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Studying for Macbeth
Quotes: You need to know each speaker for the following quotes.
 “Fair is foul and foul is fair.”
 “But ‘tis strange/And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,/The instruments of darkness tell us truths…”
 “If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me/without my stir.”
 “Despair thy charm,/And let the angel whom thou still hast served/Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb/Untimely ripped.”
 “We fail?/But screw your courage to the sticking-place,/And we’ll not fail.”
 “Stars, hide your fires,/Let not light see my black and deep desires…”
 “There’s no art/To find the mind’s construction in the face.”
 “I have given such and know/How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me:/I would, while it was smiling in my face,/Have plucked my
nipple from his boneless gums/And dashed the brains out…”
 “Double, double toil and trouble,/Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”
 “But fear not yet/To take upon you what is yours…”
 “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.”
 “Tyrant, show thy face!/If thou be’st slain, and with no stroke of mine,/My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me still…”
 “I have done no harm. But I remember now/I am in this earthly world where to do harm/Is often laudable, to do good sometime Accounted
dangerous folly.”
 “He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor:/In which addition, hail most worthy thane,…”
 “The love/That follows us sometime is our trouble,/Which we still thank as love…”
Difficult Questions:
 Why does Macbeth fear the last vision that the witches show him? a) because he knows that he’s a lost soul; b) because he realizes that
he will have no heir; c) because it shows the death of Lady Macbeth; d) because he realizes the witches are agents of evil; e) because it
shows Malcolm returning to power
 All in all, Shakespeare wrote plays in his lifetime. a) 33; b) 35; c) 37; d) none of the above
 Upon Macduff’s arrival in England, Malcolm: a) offers Macduff the throne because he is older and wiser; b) says his reign in Scotland will
be worse than Macbeth’s; c) charges Macduff with treason; d) informs Macduff of his family’s demise
 Generally speaking, Shakespeare designs his plays so that in the first act he establishes: a) the exposition of the play; b) and introduces
all the characters in the play; c) and reveals the turning point of the play; d) his command over poetic form.
 Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest and most violent tragic play (true or false).
 Malcolm tests Macduff’s character by pretending to be: a) weak; b) uninterested; c) too young
 When Malcolm tells Macduff to “dispute it like a man,” he means that Macduff should: a) not show his feelings; b) have the crime brought
to trial in court; c) go off alone to express his grief; d) take up arms against Macbeth
 When does Macbeth utter these words, “From this moment/The very firstlings of my heart shall be/the firstlings of my hand”? a) afterhe
has killed Duncan and the two chambermen; b) after he has had Banquo killed and Fleance escapes; c) after he visits the witches to learn
of his future and the meanings of their prophecies; d) after he has had Macduff’s family and clan killed
 Macbeth responds to Duncan’s naming Malcolm Prince of Cumberland with these lines: “The Prince of Cumberland—that is a step,/On
which I must fall down, or else o’er leap,/For in my way it lies.” These lines suggest that: a) Macbeth views Malcolm as a major threat to
becoming king; b) Macbeth needs to murder Malcolm first; c) Macbeth views Malcolm as a minor obstacle to becoming king; d) Macbeth
plans to poison Malcolm; e) Malcolm is more powerful than Macbeth
 Banquo and Fleance notice that the night is especially: a) dark; b) cold; c) windy; d) snowing
 Macbeth sees ____ different apparitions when he visits the witches for the second time: a) 6; b) 8; c) 11
 Literary historians and critics are convinced that Shakespeare is the only possible author of his plays (True or False).
 Why does Malcolm hesitate to join Macduff in overthrowing Macbeth? a) to test Macduff’s loyalty; b) to avoid a battle with Macbeth; c) to
wait until he has reinforcements from Donalbain; d) to take revenge for his father’s death; e) to learn what Macbeth’s battle plan is
 Who is the Thane of Fife? a) Macbeth; b) Ross; c) Macduff
 Lady Macduff tells her son that his father is dead because: a) Macduff has committed treason against the King, and she is humiliated by
his action; b) Macduff has abandoned his wife and children, and she feels neglected; c) Macduff has been killed by Macbeth; d) none of
the above.
 What is the significance of Lennox’s description of the events of the night before he and Macduff arrive at Inverness? “The night has been
unruly. Where we lay,/Our chimneys were blown down, and as they say,/Lamentings hear I’ th’air, strange screams of death,/And
prophesying, with accents terrible,/Of dire combustion, and confused events,/New hatched to th’ woeful time.” a) that there was a bad
storm; b) that Lennox has an overly active imagination; c) that the witches tried to catch Lennox and Macduff; d) that something has
disrupted the order of the world; e) that Duncan has changed his mind about making Malcolm his heir
 Who is the important messenger throughout the play? a) Macbeth; b) Ross; c) Donalbain
 Macbeth goes to Scone to be invested as: a) Prince of Cumberland; b) Thane of Cawdor; c) King