments of darkness"?
they offer lies to tempt people (i, iii, 122-126)

7. malcolm describes cawdor's last moments before execution. what is

duncan's reply?
he confessed treason, begged forgiveness, and repented; duncan
trusted him (i, iv, 5-7; 12-13)

8. macbeth says, "stars, hide your fires, let not light see my black and
deep desires." what are macbeth's desires?
a wicked ambitious desire to murder king duncan in order to be
king (i, iv, 50-51)

9. after lady macbeth reads the letter, what does she tell us is her
opinion of macbeth, and how does she plan to help him?
she worries that m is too soft; she will use her cunning and skill
with words to convince him to do what must be done to become
king (i, v, 14-15; 23-24)

10. what is lady macbeth's "prayer" to the spirits after she learns
duncan is coming"?
rid her of her womanly weakness and guilt (i, v, 37-51)

11. what advice does lady macbeth give macbeth when he arrives
home?
act as if everything is ok and show nothing on his face (i, v, 62-63)

12. what are macbeth's arguments to himself against killing duncan?

he risks burning in hell, it could backfire, the king trusts him, he is
related to the king/his subject/his host, the king is a good person, a
lot of people will be angry and sad, he has nothing against him
except his own vaulting ambition, king does not deserve to be
murdered (i, vii, 1-28)

13. what arguments does lady macbeth use to convince macbeth to

commit the murder?
tells m he’s a coward, that he isn’t a man is he doesn’t do it, tells
him that she would go through with it if she had promised him
(even if it meant murdering her own child) (i, vii, 39-45; 49-51; 54-
59)

14. what is lady macbeth's plan?

when king is asleep, lm will get 2 guards drunk (m will use their
daggers to kill king) (i, vii, 61-70)

act ii
1. what is macbeth's lie to banquo about the witches' predictions? that
he doesn’t think of them (ii, i, 21)
2. what is the signal lady macbeth is to give macbeth to let him know
that she has taken care of the guards (grooms)? ring the bell (ii, i, 30)
3. what excuse does lady macbeth give for not killing duncan herself?
if he hadn’t looked like her father, she could’ve killed him (ii, ii,
12-13)
4. after macbeth kills duncan, he goes to lady macbeth and is
concerned about not being able to say "amen." what is her advice to
him? don’t overthink this – we’ll go crazy (ii, ii, 32-37)
5. then, macbeth is worried about hearing a voice saying, "macbeth
does murder sleep." what does lady macbeth then tell him to do? she
is not sympathetic at all and tells him to wash the blood from his
hands, take the daggers back, and smear blood on the guards to
make them look guilty. she thinks m is foolish and weak. (ii, ii, 44-
48)
6. why won't macbeth take the daggers back to the scene of the crime?
he is afraid to see the murder he has committed (ii, ii, 48-50)
7. who was knocking? macduff (ii, iii, 15)
8. what three things does drinking provoke? red noses, sleep, and
urine (ii, iii, 22-23)
9. how does lennox describe the night, and what is macbeth's
response? l: unruly, chimneys knocked down, strange screams,
dire combustion and confused events, woeful time, obscure bird
clamoring at night, earthquakes (ii, iii, 46-53). m: it was a rough
night (ii, iii, 54), which is ironic.
10. what did macduff discover? duncan (ii, iii, 56-57)
11. macduff says, "oh, gentle lady, 'tis not for you to hear what i can
speak. the repetition, in a woman's ear, would murder as it fell." what
is ironic about this? (ii, iii, 76-79) lm helped to plan d’s murder and
helped to kill him; she prayed to the spirits to unsex her so she
would have the strength to murder. she is not gentle. irony.
12. what excuse or explanation did macbeth give for killing the guards
(grooms)? what is his real reason? bc of his love and devotion to
duncan and bc of his courageous nature (ii, iii, 108-110)
13. why do malcolm and donalbain leave? they don’t want to join
with the others bc one of them may have plotted the murder (ii, iii,
127-129); they will be safer if they split up – malcolm, england;
donalbain, ireland (ii, iii, 130-133)
14. why does ross not believe malcolm and donalbain were
responsible for duncan's murder? it is against nature for sons to kill
their own father bc of wasteful ambition and greed; since the
crown will now fall to macbeth, he is in suspicion (ii, iv, 28-30)

