Macbeth Flashcards
All 118 cards in this deck
Which three titles do the witches greet Macbeth with in Act 1 Scene 3?
Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and king hereafter.
What do the witches prophesy for Banquo?
His descendants will be kings, though he will not be one.
Who tells Macbeth he has been made Thane of Cawdor?
Ross (with Angus), sent by Duncan, in Act 1 Scene 3.
Whom does Duncan name Prince of Cumberland in Act 1 Scene 4?
His eldest son, Malcolm, making him heir to the throne.
How does Lady Macbeth learn about the witches’ prophecies?
From a letter Macbeth sends her (Act 1 Scene 5).
Where is Duncan murdered?
In Macbeth’s castle at Inverness, where he is a guest.
How does Lady Macbeth make sure Duncan’s guards sleep through the murder?
She drugs their bedtime drinks (possets).
By her own account, what stopped Lady Macbeth killing Duncan herself?
He looked like her father as he slept.
Who takes the daggers back to Duncan’s chamber?
Lady Macbeth, who smears the sleeping grooms with blood.
Who discovers Duncan’s body?
Macduff, in Act 2 Scene 3.
Whom does Macbeth kill straight after Duncan’s body is found?
Duncan’s two chamberlains (grooms), claiming he acted in fury.
Where do Malcolm and Donalbain flee after the murder?
Malcolm to England; Donalbain to Ireland.
Whom does Macbeth hire murderers to kill in Act 3 Scene 1?
Banquo and his son, Fleance.
Who escapes when Banquo is murdered in Act 3 Scene 3?
Fleance, Banquo’s son.
Where does Banquo’s ghost appear?
At Macbeth’s banquet, sitting in Macbeth’s place (Act 3 Scene 4).
What are the three apparitions the witches show Macbeth in Act 4 Scene 1?
An armed head, a bloody child, and a crowned child holding a tree.
What does the first apparition, the armed head, warn Macbeth?
“Beware Macduff; / Beware the Thane of Fife.”
What does the second apparition, the bloody child, promise Macbeth?
That “none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth.”
What does the third apparition, the crowned child, promise Macbeth?
He won’t be beaten until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill.
What does Macbeth see after the three apparitions?
A show of eight kings (Banquo’s descendants), followed by Banquo’s ghost.
Whom does Macbeth have killed at Macduff’s castle in Fife?
Lady Macduff, her son and their household (Act 4 Scene 2).
How does Birnam Wood “come to” Dunsinane?
Malcolm’s soldiers each cut a bough and carry it as cover (Act 5 Scene 4).
Who kills Macbeth?
Macduff, who then brings in Macbeth’s head.
Who becomes king at the end of the play?
Malcolm, who will be crowned at Scone.
What is Duncan’s title?
King of Scotland.
What is Macbeth’s title at the start of the play?
Thane of Glamis; he is also a general in Duncan’s army.
How is Macbeth related to Duncan?
He is Duncan’s cousin (kinsman).
Who is Banquo?
A Scottish general who fights beside Macbeth; father of Fleance.
Who is Fleance?
Banquo’s son, who escapes Macbeth’s murderers.
What are the names of Duncan’s two sons?
Malcolm (the elder) and Donalbain.
What is Macduff’s title?
Thane of Fife.
Which nobleman stays away from Macbeth’s feast and flees to England?
Macduff.
Who is Lady Macduff?
Macduff’s wife, murdered with her son at Fife.
Which Scottish nobleman tells Macduff his family has been killed?
Ross.
Which nobleman, in Act 3 Scene 6, hints with irony that Macbeth is a murderer?
Lennox.
Who is Siward?
Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces and Malcolm’s uncle.
Who is Young Siward?
Siward’s son, killed by Macbeth in single combat.
Who is Hecate?
The goddess of witchcraft, who scolds the witches in Act 3 Scene 5.
Who is Seyton?
An officer serving Macbeth; he reports the Queen’s death.
Who is the Porter?
The gatekeeper at Inverness, who pretends to be the porter of hell gate.
