ENG2D Macbeth Test Review Package

I am looking for…
Knowledge: Thorough knowledge of subject content
Thinking: Organized ideas, critical thinking, and
analysis if applicable
Communication: Ideas are communicated clearly, flow,
are in logical order and use proper conventions –
spelling, punctuation, etc.
Application: Apply your knowledge from course
content to these questions. Show your understanding by
making connections if applicable.

Focus on...
1. Characters
2. Key lines
3. Plot Development

Character Analysis
Macbeth

 Scottish general ambitious enough to  Seyton = Lieutenant to

commit regicide to become king Macbeth
 A nobleman who murders Duncan,
the King in order to seize his throne.
Once he becomes king, he quickly
becomes a tyrant and is killed. The
play charts the progression of evil as
it overtakes his character.

Lady Macbeth

 Macbeth’s wife; ambitious; later

remorseful
 At the beginning of the play she is
the ambitious, cold-hearted one,
urging Macbeth to follow his
ambitions through murder.
Eventually, though, she succumbs to
feelings of guilt and regret.
Witches / Weird Sisters

 Predict Macbeth’s ambitions will

soon come true; later predict his
downfall
 These supernatural figures offer
deceptive predictions that serve
to ignite Macbeth’s evil
intentions.

Banquo

 General, murdered by hired killers  Fleance = Banquo’s son who

 Another nobleman, Banquo also flees when Banquo is
receives a favorable prediction murdered. Because he lives,
from the witches, but he refuses to Macbeth fears that Banquo’s
take action to see that destiny line will fulfill the witches’
fulfilled. prophecy by becoming king

King Duncan

 King of Scotland - Lennox = Nobleman, loyal

 Trusting and naïve, Duncan never to Duncan
suspects that Macbeth and his wife
are plotting his death. He misreads
both of them, just as he had
misinterpreted the treacherous
Thane of Cawdor.
 Father to Malcolm and Donalbain

Malcolm
  Duncan’s eldest son and heir, Malcolm
is everything a king should be:
virtuous, pious, chaste, modest, and
loyal.
 Prince of Cumberland
 Flees to England to plan an invasion on
Scotland

Macduff

 General, dedicated to the good of - Ross is Macduff’s cousin

Scotland - Siward & Young Siward =
 An honorable lord, Macduff opposes English Earl and his son are
Macbeth and supports Malcolm as Macbduff’s supporters.
the new king, but only after Young Siward bravely faces
determining that the price is worthy. Macbeth in the last Act, but is
killed in battle.

Dramatic irony is created in a specific scene on stage, when the audience knows something one (or more) of
the characters does not know as the scene plays out. Students should identify moments of dramatic irony and
explain how these moments heighten tension.

Soliloquy
 (In a nutshell) A speech in which a character, alone on the stage, expresses his thoughts aloud
 The soliloquy is the act of talking to oneself, silently or aloud. In drama, it denotes the convention by
which a character, by himself or herself on stage, utters his thoughts out loud so that the audience may
“overhear.” Elizabethan dramatists in particular used this devise as a convenient way to convey to the
audience information about a principal character’s thoughts, motives, and state of mind, as well as for
purposes of general exposition (necessary background and antecedent action).
 In a soliloquy, the speaker believes himself or herself to be alone. The soliloquist thus reveals his or her
inner thought and feelings to the audience, either in supposed self-communion or in a consciously direct
address.

Five Act Structure

Act 1: Exposition A war is ending. The Scottish general, Macbeth, and his faithful friend, Banquo, have
emerged victorious. However, three witches have brewed an evil plot against
Macbeth and when they meet him, they tell him that he will be King! “We shall tell
 Macbeth he will be Thane and King! As for Banquo, he will have kings!”
Act 2: Rising Macbeth and his wife kill the King and take the throne. They go on a tyrannical
Action killing spree. The action rises as the audience sees how ambitious Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth have become.
“How can I be king someday?”
“Macbeth, we had to Kill King Duncan, and we will have to kill others to keep our
place on the throne!”
Act 3: Climax Macbeth holds a banquet and sees the ghost of Banquo (whom Macbeth had killed).
Lady Macbeth becomes mentally unstable, and the couple begins to fear the
consequences of their murderous deeds.
Act 4: Falling A rebellion is instigated by Macduff to restore the throne to Duncan’s exiled son.
Action Macbeth learns another set of prophecies from the witches and begins to think he will
be saved.
Act 5: Conclusion The three witches’ predictions come true, and the castle is stormed. Macbeth is
killed.

