ENG2D Macbeth Test Review PackageI am looking for…

Knowledge: Thorough knowledge of subject contentThinking: Organized ideas, critical thinking, and analysis if applicable Communication: Ideas are communicated clearly, flow, are in logical order and use proper conventions – spelling, punctuation, etc. Application: Apply your knowledge from course content to these questions. Show your understanding by making connections if applicable.

Focus on...1. Characters2. Key lines3. Plot Development

Character AnalysisMacbeth

Scottish general ambitious enough to commit regicide to become king

A nobleman who murders Duncan, the King in order to seize his throne. Once he becomes king, he quickly becomes a tyrant and is killed. The play charts the progression of evil as it overtakes his character.

Seyton = Lieutenant to Macbeth

Lady Macbeth

Macbeth’s wife; ambitious; later remorseful

At the beginning of the play she is the ambitious, cold-hearted one, urging Macbeth to follow his ambitions through murder. Eventually, though, she succumbs to feelings of guilt and regret.

Witches / Weird Sisters

Predict Macbeth’s ambitions will soon come true; later predict his downfall

These supernatural figures offer deceptive predictions that serve to ignite Macbeth’s evil intentions.

Banquo

General, murdered by hired killers

Another nobleman, Banquo also receives a favorable prediction from the witches, but he refuses to take action to see that destiny fulfilled.

Fleance = Banquo’s son who flees when Banquo is murdered. Because he lives, Macbeth fears that Banquo’s line will fulfill the witches’ prophecy by becoming king

King Duncan

King of Scotland Trusting and naïve, Duncan

never suspects that Macbeth and his wife are plotting his death. He misreads both of them, just as he had misinterpreted the treacherous Thane of Cawdor.

Father to Malcolm and Donalbain

- Lennox = Nobleman, loyal to Duncan

Malcolm

Duncan’s eldest son and heir, Malcolm is everything a king should be: virtuous, pious, chaste, modest, and loyal.

Prince of Cumberland Flees to England to plan an

invasion on Scotland

Macduff

General, dedicated to the good of Scotland

An honorable lord, Macduff opposes Macbeth and supports Malcolm as the new king, but only after determining that the price is worthy.

- Ross is Macduff’s cousin

- Siward & Young Siward = English Earl and his son are Macbduff’s supporters. Young Siward bravely faces Macbeth in the last Act, but is killed in battle.

Dramatic irony is created in a specific scene on stage, when the audience knows something one (or more) of the characters does not know as the scene plays out. Students should identify moments of dramatic irony and explain how these moments heighten tension.

Soliloquy (In a nutshell) A speech in which a character, alone on the stage, expresses his

thoughts aloud The soliloquy is the act of talking to oneself, silently or aloud. In drama, it denotes

the convention by which a character, by himself or herself on stage, utters his thoughts out loud so that the audience may “overhear.” Elizabethan dramatists in particular used this devise as a convenient way to convey to the audience information about a principal character’s thoughts, motives, and state of mind, as well as for purposes of general exposition (necessary background and antecedent action).

In a soliloquy, the speaker believes himself or herself to be alone. The soliloquist thus reveals his or her inner thought and feelings to the audience, either in supposed self-communion or in a consciously direct address.

Five Act StructureAct 1: Exposition

A war is ending. The Scottish general, Macbeth, and his faithful friend, Banquo, have emerged victorious. However, three witches have brewed an evil plot against Macbeth and when they meet him, they tell him that he will be King! “We shall tell Macbeth he will be Thane and King! As for Banquo, he will have kings!”

Act 2: Rising Action

Macbeth and his wife kill the King and take the throne. They go on a tyrannical killing spree. The action rises as the audience sees how ambitious Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have become. “How can I be king someday?”“Macbeth, we had to Kill King Duncan, and we will have to kill others to keep our place on the throne!”

Act 3: Climax Macbeth holds a banquet and sees the ghost of Banquo (whom Macbeth had killed). Lady Macbeth becomes mentally unstable, and the couple begins to fear the consequences of their murderous deeds.

Act 4: Falling Action

A rebellion is instigated by Macduff to restore the throne to Duncan’s exiled son. Macbeth learns another set of prophecies from the witches and begins to think he will be saved.

Act 5: Conclusion

The three witches’ predictions come true, and the castle is stormed. Macbeth is killed.

