Macbeth – A. J. Drake's Shakespeare Site

Questions on
Shakespeare’s Tragedies

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. (The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies, 3rd ed. 917-69.)

ACT 1

1. In Act 1, Scenes 1 and 3, how is the truth status and significance of the supernatural element in this play established by the three witches or Weird Sisters? What do the Sisters look like to Macbeth and Banquo? What can we gather about their powers and knowledge from their spells and conversations with one another and with the two men? What is the substance of the information that they present to Macbeth and Banquo?

2. In Act 1, Scene 2, how does the Sergeant describe and evaluate for King Duncan and others the performance of Macbeth during the battles against Norway, Macdonwald, and the now-disgraced Thane of Cawdor? How might the information we hear in this scene affect our understanding of the following scene, in which the Sisters reveal the future to Macbeth and Banquo?

3. In Act 1, Scene 3, how do Macbeth and Banquo, respectively, respond to the prophecies made to them? With regard to Macbeth, first, what emotional effect does the Sisters’ news and prophecy stir in him, and how does he evaluate his current state of mind, now that he has heard these things? With regard to Banquo, how does his reaction differ from that of Macbeth? What differences between these two men can we already sense, based on what happens in Scenes 1 and 3?

4. In Act 1, Scenes 4 and 6, what assessment can we make of Duncan’s perceptions and his hold upon power as Scotland’s king? What are his reflections on the disloyal former Thane of Cawdor? How does Duncan comport himself towards his powerful subjects, first at his own palace in Forres and then when he arrives at Macbeth’s castle home? Optional: For brief comparison’s sake, how does this Scottish king compare in terms of leadership capacity to one other sovereign in Shakespeare’s plays?

5. In Act 1, Scene 4, what plan does Duncan announce to Macbeth and the other noble guests regarding the awarding of titles and the succession to the throne? Why does Macbeth react so negatively to this, beyond simply the fact that he is not the one named as Duncan’s successor? How had he hoped his path to power would go?

6. In Act 1, Scene 5, how does Lady Macbeth’s reaction compare to that of her husband when she receives the supernatural knowledge he brings her? What anxiety does she show regarding Macbeth’s ability to succeed in the enterprise that looms before them both? What does she reveal about her position and sensibilities as a woman determined to commit a brutal, violent, and treasonous act? In responding, discuss Lady Macbeth’s “unsex me here” soliloquy—what does she pray for in this speech, and why? (1.5.36-52).

7. In Act 1, Scene 7, what is Macbeth’s self-assessment on the eve of the murder? Consider as well the conversation between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. What rhetorical means does she use to drive him towards the execution of the plot that owes so much to her ingenuity as a co-conspirator? How does he respond to her bold words, including both his stern rebuke about what “being a man” entails and his final acceptance of her point of view?

ACT 2

8. In Act 2, Scene 1, what are Macbeth’s thoughts and actions immediately before the dreadful act he means to commit against Duncan? What insight does the “dagger” part of this scene afford Macbeth and us, the audience? That is, what can we gather about Macbeth’s attitude towards the destructive, life-altering deed he is about to carry out, and what, if anything, can we infer from it about his conduct in subsequent actions?

9. In Act 2, Scene 2, in the immediate aftermath of Duncan’s murder, what happens to Macbeth’s sensibilities? Choose at least one example that allows you to compare and contrast Macbeth before and after his violent crime. In particular, how do the effects of conscience manifest themselves, and what unforeseen consequences begin to show? On the whole, how well does Macbeth maintain his composure in the wake of the murder?

10. In Act 2, Scene 3, the Drunken Porter scene is one of the most admired instances of comic relief in tragedy (along with the Gravedigger scene in Hamlet). What qualities make the scene funny? (For example, consider the difference between the Porter’s outlook and the perspective of more important characters.) Moreover, what does the Porter explain about “equivocation” and “drink” that could be applied to Macbeth and his situation after killing Duncan?

11. In Act 2, Scene 3, what image of themselves do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth project towards others in the killing’s aftermath? Why does Macbeth’s killing of the grooms cause him problems in terms of his credibility? How does Lady Macbeth rescue her husband from this potentially disastrous act and—what’s almost as bad—from his implausible explanation for it?

