Macbeth Acts I-V – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
What do we learn about Macbeth's battlefield deeds?
answer
He is heroic, courageous, defeated the Thane of Cawdor, and halted the Norwegian invasion.
question
What are the recent activities of the Thane of Cawdor?
answer
He's a traitor for helping the Norwegians and is sentenced to death.
question
What reward does Macbeth receive from the king?
answer
The title: Thane of Cawdor.
question
What do the three witches predict for Macbeth?
answer
He'll be a king in the future eventually but he'll become Thane of Cawdor first.
question
What do the three witches predict for Banquo?
answer
His descendants will be kings but he'll never be king.
question
How do Macbeth and Banquo react to the witches' prophecies?
answer
Banquo doesn't believe the witches at all, saying they are evil creatures. Macbeth on the other hand is intrigued by the witches' prophecies.
question
How does Lady Macbeth first learn of the witches' prophecies?
answer
In a letter sent from her husband.
question
What in Macbeth's personality does she fear will hold him back?
answer
He's too nice and kind to take the matter into his own hands.
question
What action does Lady Macbeth plan to take during the king's visit?
answer
She plans to kill the king.
question
How does she intend to accomplish it?
answer
Get the guards drunk until they've blacked out, use the guards' daggers to kill the king, and place the bloodied daggers back on the guards.
question
Both the witches and Macbeth make statements about "foul and fair." What are two possible meanings for the witches' words? What does Macbeth mean by his remark?
answer
The Witches: What do you think is good probably isn't while what you think is bad probably is. Macbeth: The weather was bad (foul) but they won the battle (fair).
question
Why is Macbeth indecisive about killing the king?
answer
Duncan (the king's name) has been good to him. If they fail, there will be retribution in the form of Macbeth's and Lady Macbeth's deaths. Finally, you shouldn't kill a guest in your own home.
question
How does Lady Macbeth convince her husband?
answer
By questioning his manliness and calling him a coward.
question
How does the plan go?
answer
Lady Macbeth has to take charge because of her rattled husband. It's later revealed that he killed the guards, which wasn't part of the plan either!
question
What does the drunken proper imagine he is doing?
answer
He's the gatekeeper to hell.
question
What does the drunken porter represent?
answer
Comic Relief
question
Compare and contrast Macbeth's reaction to Lady Macbeth's reaction.
answer
Macbeth feels guilty and hears noises and voices and even starts halluctioning. At one point before the murder, he sees a bloodied dagger pointing to Duncan's bedchamber. Lady Macbeth is calm, cool, and collected and orders her husband to wash up.
question
How is the murder discovered?
answer
Macduff had an appointment with Duncan but when he enters the king's room, he discovers the body.
question
What causes Lady Macbeth to faint?
answer
Macbeth saying that he killed the guards, though she may have been overdramatic.
question
Why do Malcolm and Donalbain flee the castle?
answer
They don't want to be murdered like their father, Duncan, was.
question
Who does Macduff say has killed Duncan?
answer
The guards but only because the sons bribed them. This makes them fall under suspicion even further after they fled for their lives.
question
Why does Ross have doubts about accepting the guards as murderers?
answer
They were suppose to protect Duncan and would gain nothing from killing him.
question
Macbeth speaks of vaulting ambition in his soliloquy. How can this result in either great success or great destruction?
answer
Success=You don't give up, you'll be more successful. Destruction=You try too hard, you destroy anything in your way.
question
In Act III Scene I, what does Banquo say about the witches' prophecies?
answer
He suspects that Macbeth cheated his way to the throne and wonders if his own prophecy will come true.
question
Why does Macbeth view Banquo as a rival?
answer
The witches prophesied Banquo would be father of a line of kings while Macbeth would have no sons.
question
What does Macbeth plan to do with Banquo and Banquo's son, Fleance?
answer
He hires three murderers to kill them.
question
How does the plot against Banquo and Fleance go wrong?
answer
Banquo is dead but Fleance escapes and his whereabouts are unknown for the rest of the play.
question
What supernatural event happens at the banquet?
answer
Banquo's ghost appears sitting in Macbeth's chair and no one else but Macbeth can see it.
question
Compare and contrast Macbeth's feelings about murdering Duncan with his feelings about murdering Banquo.
answer
Duncan: He didn't want to do it because Duncan was a good man and he was guilty of doing it. Banquo: He took charge and didn't feel guilty after the murder (well... maybe the ghost incited such guilt).
question
What does the final scene reveal about the opposition to Macbeth?
answer
Macduff has fled to England to plead for King Edward's aid while news of plots has prompted Macbeth to prepare for war.
question
How has the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change?
answer
Macbeth takes charge and doesn't tell Lady Macbeth much anymore. Lady Macbeth still criticizes him though.
question
Who doubted Macbeth's mourning over Duncan's death?
answer
Lennox
question
What do the three apparitions symbolize and tell Macbeth?
answer
First Apparition: Armed Head aka Macduff warning to beware the Thane of Fife aka Macduff Second Apparition: A Bloody Child aka Macduff saying no one born of a woman can harm Macbeth. Final Apparition: A Child With A Crown On It's Head aka Malcolm saying that Macbeth won't be defeated until the Birnam Woods marches toward Dunsinane Hill.
question
What happens to Macduff's family?
answer
Macduff's family is murdered by murderers hired by Macbeth.
question
What does the murder of Macduff's family suggest about Macbeth's state of mind?
answer
He's psychotic and power-hungry and has completely lost it.
question
How does Malcolm test Macduff?
answer
He pretends to be evil in order to check Macduff's reaction.
question
What convinces Malcolm what Macduff is trustworthy?
answer
When Macduff gives up all hope and refuses to help Malcolm.
question
What news does Ross bring from Scotland?
answer
Macduff's wife and children are dead.
question
What does the dialogue in iii reveal about Malcolm's character?
answer
He wants to be a good king: Gold-orientated, upstanding gentleman, intelligent, honest, polite, respectful, etc.
question
What is Macbeth's tragic flaw?
answer
Ambition
question
Tragic Flaw
answer
Character Weakness
question
What previous events does Lady Macbeth refer to in her sleepwalking?
answer
Duncan's death, Macduff's family and wife being dead, and Banquo's death.
question
How have Macbeth and Lady Macbeth reversed roles at the end of the play?
answer
Lady Macbeth is now extremely guilty to the point of insomnia and mental illness. Macbeth is calm, cool, and collected.
question
What happens to Lady Macbeth before the final battle?
answer
She kills herself off-screen due to her guilty conscience.
question
What does Macbeth learn in Act V, Scene V, that makes him doubt the apparitions prophecies.
answer
The "woods" aka Malcolm's 10,000 English soldiers and co. in disguise are coming toward Dunsinane.
question
In Act V, Scene VIII, why does Macbeth tell Macduff he doesn't wish to fight him?
answer
He has the blood of his family on his hands and doesn't wish to fight him too.
question
What does Macduff tell Macbeth concerning the apparitions' second prophecy.
answer
Macduff's mother died in childbirth but Macduff was saved via C-Section.
question
What is Macbeth's fate?
answer
Macduff kills him and brings his head to the crowd.
question
At the end of the play, who's crowned king of Scotland?
answer
Malcolm