The below summaries are from SparkNotes.

Summary of Acts 1, 2 and 3As the play begins, three witches gather in a stormy field, planning to meet Macbeth, as he returns from an important battle. Macbeth is a Thane—one of the lords that serve the king of Scotland, Duncan. At the military camp of King Duncan, a soldier describes the defeat of another Scottish lord—the traitorous Thane of Cawdor—by Macbeth. Duncan announces that, as a reward for his valor, Macbeth will receive Cawdor’s title and property in addition to the territory he already rules, Glamis.

While traveling to the king’s camp, Macbeth and another lord, Banquo, encounter the witches. They hail Macbeth as Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, and tell him he “shalt be King hereafter.” They also prophesy that Banquo will be the father of kings.

The witches disappear, and Banquo and Macbeth are greeted by two other noblemen, who announce that Duncan has appointed Macbeth the new Thane of Cawdor. Later, Duncan thanks Banquo and Macbeth for their loyalty and announces his intention to make his son Malcolm his heir. Macbeth hints at the evil actions he may take to secure the throne for himself.

Macbeth’s wife receives a letter from her husband that describes the prophecy of the witches. She fears that he will not have the courage to do what’s required to seize the throne. When Macbeth arrives, Lady Macbeth urges him to put on a pleasant face for Duncan, who will soon arrive at their castle.

The king arrives and is welcomed by Lady Macbeth. Alone, Macbeth wonders whether he can commit murder to gain his ambitions. He is joined by Lady Macbeth, who chastises him. She tells him her plan: she will get the king’s attendants drunk, Macbeth will murder Duncan, and they will blame the act on the attendants. As Lady Macbeth takes wine into the king’s chamber, Macbeth sees a bloody dagger that leads him into the room to commit the murder.When Duncan’s murder is discovered, Lady Macbeth faints, and Macbeth kills the attendants. Duncan’s sons Malcolm and Donalbain suspect foul play and flee the country.

In Malcolm’s absence, Macbeth takes the throne, and Banquo wonders whether the new king was involved in Duncan’s death. Fearing these suspicions—as well as the witches’ prediction that Banquo will be the father of kings—Macbeth sends a trio of assassins to kill his loyal friend. The assassins succeed, but Banquo’s son Fleance escapes. Later, Macbeth hosts a banquet, where he sees Banquo’s bloody ghost. Meanwhile, one of the noblemen, Macduff, rejects Macbeth’s authority and flees to England.

Macbeth seeks out the witches to learn more about his fate.

Act 4 Review

Act 4, Scene 1Macbeth returns to the Weird Sisters and boldly demands to be shown a series of apparitions that tell his future. The first apparition is the disembodied head of a warrior who seems to warn Macbeth of a bloody revenge at the hands of Macduff. The second is a blood-covered child who comforts Macbeth with the news that he cannot be killed by any man "of woman born." The third is a child wearing a crown, who promises that Macbeth cannot lose in battle until Birnam wood physically moves toward his stronghold at Dunsinane.Encouraged by the news of such impossibilities, Macbeth asks, "Shall Banquo's issue ever reign in this kingdom?" The Witches present an image of a ghostly procession of future kings, led by Banquo. All this serves only to enrage Macbeth, who, trusting in his own pride, reveals in an aside to the audience his determination to slaughter the family of Macduff.

Act 4, Scene 2In Macduff's castle in Fife, Lady Macduff comforts and is comforted by her young son, who displays a courage beyond his years when confronted with the possibility that his father has turned traitor. Although warned by the Thane of Ross to escape before it is too late, Lady Macduff is encountered by Macbeth's henchmen, who brutally kill first her child and (as the audience learns in the following scene) her.

Act 4, Scene 3In England, Duncan's son Malcolm tests the loyalty of his newest recruit, Macduff. By demeaning his own nobility and professing himself to be a greater tyrant than Macbeth, Malcolm hopes to goad Macduff into an open display of his loyalties. This attempt at reverse psychology has its desired effect. Macduff is thrown into a fit of anger against the "untitled tyrant" Macbeth, and Malcolm enlists his help in the struggle. When Ross appears with news of the slaughter of Macduff's family, Macduff is finally convinced not only to engage in the rebel army but also to take personal revenge upon Macbeth. This scene also includes a passage in which it is reported that England's king, Edward the Confessor, has provided more than political aid to Malcolm; he has been healing the sick by supernatural means.

