| What is Lady Macbeth’s attendant worried about? | He is worried about what Lady Macbeth is doing when she is sleepwalking. Some of the things she is saying are suspicious. |
| Why might Lady Macbeth want a light by her at all times? | To ward off the darkness of the night that surrounds her. The darkness is a representation of death and evil. |
| What is happening to Lady Macbeth? | She is going insane from all of the sins she has committed. The attendant even said “She said something she shouldn’t have said, I’m sure of that. Heaven knows what secrets she’s keeping.” |
| Which themes are apparent in this scene? How? | Fate vs. Freewill: Lady Macbeth isn’t saying the things that she is of her own freewill. She also isn’t making the decision to sleep walk. However, by her doing these things the doctor and attendant are able to uncover some of the traitorous acts she and Macbeth have committed. Mental instability: During Lady Macbeth’s ramblings she talks about washing her hands of the never ending blood. There was no blood on her hands and she was sleepwalking with her eyes open but not seeing. Appearance vs. reality: All during Lady Macbeth’s sleep walk she acts upon things only she can see. She can see the blood on her hands but yet the doctor and the guy can’t. So what appears real to her isn’t real in reality. Gender roles: In the beginning Lady Macbeth was strong and determined to go through will the murder of king Duncan but now she’s sleepwalking and hallucinating. Now Macbeth and the characters watching her sleepwalk seem to be more in control and aware of what they’re doing. |
| What is the doctor learned so far from Lady Macbeth’s ramblings? | From Lady Macbeth’s ramblings the doctor has learned that she is partly responsible for the deaths of King Duncan and Banquo. |
| Summarize this scene (2) | Scottish lords discuss the current events taking place before war. They talk about how they’re going to be meeting up with more forces near Birnam Wood and that the tyrant(Macbeth) has fortified Dunsinane Castle. To them Macbeth has gone mad and is no longer in control of what he does. |
| Do you think Macbeth shares in his wife’s feelings of guilt? Support your answer. | No I don’t think Macbeth shares his wife’s feelings of guilt because when the doctor tells him of the sleeping terrors she has he immediately tells the doctor to cure her of whatever she has. If he had felt the guilt she had then he would have been more concerned and wouldn’t have ordered for her to be cured. |
| How is Macbeth feeling about himself when he talks to the doctor? | He’s feeling sure of himself “I’ll fight until they hack the flesh off my bones.” As Macbeth is told of his wife’s problems he becomes irritated and disregardful. |
| How does Macbeth’s opinion of himself contradict the doctor’s? | Macbeth is thinks that he’s confident, determined, and invincible compared to how the doctor sees him, which is doubtful, weak, and untrustworthy. This seen when the doctor says to himself “I wish I were far away from Dunsinane. You couldn’t pay me to come back here.” |
| How does Malcolm fulfill the prophecy? | He tells all of the soldiers to break off a branch from the Birnam Wood to carry with them to Dunsinane in order to conceal themselves. The prophecy would be that until the Birnam Wood moved to Dunsinane, Macbeth would be safe. Now that the Birnam Wood is “moving” to Dunsinane, Macbeth won’t be safe anymore. |
| What is Macbeth’s tragic flaw? | Macbeth’s tragic flaw is that he feels little emotions anymore including fear and is overconfident about his abilities. |
| Do you feel sorry for Macbeth here? | I don’t feel sorry for Macbeth here because he brought this on himself. He was given dozens of warnings about what was to come and yet he ignored all of them. |
| Summarize what happens in this scene (6) | Malcolm, Siward, and Macduff say goodbye to one another as they prepare to take their battle stations. |
| When Macbeth kills young Siward, how does he react? | He laughs and says that he isn’t frightened by swords because Siward was born from a women. |
| How is this scene a catastrophe? | Macbeth and Macduff fight. Macduff kills Macbeth. Young Siward is killed. |
| What do you think of Siward’s refusal to grieve over his son? | I understand why he refuses to grieve his son. Before they went to battle they all knew that they could die. They made peace with that before and now that young Siward is dead there is no reason to grieve much. Siward said that as long as his son died from wounds at his front he was proud of him. |
| Journal Question:Do you think Macbeth is a tragic hero? Give specific examples from the text that support your answer. | Any answer should be fine |
Macbeth Act 5 Questions
August 27, 2019