Tragedy; drama ending with downfall or death of the main character | What type of play is Macbeth and what is the definition of this type of play? |
Lead to the downfall of the protagonists; his unchecked ambition | What is the tragic flaw? What is Macbeth’s tragic flaw? |
Scotland; 11th century | What is the setting of the play? |
The feeling or emotion of the play; sinister or ominous | What is mood? What is the mood of this play? |
Reoccurring theme, image, event, element of a work of literature; 1. Appearance versus reality 2. great chain of being 3. Blood 4. Masculinity 5. Sleepless | What is a motif? List the motifs in the play? |
Wyrd sisters; wyrd=fate | What are the three which is known as? What is the significance of this nickname? |
Foreshadowing | What role do the witches serve in the play? |
Good is bad, bad is good; paradox | What does “fair is foul, and foul is fair” literally mean? What literary device is this? |
King Duncan’s Palace | What is forres? |
Macdonalwald; he kills the traitor | What is the name of the traitor whom the Captain speaks of? What did Macbeth do to this traitor? |
Kinsmen | What is Macbeth’s relationship to King Duncan? |
Norwegian | Who has the scots been fighting in this battle? |
Captains | What rank in the Scottish army do Macbeth and Banquo hold? |
Scottish title of nobility | Define “thane” |
Go pronounce the thane of cawdors death and greet Macbeth with his former title | What does King Duncan tell Ross to do? |
He won the battle but there was bad weather and many casualties. Ironic because the witches use the same phrase | So foul and fair a day I have not seen is a reference to? What is the dramatic irony of this? |
Choppy fingers, skinny lips, beards | Physical appearances of the witches |
He will be Thane of Glemis, Thane of Cawdor, and the King; at first he was scarred and afraid but eventually became obsessive | What 3 prophecies do the witches are regarding Macbeth? How does he react? |
He is already Thane of Cawdor, but does not know it yet | How is there dramatic irony in the witches second prophecy for Macbeth? |
Lesser than Macbeth, yet greaterNot so happy, yet much happier Thou shall get kings, though thou be none | What do the witches see in the future for Banquo? List three paradoxes |
Macbeth is the Thane of Cawdor | As Banquo and Macbeth are discussing the prophecies, what news does Ross bring? |
The witches will break their trust; Macbeth thinks it’s good | How does Banquo feel about the witches prophecies, compared to Macbeth? |
He wants to murder Duncan to expedite the prophecy | What does Macbeth’s aside reveal about his thinking and his character? |
If fate wants him to be king, perhaps fate will make it happen and he won’t have to do angthin | After contemplating terrible thoughts, Macbeth resolves “if chance will have me King, why chance may crown me/without my stir”. What has Macbeth decided at this point |
He performed treason and was a traitor | Why was the old thane of Cawdor executed? |
Gullible and quick to trust | What does this reveal about Duncan’s personality that he fully trusted a traitor? |
They want to make Malcolm the heir to the throne. Macbeth said he wouldn’t be happy unless he worked for him | What news does the king announce about his eldest son Malcolm, and what is Macbeth’s reaction to the news? |
He will either have to overcome Malcolm or give up | In his last speech in the scene, what does Macbeth reveal? |
Inverness | What is the name of Macbeth’s castle? |
She doesn’t know if he has what it takes to seize the crown | after lady Macbeth finished reading the letter, what fear about her husband does she express? |
She was unprepared & became involved in the murder | How does the news about King Duncan’s expected arrival affect her? |
She wants to be as strong as a man | Why does Lady Macbeth pray to be unsexed? |
Act nice and welcoming, but under the fake was be evil & ready to attack | explain: “bear welcome in your eye/your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower/but be the serpent under it”? |
Dramatic irony | “This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air/ nimbly and sweetly recommends itself/ unto our gentle senses” what literary device? |
They owe Duncan and will do anything for him | What impression does Lady Macbeth make in this scene? |
1. Killing is wrong and someone might do the same to him2. He is his kinsmen3. He is a Host 4. The King is kind | After saying that if the deed is done it must be done quickly, list the 4 arguments Macbeth bides for not murdering Duncan |
Ambition is motivation him towards disaster | What does Macbeth decide before he speaks to Lady Macbeth? |
She asks if he is a man | What does Lady Macbeth say in an attempt to persuade her husband into committing murder? |
Get servants drunk until they pass out, then they can do whatever they want and blame it on the servant | What plan of action does Lady Macbeth devise? |
Blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter | In what meter is Macbeth mainly written? What is the definition |
Prose: writing with no definite rhythm or rhyme | In Shakespeare’s tragedies, characters of lower rank in society often speak in what style? What is the definition of this style, and why does Shakespeare write their dialogue in this way? |
Son of Banquo | Who is Fleance? |