The below summaries are from SparkNotes.

Summary of Acts 1, 2 and 3

As the play begins, three witches gather in a stormy field, planning to meet Macbeth, as he returns from an
important battle. Macbeth is a Thane—one of the lords that serve the king of Scotland, Duncan. At the
military camp of King Duncan, a soldier describes the defeat of another Scottish lord—the traitorous Thane
of Cawdor—by Macbeth. Duncan announces that, as a reward for his valor, Macbeth will receive Cawdor’s
title and property in addition to the territory he already rules, Glamis.

While traveling to the king’s camp, Macbeth and another lord, Banquo, encounter the witches. They hail
Macbeth as Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, and tell him he “shalt be King hereafter.”
They also prophesy that Banquo will be the father of kings.

The witches disappear, and Banquo and Macbeth are greeted by two other noblemen,
who announce that Duncan has appointed Macbeth the new Thane of Cawdor. Later,
Duncan thanks Banquo and Macbeth for their loyalty and announces his intention to
make his son Malcolm his heir. Macbeth hints at the evil actions he may take to secure
the throne for himself.

Macbeth’s wife receives a letter from her husband that describes the prophecy of the
witches. She fears that he will not have the courage to do what’s required to seize the
throne. When Macbeth arrives, Lady Macbeth urges him to put on a pleasant face for Duncan, who will soon
arrive at their castle.
The king arrives and is welcomed by Lady Macbeth. Alone, Macbeth wonders whether he can commit
murder to gain his ambitions. He is joined by Lady Macbeth, who chastises him. She tells him her plan: she
will get the king’s attendants drunk, Macbeth will murder Duncan, and they will blame the act on the
attendants. As Lady Macbeth takes wine into the king’s chamber, Macbeth sees a bloody dagger that leads
him into the room to commit the murder.
When Duncan’s murder is discovered, Lady Macbeth faints, and Macbeth kills the attendants. Duncan’s sons
Malcolm and Donalbain suspect foul play and flee the country.

In Malcolm’s absence, Macbeth takes the throne, and Banquo wonders whether the new king was involved in
Duncan’s death. Fearing these suspicions—as well as the witches’ prediction that Banquo will be the father
of kings—Macbeth sends a trio of assassins to kill his loyal friend. The assassins succeed, but Banquo’s son
Fleance escapes. Later, Macbeth hosts a banquet, where he sees Banquo’s bloody ghost. Meanwhile, one of
the noblemen, Macduff, rejects Macbeth’s authority and flees to England.

Macbeth seeks out the witches to learn more about his fate.

Act 4 Review
Act 4, Scene 1
Macbeth returns to the Weird Sisters and boldly demands to be shown a series of apparitions that tell his
future. The first apparition is the disembodied head of a warrior who seems to warn Macbeth of a bloody
revenge at the hands of Macduff. The second is a blood-covered
child who comforts Macbeth with the news that he cannot be killed
by any man "of woman born." The third is a child wearing a crown,
who promises that Macbeth cannot lose in battle until Birnam wood
physically moves toward his stronghold at Dunsinane.
Encouraged by the news of such impossibilities, Macbeth asks,
"Shall Banquo's issue ever reign in this kingdom?" The Witches
present an image of a ghostly procession of future kings, led
by Banquo. All this serves only to enrage Macbeth, who, trusting in
his own pride, reveals in an aside to the audience his determination
to slaughter the family of Macduff.

Act 4, Scene 2
In Macduff's castle in Fife, Lady Macduff comforts and is
comforted by her young son, who displays a courage beyond his
years when confronted with the possibility that his father has turned
traitor. Although warned by the Thane of Ross to escape before it is
too late, Lady Macduff is encountered by Macbeth's henchmen, who brutally kill first her child and (as the
audience learns in the following scene) her.

Act 4, Scene 3
In England, Duncan's son Malcolm tests the loyalty of his newest recruit, Macduff. By demeaning his own
nobility and professing himself to be a greater tyrant than Macbeth, Malcolm hopes to goad Macduff into an
open display of his loyalties. This attempt at reverse psychology has its desired effect. Macduff is thrown into
a fit of anger against the "untitled tyrant" Macbeth, and Malcolm enlists his help in the struggle. When Ross
appears with news of the slaughter of Macduff's family, Macduff is finally convinced not only to engage in
the rebel army but also to take personal revenge upon Macbeth. This scene also includes a passage in which
it is reported that England's king, Edward the Confessor, has provided more than political aid to Malcolm; he
has been healing the sick by supernatural means.

