Macbeth Reading Guide
Macbeth Act I questions
1. How many witches are there?
2. Why do you think the play needs the first scene with the witches?
3. In scene two, who is Duncan?
4. What traitor did Macbeth defeat?
5. Describe what Macbeth had done to the traitor and what he did to the Norweyans who
attacked him.
6. In scene 3, what do the witches call Macbeth?
7. What prophecy do they give to Banquo?
8. What is Macbeth contemplating at the end of scene 3 after he finds out that he has been
named the Thane of Cawdor?
9. In scene four, who does Duncan name as successor to his throne?
10. In scene five, Lady Macbeth learns of the witches prophecy about her husband. What is
her immediate reaction and plan?
11. What does Lady Macbeth say she will do to the king’s guards?
Act II Questions
1. Who is Banquo with at the beginning of this Act?
2. What does Macbeth “see” in the air on his way to Duncan’s room? What changes about
the object?
3. What is Macbeth worried about when he says that “Macbeth has murdered sleep and
Macbeth shall sleep no more”?
4. Who take the bloody daggers back to the room and plants them on the servants?
5. What is Lady Macbeth’s attitude throughout this Act?
6. Who comes to visit Duncan and is knocking at the Porter’s gate?
7. What does MacDuff discover in Duncan’s room?
8. What does Macbeth admit doing and what was the justification he gave for it?
9. Where does Malcom flee to?
10. Where does Donalbain flee to?
11. What are the strange happenings that Ross and the old man reveal have been going on?
12. Who is crowned at the end of Act II?
13. Give Macduff’s lines at the end of Act II that indicate he is suspicious of the new king.
Macbeth Reading Guide
Macbeth Acts III and IV Study Questions
Act III
1. What does Banquo mean when he says of Macbeth’s rise to King, “I fear thou play’st
most foully for’t”?
2. What does Banquo indicate that he will be doing during the afternoon before the
banquet?
3. How many murderers does Macbeth hire?
4. How does he convince them to murder Banquo?
5. What happens when the murderers attack Fleance and Banquo?
6. Who is sitting in Macbeth’s chair at the feast?
7. How does Lady Macbeth explain her husband’s strange actions at the feast?
8. Who besides Banquo is not at the dinner party?
9. Who is Hecate?
10. What does Hecate plan to do with the “artificial sprites”?
11. Where has Macduff gone and what is he planning there?
Act IV
1. What is the purpose of the witches’ strange brew?
2. Name the three apparitions and tell what each one symbolizes.
3. What question does Macbeth ask and demand to know the answer to?
4. Where has Macduff fled?
5. What is Macbeth planning to do in Fife?
6. What is Lady Macduff complaining about in scene 2?
7. What happens at the Macduff household?
8. What does Malcom do in order to test Macduff’s loyalty?
9. What message does Ross bring for Macduff?
10. How many men does Malcom say will be in the English army?
11. What does Macduff determine to do?
Macbeth Reading Guide
12. Who is “this fiend of Scotland”?
Macbeth ACT 5 reading guide
1. Why is Lady Macbeth rubbing her hands?
2. What is she carrying?
3. Who is taking notes?
4. To whom does “The Thane of Fife had a wife” refer?
5. What three men are leading the English forces?
6. Where is Macbeth?
7. In what two prophecies is Macbeth trusting?
8. Macbeth inquires of Lady Macbeth’s condition. What answer does the doctor give him?
9. How is the prophecy of the child crowned with a tree in his hand fulfilled?
10. What does Macbeth mean when he says, 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.
11. What does the messenger report to Macbeth in scene five?
12. Whom does Macbeth kill in Scene seven?
13. How does the bloody baby represent Macduff?
14. How is Macbeth killed?
15. Who is hailed as King of Scotland, and where will he be crowned?
16. What were the first two proclamations made by this king?