Be sure to include the Witches, the dagger, Banquo's ghost, the apparitions, and the Old Man's observations in your assessment. Consider the use that Shakespeare makes of supernatural elements in this play. How do Duncan and Macbeth fit this role? How might Malcolm do so?Ħ. From your reading, explain what Shakespeare imagined to be the qualities of a good king. Even today, we talk metaphorically of those who are guilty of some terrible crime of having ‘blood on their hands’, and although Lady Macbeth’s hands are physically clean, they are figuratively stained with her guilt. Do you agree? Or do you think the scene serves other purposes? Explain your answer.ĥ. Lady Macbeth is trying to wash imaginary blood from her hands. As Macbeth prepares for the siege, Lady Macbeth dies, perhaps of suicide.

In Birnam Wood, Malcolm and his generals devise a strategy to hide their numbersthey cut branches to hold up in front of them. Some people suggest that the porter scene is included only so that the actor playing Macbeth has time to wash the blood off his hands. Macbeth has become manic, cruel, and haughtymany of his men desert to Malcolm's side. Like Hamlet, Macbeth treats the consequences of regicide, but from the perspective of the usurpers, not the dispossessed.

Discuss whether Macbeth is truly a tragic figure.Ĥ. Macbeth completes William Shakespeare’s great tragic quartet while expanding, echoing, and altering key elements of Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear into one of the most terrifying stage experiences. First staged in 1606, Macbeth’s three witches and other dark imagery have entered our collective imagination. Discuss the relationship between the couple as the play develops.ģ. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Macbeth by William Shakespeare: Volume 43 (SparkNotes Literature at the best online prices at. Macbeth, Shakespeare’s play about a Scottish nobleman and his wife who murder their king for his throne, charts the extremes of ambition and guilt. Examine to what extent Lady Macbeth is to blame for her husband's downfall. Agree or disagree with the following statement: ' Macbeth is a play about courage, which asserts the triumph of good over evil.' In answering this question, you should remember that courageous acts are not always motivated by virtue.Ģ.

Macbeth william shakespeare sparknotes