12. Also in Act 2, Scene 3, the princes Malcolm and Donaldbain decide to flee the scene of their father’s assassination. Where are they respectively planning to go, and why? What reasons do they give for leaving the scene of a crime that involves their father? What conception of politics do such reasons imply?

13. In Act 2, Scenes 3-4, what portents do Ross and an old man say have appeared in nature since the death of Duncan? What do they make of these strange things? More broadly, how much do Banquo, Macduff, and Ross appear to understand about what has just happened—do they suspect that Macbeth killed his royal guest? What decision do they make, respectively, towards the end of Scene 4, and why might those decisions be of concern to the newly kinged Macbeth?

ACT 3

14. In Act 3, Scene 1, what are Banquo’s initial thoughts as Macbeth enters with Lady Macbeth, both newly crowned? Now that Macbeth has attained the throne, what existential problem begins to preoccupy him? What does he plan to do about it, and what kind of rhetoric does he employ to spur on the pair of shady men whom he has entrusted with the execution of his wishes? To what extent might such rhetoric stem from Macbeth’s own situation, self-image, and anxieties?

15. In Act 3, Scene 2, how does Macbeth explain to himself and us the predicament into which his ambition has driven him? In what sense does he suggest that Duncan—whom he has slain—is better off than him? What seems to be the current state of his and Lady Macbeth’s consciences in the wake of their terrible deed and with the attainment of supreme power in Scotland? How would you describe their present relationship as marriage partners—which partner is stronger at this point? Or are both equally shaken?

16. In Act 3, Scene 2, to what extent does Macbeth reveal to Lady Macbeth the plot he has laid against Banquo and Fleance? In responding, consider especially his remarkable speech beginning “Come, seeling night …” (3.4.45-55 inclusive). What is Macbeth praying for in this speech? Lady Macbeth apparently hears what he says, even though some productions play the scene to show Macbeth musing more to himself than conversing with his wife. How does she respond to what her husband says?

17. In Act 3, Scene 3, three murderers lie in wait to assassinate Banquo and his young son, Fleance, as they ride through the night on horseback towards Macbeth’s castle. What is their initial plan in carrying out the deed? Why does it only partly succeed, in that Fleance escapes, and he is the one who would be first in Banquo’s long line of kings, since Banquo wasn’t prophesied to be king himself? How is this partial failure’s cause somewhat ironic, given Macbeth’s prayer to “seeling night” in the previous scene?

18. In Act 3, Scene 4, what effect does the appearance of the ghost of his onetime friend Banquo (murdered at his instance in Act 3, Scene 3) have upon Macbeth? How does this intrusion of the supernatural differ, if it does, from Macbeth’s earlier encounters with that realm in the person of the witches, for example, or when he confronted the “dagger of the mind”? By the end of Scene 4, after the disastrous banquet episode that confronts Macbeth with his worst fears, what desperate plan does he decide to follow and thereby regain his steadiness and at least some security?

19. Again in Act 3, Scene 4 and in relation to the eerie banquet scene that so unnerves Macbeth and results in consternation in his wife and among his noble guests, how would you, if you were director, stage this event? Would you place a gory-looking “Banquo’s ghost” in the chair and make him visible to the audience, or would you just have Macbeth insanely remonstrating with an empty chair, which is apparently what everyone else present sees? What would be the rationale for your choice, in relation to other parts of the play and in consideration of your general approach to it?

20. In Act 3, Scene 5 (probably written by Thomas Middleton), what is the judgment of Hecate, Queen of the Night, about how well—or badly—the Weird Sisters have managed the “Macbeth case” from the outset of the action? What is her criticism of their approach? What insight about Macbeth does Hecate offer? Does she think he is worth the Sisters’ (and her) occult efforts? Why or why not?

21. In Act 3, Scene 6, how do Lennox and his fellow lord describe the current state of affairs in Scotland? To what extent is Lennox at first censoring or “coding” what he says about Macbeth to his conversation partner? Provide at least one example of this practice. Why would he want to do this? In addition, what actions are under way beyond the kingdom, and why?

