| Macbeth Act I, Scenes 1 to 4 1. The first scene of the play is very brief, but rich in its hints about the kind of world we shall encounter as the play unfolds. a. What effect would the initial setting and the lighting (as suggested by the stage directions) have on the viewing audience? b. What feelings and what anticipation would be stirred in the audience by the characters in the scene and the words they speak? Note especially the last two words spoken in the chorus. 2. What impressions of Macbeth�s character are created, before his actual appearance in the play, by the details of the battle accounts of the sergeant and Ross in Scene 2? 3. How are our first impressions of the witches and their role in the play affected by the story in Scene 3 of the sailor�s wife and her husband? 4. The first words Macbeth utters in the play echo a line already spoken. (Act I, Scene 3, line 38) What Significant effect does Shakespeare create through this device? 5. What prophecies do the witches make to Macbeth? What prophecies do they offer to Banquo? Which one of the prophecies that comes as a shock to Macbeth does the reader already know has been fulfilled? 6. Observing Macbeth�s immediate reactions to the prophecies, Banquo says, �Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear / Things that do sound so fair?� What reasons can you think of to explain why Macbeth is startled and apparently fearful when he hears the prophecies? 7. Note, in Scene 3, how both Macbeth and Banquo address the witches and how they react to what they hear. Do they seem alike or different in their manner of speaking and in their reactions? Specify the similarities or differences you observe. 8. What do Banquo�s remarks about �the instruments of darkness� tell us about his character at this point? (Scene 3, lines 129-133) Explain the relevance of these remarks to the thoughts which Macbeth later utters in his soliloquies. 9. What do we learn about Macbeth�s secret thoughts from his brief aside, �Two truths are told��? (Scene 3, lines 135-137) 10. The most significant inkling about Macbeth�s secret thoughts comes in the soliloquy beginning, �This supernatural soliciting�.� (Scene 3, lines 138-150) a. What is the suggestion �whose horrid image doth unfix my hair�? b. What moral conflict appears to exist in Macbeth�s mind? Quote and explain the lines in which this conflict is expressed. c. What conclusions about Macbeth can you draw from this soliloquy? Consider especially this question: Why does the thought of killing Duncan affect in this way the man who has killed so many on the battlefield, notably Macdonwald? 11. The reader�s reaction to Macbeth�s conflict of mind depends to a great degree on the impressions he has derived of Duncan�s qualities as a person and a king. What impressions of Duncan do you get from his utterances and behavior in the following instances? a. His treatment of the wounded sergeant. (Scene 2, lines 47-48) b. His announcement of Macbeth�s reward. (Scenes 2, lines 72-76) c. His remarks about Cawdor. (Scene 4, lines 13-16) d. His greeting of Macbeth after the latter�s victory. (Scene 4, lines 17-24 and 31-33) e. His comments to Banquo about Macbeth. (Scene 4, lines 61-65) 12. Review Macbeth�s thinking about his future course of action as it is revealed in the two speeches noted below, and the answer the questions that follow: (1) �If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir.� (Scene 3, lines 152-153) (2) The speech beginning �The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step�� (Scene 4, lines 55-60) a. Has Macbeth�s mind remained steadfast, or has it changed? What significant event affected Macbeth�s decision in the second speech? b. How does Macbeth seem to feel about the decision he expresses in the second soliloquy above? What words indicate that feeling? c. What inferences about Macbeth�s character do you draw from his shifting thoughts on the question of murder? Macbeth Act I, Scenes 5 to 7 1. What comparisons between Lady Macbeth�s character and that of Macbeth are suggested by each of the following? a. Her first statement after reading Macbeth�s letter. (Scene 5, lines 15-16) b. The intention she announces in lines 25-30 of the same soliloquy. 2. A key soliloquy in our understanding of Macbeth is that which begins, �The raven himself is hoarse�.� (Scene 5, line 42) a. In what way do the specific images that dominate this soliloquy sustain the impression of a nightmare world? b. Does the content of this soliloquy support the interpretation of Lady Macbeth as a thoroughly and unnaturally cruel, bloodthirsty woman? Do you find evidence for a different interpretation? 3. How do Lady Macbeth�s greeting to her husband and her conversation with him (Scene 5, lines 59-82) demonstrate further the difference in their characters? 4. Lady Macbeth has told Macbeth to �look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under �t.� How does she herself carry out this role in Scene 6 when Duncan arrives? 5. Macbeth�s soliloquy at the start of Scene 7, in which he considers again the question of murder, provides an important further insight his character, especially as it compares with Lady Macbeth�s character. a. What difference in his character is suggested by the fact that he engages in these thoughts? b. What argument for or against the murder does Macbeth consider in the first part of the soliloquy, lines 1-12? c. What argument does Macbeth advance in the next section of the soliloquy, lines 12-16? d. What final argument is presented in his imaginative depiction of the general effect of the crime (lines 16-25)? In what way are his fundamental feelings revealed in these lines? e. What do the last four lines of the soliloquy tell us about Macbeth�s view of his own ambition to be king? f. At this point in the play, what is Macbeth�s decision on the question of murder? In what lines does he express that decision to Lady Macbeth? 6. Read carefully Lady Macbeth�s responses to Macbeth�s decision (lines 38-64) and recall the intention she expressed in Scene 5, lines 25-30. How do her words here carry out that intention? 7. The nature of the arguments Lady Macbeth uses to incite Macbeth to the act of murder shows her to be astutely aware of his character. a. What aspect of his character does she appeal to in lines 38-42? b. What aspect of his character does she appeal to in lines 42-49? c. What aspect of his character does she appeal to in lines 52-64? 8. What plan has Lady Macbeth devised for the murder? 9. How would you at this point summarize the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth? |