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Reading Assignments & Study Guide
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Date Assigned
Reading Assignment
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
Date Due
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Study Guides—Senior English
“Act I” Macbeth
Identifications (3 pts. Each): Read the passage below and . . .
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
Identify the Speaker
Explain what is happening in the play at the time the words are being spoken
Paraphrase the lines
Explain how the passage is connected to a major theme, motif or symbol of the play.
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
4.
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood;
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Paraphrase:
Theme connection:
Theme connection:
2.
There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face:
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust—
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
5.
O! never shall sun than morrow see!
Your face, my Thane, is as a book, where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like th’innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t.
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Theme Connection:
3.
The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires!
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
Speaker:____________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme Connection:
Paraphrase:
Theme connection:
3
1. What is the point of the first scene and in reference to the whole play?
2. Why is it so important that Macbeth should be first be presented to us as a brave and honored soldier?
3. What do the witches predict in Act I, Scene 3 for Macbeth? For Banquo?
Macbeth
Banquo
4. What is the difference between Macbeth's and Banquo's reactions to the witches? How will this affect the
whole play?
5. Can the weird sisters "make" anything happen, or do they merely foresee the future? How do you know?
6. What news does Rosse bring Macbeth?
7. What does Lady Macbeth read in the letter from her husband?
8. What does Lady Macbeth fear about her husband?
9. In scenes 5 to 7, how much evidence can we find that Macbeth is more frightened by the plan to kill Duncan
than Lady Macbeth is? Is there evidence that there has been previous discussion of the plan? If so, refer to the
line or lines.
10. How does Lady Macbeth manage to stiffen Macbeth's courage and determination? What arguments does she
use to force Macbeth to kill Duncan?
11. What is Lady Macbeth’s plan?
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“Act II” Macbeth
1. Is this a dagger that I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art though not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain.
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme Connection:
2.
What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
Making the green one red.
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme Connection:
3.
The night has been unruly: where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i’th’air; strange screams of death
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme Connection:
4. To Ireland I. Our separated fortune
Shall keep us bother safer. Where we are,
There’s daggers in men’s smiles. The near in blood,
The nearer bloody.
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme Connection:
5
1.
In the brief dialogue between Banquo and Macbeth in the beginning of the Act, what do we learn about their regard for
each other?
2.
What excuse does Lady Macbeth give for not killing Duncan herself?
3.
After Macbeth kills Duncan , he goes to Lady Macbeth and is concerned about not being able to say “Amen.” What is her
advice to him?
4.
Then, Macbeth is worried about hearing a voice saying, “Macbeth does murder sleep.” What does Lady Macbeth tell him
to do?
5.
Why won’t Macbeth take the daggers back to the scene of the crime?
6.
What dramatic effect is produced by the knocking and by the actions of the Porter?
7.
What three things does drinking provoke?
8.
What does Macduff discover?
9.
Macduff says, “Oh, gentle lady, ‘Tis not for you to hear what I can speak. The repetition in a woman’s ear, / Would murder
as it fell.” What is ironic about this?
10. What excuse or explanation does Macbeth give for killing the guards (grooms)? What is his real reason?
11. Why do Malcolm and Donalbain leave?
12. Why does Ross not believe Malcolm and Donalbain were responsible for Duncan ’s death?
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“Act 3” Macbeth
1. Thou hast it all now—King, Cawdor, Glamis, all
As the Weird Women promis’d; and, I fear,
Thou has play’dst most foully for ‘t.
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
4. O, proper stuff!
This is the very painting of your fear.
This is the air-drawn dagger which you said
Led you to Duncan.
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Theme Connection:
2. He chid the Sisters,
When first they put the name of King upon me,
And bade them speak to him; then, prophentlike,
They hail’d him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown,
And put a barren scepter in my gripe
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme Connection:
Paraphrase:
Theme Connection:
5. And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of your harms
Was never call’d to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?
And, which is worse, all you have done
Hath been but for a wayward son,
Spiteful, and wrathful; who, as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for you.
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
3. Nought’s had, all’s spent,
Where our desire is got without content:
‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy,
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.
Speaker: ____________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme Connection:
Theme Connection:
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1.
For what reasons does Macbeth want Banquo murdered? What reasons does he give the murderers? What does the
conversation with the murderers reveal about Macbeth?
2.
Do Scenes 1 and 2 taken together indicate that Macbeth has either fallen or risen in a moral sense? Explain.
3.
Scene 4 is considered by many to be a turning point in the play. (You might agree or disagree) Explain why this might be
considered the climax.
4.
What dramatic purpose is served by the appearance of Banquo's ghost? How does Lady Macbeth act react in this horrible
scene? Compare her behavior with that of Macbeth.
5.