ACT 4

22. In Act 4, Scene 1, when Macbeth goes for his second visit to the Weird Sisters and (this time) Hecate, what successive visions do they unfold before him? How does Macbeth respond to each, and what plan of action does he make on the basis of what he has learned from these visions? In responding, be sure to include the final vision, which involves an apparition of Banquo holding a mirror that shows a long line of kings stretching into the future. How does this last vision affect Macbeth?

23. In Act 4, Scene 2, Ross and then a messenger visit Lady Macduff, whom Macduff has left unprotected so he can join Macbeth’s opponents in England. Alas, it’s too late to save her life and the life of her young son, and they are cruelly murdered by Macbeth’s henchmen. What perspective do Lady Macduff and her little boy provide us with that has not yet found its way into this play about grand political intrigue and “vaulting ambition”? How might we characterize the structural principle in accordance with which this painful scene appears where it does?

24. In Act 4, Scene 3, as Malcolm and Macduff consider the way forward against Macbeth, what accusations does Malcolm level against himself? Why does he subject Macduff to such disturbing self-lacerations? How does Macduff react to Malcolm’s strange profession of depravity, and how does his reaction win Malcolm’s confidence? What does the scene suggest about setting proper boundaries for royal power: by negation, what would a well-run kingdom be like?

25. In Act 4, Scene 3, Macduff is informed of the murder of his own family, and Malcolm immediately tries to shape the stricken man’s response. Describe the rhetoric he employs to do so. How might this portion of the scene (Macduff’s response and Malcolm’s rhetoric) be taken as metacommentary on the ethos and language of war and manhood that runs all through this play?

ACT 5

26. In Act 5, Scene 1, what symptoms of insanity does Lady Macbeth display? (In responding, look up “obsessive-compulsive disorder” (OCD), which is today’s term for her affliction.) What’s the point of dwelling on the Queen’s psychological symptoms in a play filled with supernatural events? Moreover, why is it Lady Macbeth, and not Macbeth, who suffers this fate, even though Macbeth himself showed some of the same guilty obsessive-compulsive behavior immediately after the murder of Duncan?

27. In Act 5, Scene 2, Menteith, Caithness, Lennox and Angus describe Macbeth’s plight. In Scene 3, how does Macbeth bear out this description in his actions and words? How does his bitter conversation with the doctor attending Lady Macbeth deepen our insight into his current state of mind as the forces arrayed against him begin to close in, and disaster looms? As for his military predicament, what supernatural-fueled hope does Macbeth still have that he will survive what looks to be a catastrophe?

28. In Act 5, Scene 5, Macbeth faces his distracted wife’s death and the eerie news that Birnan Wood is moving towards him, making a cruel mockery of the Sisters’ prophecy. With what quality of speech, what attitude, does Macbeth greet these events? Describe what happens to Macbeth here in terms of a traditional recognition scene wherein the protagonist acknowledges the cause and inevitability of his suffering. How, too, does he now estimate the value of the power and status he sought, and indeed any notion of meaning in life?

29. In Act 5, Scene 7, in what manner does Macbeth face the destruction that he now understands to be imminent? As he moves from the philosophical reflection of Scene 5 to the attitude he displays in the present scene, what pattern has reasserted itself in Macbeth’s attitudes and actions from the play’s beginning? How much, if any, of Macbeth’s humanity, his soul, remains intact to face the end dictated by his sins?

30. In Act 5, Scene 7, Macbeth is killed and Malcolm is proclaimed king. Several of Shakespeare’s tragedies, among them Hamlet and King Lear, end with a political restoration. Discuss the quality of the restoration in the current play; what “right moves” does Malcolm make to begin repairing the damage done to Scotland and its government? Does the altogether necessary principle of order seem secure at the play’s end? Why or why not?

31. General question. Shakespeare’s main source for Macbeth was Holinshed’s account of that king’s reign in The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Get hold of either Geoffrey Bullough’s Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare, Vol. VII or Walter G. Boswell-Stone’s Shakespeare’s Holinshed: The Chronicle and the Historical Plays Compared, and refer to it in building your own brief account of the historical Duncan and Macbeth’s reigns, and note the similarities and differences you find in comparison with Shakespeare’s play.

Edition. Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors. The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies + Digital Edition. 3rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93860-9.