Macbeth Study Questions
ACT I

Scene 1:

1) The play opens with thunder and lightning as the three witches enter.  What does this tell us about the mood of the play?  What do the witches symbolize beyond just superstition?  Do you really believe that they are witches?





2) What doe the witches mean when they say, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”?  What does this tell you about what is likely to go on during the play?





3) How can a battle be “Lost and won”?  What foreshadow might this set-up?  What is the real battle in this play?





4) Graymalkin and Paddock are familiars (a cat and a toad).  What does this suggest about the action of the play?  What might they symbolize?



Scene ii

1) What does the bloody man report?




2) Why is Macdonwald a worthy rebel?





3) What similes or metaphors does the captain (the bloody man) use to describe Macbeth and Banquo?  What is significant about these descriptions?







4)  “Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, or memorize another Golgotha.”  What is the allusion?  What is significant about the statement?   What does it suggest?  Please keep in mind the religious/superstitious images/symbols already presented.







5) Who was Scotland fighting?


Scene iii

1) Why do the witches talk in poetry?



2) What do the witches predict for Macbeth?  What is the dramatic irony involved?





3) What do they witches predict for Banquo?  What irony is involved in this promise?





4) What is your first impression of Macbeth in scenes ii-iii?  What is your first impression of Banquo?



5) How do Macbeth and Banquo differ in their reactions to the witches predictions?  What does this tell us about their characters?





6) What message does Ross bring?



7) “But ‘tis strange!  And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray us in deepest consequence.”  Who speaks the above quote?  What is the significance or meaning of the quote?





Scene iv

1) What is Malcolm’s description of Cawdor’s execution?



2) What is the King’s response to this description?



3) Who does the King name as his successor?  How does Macbeth react to this information?




4)  “Stars hide your fires!  Let not light see my black and deep desires.  The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.”  Who speaks this quote and what is the significance of it?