Who else is missing from the banquet table, besides Banquo?
6.
Macbeth says, “I am in blood Stepped in so far that should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” What
does he mean?
7.
What does Hecate want the witches to do?
8.
What does Lennox think about Macbeth, Fleance, and Duncan ’s sons?
9.
In this act, what hints or nuances are given of the gathering forces of opposition to Macbeth?
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“Act 4” Macbeth
1.
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Speaker: ___________________
4.
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme/Motif/Symbol connection
I shall do so;
But I must also feel it as a man:
That were most precious to me. –Did Heaven look
on,
And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff!
They were all struck for thee. Naught that I am,
Not for their own demerits, but for mine,
Fell slaughter on their souls: Heaven rest them now!
Speaker: ___________________
2.
The castle of Macduff I will surprise,
Sieze upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line.
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Speaker: ___________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme/Motif/Symbol connection
3.
It is myself I mean; in whom I know
All the particulars of vice so grafted,
That, when they shall be open’d, black Macbeth
Will seem as pure as snow; and the poor State
Esteem him as a lamb, being compar’d
With my confineless harms.
Speaker: ___________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme/Motif/Symbol connection
Theme/Motif/Symbol connection
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1. Name all the devices Shakespeare uses in creating a feeling of horror and impending doom at the beginning of this act. Point these
out in the play.
2. What are the four new prophecies the witches make to Macbeth? (What do they show & say?)Which seems the most
immediately dangerous? What effects do the witches' enhancements have upon Macbeth's morals?
3. For what did Macbeth deliberately search out the witches? Why does the answer horrify him?
4. What further moral degeneration does Macbeth show at the end of Scene 2?
5. Where is Macduff? Why isn’t he with his family?
6. What is Lady Macduff’s attitude at the moment about her husband Macduff?
7. Why might Ross' appearance at Maduff's castle represent a weakening of Macbeth's position? Do you think the Messenger who
warns Lady Macduff might have been sent by Lady Macbeth? Give reasons for or against.
8. In Scene 3, why does Malcolm misrepresent his own character to Macduff? How does Macduff's reaction as well as his horrible
personal news set him up as a nemesis?
9. What does Malcolm tell Macduff to do with his grief?
10. What does Malcolm resolve to do by the end of Act 4?
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“Act 5” Macbeth
1. Here’s the smell of blood still,
All the perfumes of Arabia will not
Sweeten this little hand.
Speaker: ___________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
3. She should have died hereafter:
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
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 to more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Speaker: ___________________
Theme/Motif/Symbol connection
2. Let every soldier hew him down a bough,
And bear’t before him: thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host, and make discover
Err in report of us.
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme/Motif/Symbol connection
Speaker: ___________________
Situation:
Paraphrase:
4. Despair thy charm;
And let the Angel, whom thou still hast serv’d
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripp’d.
Speaker: ___________________
Theme/Motif/Symbol connection
Situation:
Paraphrase:
Theme/Motif/Symbol connection
11
1
What do the doctor and the gentlewoman sees Lady Macbeth doing? What do they decide to do?
2
What words by Lady Macbeth show that she has been brooding over the past crimes?
3
What lines foreshadow (are harbingers) Lady Macbeth's death?
4
What does Macbeth want the doctor to do for his wife?
5
How does Macbeth react to his wife's death?
6
How is each of the witches' prophecies revealed? (Scenes 4, 5 and 8)
7
Trace the final mental state of Macbeth through significant speeches. Where does he show false bravery which
masks the underlying fear? Where does he reveal dependence upon the witches' prophecies? Where does he
reveal the sense of betrayal by the witches? Where does he reveal his horrified realization of his misspent life?
8
What excuse does Macbeth give Macduff for not wanting to fight him?
9
When does Macbeth know he is in trouble?
10 How does Macbeth die?
11 Who will be the new king of Scotland ?
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Macbeth Vocabulary
Key
n = noun
adj = adjective
adv = adverb
Trans. = transitive, use with a direct object
Intrans. = intransitive, use without a direct object
Act 1
deign (verb trans.)
corporal (adj)
surmise (n)
cleave (verb trans.)
recompense (verb trans.)
harbinger (n)
chastise (verb trans.)
beguile (verb trans.)
Act 2
husbandry (n)
repose (n)
augment (verb trans.)
palpable (adj)
surfeit (n)
infirm (adj)
lechery (n)
Act 3
indissoluble (adj)
parricide (n)
sundry (adj)
jocund (adj)
appall (verb trans.)
Acts 4-5
avaricious (adj)
voluptuousness (n)
hoodwink (verb trans.)
confound (verb trans.)
arbitrate (verb intrans.)
prowess (n)
infirmity (n)
mirth (n)
malevolence (n)
rue (verb trans.)