Which English king shelters Malcolm?
Edward the Confessor, “the most pious Edward”.
Which character dreams of the three Weird Sisters in Act 2 Scene 1?
Banquo.
Which character tests Macduff’s loyalty by pretending to be wicked?
Malcolm, in Act 4 Scene 3.
Which two characters watch Lady Macbeth sleepwalk?
A Doctor and a Gentlewoman.
What does Lady Macbeth do when Macbeth describes killing the grooms?
She calls for help and is carried out (Act 2 Scene 3).
Ambition: what does Macbeth name as his only spur to kill Duncan?
“Vaulting ambition” (Act 1 Scene 7).
Ambition: whose “Thriftless ambition” does Ross blame for Duncan’s death?
Malcolm and Donalbain’s: their flight makes them suspects (Act 2 Scene 4).
Guilt: which character hallucinates a dagger before the murder?
Macbeth (Act 2 Scene 1).
Guilt: which character sleepwalks and tries to wash her hands clean?
Lady Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 1).
Guilt: which word can Macbeth not say after murdering Duncan?
“Amen”.
What does blood symbolise in Macbeth?
Guilt.
Sleep: besides Duncan, what does Macbeth say he has murdered?
Sleep: “Macbeth does murder sleep”.
Appearance and reality: which character says “There’s no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face”?
Duncan, about the traitor Cawdor (Act 1 Scene 4).
Masculinity: who asks Macbeth “Are you a man?” at the banquet?
Lady Macbeth (Act 3 Scene 4).
Masculinity: whom does Macbeth compare to breeds of dog to goad them into killing Banquo?
The murderers (Act 3 Scene 1).
Kingship: which king heals the sick with his touch?
King Edward of England (Act 4 Scene 3).
Kingship: who lists the “king-becoming graces”, such as justice and mercy?
Malcolm (Act 4 Scene 3).
Natural order: which bird kills a falcon after Duncan’s murder?
A “mousing owl” (Act 2 Scene 4).
Natural order: what do Duncan’s horses do after his murder?
Break out of their stalls, and are said to eat each other.
Equivocation: what does Macbeth call the witches’ riddling promises in Act 5 Scene 5?
“th’ equivocation of the fiend / That lies like truth”.
Light and darkness: what must Lady Macbeth keep by her at all times in Act 5?
A light: “she has light by her continually”.
When was Macbeth probably written?
About 1606.
Which king was on the throne when Macbeth was first performed?
James I of England (also James VI of Scotland).
Which character in the play was James I believed to be descended from?
Banquo, through Fleance.
Which 1605 plot tried to kill James I?
The Gunpowder Plot.
Which book about witchcraft did James I write?
Daemonologie (1597).
Which witch trials did James VI of Scotland take part in, in 1590–91?
The North Berwick witch trials.
What was Shakespeare’s main source for Macbeth?
Holinshed’s Chronicles (1587 edition).
What is the belief that kings are chosen by God called?
The Divine Right of Kings.
What is regicide?
The killing of a king.
What was the name for the God-given order of all beings, with the king near the top?
The Great Chain of Being.
What was Shakespeare’s acting company called from 1603?
The King’s Men, with James I as patron.
Which Jesuit priest, executed in 1606 after the Gunpowder Plot, is linked to the Porter’s “equivocator”?
Father Henry Garnet.
What disease is “the evil” that King Edward cures by touch?
Scrofula, known as the King’s Evil.
When did the real Macbeth rule Scotland?
From 1040 to 1057.
Complete the quotation: “Fair is foul, …”
“… and foul is fair.” The three witches (Act 1 Scene 1).
Who says “So foul and fair a day I have not seen”?
Macbeth, in his first line (Act 1 Scene 3).
Who calls Macbeth “brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name)”?
The wounded Captain reporting the battle (Act 1 Scene 2).
Who says “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me / Without my stir”?
Macbeth, in an aside (Act 1 Scene 3).
Complete the quotation: “Stars, hide your fires! / Let not light see …”
“… my black and deep desires.” Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 4).
