Act by Act Quiz: ‘Macbeth’Act Four

• To describe what happens in each act. • To describe how each act fits into the plot as a whole.

To discuss and analyse each act of Macbeth.

Learning Objective

Success Criteria

Scene One1.Describe the type of ingredients in the witches’ cauldron. What effect do you think these would have on the audience?2.What is the purpose of the repeated ‘chorus’ ‘Double, double toil and trouble,/ Fire burn and cauldron bubble’?3.Once again, the witches are connected to causing trouble at sea when Macbeth says: ‘…though the yeasty waves/ Confound and swallow navigation up’. Why do you think Shakespeare included this?4.What do you think Macbeth’s thoughts are when he makes this speech?5.What are the three apparitions? What impact do you think the apparitions would have on an audience?6.What three things do the apparitions tell Macbeth?7.How does he feel at this point?8.What do the eight kings and the ghost of Banquo represent?9.How does Macbeth feel now?10.What does Macbeth decide once he realises Macduff has fled to England?

Act Four

Scene One1.Describe the type of ingredients in the witches’ cauldron. What effect do you think these would have on the audience?The ingredients are gruesome and nasty – things such as ‘eye of newt’ and ‘tongue of a dog’. They would shock and disgust an audience as well as it being thrilling it at the same time!2.What is the purpose of the repeated chorus ‘Double, double toil and trouble/ Fire burn and cauldron bubble’?The repeated chorus sounds like a charm, which often had to be repeated three times to work – just like this is. It’s also a memorable line that the audience would probably remember. It also adds to the strangeness of the witches and the atmosphere as they are working on what is obviously a weird ritual together.

Act Four

Scene One3.Once again, the witches are connected to causing trouble at sea when Macbeth says: ‘…though the yeasty waves/ Confound and swallow navigation up’. Why do you think Shakespeare included this?The king believed he and his wife were stopped from crossing the sea by witches when she was coming to England to marry him, so the king would relate to this aspect of the witches’ ‘work’. 4.What do you think Macbeth’s thoughts are when he makes this speech?Macbeth is feeling desperate, so he is dismissing the consequences. He just needs answers so that he knows what is to come.5.What are the three apparitions? What impact do you think the apparitions would have on an audience?The three apparitions are: a head wearing a helmet; a child covered in blood; and a child wearing a crown and holding a tree. I think the audience could feel scared of the apparitions and be repulsed by them but could also enjoy seeing them as they are so strange and thrilling.

Act Four

Scene One6.What three things do the apparitions tell Macbeth?The first apparition warned Macbeth to ‘Beware Macduff’; the second told him that no man ‘…of woman born/Shall harm Macbeth’; and the final apparition said that he will never be defeated ‘until/Great Birnham Wood to high Dunsinane Hill/Shall come against him.’7.How does he feel at this point?Macbeth feels safe because he believes that, as every man is ‘of woman born’, no one can defeat him. Also, as woods don’t generally get up and walk, Macbeth also feels this will never happen. He dismisses the warning about Macduff.8.What do the eight kings and the ghost of Banquo represent?The eight kings and Banquo represent Banquo being the ‘founder’ of a line of kings that will last for years. The mirror represents the line going on and on.

Act Four

Scene One

9. How does Macbeth feel now?

Macbeth is less confident now. Despite what the previous apparitions revealed, this final vision seems to say that Banquo’s sons will become kings and that Macbeth’s line will die with him. Macbeth is distressed by this. He has taken steps to ensure this doesn’t happen, but it hasn’t worked.

10. What does Macbeth decide once he realises Macduff has fled to England?

Macbeth decides to attack Macduff’s castle and kill his wife and children since he can’t get to Macduff himself. He thinks he needs to act quickly from now on.

Act Four

Scene Two1.How does Lady Macduff feel about her husband fleeing to England?2.What do you learn about Lady Macduff’s relationship with her son through their conversation?3.What is the significance of her saying, ‘I am in this earthly world, where to do harm/Is often laudable, to do good sometime/Accounted dangerous folly’?4.How would you describe Macduff’s son’s behaviour when he confronts the murderer?5.How might an audience have reacted to this part of the scene?

Act Four

Scene Two1.How does Lady Macduff feel about her husband fleeing to England?She is furious with him. She says running away makes him look like a traitor even though he isn’t one. She says ‘He loves us not’ and thinks he should have stayed to protect his family. She says he is running through fear. 2.What do you learn about Lady Macduff’s relationship with her son through their conversation?We learn that:•They appear to know each other very well and have a close relationship.•Macduff’s son knows that Lady Macduff is lying when she says his father is dead. •Lady Macduff answers his difficult questions, like ‘Was my father a traitor, Mother?’ straightforwardly, which suggests that she is usually honest with him. •He feels able to give his own opinion on what she says, which also shows that they are close. •Lady Macduff is worried for him, as any mother would be ‘God help thee, poor monkey!’

