MACBETH ACT V STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS

Scene 1

  1. Why does the doctor call Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking “a perturbation of nature”?
  2. What does Lady Macbeth’s disturbed sleep represent?
  3. In ll. 31-39, which events and people does Lady Macbeth refer? What clues let you know?
  4. The doctor and the gentlewoman express pity of Lady Macbeth. Why does Shakespeare have them do this?
  5. Images of illness are used to represent evil. What does the doctor mean when he talks about “infected minds”? Why do these “infected minds” eventually “discharge their secrets”?

Scene 2

  1. Is Macbeth mad or does he possess a “valiant fury’? Explain your answer.
  2. The Scottish thanes talk of joining forces with Malcolm. Is Macbeth’s impending fall that of a tragic hero or is he a villain?

Scene 3

  1. Macbeth refers to two of the prophecies uttered by the apparitions, but he appears to forget the third. What prophecy does he neglect to mention?
  2. After King Duncan’s murder, Lady Macbeth chided her husband for wearing “a heart so white.” What similar imagery does Macbeth now use to rebuke his servant? How do Macbeth’s insulting remarks reveal his character?
  3. How do the dashes in Macbeth’s speech show his state of mind?
  4. What “disease” does Macbeth refer to in line 51? What is ironic about his metaphor?
  5. The doctor does not help Lady Macbeth and does not satisfy Macbeth. What is the purpose for him appearing in the play?

Scene 4

  1. As the camouflaged forces move on Dunsinane, how will they look to an observer on the battlements of the castle?
  2. Paraphrase the sentence, “Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate, / But certain issue strokes must arbitrate.”

Scene 5

15. What strategy is Macbeth planning to use?

16. What food imagery does Macbeth use in ll. 9-15? What is he saying?

17. How does Macbeth feel about his life as king?

18. What metaphors does Macbeth use for life? To which major theme of the play do these images relate?

19. What admirable quality does Macbeth display in lines 38-52?

Scene 6

20. In what way are the trumpets “clamorous harbingers of blood and death”?

Scene 7

21. Why does Macbeth still believe that no man born of woman can harm him---especially

after seeing how the first prophecy came true?

22. How does Macduff’s motivation to fight contrast with Macbeth’s?

Scene 8

23. What motivates Macbeth to say, “My soul is too much charged / With blood of thine

Already”?

24. Why might it be fitting for Macbeth to be tricked by “palter[ing] ...in a double sense”?

25. In what way do ll. 33-34, remind the audience of the hero’s potential for greatness, thus

arousing pity for a fallen hero?

26. Of Ross and Siward’s eulogies, which eulogy do you agree with and why?

27. Look at the Elements of Literature on p. 300. Given the definitions of a tragedy, is

Macbeth the typical tragic hero? Why or why not?