Download Macbeth Act II Name____________________Date

Macbeth
Act II
Name____________________Date __________________
USE THE NOTES IN THE BOOK AND YOUR VOCABULARY SHEETS TO HELP YOU!
Scene 1
1. Who are the characters in this first scene? Who is Fleance?
2. An anachronism is something or someone from a different period of time; for example, soccer
game being played during the Stone Age. What anachronism can you find in the introduction to this
scene?
3. What does Banquo refer to when he says, “The candles are all out” (7). What figure of speech is
this?
4. Why doesn’t Banquo want to go to sleep, even though he is tired?
5. Who enters the scene? What does Banquo give him?
6. Whom has Banquo dreamt about? Why does Macbeth lie in response?
7. Macbeth asks Banquo for his continued support in the future. How does Banquo respond? What
does this tell us about his character? What can you predict from this?
8. Visions, hallucinations, and ghosts are frequent motifs in Macbeth that symbolize the internal
conflict plaguing various characters in the play, as well as reveal some awful trait about them. What
hallucination/vision does Macbeth experience? What does this tell us about his character and his
internal conflict?
9. Envision this scene and, on a piece of paper, draw and colour what Macbeth sees in front of him.
Base your drawing on Shakespeare’s description (44-60).
10. What signal spurs (drives) Macbeth to action?
11. Who is Hecate?
12. What classical tyrant does Shakespeare allude to?
Scene 2
13. As Lady Macbeth enters, she speaks of her boldness. What has made her so bold? What does
she imagine is happening as she hears the owl? What does the owl symbolize here? What literary
device is the word shrieking?
14. Macbeth is still in the king’s chamber and cries out. What does Lady Macbeth fear has
happened? Why is she afraid for Macbeth and herself?
15. Why was Lady Macbeth not able to kill Duncan herself?
16. Why does Macbeth say, “This is a sorry sight.” (infer)
17. What did the guards do before going back to sleep? What word could Macbeth not say with
them? Why not? Why does it bother him so much?
18. What literary device is used in Lady Macbeth’s lines, “These deeds must not be thought/After
these ways; so, it will make us mad.” (45-46)
19. What does Macbeth believe he heard a voice shout as he assassinated the king?
20. What is ominous about Macbeth’s raving in
Still it cried “Sleep no more!” to all the house.
“Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore
Cawdor
Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more.”
What word is repeated over and over? Why?
21. What has Macbeth forgotten to do with the daggers? Why is this important to do?
22. What does Macbeth now refuse to do? Why?
23. What is Lady Macbeth’s reaction to her husband’s refusal?
24. What is the effect of the hyperbole Macbeth uses in lines 76-81?
25. How does Lady Macbeth insult her husband when she returns?
26. What does Macbeth’s last line in the scene indicate?
Act 3
27. How does the mood change with the porter’s (gatekeeper’s) speech? How is the style different
from that of the other character’s lines?
28. Who is at the gate?
29. Who is Beelzebub? What would be a modern version of “in the name of Beelzebub!”
30. What does the porter say they were all doing till late at night? What time did they go to bed?
31. What are the effects of drinking too much alcohol, according to the porter? (What sexual jokes
does he make?
32. What literary device does Shakespeare use in the phrase “joyful trouble” (line 53)?
33. What does Lennox say about the weather the night before? Remember that the weather is a
symbol – what unnatural occurrences took place? What does this dreadful weather reflect?
34. Why does MacDuff refer to the king’s murder as a “sacrilegious” act?
35. Describe a Gorgon. What power did a Gorgon have?
36. Where is the irony in Macduff’s lines to Lady Macbeth:
O gentle lady,
‘Tis not for you to hear what I can speak.
The repetition in a woman’s ear
Would murder as it fell.
37. Read Macbeth’s speech to Lennox and Ross – lines 107-112. Do you think he is being sincere in
this speech? What do you think Macbeth means when he says, “All is but toys. Renown and grace is
dead”?
38. What metaphor does Macbeth use to tell Donalbain and Malcolm that their father is dead? (Quote
the lines)
39. What does Lennox say that makes the reader believe that he might be suspicious of the crime
scene he has just witnessed? What does Banquo say later in the scene which indicates further
distrust?
40. How did Macbeth make sure the chamberlains would not talk? Why does Macduff ask him why he
did that?
40. What is the reaction of Duncan’s sons to their father’s death? What do they decide to do? Is this a
wise move in your opinion? Why or why not? What might have they done instead?
Scene 4
41. How many years are “threescore and ten” (line 1)?
42.What do Ross and the old man discuss? What are some of the events that have occurred? Why
does Shakespeare employ these kinds of images (what do they reflect)?
43. Why has Macbeth gone to Scone?
44. Macduff does not go to Scone. What might this tell the reader of his feelings about Macbeth?
45. What does the very last line the Old Man utters remind us of (think of the witches)?
27. Where does the king’s party (group of men) plan to go to spend the night?
28. How does Macbeth further show how sinister he is?
Scene 5
29. Summarize briefly what Macbeth tells his wife in his letter.
30. How would you describe Lady Macbeth’s character from what she says after reading Macbeth’s
letter? Use several STRONG adjectives in your description.
31. Lady Macbeth repeats the words “that” and “it” over and over again in her soliloquy. Why are the
two words ambiguous? To what does each word refer?
32. Look at Lady Macbeth’s famous invocation to the spirits (47-61). How would you describe her
character further? Does she show any evidence of tenderness?
33. Why does Lady Macbeth beg the spirits, “unsex me here/And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull/Of direst cruelty (48-50)? What does tell us of her opinion of manhood and masculinity (being
male)?
34. What metaphors and similes does Lady Macbeth use as she tries to rouse her husband to action
and give him courage (lines 73-82)?
35. What do the Macbeths plan to do? Which of them is more in control of the situation? How would
you compare the two characters thus far?
Scene 6
36. Where is the irony in Duncan’s lines at the beginning of this scene? (1-3)
37. How does Lady Macbeth greet the king and Banquo?
Scene 7
38. Macbeth is hesitant to kill Duncan. Does he have a conscience? What reasons does he give for
not killing the king? (2-25)
39. What lines in Macbeth’s soliloquy foreshadow the guilt a murderer feels?
40. What is Macbeth’s tragic flaw? (What is the only “good” reason Macbeth can come up with to kill
the king?)
41. What decision has Macbeth made that enrages his wife when they next speak?
42. What insults does Lady Macbeth use to spur her husband to continue with their plan?
43. What imagery does Lady Macbeth use that further shows how cruel she can be if she has sworn
to do something? (62-67)
44. Why does Macbeth tell his wife, “Bring forth men-children only,/For thy undaunted mettle should
compose/Nothing but males”. (83-85) What does this add to the theme of manhood linked with
insensitivity and cruelty?
45. What is Lady Macbeth’s plan? Does her husband agree to it?