Macbeth

Cover

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 Contents
Contents

Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................... 3
Specification summaries ............................................................................... 4

Act 1 ......................................................................................................... 8
Lesson 1 ................................................................................................ 8
Lesson 2 ................................................................................................ 12
Lesson 3 ................................................................................................ 17
Lesson 4 ................................................................................................ 27
Lesson 5 ................................................................................................ 31
Exam style questions ................................................................................. 42

Act 2 ......................................................................................................... 48
Lesson 6 ................................................................................................ 48
Lesson 7 ................................................................................................ 57
Lesson 8 ................................................................................................ 64
Lesson 9 ................................................................................................ 66
Lesson 10 .............................................................................................. 68
Exam style questions ................................................................................. 78

Act 3 ......................................................................................................... 85
Lesson 11 .............................................................................................. 85
Lesson 12 .............................................................................................. 90
Lesson 13 .............................................................................................. 92
Lesson 14 .............................................................................................. 109
Lesson 15 .............................................................................................. 111
Exam style questions ................................................................................. 120

Act 4 ......................................................................................................... 128

Lesson 16 .............................................................................................. 128
Lesson 17 .............................................................................................. 135
Lesson 18 .............................................................................................. 137
Lesson 19 .............................................................................................. 147
Lesson 20 .............................................................................................. 152
Exam style questions ................................................................................. 154

Act 5 ......................................................................................................... 162

Lesson 21 .............................................................................................. 162
Lesson 22 .............................................................................................. 167
Lesson 23............................................................................................... 174
Lesson 24 .............................................................................................. 179
Lesson 25 .............................................................................................. 183
Exam style questions ................................................................................. 187

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 Introduction
Introduction

Introduction
This GCSE pack is designed as a ‘route through’ Macbeth, with teaching ideas, accompanying
resources and suggestions for differentiation. The pack is based on core assessment objectives
for GCSE English Literature (2015) and is designed to be flexible, creative and engaging. It
contains all of the resources you need for teaching this unit of work, most of which were written
specifically for this pack.

The pack has been devised for use with the AQA, Edexcel, OCR and WJEC Eduqas specifications
for GCSE English Literature. The activities and ideas will help students to develop a close
understanding of the text, explore its social, cultural and historical contexts, consider
Shakespeare’s intentions and staging options, and analyse his use of language and structure.

The pack has five lessons per act, with a selection of starter, main and plenary activities (that
you can mix and match), as well as exam practice questions specific for each exam board.

Throughout the pack you’ll find activities which directly address the various assessment
objectives for the GCSE English Literature exam. To help you select activities relevant to the
outcomes for which you’re teaching, we’ve included specification grids and matched the
activities outlined in the route through to the appropriate assessment objectives.

Accessing the resources in this pack

We’ve included links to resources and interactive resources on the Teachit English site where
applicable.

Our thanks go to contributor Angela Topping who has written this pack and the accompanying
resources.

If you have any questions about the pack, please get in touch: email [email protected] or
call us on 01225 788850. Alternatively, you might like to give some feedback for other Teachit
members – you can do this by adding a comment on the Macbeth teaching pack page on Teachit
English.

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 Specification summaries

Specification summaries
AQA GCSE English Literature

Specification: English Literature (exam in 2017) (8702)

Example papers and mark scheme: English Literature (exam in 2017) (8702)
Paper 1: Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel
Section A: Shakespeare (20% of GCSE mark)

 External examination

 Whole examination: 1 hour 45 minutes

 50% of time should be devoted to responding to each question, therefore there are
approximately 50 minutes for Macbeth.

 Students will answer one question. They will be required to write in detail about an extract
from the play and about the novel as a whole.

 Students are not permitted to take copies of the text into the exam.

 AO1 and AO2 are the dominant assessment objectives (12 marks each), AO3 is 6 marks, AO4
is 4 marks.

Read, understand and respond to texts.

Students should be able to:
AO1
 maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response
 use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate
interpretations.

Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and
AO2
effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.

Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which
AO3
they were written.

Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect,
AO4
with accurate spelling and punctuation.

