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Macbeth
Study Guide Questions
Act II, Scenes 1-4
Scene 1
1. Why is Banquo feeling unsettled?
2. What does Banquo say he dreamed of in his sleep?
3. What vision or hallucination does Macbeth see? What is the significance of this vision?
Scene 2
4. What does Lady Macbeth do to the guard’s drinks?
5. What prevented Lady Macbeth from killing King Duncan herself?
6. What word is Macbeth unable to pronounce? What does Macbeth’s inability to say this word
suggest?
7. Why does Lady Macbeth say “these deeds must not be thought after these ways…”?
8. What prediction does Macbeth make?
9. What are Macbeth’s hands stained with? What does this symbolize?
10. What does Macbeth say the stain of his hands would do to the sea?
11. What does Lady Macbeth mean when she says “My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a
heart so white”?
12. What does Lady Macbeth mean when she speaks the line “A little water clears us of this deed…”?
13. Do you agree with Lady Macbeth’s belief in the cleansing power of water in this case? Will
water alone clear Lord and Lady Macbeth of their deeds?
14. What wish does Macbeth make?
Scene 3
15. Who is doing the knocking and why?
16. What is the porter complaining about? How is the porter’s complaint an example of dramatic
irony?
17. What is the purpose of the porter’s portion of the scene?
18. How is Macbeth’s response to Macduff’s question another example of dramatic irony?
19. Be able to list four unnatural events that take place the night of King Duncan’s murder.
1) No stars
2) Owl screeching
3)
4)
20. What is the “Lord’s anointed temple” that has been broken open?
21. Be able to find an example of understatement in the play.
22. Who first discovers the king’s body?
23. What is “death’s counterfeit”?
24. What reason does Macbeth give for killing the guards?
25. What is the real reason that Macbeth kills the guards?
26. What does Prince Malcolm mean when he says “To show an unfelt sorrow is an office which the
false man does easy.”?
27. Why do Malcolm and Donalbain leave Scotland?
Scene 4
28. Which persons are suspected of bribing the guards involved in the king’s murder? Why are they
suspects?
29. What does Macduff mean when he say that “our old robes” may fit “easier than our new”, and
why does he say this?
30. How has Macbeth’s character changed since Act I? How has Lady Macbeth’s character changed
since Act I? (Complete sentences not required)