WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH
READING/WATCHING GUIDE
ACTIVITY
1. Watch two different versions of Macbeth, decide which one is more effective (makes you
as the viewer want to watch the play) and why?
2. If the first scene of every Shakespeare play establishes the tone and mood of the play,
predict what it will be for Macbeth?
Macbeth Literary Terms/Thematic Ideas
1) Elizabethan Drama: Plays that turn away from religious subjects and begins to model
ancient Greek and Roman plays with sophisticated plots
2) Tragedy: serious play in which the chief figures, through peculiarity of character, pass
through a serious of misfortunes, eventually leading to a catastrophe and downfall
Act I (happiness), Act II (conflict begins), Shakespearean Climax, Act III (conflict
could’ve been avoided but isn’t), Act IV (downfall/catastrophe), Act V
(consequences/aftermath)
3) Aside: a convention in drama whereby a character onstage addresses the audience to
reveal some inner thought or feeling, inaudible to other characters onstage
4) Soliloquy: monologue delivered by a character while alone onstage revealing inner
thoughts, emotions, or some other information the audience needs to know
5) Paradox: a statement which reveals a kind of truth which at first seems contradictory
Example: “Foul is fair and fair is foul, hover through the fog and filthy air”
6) Prophecy: predicted occurrence, Fate
7) Hubris: having excessive pride (example of a tragic flaw) that can lead to one’s downfall.
8) Internal Conflict: Inside force/conflict
Macbeth (ambition/greed/guilt)
Lady Mac (guilt)
9) External Conflict: outside forces/pressure
Macbeth (Lady Macbeth’s persistence, witches, MacDuff)
10) Comic Relief: humorous scene or passage inserted into an otherwise serious work
(emotional outlet for audience to contrast seriousness of work)
Thematic idea
Create a thematic sentence from the idea and then provide two
concrete details to support the thematic sentence.
 Weather/Supernatural
 Fate vs. Free Will:
 Appearance vs. Reality
 Ambition:
 Manhood/Masculinity:
Guilt Chart: Quote all the lines that indicate the guilt, or lack of guilt, for each
character.
Act Two
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
Act Three
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
Act Four
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
Act Five
Macbeth
Scene 1:
Lady Macbeth
A Study Guide for Act I (pp. 7-45)
1. In this brief scene we meet the three witches. What do we learn from the few
things that they say?
2. Define paradox and identify the paradox in this scene:
Scene 2:
1. Who is Duncan and what does he want to know?
2. Who defeats the traitor? Describe what he does to him:
3. What is the name of the Scottish general who fights by Macbeth’s side?
4. What will happen to the Scottish traitor and who will get his title?
5. Based on the report of others, how would you describe Macbeth up to this
point?
Scene 3:
1. Why is the First Witch planning to sail somewhere on a sieve?
2. In line 40, notice the reference to foul and fair again. How can the day seem
“so foul and fair” to Macbeth?
3. What three titles do the witches use to address Macbeth? Which titles are really
his?
4. What prediction do the witches make for Banquo upon his request? Use direct
quotes:
5. What news do Ross and Argus bring to Macbeth?
6. Discuss the following words from Banquo to Macbeth: “And Oftentimes, to
win us to our harm,/ The instruments of darkness tell us truths,/ Win us with
honest trifles, to betray’s/ In deepest consequence” (I, iii, 143-146).
7. What does Macbeth begin to think about, and how does it make him feel?
8. What does Macbeth mean when he says, “If chance will have me King, why,/
chance may crown me,/ Without my stir” ?
Scene 4:
1. What does King Duncan mean when he says (about the traitorous thane of
Cawdor), “There’s no art/ To find the mind’s construction in the face” (I, iv,
13-14)? What might this foreshadow?
2. How does the king speak to Macbeth and Banquo when they arrive at his
castle? Directly quote.
3. What announcement does King Duncan make regarding his son Malcolm and
what is Macbeth’s reaction? Directly quote.
4. What is the next honor that Duncan heaps on Macbeth?
Scene 5:
1. Define soliloquy:
2. In Lady Macbeth’s first soliloquy, how does she describe her husband? Does his
character please her? Why or why not?
3. Lady Macbeth calls on the spirits of evil to “unsex her.” What does she mean?
What does she want?
4. What advice does Lady Macbeth give to her husband at the end of the scene?
Scene 6:
1. How would you describe King Duncan based on his behavior in this scene and
the scenes before it?
Scene 7:
1. According to Macbeth, what are the many reasons why he should not kill King
Duncan, and what is the only reason why he should? Use exact language.
Reasons not to kill the king
Reason to kill the king
2. What tactics does Lady Macbeth use to try to convince her husband to stick to
the plan? State the tactics and then directly quote or site the lines.
3. What does Macbeth decide to do? What does he say about his wife’s
personality? Is it a compliment?
A Study Guide for Act 2 (pp. 47-75)
One of the character traits that Shakespeare gives Macbeth is a very vivid imagination.