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 Specification summaries
Edexcel GCSE English Literature

Specification: English Literature (exam in 2017) (1ET0)

Example papers and mark scheme: English Literature (exam in 2017) (1ET0)
Paper 1: Shakespeare and Post-1914 Literature
Section A: Shakespeare (25% of GCSE mark)

 External examination

 Whole examination: 1 hours 45 minutes

 55 minutes advised for Macbeth question, divided equally between parts

(a) and (b).

 Part a) is focused on the close language analysis of an extract (AO2: 20 marks). The extract
will be approximately 30 lines in length.

 Part b) is focused on how a theme from the extract is explored elsewhere in the play (AO1:
15 marks and AO3: 5 marks). The focus will be on maintaining a critical style and
demonstrating an understanding of the relationship between the text and the context in
which it was written.

 Students are not permitted to take copies of the text into the exam.

Read, understand and respond to texts.

Students should be able to:
AO1
 maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response
 use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate
interpretations.

Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and
AO2
effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.

Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which
AO3
they were written.

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 Specification summaries
OCR GCSE English Literature

Specification: English Literature (exam in 2017) (J352)

Example papers and mark scheme: English Literature (exam in 2017) (J352/02)
Paper 2: Exploring poetry and Shakespeare
Section B: Shakespeare (25% of GCSE mark)

 External examination

 Whole examination: 2 hours

 Students are advised to spend about 45 minutes on Macbeth: one question from a choice of
two.

 A choice of questions: one extract-based question, making links to the whole text or one
discursive question.

 Students are not permitted to take copies of the text into the exam.

 AO1 and AO2 are the dominant assessment objectives (8.75% of GCSE), AO3 is 5% of GCSE and
AO4 is 2.5% of GCSE in this paper.

Read, understand and respond to texts.

Students should be able to:
AO1
 maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response
 use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate
interpretations.

Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and
AO2
effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.

Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which
AO3
they were written.

Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect,
AO4
with accurate spelling and punctuation.

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 Specification summaries
WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature

Specification: English Literature (exam in 2017)

Example papers and mark scheme: English Literature (exam in 2017)
Paper 1: Shakespeare and Poetry
Section A: Shakespeare (20% of GCSE mark)

 External examination

 Whole examination: 2 hours

 One hour advised for Macbeth question.

 Students answer two questions: one extract based question (15 marks) and one discursive
essay question (25 marks).

 Part a) is an extract-based question (AO1 and AO2: equally weighted, 15 marks).

 Part b) is an essay question (AO1 and AO2: equally weighted, 20 marks, AO4: 5 marks).

 Students are not permitted to take copies of the text into the exam.

Read, understand and respond to texts.

Students should be able to:
AO1
 maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response
 use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate
interpretations.

Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and
AO2
effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.

Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect,
AO4
with accurate spelling and punctuation.

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 Act 1
Lesson 1
Act 1

Act 1
Lesson 1 – The battle in the background (Act 1 Scenes 1–2)

Starter activities
 Prior knowledge: In pairs, students share what comes to mind when they hear the word
‘Macbeth’, then feed back to the whole class. Alternatively, or to follow this, you could show
them Michael Rosen’s potted synopsis and explanation of the play:
www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/36099745. (AO1)

 Poetic inspiration: This poem gives an overview of the plot.

Macbeth was a soldier, brave and bold

until he had his fortune told.
Those three strange women messed up his head
and pretty soon the king was dead.
His wife was keen to be a queen;
horrors followed, Banquo’s ghost was seen.
Macduff’s family were cruelly killed
until the tyrant’s blood was spilled.
As for Macbeth, his head was chopped
the only way he could be stopped. 

As your class arrive, give each student a line of the poem, and ask them to find others
with the same line. Get each of the groups to create a still image based on their line.
Call each group out to the front in order and give each group a minute to read their line
and form a still image.

