Macbeth Analysis Test-Study Guide
Part 1: Quotation Analysis
Directions: For Part 1 of the test you will be given a list of quotations and asked to select 2 to
analyze. You will need to be able to:
1.) Identify the speaker.
2.) Provide an interpretation of the quotation.
3.) Connect the quotation to the text (plot, character, or element of tragedy).
Each quotation analysis will be worth 15 pts. (2 pts. for speaker identification, 3 pts. for
interpretation, and 10 pts. for connection)
Provided below is a list of quotations from which the test quotations will be chosen from. Not
all of these will be on tomorrow’s test, but it would benefit you to analyze these in preparation.
Quotation Choices:
1. “…But ‘tis strange/ And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,/ The instruments of darkness tells
us truths,/ Win us with honest trifles, to betray ‘s/ In deepest consequence” (1.3.132-138).
2. “…Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/ And fill my crown to
the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty” (1.5.45-50).
3. “I hear a knocking/ At the south entry: retire we to our chamber./ A little water clears us of
this deed./ How easy is it, then! Your constancy/ Hath left you unattended” (2.2.84-88).
4. “For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered,/ Put rancors in the vessel of my peace/
Only for them, and mine eternal jewel/ Given to the common enemy of man/ To make them
kings, the seeds of Banquo kings./ Rather than so, come fate into the list,/ And champion me to
th’ utterance” (3.1.71-77).
5. “Thou marvel’st at my words, but hold thee still./ Things bad begun make strong themselves
by ill./ So prithee go with me” (3.3.61-63).
6. “I am in blood/ Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as
go o’er./ Strange things I have in head, that will to hand,/ Which must be acted ere they may be
scanned” (3.4.168-172).
7. “From this moment/ the very firstlings of my heart shall be/ The firstlings of my hand. And
even now, To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done” (4.1.166-170).