Act 5 ReviewLady Macbeth has gone mad. Like her husband, she cannot find any rest, but she is suffering more clearly from a psychological disorder that causes her, as she sleepwalks, to recall fragments of the events of the murders of Duncan, Banquo, and Lady Macduff. These incriminating words are overheard by the Doctor and a lady-in-waiting.

Four lords of Scotland — Lennox, Menteth, Angus, and Caithness — resolve to join Malcolm and the English forces, who have by now marched into Scotland and are

encamped at Birnam Wood, not far from Macbeth's stronghold at Dunsinane.

Macbeth dismisses reports of invasion by trusting to the prophecies of the apparitions, which seemed to promise him invincibility in battle. When a servant enters to announce the approach of a huge army, Macbeth appears momentarily to lose courage and then angrily spurns his servant and orders his armor to be put on. The Doctor, whose news concerning Lady Macbeth is just as grim, is treated with similar contempt.The English and rebel Scottish armies, under the leadership of Malcolm, meet at Birnam Wood. With military foresight, Malcolm orders each soldier to cut a branch and carry it in front of him as camouflage "to shadow the numbers of our host" — that is, to conceal the actual size of the advancing army.Now fully armed, Macbeth confidently turns all his scorn on the advancing armies, only to find his brave rhetoric interrupted by an offstage shriek. The queen is dead — whether by her own hand is not made clear — and Macbeth is left to contemplate a lonely future of endless tomorrows "signifying nothing." Yet another blow comes with the announcement that Birnam Wood appears to have uprooted itself and is even now advancing towards Dunsinane. Again Macbeth recalls the prophecies of Act IV, sure of, but still wishing to deny, their powerful truth.

Malcolm and his troops have reached Dunsinane under the "leafy screens" of the branches, thus fulfilling the prophecy of the apparitions: Birnam wood has come to Dunsinane.

In a scene that foreshadows the final destruction of a tyrant in single combat, Macbeth is challenged by the courageous son of Siward. Immediately afterwards, Macduffis seen eagerly seeking out the man who was responsible for the murder of his family. Lastly, it is announced that Macbeth's forces have surrendered Dunsinane castle. But the business is not yet finished.

On another part of the battlefield, Macbeth and Macduff finally come face to face. Words, then sword thrusts are exchanged, and Macbeth, the bloody and tyrannical usurper of the throne of Scotland, meets his predestined end.

In the freshly taken castle of Dunsinane, events move to their natural conclusion. With the tyrant dead and war honors duly acknowledged, Malcolm is proclaimed by all the assembled thanes to be the new king of Scotland.

Video #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-PKotyoxys Video #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkBp-2fAbiU Three Apparitions from Act 4: https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-3-

apparitions-in-macbeth.html King Duncan: https://study.com/academy/lesson/king-duncan-in-macbeth-

character-analysis-murder-quotes.html Malcolm: https://study.com/academy/lesson/malcolm-in-macbeth-traits-

character-analysis-quotes.html Macduff: https://study.com/academy/lesson/macduff-in-macbeth-traits-

character-analysis-monologue.html

The Witches: https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-witches-in-macbeth-quotes-analysis-prophecy.html and https://study.com/academy/lesson/double-double-toil-and-trouble-meaning-lesson-quiz.html

Lady Macbeth: https://study.com/academy/lesson/lady-macbeth-quotes-character-analysis-quiz.html

Birman Wood: https://study.com/academy/lesson/birnam-wood-quote-meaning-in-macbeth-lesson-quiz.html

Comic: http://goodticklebrain.com/shakespeare-index/#/macbeth/

Themes / Symbols / MotifsThemes Motifs Symbols

Death Ambition Judging by

Appearances Guilt Manhood/

Masculinity Free Will vs.

Destiny Nature

Washing of Hands Blood Prophecies Natural vs.

Supernatural Madness

Dagger (leading to Duncan’s room)

Banquo’s Ghost 3 Apparitions

Things to Think About…

1) Character Development: How was Macbeth changed from Act 1 to Act 5? What are key events in his development?

2) I recommend going through the class notes from each Act and highlighting important quotations, plot events, and character connections.

3) Think about the role of the supernatural in the play4) Think about the role of nature in the play