Whom does Lady Macbeth call “too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness”?
Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 5).
Complete the quotation: “Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, …”
“… unsex me here.” Lady Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 5).
Complete the quotation: “look like the innocent flower, / But be …”
“… the serpent under’t.” Lady Macbeth to Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 5).
Complete the quotation: “I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / …”
“Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself.” Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 7).
Who says “screw your courage to the sticking-place”?
Lady Macbeth to Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 7).
Complete the quotation: “False face must hide …”
“… what the false heart doth know.” Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 7).
Complete the quotation: “Is this a dagger which I see before me, …”
“… The handle toward my hand?” Macbeth (Act 2 Scene 1).
Who reports a voice crying “Macbeth does murder sleep”?
Macbeth, just after killing Duncan (Act 2 Scene 2).
Complete the quotation: “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / …”
“Clean from my hand?” Macbeth (Act 2 Scene 2).
Who says “A little water clears us of this deed”?
Lady Macbeth (Act 2 Scene 2).
Who says “There’s daggers in men’s smiles”?
Donalbain (Act 2 Scene 3).
Complete the quotation: “Upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown, / And put …”
“… a barren sceptre in my gripe.” Macbeth (Act 3 Scene 1).
Who says “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!”?
Macbeth to Lady Macbeth (Act 3 Scene 2).
Who says “Never shake / Thy gory locks at me”?
Macbeth, to Banquo’s ghost (Act 3 Scene 4).
Complete the quotation: “I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, / …”
“Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” Macbeth (Act 3 Scene 4).
Which apparition tells Macbeth “Be bloody, bold, and resolute”?
The bloody child (Act 4 Scene 1).
Complete the quotation: “What, all my pretty chickens and their dam / …”
“At one fell swoop?” Macduff (Act 4 Scene 3).
Who says “But I must also feel it as a man”?
Macduff, replying to Malcolm’s “Dispute it like a man” (Act 4 Scene 3).
Who says “Out, damned spot! out, I say!”?
Lady Macbeth, sleepwalking (Act 5 Scene 1).
Complete the quotation: “I have liv’d long enough: my way of life / Is fall’n into the sere, …”
“… the yellow leaf.” Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 3).
Who says Macbeth’s title hangs on him “like a giant’s robe / Upon a dwarfish thief”?
Angus (Act 5 Scene 2).
Complete the quotation: “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, / …”
“Creeps in this petty pace from day to day.” Macbeth, on hearing of his wife’s death (Act 5 Scene 5).
Complete the quotation: “it is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / …”
“Signifying nothing.” Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 5).
Which character was “from his mother’s womb / Untimely ripp’d”?
Macduff, as he tells Macbeth in their final fight (Act 5 Scene 8).
Who calls the Macbeths “this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen”?
Malcolm, in the play’s final speech.
What genre is Macbeth?
Tragedy.
What is Macbeth’s fatal flaw (hamartia)?
Ambition.
What verse form do noble characters mostly speak in?
Blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter.
What metre do the witches mostly chant in?
Trochaic tetrameter, in rhyming couplets.
Which character speaks in prose while sleepwalking?
Lady Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 1).
Which scene gives comic relief straight after Duncan’s murder?
The Porter scene (Act 2 Scene 3), written in prose.
What device is Macbeth’s speech “If it were done when ’tis done”?
A soliloquy (Act 1 Scene 7).
What device lets Macbeth say “The greatest is behind” without Ross and Angus hearing?
An aside (Act 1 Scene 3).
What device is at work when Duncan says Macbeth’s castle “hath a pleasant seat”?
Dramatic irony: he will be murdered there (Act 1 Scene 6).
What is the name for the rapid one-line exchanges after the murder, such as “When?” “Now.”?
Stichomythia (Act 2 Scene 2).
What device is “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”?
A paradox, built from antithesis.
What weather opens the play?
Thunder and lightning: pathetic fallacy.
What rhyming couplet ends Macbeth’s dagger soliloquy?
“Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell / That summons thee to heaven or to hell.”