| Shakespeare's Time | Scene 1 | Acts 2 & 3 | Act 4 | Act 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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What is Shakespeare's birthplace?
Stratford-upon-Avon, England
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Who are the three witches?
The play opens on these "weird sisters."
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Who is Macduff?
He asks Macbeth why he killed the guards and grows suspicious.
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What is fear macduff, no one born of a woman shall harm Macbeth, and he has nothing to fear until "Great Birnam wood" moves to "high Dunsinane hill" near his castle?
The 3 prophecies presented by the appartitions.
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What is the army marching against Macbeth under the direction of Macduff disguising themselves with cut trees hiding in the Dunsinane woods?
How Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane.
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What is the day Shakespeare was born?
It is not exactly known, but it is safe to say April 23rd 1564 because he was christened on the 26th of April.
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What is an oxymoron?
"Lesser than Macbeth and greater" is an example of this rhetorical device.
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What is planting the daggers on the guards?
What Macbeth forgets to do after murdering King Duncan.
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What is Lady Macduff thinking that Macduff ran away to England out of cowardice, making him a traitor to his family?
What "When our actions do not, / Our fears do make us traitors" mean from Lady Macduff's soliloquy means.
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What is Lady Macbeth not being able to escape guilt and loosing her sense of reality?
What Lady Macbeth not being able to get imaginary blood off of her hands symbolizes.
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What is iambic pentameter and Shakespeare's reason for utilizing it?
This line of verse was easy for his actors to memorize and for the audience to understand because it is naturally suited to the English language. Its flow also resembles the heartbeat
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What is tone?
The author's ____ changes to grotesque and mischevious as Macbeth and Banquo stumble upon the three terrifying witches.
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What is pretending to faint to cause a distraction and to clear herself of suspicion because women back then were supposed to be weaker and not capable of such acts?
Why Lady Macbeth faints.
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What is Malcolm believing that it would be too good to be true if Macduff left everything behind to help Malcolm regain the thrown? He fears that Macduff must be loyal to Macbeth and could have been sent to murder him.
Why Malcolm is wary of Macduff.
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What is Macbeth being too busy holding on to his title, thus leaving no time to tend to his wife? Perhaps he ignored her because her condition remind him of his own guilt.
Why Macbeth doesn't do anything to help his wife.
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Who are "the groundlings?"
The people that stood at the base of the stage in "the pit" for a penny.
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What is Lady Macbeth attacking Macbeth's masculinity and saying that she would dash her baby's brains against a wall rather than break her oath?
2 ways in which Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to kill the king.
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What is Lady Macbeth convincing Macbeth to murder Duncan?
Macbeth talking to the murderers reminds us of this scene.
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What is the witches themselves being wicked and being the reason that Macbeth became wicked in the first place? They were the ones who corrupted him by fueling his ambitions.
The irony of the witches' statement, "Something wicked this way comes."
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What is the defensive yet self-justifying quality to Macbeth's words? If he deems everything meaningless, than his crimes are meaningless and somehow less bad. In turn, the whole play can be said to signify nothing.
The significance of Macbeth's line, "A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
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What are relatable characters, important life lessons/themes, captivating stories, or newly created words by Shakespeare?
3 reasons why Shakespeare is still relevant.
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What is Lady Macbeth asking to be less feminine so she can commit murder because women are traditionally seen as the kinder, gentler sex?
Why Lady Macbeth wishes that the spirits would "unsex" her.
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What is Macbeth becoming so overwhelmed with guilt that he can't escape it? His mental state is deteriorating and his peers can notice it too. The ghost also symbolizes the descendents of Banquo that will inherit the throne and perhaps the fact that Macbeth will be dead, like a ghost, in the near future. (Any 3 of these is fine.)
3 reasons why the ghost of Banquo is significant.
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What is Macduff presenting the audience with a perspective in which manhood is viewed by one's ability to maintain a balance between action and emotion? For example, he says he will "feel it as a man' while seeking revenge for his family's murder.
How Macduff challenges traditional gender roles, including an example from act 4.
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What is Macbeth's free will leading him too have too much confidence? Free will leads him to heavily relying on the validity of the prophecy. It was fate for Macbeth to be killed by a man not born from a woman and Macduff was the perfect candidate. Ultimately, Macbeth's choice to believe in fate leads to his downfall.
The role of fate and free will in Act 5.
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