Characters
Macbeth's wife and partner in his plot to gain power, whose guilt and madness eventually drive her to suicide.
Who is Lady Macbeth?
Visually descriptive or figurative language; appeals to the senses.
What is imagery?
The witches give this to Macbeth & Banquo in Act I, stating:“All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Glamis!/All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!/All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!"
What is the prophecy?
Macbeth orders the murders of this family following news from Lennox that one of his Scottish lords has fled to England.
Who are the Macduffs?
This paradox is uttered by the witches during the opening scene of the play.
What is "Fair is foul, and foul is fair"?
Mysterious and supernatural figures who prophesy Macbeth's rise to power and ultimate downfall.
Who are the witches/fates/weird sisters?
A comparison between two things that are otherwise unrelated.
What is a metaphor?
The signal to Macbeth that it is time to kill King Duncan.
What is a bell?
The reason Lady Macbeth is unable to kill Duncan herself.
What is he resembles her father?
The motif that is established in the following lines: "Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more!/Macbeth does murder sleep,' the innocent sleep,/Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care,/The death of each day's life."
What is sleeplessness?
A Scottish nobleman who opposes Macbeth and ultimately kills him, fulfilling the prophecy.
Who is Macduff?
A character who contrasts with another character, typically the protagonist.
What is a foil?
This strange, supernatural occurrence happens at a banquet in Act III.
What is the appearance of Banquo's ghost?
Macbeth hallucinates this bloody object and imagines that it points to King Duncan's sleeping chamber.
What is a dagger?
The motif established in these lines: "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand?"
AND "Out, damned spot! Out, I say! . . . who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him."
What is blood?
Duncan's younger son, who flees to Ireland after his father's murder and does not play a major role in the play.
Who is Donalbain?
The audience's or reader's understanding of events or individuals in a work surpasses that of its characters.
What is dramatic irony?
Lady Macbeth's scheme to kill King Duncan.
What is get the servants drunk on wine, and kill Duncan while he is sleeping.
Macbeth's refusal to surrender to Macduff in the final battle shows this tragic flaw.
What is ambition? OR what is hubris (excessive pride)?
The theme revealed in these lines: "And his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature/For ruin’s wasteful entrance" (2.2.92-93). AND
"Unnatural deeds/Do breed unnatural troubles" (5.1.49-50).
What is natural vs unnatural?
OR what is order vs disorder/chaos?
The queen/goddess of witches.
Who is Hecate?
An act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play.
What is a soliloquy?
The witches show these three apparitions to Macbeth when he visits them for a second time in Act IV.
What is an armed head, bloody child, & a child with a crown?
The resolution of "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth," in Act V.
Macbeth is killed by Macduff, who was born by caesarean section or "ripped from the womb"?
The theme revealed in these lines is: “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here” (1.5.40-41). AND
"Bring forth men-children only,/For thy undaunted mettle should compose/Nothing but males"(1.7.83-85).
What is gender/masculinity?