Act Four

Scene Two3.What is the significance of her saying, ‘I am in this earthly world, where to do harm/Is often laudable, to do good sometime/Accounted dangerous folly’?Lady Macduff realises that the normal rules of life do not apply in this situation. That despite being innocent, she may well be punished. This also echoes ‘fair is foul and foul is fair.’4.How would you describe Macduff’s son’s behaviour when he confronts the murderer?Macduff’s son is very brave and defends his father’s honour ‘Thou liest’ before being stabbed. Even as he dies, he shouts to his mother to ‘Run away, I pray you!’.5.How might an audience have reacted to this part of the scene?The audience would have been appalled and shocked to see a young boy being killed, especially one who was clearly brave and selfless. It would have influenced their views of Macbeth strongly.

Act Four

Scene Three

1.How do Malcolm and Macduff react differently to their situation?

2.Why does Malcolm not quite trust Macduff?

3.How does Macduff describe Macbeth and Scotland in his speech starting ‘Bleed, bleed, poor country!’?

4.How does Malcolm try to trick Macduff?

5.Why does Macduff say, ‘Fit to govern?/ No, not to live’?

6.How does Malcolm resolve this?

7.The doctor and Malcolm talk of the ‘king’s touch’ – what is this and why did Shakespeare include it?

8.How does Ross describe Scotland under Macbeth’s rule?

9.Why does Ross tell Macduff his wife and children are fine and then go on to say they’ve been murdered?

10.Why does Macduff say, ‘he has no children’ when talking about revenge on Macbeth?

11.Why does Macduff feel it is his fault?

12.What does Macduff resolve to do?

Act Four

Scene Three1.How do Malcolm and Macduff react differently to their situation?Malcolm wants to sit down and cry – ‘Weep our sad bosoms empty’ –whereas Macduff wants to fight to take Scotland back ‘Hold fast the mortal sword’.2.Why does Malcolm not quite trust Macduff?Malcolm says that he knows Macduff was once a good friend of Macbeth and ‘loved him well.’ He suspects Macduff may be there to deliver him to Macbeth. He points out that Macduff hasn’t been harmed by Macbeth – ‘He hath not touched you’ – and could be a double agent. He also wonders why Macduff has left his wife and children in Scotland – this might suggest he doesn’t think they are in danger. 3.How does Macduff describe Macbeth and Scotland in his speech starting ‘Bleed, bleed, poor country!’?Macduff describes Scotland as wounded when he says ‘bleed, bleed’. He describes Macbeth’s rule as ‘great tyranny’, which means he believes Macbeth to be an evil, controlling king.

Act Four

Scene Three4.How does Malcolm try to trick Macduff?Malcolm begins to describe himself as not fit to be king, saying he is worse than Macbeth: ‘…black Macbeth/Will seem as pure as snow’. He says he is full of lust and no woman is safe: ‘Your wives, your daughters/Your matrons and your maids…’ He also says he is a greedy ‘stanchless avarice’ and that he would steal if he were king. Malcolm finishes by saying he has none of the qualities of a king: ‘But I have none’.5.Why does Macduff say, ‘Fit to govern?/ No, not to live’?Macduff says if all the things Malcolm says about himself are true, he shouldn’t be alive, never mind becoming King of Scotland. He is in despair. 6.How does Malcolm resolve this?Malcolm resolves this by saying he was in fact lying about himself: ‘My first false speaking’/Was this upon myself.’ He adds that he is not lustful or greedy and that he was just testing Macduff’s motives as he had ‘black scruples’ ,which made him doubt Macduff’s loyalty.

Act Four

Scene Three7. The doctor and Malcolm talk of the ‘king’s touch’ – what is this and why

did Shakespeare include it?The ‘king’s touch’ is the belief that if a king or queen touched a sick person that they would be healed – this showed that they were appointed by God to reign. King James believed in the ‘king’s touch’ and it would have pleased him to see this belief in the play.8. How does Ross describe Scotland under Macbeth’s rule?Ross describes Scotland as a ‘grave’ and full of ‘sighs and groans’, which shows the grief people are feeling as Macbeth seems to be killing at will and men’s lives ‘expire before the flowers in their caps’. There is bad news every hour and minute.

Act Four

Scene Three

9. Why does Ross tell Macduff his wife and children are fine and then go on to say they’ve been murdered?

When Ross says Macduff’s wife and children are ‘well’, he’s not totally lying. They were well the last time he saw them and although they have been killed, they are now at peace and therefore ‘well’. Ross is stalling as he doesn’t want to deliver the news to Macduff that his whole family has been killed.

10. Why does Macduff say ‘he has no children’ when talking about revenge on Macbeth?

Macduff means that he can never properly take revenge as to do that he would have to kill Macbeth’s children and as he has none, he cannot do this.

Act Four

Scene Three

11.Why does Macduff feel it is his fault?

He feels it his fault because, first of all, he betrayed Macbeth and so brought his wrath down on them. Secondly, he left for England and left them without protection. He feels they were killed ‘Not for their own demerits, but for mine.’

12.What does Macduff resolve to do?

Macduff resolves to kill Macbeth and just wants to get close enough to do it. He says he could ‘weep like a woman’, but he wants to put that to one side and get on with murdering Macbeth.

Act Four