Drahouzal/Finizio
Periods 7/8 & 11
Quiz Date: 5/4/05
Macbeth Acts I – V
Study Guide
KEY
I.
Identifications
Identify the Following
1. The good and honest, but politically naïve King of Scotland. He is also Macbeth’s
cousin.
Duncan
2. One of Scotland’s most courageous generals. He is the Thane of Glamis and
Cawdor. His driving ambition to become King of Scotland corrupts him and
causes him to murder Duncan.
Macbeth
3. This character taunts Macbeth’s courage to insure that he will murder Duncan and
become king.
Lady Macbeth
4. A general in Duncan’s army, he is Macbeth’s closest friend. He is the Thane of
Lochaber.
Banquo
5. A Scottish general who strongly suspects Macbeth of murdering Duncan. He is
also the Thane of Fife.
Macduff
6. The name of Macbeth’s castle
Inverness
7. This character is the son of King Duncan, and the heir to his throne. He flees to
England
Malcolm
8. This is the forest around Dunsinane Castle.
Birnam Woods
9. This character is the son of King Duncan. He flees to Ireland
Donalbain
10. This character is sometimes referred to as the Queen of the Witches; she presides
over all nocturnal horrors.
Hecate
11. This character is the son of Banquo.
Fleance
12. This is Macbeth’s Castle, and when he becomes King of Scotland he goes there.
Dunsinane
13. This is the ancient site where every Scottish king is crowned.
Scone
14. This character is a cousin of Macduff; he acts as a messenger in the play, bringing
good news of Macbeth’s military victory.
Ross
15. These characters are supernatural agents of fate who prophesy that Macbeth will
become King of Scotland.
The Three Witches
16. This character is the keeper of Macbeth’s castle who drunkenly imagines that he
is the keeper of Hell’s Gate.
Porter
II.
Plot Summary
Fill in the blanks
Act I
 We first meet the three witches who are making a spell.
 There is a battle going on between Scotland and Norway.
 The Thane of Cawdor is viewed as a traitor because he went with the
Norwegians.
 Banquo and Macbeth come along and meet the three witches who scare them
by their weird appearance.
 The witches make three predictions:
o Macbeth will become the thane of Cawdor.
o Macbeth will be the King of Scotland.
o Banquo’s sons will be king one day.
 Ross appears and brings a message from King Duncan that Macbeth has been
promoted to Thane of Cawdor.
 At this point, King Duncan announces that his son Malcolm will be heir to his
throne.
 Macbeth acts happy about this news, but is secretly jealous/angry.
 Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth filling her in on what has
happened. She makes a famous speech in which she asks to be unsexed.
 Macbeth has 3 serious apprehensions about killing Duncan. He realizes that
Duncan is all of the following.
o The King
o A Guest
o A Kinsman
 Lady Macbeth gets really mad and calls Macbeth a coward.
Act II
 Macbeth sees a dagger floating in the air- it is believed that this is a sign of
his guilty consciousness.
 Lady Macbeth rings a signal bell and Macbeth commits the murder of
Duncan.
 Macbeth returns from the murder with the bloody daggers.
 At this point, Macbeth says the he has murdered sleep.
 The Porter says that he is the gatekeeper of hell.
 Donalbain and Malcolm become afraid for their lives and flee.
o Donalbain goes to Ireland.
o Malcolm goes to England.
 Ross and an old man meet and talk about many unnatural events that have
been occurring lately.
Act III
 Banquo reflects on the fact that Macbeth has acquired all the titles that the
witches told him he would get.
 Lady Macbeth, aware of her husband’s growing fears and his guilty
conscience, attempts to strengthen his courage.
 Macbeth sends two murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance.
 The murderers succeed in killing Banquo, but Fleance escapes.
 Hecate scolds the three witches for dealing with Macbeth without consulting
her and gives them instructions for their next meeting with Macbeth.
 Lennox makes the point that all who have consorted closely with Macbeth
have suffered for it.
 Lennox believes that Malcolm, Donalbain, and Fleance would pay dearly if
Macbeth could get his hands on them.
 Macduff has gone to England to assist Malcolm in getting aid from King
Edward against Macbeth.
Act IV
 The witches make a big potion because they know that Macbeth is coming.
 Macbeth orders the witches go give him more prophecies.
 The witches show Macbeth three apparitions.
o 1st :
This apparition is a head with armor on it, and it tells Macbeth to
beware of Macduff.
o 2nd :
This apparition is of a Bloody Child, and it tells Macbeth to have
no fear of any man born of Woman.
o 3rd :
This apparition is of a child wearing a Crown and holding a tree,
and it tells Macbeth that he will never be defeated until Birnam
Woods comes to Dunsinane Castle.
o 4th:
This apparition is of Banquo holding mirrors with images of his
descendants as kings.
 Macbeth decides to kill Macduff’s whole family.
 Ross comes to warn Lady Macduff about possible danger.
 Lady Macduff is furious with Macduff for deserting the family and leaving them
unprotected. She calls Macduff a traitor.
 Murderers come to Macduff’s palace and kill everyone and destroy the
household.
 Macduff reaches Malcolm in England. He is desperate to try to save Scotland
from Macbeth.
 At first Malcolm doesn’t trust Macduff.
 Malcolm tries to trick Macduff into thinking he’s evil. He does this to see if
Macduff is really on Macbeth’s side.
 Ross arrives with the news of Macduff’s family’s massacre.
 Malcolm urges Macduff to avenge himself like a man.
Act V
 Lady Macbeth’s physician and her gentlewoman are discussing her sleepwalking.
 Unaware of what she is saying, Lady Macbeth refers to the bloody murder of
Duncan.
 In the countryside, near Dunsinane, English and Scottish forces are grouping for
their attack against Macbeth.
 Macbeth is fearless because of the witches’ apparitions.
 Malcolm orders his troops to cut branches/boughs from the trees to use as
camouflage.
 In Dunsinane, Seyton tells Macbeth that Lady Macbeth is dead.
 Macduff states that he was untimely ripped from his mother’s womb.
 Macduff then enters with Macbeth’s head and hails Malcolm as King of Scotland.
III.
Quotes
*Be able to identify the speaker and explain each of the following important quotes.
1. “Fair is foul and foul is fair.”
Speaker: The Three Witches
Explanation:
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2. “If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me with my stir.”
Speaker: Macbeth
Explanation:
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3. “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here.”
Speaker: Lady Macbeth
Explanation:
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4. “Yet I do fear thy nature; it is too full of the milk of human kindness.”
Speaker: Lady Macbeth
Explanation:
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5. “All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”
Speaker: Macbeth
Explanation:
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6. I have lived long enough: my way of life
Is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf;
And that which should accompany old age,
As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have; but in their stead
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.
Speaker: Macbeth
Explanation:
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7. “Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One: two:
why, then ‘tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord,
Fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who
Knows it, when none can call our power accompt?
Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?”
Speaker: Lady Macbeth
Explanation:
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8. “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
Speaker: Macbeth
Explanation:
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IV.
Short Answers
Answer the following questions on the lines provides.
1. Characterize the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. If one of the
main themes of Macbeth is out of control ambition, whose ambition is the driving
force of the play-Macbeth’s, Lady Macbeth’s, or both?
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2. An important theme in Macbeth is the relationship between gender and power,
particularly Shakespeare’s exploration of the values that make up the idea of
masculinity. What are these values and how do various characters embody them?
How does Shakespeare threaten his characters perception of gender roles?
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