If you’d like to follow up on this, you could set a homework task to create a ten frame
cartoon strip using these ten lines. (AO1)

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 Act 1
Lesson 1

Main activities
 Captain’s speech: Using the resource Captain’s speech (Resource 1), look at the Captain’s
speech in Act 1 Scene 2 with your students. Pairs look at the initial themes and language of
the play. When investigating the sounds of the language in the second task, students might
notice ‘p’, ‘b’, ‘f’ and lots of ‘s’ sounds – indicative of the violent nature of the language.
(AO2)

 Report from the battlefield: Write a short report of the events in Act 1 Scene 2, using
modern language, for a newspaper or TV report. As an extension activity, you could ask
students to write it as though from the rebels’ side. They would feel very differently about
Macbeth and what he has done to their leader. (AO1)

Plenary activities
 Reporting back: Pair up some contrasting news reports and invite students to share them.
(AO1)

 Acrostics: Students could create their own acrostic poems of the play, based on their prior
knowledge and informed by their understanding of Macbeth in the second scene. (AO1)

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 Lesson 1
Resource 1

Captain’s speech
At the start of the play, a battle is going
on. Macbeth is fighting on King Duncan’s
side against an army of rebels.

An injured captain is brought back behind the

lines to have his wounds treated. He gives
the following report of Macbeth and his
bravery in killing the rebel leader,
MacDonald:

By M. and B. Skelt (publishers) [CC BY-SA 4.0

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via
Wikimedia Commons

Captain: Doubtful it stood;

As two spent swimmers, that do cling together
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonald –
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him – from the Western Isles
Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied,
And Fortune on his damnèd quarrel smiling,
Showed like a rebel’s whore. But all’s too weak,
For brave Macbeth — well he deserves that name —
Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like Valour’s minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave,
Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’chaps
And fixed his head upon our battlements.

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 Lesson 1
Resource 1
At first you might find Shakespeare’s language takes some getting used to, so here is a
small glossary to help you:

kern foot soldier armed with sword and shield

gallowglass a soldier fighting just for the money

fate (Shakespeare’s imagery sees fate as a woman who is only flirting

Fortune
with the rebels)

brandished steel Macbeth is waving his sword threateningly

‘smoked with it is so cold that the blood on the sword is creating steam just as
bloody execution’ breath does in cold weather

Valour bravery (again Shakespeare has used personification)

minion servant

unseamed split open

nave navel

chaps jaw

Task one

In pairs or small groups, read this speech a few times, experimenting with how it might be said.

Consider how he might be talking before you read it:

 Is the captain in pain and struggling to speak?

 Is he faint and breathless?
 Is he excited and saying the speech quickly?
 Is he laughing about the death of the rebel, which means the rebels will be crushed and
the battle over?

Task two

Underline every word in this speech which is violent.

Next pick out the consonant sounds with a highlighter. What are the dominant ones?

As an experiment, ask one person in the group to read the speech and watch their facial
expressions when they make these sounds. Why do you think Shakespeare includes these sounds?

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 Act 1
Lesson 2

Lesson 2 – The weird sisters (Act 1 Scenes 1-3)

Starter activities
 Witch we know: What do we know about witches? Pairs discuss and feed back elements to
the whole group. (AO3)

 Mind maps: Working independently, students create a mind map of all the things that occur
to them when they hear the word ‘witch’. (AO2)

 Witches in art: Look at some representations of the weird sisters in art using the PowerPoint
resource Witches in art (Resource 2). Why do your students think these artists have portrayed
them this way? Which are their favourites? (AO3)

Main activities
 Evidence of witchcraft: Using the resource The weird sisters (Resource 3) ask students to
work through Act 1 Scene 1 and part of Act 1 Scene 3, to examine the extent to which the
three women could be charged with practising witchcraft. (AO3)

 Discussion: How does Shakespeare make the audience fear the weird sisters? As well as the
evidence students collected above, ask them to find features of their language which differ
from other characters. They could identify:

