Part A Identify Value 10

You will not be expected to answer all of these questions on your test, but you should be prepared nonetheless.

  1. Why is thunder given as a stage direction when the witches appear?
  2. “So foul and fair a day I have not seen” – what theme does this statement underline, and how?
  3. What are Macbeth’s first three prophecies?
  4. Explain Banquo’s prophecies. What do they mean?
  5. What is the “horrid image doth unfix my hair”?
  6. What type of literary device is the “poison’d chalice”, and what does it mean?
  7. How does Macbeth feel about Lady Macbeth’s “masculine” qualities? What does he say that demonstrates this?
  8. Why does Macbeth hallucinate a dagger?
  9. How does the porter speak? (verse, prose, or rhyming couplets) What does this mean?
  10. Define paradox, soliloquy, and catharsis.
  11. When the first murderer, before attacking Banquo, says “The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day”, why is this significant?
  12. What two things does the motif of the supernatural serve to emphasize?
  13. How does Malcolm trick Macduff to ensure that he is trustworthy?
  14. How is Macduff a teacher to Malcolm, in a way?
  15. Quote a line that demonstrates how Macbeth feels life has become meaningless. Include the act and scene number.

Part B Quotes Value 15

For each of the following quotes provide the speaker and context, explain its significance in terms of plot, character, theme and / or symbol. Be sure to indicate and explain any figurative language if necessary. Each answer will be about ½ page in length. An example has been provided. On the test, you will be asked to explain 3 quotes from a choice of 6 provided.

Quote One(this quote will be explained at the end of the review and should serve as a guideline for your answers)

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
In deepest consequence.
Quote Two
Come you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood,
Stop up the access and passage to remorse
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers.
Quote Three
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases,
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which being taught return
To plague the inventor; this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison’d chalice
To our own lips.
Quote Four
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
Quote Five
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me
Without my stir.
Quote Six
Here lay Duncan.
His silver skin laced with his golden blood.
And his gash’d stabs look’d like a breach in nature

Quote Seven

I am in blood

Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more,

Returning were as tedious as going o’er

Quote Eight

The time is free

Part C Short Essay Answer Value 10

Trace the development of one of the motifs / symbols or themes listed below. In doing so, be sure to provide a minimum of three well explained examples to support your ideas. The examples used must be drawn, chronologically, throughout the whole play

  1. The motif of time
  2. The motif of hands
  3. The motif of blood
  4. The theme of tyranny vs. kingship
  5. The theme of gender or manhood

Quote Explained

After Banquo and Macbeth have met the three witches in Act One, Scene Two and have listened to their three prophecies respectively, both are excited by what they have heard. They discuss them at some length. Eventually, Ross arrives and greets Macbeth with wonderful news. Duncan has named Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor and, thereby, fulfills the second prophecy. This makes both Macbeth and Banquo pause in thought. Is it possible that the prophecies may come true?Banquo eventually counsels Macbeth to be cautious regarding the witches and their prophecies. He warns Macbeth that the “instruments of darkness” often give us a hint of truth (Thane of Cawdor) in order to lead us astray.This quote is significant in terms of plot and character. Meeting the witches is the initial incident of the play. Without this meeting, there would be no play and the story would not develop. It is also significant to Macbeth’s character development. Banquo has a good head on his shoulders and realizes this truth about the witches. Macbeth, however, falls prey to the witches prophecies and suggestions because he is blinded by his ambition and the witches know this and manipulate him because of this. He starts the play as a respected and revered soldier and will eventually become a tyrant who murders needlessly.

Context SpeakerSignificance