The moon set and the clock hasn’t struck | What do Banquo and Fleance notice about the moon? What motif does this support? |
He doesn’t think of them; they lie and break trust easily | After Banquo admits to Macbeth “I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters:/ to you they have showed some truth,” what lie does Macbeth tell? What does this say about their relationship? |
A dagger–guilt | In his soliloquy after Banquo leaves, what does Macbeth tell us he sees? What could account for this apparition |
Guilth | How would you describe Macbeth’s mental/emotional state at this point? |
Put drugs in their liquor | What has lady Macbeth done to King Duncan’s servants? |
He reminded her of her father | Why does Lady Macbeth not commit the murder when she is in King Duncan’s room? |
She doesn’t want him to think about what he did because it will drive them crazy | Macbeth apperantly troubled by the murder he has just committed, tells lady Macbeth what he saw and heard. She tells him that “these deeds must not be thought” Why? |
She’s not worried, she has to go put the daggers and blood on the servants | In this scene, how does Lady Macbeth show herself to be stronger than her husband? What mistake of Macbeth’s does she have to remedy? |
Knocking | What do Lady Macbeth and Macbeth hear in this scene which increases the sense of urgency and tension in this scene? |
Drunk, he is making fun of hell and the people going there | The purpose of the porters scene is comic relief. Who is the porter? Describe his scene |
Macduff and Lennox; macduff | Who is at the door? Who, specifically, has been tasked with giving King Duncan a wake up call? |
The night was crazy, wind blew down chimneys, people heard cries of grief in the air, screams of death, and voices predicated catastrophes, owls made notices, earth shook | How does Lennox describe the previous night? What motif does this support? |
Macduff | Who is the first person to find the Kings body? |
Guards, Macbeth killed them | Who is suspected of the murder and what has happened to them? |
Kings sons; danger could strike them at anytime and they fleed | Who are Malcolm and Donalbain, what do they suspect, and what decision do they make? |
An owl killed a falcon, horses at each other, the Kings murder | What additional natural or unnatural events described by the Old Man further the motif of “crimes against nature” |
Malcolm and Donalbain because they left | Who is suspected of having hired the guards to kill Duncan? Why? |
To be crowned, Macbeth was next in line | Why has Macbeth gone to scone, and how did this happen to fall to Macbeth? |
Around 1606 & during King James I reign | What year was the play written and around whose reign? |
King James I because he was the patron | Who was the play written for and why? |
Kings Men | What is Shakespeare’s acting company? |
Its first showing at the globe | When and where did James I attend Macbeth? |
James VI of Scotland | What was James I of England’s former title? |
Scottish King/Setting, Scottish History, and witchcraft | What did Shakespeare include in his play to please the King? |
Witchcraft & wrote a book on it | What was James fascinated with? |
Executed them | What did James do to “witches” |
Known to be cursed | Why do people not call Macbeth by its name in the theatre? |
Scottish play | What is another name for Macbeth? |
Lady Macbeth collapsed in stage from fever and died before the play finished | What happened to a boy in the first performance of the play? |
Hecate, the goddess of witches, casting a spell on the play because her scene is often omitted in the performance of the play | What to people attribute the curse to? |
Reoccurring image, character, or theme throughout the work | What is a motif? |
Believed God created the world with a natural hierarchy with God at the top, then monarchy, and other humans | What is the belief in a great change of being? |
Seemingly contradictory statement that when examine further reveals a universal truth | What is a paradox? |
Occurs when full significance of a characters words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the characters (the audience know something the characters don’t) | What is dramatic irony? |
Extreme exaggeration | What is hyperbole? |
Reference to something most people are familiar with | What is allusion? |
Speaking directly to something dead, absent, imaginary, or abstract | What is apostrophe? |
End with downfall or death of protagonists or main character | What is a tragedy? |
Outstanding person of high rank who falls to their ruin | What is a tragic hero? |
Feature ordinary protagonists in conflicts that are resolved | What is comedy drama? |
Lines characters speak in conversation with eachother | What is dialogue? |
Long speeches delivered by one character | What is monologue? |
Private remarks to another character or to the audience that aren’t heard by other characters | What is an aside? |
Speeches voicing a characters inner thoughts, not heard by others | What is soliloquies? |
Instructions about setting, costumes, lightening, scenery, and props or objects | What are stage directions? |
Word pictures | What is imagery? |
Characters own struggles | What is an internal conflict? |
Unrhymed lines containing unstressed syllables | What is blank verse? |
Macbeth
September 2, 2019