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Comprehension and Analysis Questions On Macbeth Acts 1-5
Comprehension and Analysis Questions On Macbeth Acts 1-5
ACT 1:
1. What is the weather like at the beginning of the play? Use direct
quotations.
2. Witches: “When the ………..….. done, / When the ………..…. lost, and
…………”
3. What does “fair is foul, and foul is fair” suggest about Macbeth? Can you
link this to any other characters or themes within the play?
4. Who reports the victory to King Duncan? What is wrong with this man?
Why is his current state significant? What three important things do we
learn about macbeth’s character?
5. There are 3 enemies mentioned in Scene 2. One is the Thane of Cawdor
who is a traitor (‘most disloyal traitor’). Who are the other 2?
6. What animals are Macbeth and Banquo likened to, when their bravery is
being described to King Duncan?
7. Banquo to the Witches: “You should be women, / And yet your ……….
….. Forbid me to interpret / That you are so.”
8. ‘Speak if you can: what are you?’- what do we learn about the impression
that the witches have had on Macbeth from the way in which he
addresses them?
9. What is Banquo’s comment on Macbeth’s attitude when they first meet
the witches?
10.When Macbeth first considers murdering Duncan, what happens to his
hair and his heart?
11.What paradoxical remark do the witches make to Banquo?
12.What does Banquo refer to the witches as on discovering that Macbeth
has been made Thane of Cawdor?
13.‘But tis strange/ And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,/ The instruments
of darkness tell us truths’. What does Banquo’s remark about the witches
tell us about him? Consider in what ways he is different to Macbeth and
why this is significant.
14.What does King Duncan say in Act 1, sc 4 which suggests that you
cannot trust a man’s appearance?
15.What does King Duncan call Macbeth on his arrival in Act 1, Scene 4?
16.What is Macbeth’s reaction to Duncan naming Malcolm, ‘Prince of
Cumberland’?
17.What does Macbeth address Lady Macbeth as in his letter to her? Why
might this use of nomination (the name that you give somebody) be
significant?
18.What does Lady Macbeth fear about Macbeth’s nature? Use a direct
quotation.
Comprehension and Analysis Questions on Macbeth
ACT 2:
1. What metaphor does Banquo use in Scene 1 to describe the stars?
2. In Scene 1, when Banquo asks ‘Who’s there?’, what does Macbeth reply?
3. What would James I potentially been displeased with in Macbeth’s
closing lines of Act 2, Scene 1? ‘The bell invites me/ Hear it not, Duncan,
for it is a knell/ That summons thee to heaven or to hell.’
4. What quotation suggests that Lady Macbeth has been drinking in Scene
2?
5. What did Lady Macbeth hear whilst Macbeth was killing Duncan?
6. What could Macbeth not say in response to the chamberlains’ plea to him
just before he murdered them? (*chamberlains is the correct term for
those killed who were guarding Duncan’s bedroom)
7. Why is it significant that he could not say this?
8. What does Macbeth do with the daggers after killing the chamberlains?
How does Lady Macbeth respond to this and what does she do with
them?
9. What does Macbeth wish that the knocking could do in the final line of
this scene?
10.The porter ‘But this place is too…………………..
for……………………’ What is the significance of this line?
11.What are the three things which the porter says that drink provokes?
12.Who discovers Duncan’s body? What is the significance of this character
being unable to report to Lennox and Macbeth what has happened?
13.When Lady Macbeth first learns that Duncan has been killed, what she
seem primarily concerned about, which Banquo’s response seems to pick
up on?
14.What is the reason that Macbeth gives for killing the chamberlains?
15.Why do Malcolm and Donalbain decide to flee for England and Ireland?
16.Who doesn’t go to scone for Macbeth’s coronation? Where does he go
instead?
17.What three unnatural occurrences are mentioned by the Old Man and
Ross in Scene 4?
18.After Duncan’s murder, there are numerous references to God. Why do
you think this is? Consider who makes these references (and who
doesn’t) and why this might be significant.
Comprehension and Analysis Questions on Macbeth
Act 3
Act 4
1. What is significant about the weather at the beginning of Act 4 Scene 1?
2. What are the witches doing in this scene and what is the significance of
the number ‘three’?
3. What does ‘Double, double, toil and trouble; / Fire burn and cauldron
bubble’ mean? Why is it spoken three times?
4. What is the purpose of the cauldron?
5. What is Hecate’s response to the witches’ potions? Include a quotation.
6. How do the witches know Macbeth is coming?
7. What are the three apparitions? What do each of them represent?
8. What does Macbeth feel after leaving the witches? Why? Include a
quotation.
9. What does Macbeth decide to do at the end of this scene and why?
Include a quotation.
10.Where does Act 4 Scene 2 take place?
11.Choose a quotation which shows that Lady Macduff is angry at her
husband. Analyse a key word.
12.What quotation illustrates that Lady Macduff is maternal?
13.What happens at the end of scene 2? What has changed about Macbeth’s
murders?
14.What does Malcolm mean when he says:
“What I believe I'll wail,
Act 5
Comprehension and Analysis Questions on Macbeth
2. How is her hand-washing symbolic and what does it contrast with from
earlier in the play? Include a quotation.
3. What does the doctor imply in lines 71-79? What does he think Lady
Macbeth needs more than a doctor? What is his reaction to hearing Lady
Macbeth?
8. Write out lines 23-27 and explain their meaning and significance.
12.In scene 8, what does Macduff tell Macbeth about the former’s birth?