Study Questions—ACT 5

Scene 1

1) What do the nurse (gentlewoman) and the doctor see?

They see Lady Macbeth sleepwalking, talking about the choices her husband has made.


2) What does Lady Macbeth mean when she says, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!...will these hands never be clean.”

She sees blood on her hands from killing Duncan and feels that her hands will never be clean from the sins she has committed.


3) What is wrong with Lady Macbeth at this point of the play?
Lady Macbeth has started to go crazy just like her husband because she feels so guilty about what they did.


Scene 2

1) What happens in this scene? What new characters are introduced? Why?

In this scene the soldiers are on their way to kill Macbeth and let Malcolm reign as king. Menteith, Caithness and Angus are soldiers introduced because they give us prospective of the soldiers.


2) What is the significance of the scene?

This scene tells what the soldiers are doing and who is leading them, as well as what everyone thinks of Macbeth.


3) What is meant when Caithness says, “Some say he’d mad; others that lesser hate him do call it valiant fury”? Some are saying Macbeth is crazy, but people who dont hate him as much call it brave anger.

Scene 3

1) How would you describe Macbeth’s attitude and mood in this scene?

He is trying to keep his cool, but calls for an army anyway and asks Seyton to get his armor because he is ready to fight.


2) Why isn’t Macbeth afraid? Do his soldier’s seem afraid? Why or why not?

Macbeth isn't afraid because the witches told him he could only be killed by someone not born from a mother or if they trees get up. So he's not worried because trees can't walk and everyone is born from a mother.


Scene 4

1) What does Malcolm order the soldiers to do?
He orders them to disguise themselves as trees, so that Macbeth thinks less men are coming.


Scene 5

1) What is meant when Macbeth says, “She should have died here-after”?

He is saying that she should have died after the battle was over so he would be able to mourn her.


2) What is the significant of the following quote, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is told no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.”
It's saying that life is an illusion and we all just go by the days slowly until we die and it means nothing.


Scene 6

1) What is important about this scene?
Malcolm gives the order for the soldiers to start the fight.


Scene 7

1) Who does Macbeth kill in this scene? What is significant about this death?
Macbeth kills the Siward's son. He was born of a woman so Macbeth thinks that what the witches said was true and he is free from harm.


Scene 8

1) What happens in this scene?

Macduff comes into the castle and kills Macbeth.


2) Why does Macbeth lose heart in the fight against Macduff?

Macduff wasn't born of a woman, he was delivered by C-section, so he can harm Macbeth.


3) Who is named king at the end of the play?

Malcolm

ACT 4 Questions

4.1

1) What are the four visions that Macbeth sees?
Four visions Macbeth sees are of a floating head, a bloody child, a crowned child with a tree, and eight kings.

2) Which visions does he misread or misunderstand and why?
He misreads the vision from the 3rd apparition because he believes that his time as ruler will come to an end when the forest moves in battle. To him this is good because the trees cannot move, so he will probably be king for the rest of his life.

3) What news does Lennox bring Macbeth?
Lennox informs Macbeth that Macduff fled to England.

4) What does Macbeth decide from Lennox’s news?
Macbeth decides that he will kill Macduff's family and anyone in the castle.

5) How might this scene be a possible climax for the play?
This could be the climax because earlier in the play the witches predicted Macbeth's future and he has just become greedier and greedier and will do anything to obtain greater power than he already has.

4.2

1) Why does Shakespeare include a scene with Lady Macduff and her son?
The scene is there to show us what happens to the lady and her son, but it also gives a look into their lives and how they feel about Macduff now.

2) What is important about this scene?
In this scene Lady Macduff tells her son that his father is a traitor because he left them, but he actually did it out of loyalty to the country. And then the son is murdered in a bloodbath.

3) List one motif or symbol from this scene?
A symbol from this is Lady Macduff comparing them to a bird, saying that she is now defenseless since Macduff is gone and she has to defend the eggs (the son).

4.3

1) Why has Macduff come to England?

To try to bring Malcolm back to stop Macbeth 

2) What is Malcolm’s fear in lines 10-19?

He's not sure he trusts Macduff, worried about a trap 

and he says that who is the King after Macbeth will be even worse, he's going to have all the bad traits that wouldnt make a good king

3) Who does the lamb represent in these lines?
The Lamb is representing Macduff. 

4) What is significant in the lines “Angles are bright still, though the brightest fell./Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace,/ yet grace must still look so.”

Macbeth is being compared to Satan.

5) What is significant in the line, “Bleed, bleed, pour country!”
It represents how people view Scotland under Macbeth's rule and they think that the country is suffering under his tyrannical rule. 

6) What does Malcolm call Macbeth? What list of adjectives does he use?

Malcolm says that he is worse than satan and calls him luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, 

7) How has Malcolm changed since Act II?

Malcolm says that he isn't worthy of being king, but he used to be a noble soldier who was fit to be king when his father died. Now he's just a scared little boy. 

8) What is the atmosphere of this scene? Why is this important?
At first it starts out hopeful because Macduff has a plan to stop Macbeth. The plan was to make Malcolm the king, but now since he said he doesn't want to be king because he fears being worse than the current one, they have no other plan. 

           
9) What news does the doctor bring? How is this symbolic to the scene, especially to Malcolm?

The doctor says that Macbeth is able to heal people because he is "god chosen" (idea of divine right) Symbolizes the right king needs to be in place, and Malcolm is worried about becoming king, and this guy is saying that Macbeth is doing alright.

10) How many men did England lend Macduff?

10,000 men

11) What does Macduff mean when he says, “But I must also feel it as a man.”

Macduff has to carry on and do what's right even though he feels bad about what happened to his family, he needs to be loyal to his country in this time of distress. 

ACT I Scenes 5-7 and ACT II sentence headlines

5. Lady Macbeth learns of what the witches told her husband and thinks up a plan to kill Duncan and asks spirits to "unsex" her so she can do so.

6. The King and his sons arrive at the Macbeth's castle where they are met by the lovely hostess Lady Macbeth.

7. Macbeth is second guessing whether or not he can go through with the crime, but his wife sets him straight and tells him to be a man.

1. Banquo and his son Fleance are at Macbeth's, he and Macbeth discuss the three witches and he hallucinates seeing a bloody dagger.

2. Lady Macbeth has drugged the King's guards and Macbeth is very disturbed after killing the King which keeps him from focusing on framing the guards.

3. The King's body has been discovered, Macbeth says he killed the guards because he was so mad at what they did and Lady Macbeth pretends to faint at the news; the king's sons flee to avoid potential danger.

4. Macduff has suspicions over what occurred at the Macbeth's castle and will not go to his coronation.

Avarice and Avaunt

The kings undying avarice eventually lead to his death because he took more than he could payback.

"Please avaunt, your presence is tiring," the mother said to her rambunctious, teenage daughter.