For example, he “sees” a dagger before him that does not exist except in his mind. As
you read, be aware of other examples of this character’s imagination and the part it
plays in his emotions and decisions.
Scene 1:
1. When Macbeth says to Banquo, “If you shall cleave to my consent, when ‘tis, It
shall make honor for you,” (II, i, 32-33), what does he mean?
2. How does Banquo respond and why is it important?
3. Explain what Macbeth sees in the air, how it is positioned, how it changes in
appearance, and where it leads him:
4. What might Macbeth mean when he says, “Whiles I threat, he lives;/ Words to the
heat of deeds to cold breath gives” (II, i, 69-70)?
Scene 2:
Act II is singularly concerned with the murder of Duncan. But Shakespeare here relies on a
technique that he uses throughout Macbeth to help sustain the play’s incredibly rapid tempo of
development: ELISION (to omit or leave out). We see the scenes leading up to the murder and
the scenes immediately following it, but the deed itself does not appear onstage. Duncan’s
bedchamber becomes a sort of hidden sanctum into which the characters disappear and from
which they emerge powerfully changed. This technique of not allowing us to see the actual
murder, which persists throughout Macbeth, may have been borrowed from the classical Greek
tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles. In these plays, violent acts abound but are kept offstage,
made to seem more terrible by the power of suggestion.
1. What might Lady Macbeth mean when she says, “That which hath made them
drunk hath made me bold;/ What hath quenched them hath given me fire” (II, ii,
1-3)?
2. Why didn’t Lady Macbeth kill King Duncan herself?
3. When Macbeth hears the voices of the king’s servants, he becomes concerned that
he couldn’t say “Amen” to their prayers. Why?
4. Early on a witch said that she would punish a sailor by preventing him from
sleeping. Connect this to Macbeth here:
5. Why does Lady Macbeth have to go to the scene of the crime and how does she
plan to handle seeing the dead king’s body?
6. Next, Macbeth thinks he sees hands that will pluck out his eyes, and then he looks
at his own hands. What does he wonder?
7. Discuss Lady Macbeth’s meaning and intent when she says to her husband, “My
hands are of your color, but I shame/ To wear a heart so white”(II, ii, 85-86):
8. Discuss all the evidence there is that Macbeth regrets what he has done:
9. What evidence is there that Lady Macbeth has no regrets?
Scene 3:
1. Lennox and Macduff (two Scottish noblemen) arrive at Macbeth’s castle to seek
King Duncan. Who finds the king’s dead body?
2. Define DISSEMBLER:
When Macbeth is told of the king’s death, he says,
“Had I but died an hour before this chance,/ I had lived a blessed time; for
from this instant/There’s noting serious in mortality;/ All is but toys;
renown and grace is dead…” (II, iii, 103-106).
This is a complicated speech in that it could be taken two ways. Discuss how it
might be an act of dissembling and how it could be an earnest statement (and an
example of foreshadowing).
3. What happened to the men who are accused of Duncan’s murder?
4. As Lady Macbeth is fainting, what do Duncan’s sons Donalbain and Malcolm
decide to do and why?
Scene 4: SUMMARIZE
Macbeth Act Four Summaries
Scene Two
At Macduff’s castle, Lady Macduff accosts Ross, demanding to know why her husband has fled.
She feels betrayed. Ross insists that she trust her husband’s judgment and then regretfully departs.
Once he is gone, Lady Macduff tells her son that his father is dead, but the little boy perceptively
argues that he is not. Suddenly, a messenger hurries in, warning Lady Macduff that she is in danger
and urging her to flee. Lady Macduff protests, arguing that she has done no wrong. A group of
murderers then enters. When one of them denounces Macduff, Macduff’s son calls the murderer
a liar, and the murderer stabs him. Lady Macduff turns and runs, and the pack of killers chases
after her.
Dead: Lady Macduff and her son
Scene Three
Outside King Edward’s palace, Malcolm tests Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland. Macduff passees
Malcolm’s test of loyalty. Ross enters. He has just arrived from Scotland. He tells Malcolm to
return to his country, listing the woes that have befallen Scotland since Macbeth took the crown.
Malcolm says that he will return with ten thousand soldiers lent him by the English king. Then,
breaking down, Ross confesses to Macduff that Macbeth has murdered his wife and children.
Macduff is crushed with grief. Malcolm urges him to turn his grief to anger, and Macduff assures
him that he will inflict revenge upon Macbeth.
Act 3 (pp. 77-113)
Scene 1:
1. How does Banquo react to his friend Macbeth becoming king? Directly quote.
2. What news has Macbeth heard regarding the king’s sons?
3. What concerns does Macbeth express in his soliloquy once Banquo leaves?
Directly quote.
Scene 2:
1. At the beginning of this scene, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth express the same
sentiments regarding the way things are going. What do they say?
2. Notice that Macbeth does not share his plan with his wife. He has now taken over
as the one who plots and plans. Directly quote the lines that indicate this.
