Literary Terms
Connect quotes to characters
Explain quotes
Plot Summary
Theme Connections
100
Identify the literary term used in the following quote: “Fair is foul and foul is fair.” Act 1:1
Paradox
100
Identify the speaker of the following quote: “Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.” Act 1:3
Duncan
100
Put the following quote in context and explain what it means: Lady Macbeth: "Things without all remedy / Should be done without regard: what's done is done." Act 3:2
Context: Macbeth was brooding about murders and his conscience. You shouldn’t think about things that can’t be fixed; what’s done is done.
100
Explain why this scene is important to the play: Act 1:3 – The witches make their prophecies
-We see Macbeth and Banquo's reactions and learn that they are opposites and foils -Foreshadowing!
100
Connect the following theme to ONE plot event in Macbeth: SUPERNATURAL
-witches make prophecies -Macbeth hallucinates a dagger -Banquo shows up as a ghost
200
Identify the literary term used in the following quote: “Look the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under it.” Act 1:6
Metaphor
200
Identify the speaker of the following quote: "Your face, my thane, is as a book where men may read strange matters." Act 1:6
Lady Macbeth
200
Put the following quote in context and explain what it means: Lady Macbeth: “Unsex me here / And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full / of direst cruelty!” Act 1:6
Context: Lady Macbeth had just read Macbeth's letter about the prophecies. Get rid of all my womanly weaknesses and fill me up with manly cruelty.
200
Explain why this scene is important to the play: Act 1:7 – Macbeth worries about killing Duncan
-Macbeth has a conscience -He decides he's okay with going to hell if he can avoid consequences in this life -Macbeth thinks Duncan is a good guy and feels bad because he's betraying Duncan in two ways (as a host and as Duncan's subject) -Macbeth says he's only motivated by ambition
200
Explain how the following theme connects to ONE plot event and ONE character in Macbeth SLEEPLESSNESS
-Macbeth says he's "murdered sleep" -Macbeth can't sleep
300
1) Define aside. 2) Explain how asides create dramatic irony.
1) Private words spoken to the audience or to another character. 2) The audience learns things from asides that other characters may not know.
300
Identify the speaker of the following quote: “Speak then to me, who neither fear / Your favors nor your hate.” Act 1:3
Banquo
300
Put the following quote in context and explain what it means: Lady Macbeth: “My hands are of your color, but I shame / To wear a heart so white.” Act 2:2
Context: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth just killed Duncan / smeared his blood on the guards. My hands are bloody, too, but I would be ashamed if I was as cowardly or weak as you are, Macbeth.
300
Explain why this scene is important to the play: Act 2:1 – Dagger speech
-Macbeth is hallucinating -Dagger points him towards Duncan -He finally decides to kill Duncan -The bell rings - shows us he may be partially motivated by impulse and his wife's crazy scariness
300
Explain how the following theme connects to ONE plot event ONE character ONE image in Macbeth NATURE / ANIMALS
-Plot events: everyone in Macbeth's castle hears owls screaming, Old Man sees wild horses going crazy, etc. -Characters: Lennox, Ross, Old Man, Macbeth, Duncan -Image: chimneys blowing down, earth shaking, etc.
400
1) Define tragic flaw. 2) What is Macbeth’s tragic flaw?
1) A character flaw or error in judgment that causes their downfall. 2) Ambition / arrogance / pride
400
Identify the speaker of the following quote: “The night has been unruly. Where we lay / Our chimneys were blown down and / Lamentings heard in the air, strange screams of death / And prophesying with accents terrible . . . Some say the earth / Was feverous and did shake.” Act 2:4
Lennox
400
Explain what the following quote means: Macbeth: “For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered / Put rancors in the vessel of my peace.” Act 3:1
Context: Macbeth just talked to Banquo. Just after this, he talks to the murderers to ask them to kill Banquo. Murdering Duncan poisoned/wrecked my peace. Rancors = long lasting resentment.
400
Explain why this scene is important to the play: Act 3:4 – The banquet scene
-Macbeth doesn't act cool like he did when he killed Duncan -First time Macbeth's subjects see him as king and he acts completely nutters -Lady Macbeth keeps it together -Macbeth is still hallucinating -Banquo freaks Macbeth out way more than Duncan
400
Explain the following theme's connection to ONE plot events ONE character ONE image ONE other thing in Macbeth AMBITION
-Plot event: Macbeth kills Duncan -Character: Macbeth -Image: Macbeth vaulting over a horse b/c he's so ambitious, ambition as the only spur in Macbeth's side
500
1) Define hubris. 2) Explain how hubris connects to the witches.
1) Hubris is excessive pride that causes a character's downfall. 2) Hubris connects to the witches in that they plan to cause Macbeth's downfall by making him overly confident. They will create magic spirits / illusions to trick him.
500
Identify the speaker of the following quote: “To Ireland I; Our separated fortune / Shall keep us both the safer . . . / There are daggers in man’s smiles.” Act 2:3
Donalbain
500
Explain what the following quote means: Macbeth: “If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me, / Without my stir.” Act 1:3
Context: Macbeth and Banquo just talked to the witches about the prophecies. Macbeth says this as an aside. If this is all fated to happen, I don’t have to do anything; I’ll become King without any action or effort on my part.
500
Explain why this scene is important to the play: Act 3:5 – Hecate and the witches
-Foreshadowing! -Hecate and witches will cause Macbeth's downfall by tricking him with magic spirits / illusions -The magic spirits / illusions will make Macbeth overconfident
500
Explain how the following quote connects to THREE plot events TWO characters in Macbeth GENDER ROLES
-Plot events: Lady Macbeth wants to be "unsexed," Macbeth is portrayed in the beginning as a manly soldier, Macbeth is the one who goes crazy when he sees the dagger and the ghost of Banquo, etc. -Characters: Lady Macbeth and Macbeth