Macbeth Study Questions
Directions: Answer the following questions below citing textual evidence to support your
answers.
ACT I. SCENE I. A desert place.
Questions
What does the first scene reveal about what is coming in the
play?
ACT I. SCENE II. A camp near Forres.
Questions
What does the soldier mean here, when responding to the
King’s (Duncan’s) question about whether Macbeth and
Banquo were dismayed, or disturbed, by the “fresh assault” by
the Norwegian lord?
ACT I. SCENE III. A heath near Forres.
Questions
What have the witches predicted will happen?
How might the witches’ prophecy influence Macbeth’s
thoughts?
As you read Shakespeare, what do you note about how the
English language has changed in the past 400 years?
What warning did Banquo just give Macbeth about the nature
of prophecies from “instruments of darkness”?
ACT I. SCENE IV. Forres. The palace.
Questions
What does Shakespeare mean when he writes about the Thane
of Cawdor--not Macbeth--that “nothing in his life became
him like the leaving it”?
According to Macbeth, why did he fight to help the king defeat
the rebels and Norwegians? Does Macbeth sound sincere?
What is an “aside”? What does Macbeth reveal about his
“black and deep desires;” in other words, what does he want?
ACT I. SCENE V. Inverness. Macbeth's castle.
Questions
What weakness does Macbeth’s wife see in him? What has
Lady Macbeth revealed her plan to be, when Macbeth returns?
Why does Lady Macbeth view Duncan’s arrival as “great
news”?
What do you learn about Lady Macbeth’s character in this
soliloquy? How does she compare to Macbeth?
What seems to drive Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to make the
decisions they are making about what to do next?
Difficulty
Regular
Common Core
9-10.RL.1
Difficulty
Common Core
Challenging 9-10.RL.4
Difficulty
Common Core
Regular
9-10.RL.1
Challenging 9-10.RL.3
Regular
Other
Regular
9-10.RL.1
Difficulty
Common Core
Challenging 9-10.RL.4
Regular
9-10.RL.1
Challenging 9-10.RL.1
Difficulty
Common Core
Challenging 9-10.RL.3
Regular
9-10.RL.4
Challenging 9-10.RL.3
Challenging 9-10.RL.3
ACT I. SCENE VI. Before Macbeth's castle.
Questions
Based on what you have read in this play to this point, do the
witches’ prophecies predict the future, or do they make the
future, that unfolds?
ACT I. SCENE VII. Macbeth's castle.
Questions
As Macbeth thinks about assassinating his cousin the king, he
acknowledges how wrong the deed would be, given his
relationship to the king and noble qualities of the king himself,
and he recognizes how his ambition drives him to do that
which would bring “the ingredients of our poison’d chalice to
our own lips.” In light of this, do you think he will kill the
king?
What is Lady Macbeth suggesting about her husband if he
does not act?
What motivates Lady Macbeth to challenge her husband’s
manhood?
ACT II. SCENE I. Court of Macbeth's castle.
Questions
What does Macbeth’s vision of a bloody dagger before he kills
the king reveal about his state of mind? Will he kill the king
when finally presented an opportunity to do so?
Difficulty
Common Core
Challenging 9-10.RL.1
Difficulty
Regular
Common Core
9-10.RL.1
Challenging 9-10.RL.4
Challenging 9-10.RL.1
Difficulty
Common Core
Challenging 9-10.RL.3
ACT II. SCENE II. The same.
Questions
Why does Macbeth have second thoughts after killing the king
when his wife does not?
Difficulty
Regular
Common Core
9-10.RL.1
ACT II. SCENE III. The same.
Questions
Based on their words to the others once the murder was
revealed, how well have Macbeth and Lady Macbeth disguised
their actions?
Difficulty
Regular
Common Core
9-10.RL.1
ACT III. SCENE I. Forres. The palace.
Questions
Now that he is king, to what will Macbeth turn his attention?
What might he be concerned about?
Macbeth realizes that if the witches are right, he killed
Duncan so Banquo’s son could be king. Not happy with this,
he wants to change this fate. Why does he not think that if his
prophecy came true, so must Banquo’s?
ACT III. SCENE II. The palace.
Questions
What does Lady Macbeth reveal in the prior four lines about
what the murder of Duncan left them with?
Difficulty
Regular
Common Core
9-10.RL.1
Challenging 9-10.RL.3
Difficulty
Common Core
Challenging 9-10.RL.4
ACT III. SCENE IV. The same. Hall in the palace.
Questions
The ghost of Banquo sits in Macbeth’s seat, but only Macbeth
can see him. Are we to believe Banquo’s ghost is there or that
Macbeth is losing his mind?
Macbeth says he fears nothing, except the ghost. Why does he
fear the ghost?
Macbeth is growing increasingly desperate. Why? He is king,
finally. What does he fear now?
ACT III. SCENE V. A Heath.
Questions
What is Hecate’s plan for Macbeth and what does this reveal, if
anything, about how the play will end?
ACT IV. SCENE I. A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron.
Questions
What do you think Macbeth will ask the witches, or ask them
to do?
ACT IV. SCENE II. Fife. Macduff's castle.
Questions
Why wouldn’t Macduff at least explain his decision to his
wife?
How do Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff compare?
ACT IV. SCENE III. England. Before the King's palace.
Questions
How is Malcolm’s lust for wealth different from Macbeth’s
ambition for power?
For what purpose would Shakespeare have Malcolm describe
himself as being without any redeeming or noble qualities?
Is it strange for Macduff to ask now, from England, whether
Macbeth has come after his wife and children, without
making some provision for their safety? To this point, given
the faults of every character, who is the hero of this play, if
there is one?
Why would Ross wait this long to tell Macduff that his family
has been murdered, after just saying they were all fine?
ACT V. SCENE I. Dunsinane. Ante-room in the castle.
Questions
Lady Macbeth is now in a strange state: walking, but asleep,
seeming to wash her hands and recall the murder of Duncan.
Is this a surprising turn for the woman who urged Macbeth to
do the deed and said she would kill her own newborn if she
had made an oath to do so?
Shakespeare has written Lady Macbeth as ambitious, strong
and unstoppable, and now she is crumbling from within
because of her deeds. What is the impact of Lady Macbeth's
fall on your interpretation of the play as a whole? What is the
message to the audience?
Difficulty
Regular
Common Core
9-10.RL.1
Challenging 9-10.RL.3
Regular
Difficulty
Regular
9-10.RL.1
Common Core
9-10.RL.1
Difficulty
Regular
Common Core
9-10.RL.1
Difficulty
Regular
Common Core
9-10.RL.3
Challenging 9-10.RL.3
Difficulty
Common Core
Challenging 9-10.RL.3
Challenging 9-10.RL.6
Challenging 9-10.RL.1
Regular
9-10.RL.1
Difficulty
Regular
Common Core
9-10.RL.3
Challenging 9-10.RL.3
ACT V. SCENE III. Dunsinane. A room in the castle.
Questions
Macbeth has nothing left. For what does he now fight?
Difficulty Common Core
Regular
9-10.RL.3
ACT V. SCENE V. Dunsinane. Within the castle.
Questions
Lady Macbeth dies. What do you think of how Shakespeare
disposes of a most forceful character in this play?
Difficulty
Common Core
Challenging 9-10.RL.5
ACT V. SCENE VIII. Another part of the field.
Questions
Macbeth fought alone until the last, without yielding. Are we
to consider him noble, at least in part?
Difficulty
Common Core
Challenging 9-10.RL.3
Questions
Study five allusions from Macbeth. Think of how they could
connect to the story.
Common Core
9-10.RL.9