The Weird Sisters
What are Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and king thereafter?
Out of all the apparitions conjured by the witches, it is ironic that Macbeth quickly disregarded this straightforward message
What is "Beware Macduff! Beware the Thane of Fife"?
The total number of witches Shakespeare includes in Macbeth
What is four?
This is the reason the doctor and the gentlewoman don't reveal what they witness Lady Macbeth doing
What is being afraid of getting killed for knowing Lady Macbeth's secrets?
While Malcolm, Duncan's first-born son is the rightful heir to Scotland's throne, Donalbain, the second son, has this purpose
What is spare or back-up?
The witches say, "By the pricking of my thumbs,/Something wicked this way comes" (IV.i.44-45).
This is the "something wicked"
Who is Macbeth?
What is kill, decapitate, and display the head as a warning to others?
The number of visions the witches show to Macbeth
What is four?
Macduff first opposes Macbeth's reign over Scotland by doing this
What is refusing to attend Macbeth's coronation in Scone?
Great Chain of Being theory shows why the chaos caused by Macbeth as ruler of Scotland also causes chaos in this
What is nature?
One of the two reasons Hecate is mad at her fellow witches for sharing the prophesies with Macbeth
What is they didn't invite Hecate to show her magic?
OR
What is Macbeth is ungrateful, undeserving, and using the witches to get what he wants?
Lady Macbeth tells her husband, "These deeds must not be thought/After these ways; so it will make us mad" (II.ii.45-46).
Ironically, her advice to Macbeth explains this experience she has in act five.
What is being driven mad from her guilt over murdering Duncan?
The difference between the number of murderers Macbeth hires to kill Banquo and the number who make the attempt
What is one?
This is what Lady Macbeth will do so Macbeth knows it's murder time
What is ring a bell?
This is the basis for Macbeth's famous soliloquy and is what finally motivates him to murder the king
What is The Dagger of the Mind?
This is the reason witches severely punish a sailor
What is his wife wouldn't share her chestnuts with one of the witches
While Macbeth comments that he doesn't see Banquo at the coronation banquet, he does see this at the dinner
What is Banquo's ghost?
The number of specific people whose deaths are caused, directly or indirectly, by Macbeth
What is eight?
This is what Lady Macbeth means when she tells Macbeth to "Bear welcome in your eye,/Your hand your tongue. Be like the innocent/flower,/But be the serpent under't" (I.v.75-78).
What is give the appearance of being a gracious host and hide your plan to murder Duncan?
This is the Lady Macbeth's three-step plan for killing Duncan and getting away with it
What is she will get the guards drunk/drugged, Macbeth will kill the king, and he will plant the bloody daggers on the guards
Hecate intends to exploit (take advantage of) this character trait of Macbeth to ensure a fatal downward spiral
What is overconfidence?
While in act two Macbeth says, "All great Neptune's ocean" (II.ii.78) won't remove this sight, ironically, in act five Lady Macbeth states that "All/The perfumes in Arabia" (V.i.54) won't remove the smell of this same thing
What is blood on their hands?
One of the reasons the murders of the McDufflings (Lady Macduff, son, servants, etc.) different than the other murders connected to Macbeth?
1. What is they are completely innocent/not soldiers?
2. What are their murders were motivated purely by revenge?
After hearing this specific thing, Macbeth realizes he is numb to disturbing sounds and says, "I have almost forgot the taste of fears./The time has been my senses would have cooled to hear a night-shriek" (V.v.11-13)
What are the cries of women because of the queen's death?
These are the two most important themes in Macbeth
What are 1. unchecked ambition has the power to corrupt (corrupting power of unchecked ambition) and 2. the way things appear are not how they actually are (appearance and reality)?