Prophecies
The three apparitions the witches conjured.
What is an armed head, a bloody child, and a crowned child with a tree in its hand?
Lady Macduff questions this person about her husband.
Who is Ross?
This prince tests Macduff by pretending to have terrible vices.
Who is Malcolm?
This is the gift of true kings, according to the Doctor.
What is curing people through touch?
Shakespeare contributed over this number of words to the English language.
What is 1,700?
“Something wicked this way comes”, a person.
Who is Macbeth?
Lady Macduff compares herself to this bird after expressing her concerns about her husband.
What is a wren?
Through Macduff, Shakespeare suggests that true masculinity requires a balance between these two qualities.
What is action and emotion?
In Act IV, Scene iii, Shakespeare uses this nation as a symbolic contrast to Scotland.
What is England?
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” This literary device is used frequently throughout Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
What is a paradox?
The phrase the witches repeat at the beginning of Act 4.
What is “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble?”
In Act IV, Scene ii, Lady Macduff tells her son this person is someone "who swears and lies."
Who is Macduff?
This outburst from Macduff reveals to Malcolm that Macduff is trustworthy and loyal.
What is “O Scotland, Scotland”?
In Act IV, Scene iii, Shakespeare uses this term as imagery to describe the “dying” of Scotland under Macbeth’s tyranny.
What is “bleeding” or "weeping"?
Shakespeare’s use of this metrical pattern—unrhymed lines of ten syllables with alternating stress—became a defining feature of his dramatic writing style.
What is iambic pentameter?
At the end of Act IV, Scene i, the witches give Macbeth a vision of the future, reflecting this prophecy they gave at the beginning of the show.
What is Banquo’s descendants becoming kings?
Lady Macduff explains her husband’s actions through this line, beginning with “all is the…”
What is “All is the fear, nothing is the love.”
By presenting Macduff as a character who seeks justice while still openly grieving, Shakespeare uses him as a foil to highlight this flaw in Macbeth.
What is loss of humanity?
In Ross’s description of Scotland as “almost afraid to know itself” Pg ~ 151, Shakespeare conveys this psychological effect of tyranny on a nation.
What is loss of identity or collective despair?
Shakespeare’s Macbeth was written after this significant political event, a plot to kill King James I.
What is the Gunpowder Plot?
Shakespeare structures the apparitions so that each prophecy appears reassuring but is ultimately misleading, reinforcing this larger thematic concept.
What is the deceptive nature of fate and the illusion of security?
In Act IV, Scene ii, Lady Macduff’s comparison of herself to a wren defending her young develops this broader thematic argument about moral responsibility.
What is the idea that even the weakest individuals fulfill their natural duties, contrasting Macduff’s abandonment of his family?
Shakespeare heightens the tension of Ross’s message by structuring the dialogue so that Macduff anticipates bad news before it is confirmed, creating this effect on the audience.
What is dramatic irony?
By juxtaposing the domestic tragedy of Macduff’s family with the political restoration of Scotland, Shakespeare presents this tension.
What is the decision to prioritize family over country?
Shakespeare introduces a drunken porter (p. 61, Act II, scene iii) after one of Macbeth's murders for this reason.
What is comic relief?