act iii
1. why does macbeth want banquo and fleance dead? bc of the
witches prophesy that banquo’s sons will be heirs: macbeth says
the he has been given a barren crown that will be taken away by
someone outside his family and that he has committed murder,
poisoned his mind, and destroyed his soul all for the benefit for b’s
heirs (fleance) (iii, i. 60-71)
2. what is macbeth's plan for killing banquo and fleance? does it
work? macbeth hires murderers to kill banquo and fleance away
from the palace so that he can be blameless (he and banquo share
friends and he needs their support)
3. macbeth says, "the worm that's fled hath nature that in time will
venom breed, no teeth for the present." what does that mean? fleance
is too young to cause harm now (iii, iv, 29-30)
4. who (what) did macbeth see at the banquet table? the ghost of
banquo sits in macbeth’s place (ii, iv, 38)
5. how does lady macbeth cover for macbeth at the banquet? what
excuses does she give for his wild talk? she tells the guests to ignore
macbeth’s fit bc he had them as a child (ii, iv, 53-58); also that it is
a regular occurrence for macbeth (ii, iv, 97-99); finally, she tells
the guest that macbeth is not well and tells them goodnight (ii, iv,
118-120)
6. who else was missing from the banquet table (besides banquo)?
macduff (ii, iv, 128-129)
7. macbeth says, "i am in blood stepped in so far that should i wade no
more, returning were as tedious as go o'er." what does he mean? he
will do anything to protect himself; it would make sense to turn
back now, but he will act on his unnatural thought without
examining them (ii, iv, 136-138)
8. what does hecate want the witches to do? to confuse macbeth to
make him so overconfident he will do something foolhardy,
leading to his destruction (iii, v, 28-33)
9. what does lennox think about macbeth, fleance, and duncan's sons?
lennox is suspicious that macbeth killed duncan & banquo, & set
up their sons malcolm & donnelbain & fleance. he chooses his
words carefully, & ironically says that fleeing the scene must
make fleance guilty. (iii, vi, 6-20)

act iv
1. witch 2 says, "by the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this
way comes." who comes? macbeth (iv, i, 44-45)
2. what is macbeth's attitude towards the witches this time? he is
insecure, desperate, & depends on witches to predict his future.
he is insane. (iv, i, 50-51; 60-61)
3. what four things did the witches show macbeth? what does each
show/say? what is macbeth's reaction? a) armed head: watch out for
macduff/you have confirmed my fears; b) bloody child: no one of
woman will hurt you/i’ll kill macduff; c) child crowned w/ tree in
hand: you won’t be defeated unless birnam wood comes to your
castle in dunsinane hill/that’s ridiculous; d) 8 kings favoring
banquo & one holding a mirror showing more of banquo’s lineage
as future kings/from now on macbeth will act immediately on his
impulses (iv, i, 68-148)
4. macbeth says (about the witches), "infected be the air whereon they
ride, and damned all those that trust them!" what is macbeth, in effect,
saying about himself? he’s saying that he’s cursed for trusting the
witches (iv, i, 138-139)
5. where is macduff? england (iv, i, 141-142)
6. why does macbeth have macduff's family and servants killed? it
gives macbeth a guarantee of his fate & puts his fears to rest (iv, i,
150-155)
7. why does lady macduff's son say liars and swearers are fools?
because if honest men hang liars & swearers, traitors outnumber
them, & traitors are fools to let that happen (iv, ii, 54-55)
8. malcolm says, "angels are bright still, though the brightest fell.
though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, yet grace must
still look so." what does that mean? virtue can’t be damaged by
those who fall into evil & disguise themselves as virtuose (iv, iii,
22-24)
9. macduff says, "oh, scotland, scotland!" why? he has lost all hope:
scotland is under the rule of the tyrant macbeth & he believes that
malcolm is evil, lustful, greedy person who’s banned himself from
the throne (iv, iii, 101)
10. what news does ross bring to macduff? macduff’s wife, kids, &
servants have seen savagely murdered (iv, iii, 205-208)

act v
1. what do the doctor and gentlewoman see lady macbeth doing? what
do they decide to do about it? walking & talking in her sleep/watch
her & remove harmful objects (v, i, 3-6; 22; 15-16)
2. what does macbeth want the doctor to do for his wife? remove the
sorrow from lady m’s memory & relieve her overburdened heart
(v, iii, 40-45)
3. what trick does malcolm use to hide the number of men in his
army? cut down tree branches from birnam wood to camouflage
themselves (v, iv, 4-7)
4. malcolm says, "and none serve with him but constrained things
whose hearts are absent, too." what does that mean? only weak men
who have been forced to serve macbeth (v, iv, 13-14)
5. what is macbeth's reaction to lady macbeth's death? he wishes she
had waited to die so he would have time to grieve for her (v, v, 17-
20)
6. what is macbeth's reaction to the news that birnam wood is moving?
he tells messenger if he’s lying, he’ll hang him/decides to confront
enemy & leave castle (v, i, 138-139)
7. who first fights macbeth? what happens? young siward/macbeth
kills him
8. macbeth says to macduff, "but get thee back, my soul is too much
charged with blood of thine already." to what is he referring? he
doesn’t want to kill macduff – he’s already killed his whole family
(regret?)
9. when does macbeth know he's in trouble? after macduff tells him
he was ripped from his mother’s womb (1st & 2nd prophecy:
“beware macduff/no one born of woman will hurt you”)
10. how does macbeth die? macduff slays him
11. who will be king of scotland? malcolm