Act 5 Review
Lady Macbeth has gone mad. Like her husband, she cannot find any rest, but she is suffering more clearly
from a psychological disorder that causes her, as she sleepwalks, to recall fragments of the events of the
murders of Duncan, Banquo, and Lady Macduff. These incriminating words are overheard by the Doctor and
a lady-in-waiting.

Four lords of Scotland — Lennox, Menteth, Angus, and Caithness — resolve to join Malcolm and the
English forces, who have by now marched into Scotland and are encamped at Birnam Wood, not far from
Macbeth's stronghold at Dunsinane.

Macbeth dismisses reports of invasion by trusting to the prophecies of the apparitions, which seemed to
promise him invincibility in battle. When a servant enters to announce the approach of a huge army, Macbeth
appears momentarily to lose courage and then angrily spurns his servant and orders his armor to be put on.
The Doctor, whose news concerning Lady Macbeth is just as grim, is treated with similar contempt.
The English and rebel Scottish armies, under the leadership of Malcolm, meet at Birnam Wood. With
military foresight, Malcolm orders each soldier to cut a branch and carry it in front of him as camouflage "to
shadow the numbers of our host" — that is, to conceal the actual size of the advancing army.
Now fully armed, Macbeth confidently turns all his scorn on the advancing armies, only to find his brave
rhetoric interrupted by an offstage shriek. The queen is dead — whether by her own hand is not made clear
— and Macbeth is left to contemplate a lonely future of endless tomorrows "signifying nothing." Yet another
blow comes with the announcement that Birnam Wood appears to have uprooted itself and is even now
advancing towards Dunsinane. Again Macbeth recalls the prophecies of Act IV, sure of, but still wishing to
deny, their powerful truth.

Malcolm and his troops have reached Dunsinane under the "leafy screens" of the branches, thus fulfilling the
prophecy of the apparitions: Birnam wood has come to Dunsinane.

In a scene that foreshadows the final destruction of a tyrant in single combat, Macbeth is challenged by the
courageous son of Siward. Immediately afterwards, Macduffis seen eagerly seeking out the man who was
responsible for the murder of his family. Lastly, it is announced that Macbeth's forces have surrendered
Dunsinane castle. But the business is not yet finished.

On another part of the battlefield, Macbeth and Macduff finally come face to face. Words, then sword thrusts
are exchanged, and Macbeth, the bloody and tyrannical usurper of the throne of Scotland, meets his
predestined end.

In the freshly taken castle of Dunsinane, events move to their natural conclusion. With the tyrant dead and
war honors duly acknowledged, Malcolm is proclaimed by all the assembled thanes to be the new king of
Scotland.

 Video #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-PKotyoxys

 Video #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkBp-2fAbiU
 Three Apparitions from Act 4: https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-3-apparitions-in-
macbeth.html
 King Duncan: https://study.com/academy/lesson/king-duncan-in-macbeth-character-analysis-
murder-quotes.html
 Malcolm: https://study.com/academy/lesson/malcolm-in-macbeth-traits-character-analysis-
quotes.html
 Macduff: https://study.com/academy/lesson/macduff-in-macbeth-traits-character-analysis-
monologue.html
 The Witches: https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-witches-in-macbeth-quotes-analysis-
prophecy.html and https://study.com/academy/lesson/double-double-toil-and-trouble-meaning-
lesson-quiz.html
 Lady Macbeth: https://study.com/academy/lesson/lady-macbeth-quotes-character-analysis-
quiz.html
 Birman Wood: https://study.com/academy/lesson/birnam-wood-quote-meaning-in-macbeth-lesson-
quiz.html
 Comic: http://goodticklebrain.com/shakespeare-index/#/macbeth/

Themes / Symbols / Motifs

Themes Motifs Symbols
  Death  Washing of Hands  Dagger (leading to
 Ambition  Blood Duncan’s room)
 Judging by Appearances  Prophecies  Banquo’s Ghost
 Guilt  Natural vs. Supernatural  3 Apparitions
 Manhood/Masculinity  Madness
 Free Will vs. Destiny
 Nature

Things to Think About…

1) Character Development: How was Macbeth changed from Act 1 to Act 5? What are key events in his
development?
2) I recommend going through the class notes from each Act and highlighting important quotations, plot
events, and character connections.
3) Think about the role of the supernatural in the play
4) Think about the role of nature in the play