Scene 3: We’ll skip this brief scene. In it the murderers ambush Banquo and kill him, but
Banquo’s son, Fleance, is able to escape unharmed.
Scene 4:
1. When Macbeth hears that Banquo is dead, he’s thrilled, but when he learns that
Fleance lives, he has a hard time being a host to his guests. Why does he refuse to
sit in his chair at the dinner table?
2. What does Lady Macbeth say to her husband when she is raving mad? Directly
quote.
Scene 5: SUMMARIZE
Scene 6: SUMMARIZE
A Study Guide for Act 4 (pp. 115-151)
A tragic hero is a character whose basic nobility is marred by a tragic flaw – something
wrong with his personality that leads to a fatal error in judgment and his eventual
downfall. Before their fall, tragic heroes usually perceive how they have contributed to
their own destruction, which seems to intensify their pain. As you continue reading,
decide whether you think Macbeth is a tragic hero.
Scene 1:
1. Describe the three apparitions that appear to Macbeth when he visits the witches
and list their prophesies:
a.
b.
c.
2. How many kings appear to Macbeth, why is that number significant, and whom
do they resemble?
3. What news does Lennox bring?
4. Macbeth decides that he needs to act on his impulses – no more delay. What does
he decide to do?
Scene 2:
1. What is the setting of this scene?
2. Why is Lady Macduff upset? Does she seem justified?
3. What message does the messenger bring, and is it timely?
Scene 3:
1. What is the setting of this scene?
2. We’re going to skip pages 135-145. In this section, Malcolm tests Macduff’s
honesty, and when he feels that he can trust him, he tells him that he has 10,000
soldiers ready to launch an attack on Macbeth.
3. (Start at the bottom of p.145 where Ross enters.) The question of what is manly
comes up again. Ross at first tells Macduff that his family is fine, but when he
finally breaks the news to Macduff, how does he react and how does Malcolm tell
him that a man should act?
Malcolm and Macduff become allies, but Macduff is definitely the more sympathetic
here. He is a foil to Macbeth, a king who slaughters a family for no reason. Macduff
makes it clear that a good king must be just, must have a heart, and must do what he
does for the love of his country, not for political gain. Nothing that Macbeth does is
for the good of Scotland.
Scene 1:
A Study Guide for Act 5 (pp. 153-end)
1. What is the setting of this scene?
2. Describe what Lady Macbeth does and says (direct quote) while sleepwalking.
Scene 2:
1. What is the setting of this scene?
2. The Scotsmen Menteith, Caithness, Angus, and Lennox join Prince Malcolm and
the army he raised in England to fight Macbeth. What do they say about
Macbeth’s behavior and about his men?
Scene 3:
1. What is the setting of this scene?
2. Why is Macbeth so confident despite negatives reports?
3. What does the Doctor say about Lady Macbeth’s condition?
4. How does Macbeth react to the diagnosis? Directly quote.
Scene 4:
1. What is the setting of this scene?
2. Why do the soldiers cut tree branches, and how does this fulfill the witches’
prophecy?
3. What news do we get of Macbeth’s soldiers?
Scene 5:
1. Notice once again that an important character dies off stage. When Macbeth is
told that Lady Macbeth is dead, he gives the following speech which has become
very famous:
“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.
Discuss the meaning of the quote AND agree or disagree.
2. What news does the Messenger bring that makes Macbeth decide to take to the
battlefield?
Scene 6:
Skip this scene. In this quick scene, Malcolm and Siward (the English general) reach
Macbeth’s castle with their combined forces and prepare to do battle.
Scene 7:
The science of warfare in the Middle Ages, the setting of Macbeth, had not progressed
much since ancient Roman times. Gunpowder had not come into use yet. An army
besieging a walled city or castle used huge battering rams to break down the gates, or
catapults that could hurl large stones or torches over the walls. The longbow, a huge
bow as much as six feet long, was the weapon of choice when opposing armies faced
each other. For close range, combatants relied on the old-fashioned sword.
1. Whom does Macbeth kill and what effect does it have on Macbeth?
2. Why does Macduff want to be the one to kill Macbeth?
Scene 8:
1. Why is Macbeth reluctant to kill Macduff?
2. When Macbeth learns that Macduff was technically not “of woman born,” he is
devastated. (The term Caesarian section gives a clue to the awe in which the
procedure was held. The procedure was named after Julius Caesar, who according
to legend was delivered this way. However, it is actually much older, and the
procedure was mentioned in Roman law as early as 715 BCE. Then again,
childbirth itself engendered awe, and medical and surgical procedures of any sort
had an almost magical aura. This, perhaps, explains why Shakespeare makes use of
this device to give Macduff the power to defeat Macbeth.) What does he say of
the witches and their prophesies?
3. Why does Macbeth refuse to surrender, deciding instead to fight to the death?
4. Who kills Macbeth and how?
5. Who becomes King of Scotland?
6. What are we led to believe was the cause of Lady Macbeth’s death?