1. They speak in rhyme.

1. Their lines are shorter than the other characters’ lines.

2. They never speak in prose, only verse.

3. They use words like ‘charm’ and old-fashioned language even for Shakespeare’s
time, like ‘aroint’.

4. The number three is important in magic and they use it several times.
(AO2)

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 Act 1
Lesson 2

Plenary activities
 Modern witches: Shakespeare’s audience would have been terrified of the weird sisters but
for modern audiences they can seem silly. Challenge students: How could you show them on
stage to be frightening in a modern theatre? Share ideas. You could show your students the
short clip of the opening scene from the 2015 version of the film and discuss how frightening
they are: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5TpecxZL88. (AO3)

 Guilty verdict? On the evidence gathered, would your students convict these women of
witchcraft and send them to be hanged, or do they think they are innocent of doing harm?
Get your class to vote with their feet on one side of the classroom or the other. (AO1)

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 Lesson 2
Resource 2
Witches in art

We’ve included a screenshot of this PowerPoint here so you can see the resource.
To access this resource please log in to the and type ‘26810’ into the search bar.

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 Lesson 2
Resource 3

The weird sisters

In Shakespeare’s time, people believed that witches could
cause them harm. James I, who was on the throne at the
time Macbeth was written was convinced a witch was
plotting to kill him. Characters refer to the three women
who tell Macbeth he is going to be king one day as ‘the weird
sisters’. So what is the evidence which would convict them in
court for practising witchcraft?

In groups of three, read Act 1 Scene 1 and Act 1 Scene 3 up

to the entrance of Banquo and Macbeth, then complete the
following activity.

Task one

Imagine you’re the local constable and looking for evidence to arrest these weird women for
witchcraft. Find evidence in the text to support these charges. The first one has been done for
you.

Charges Evidence

Keeping familiars. These were pets which I come, Greymalkin. (sinister name for a cat
people thought could speak to the devil, such – malkin means evil doer)
as cats and toads. Paddock calls. (a name for a toad)

Speaking in riddles

Meeting in strange places away from other

people

Damaging or killing livestock

Making bad things happen to people

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 Lesson 2
Resource 3
Charges Evidence

Uttering spells

Doing strange rituals/dancing

Task two

Join with another group and continue reading the scene, from the conversation between
Macbeth and Banquo, up to the entrance of Ross and Angus. What else do we learn about the
weird sisters?

Charge Evidence

Oddly dressed

Old women

Telling the future

Speaking in threes

Able to vanish

Extension task

The women would have been charged as guilty if they were found to cause harm or death by
witchcraft. Would you find them guilty or innocent?

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 Act 1
Lesson 3

Lesson 3 – The world of men (Act 1 Scenes 2-4)

Starter activities
 Medieval warfare: Ask students to consider why Shakespeare avoids showing the battle
scenes on stage. Instead we only hear people talking about it. What sounds would they use to
suggest a battle happening close by? (AO1)

 How fair? Give students the following scenario:

Imagine that you and your friend had both played in a football match, both played
brilliantly, but your friend scored the winning goal. How would you feel if your
friend was given a try out for a professional team, but you just had a pat on the
back from the coach? And another friend, who was playing a different match, was
given a place on a professional team, because his father was the manager of it.
What would you feel and do?

Ask students to make the connection between this scenario and the situation in Act 1 Scene
4. Elicit the three rewards given by Duncan: Malcolm is made Duncan’s heir and will inherit
the throne, Macbeth has already been made Thane of Cawdor and Duncan is thinking of
promoting him further and Banquo is given a hug.

Banquo offers his loyalty to Duncan. What does this suggest about him? (AO1)

Main activities
 Comprehension Act 1 Scene 2: Organise your students into groups of five, and ask them to
read the scene. They should then consider the questions below.

1. Why is the Thane of Cawdor being executed?

5. How does he reward Macbeth for killing the rebel Macdonald? What about Banquo?

6. Make a list of quotations which show how Macbeth is seen by others.

7. What impression do we get of King Duncan? Is he a good king or not? Consider how
fair he has been in giving Macbeth his new title. (AO1)

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 Act 1
Lesson 3

 Prophecies for Macbeth and Banquo: Act 1 Scene 3 (Resource 4) Ask your students to
read the scene, then sort the prophecies for Macbeth and Banquo and their responses using
the sorting task in the resource. (AO1)

 ‘Stars, hide your fires’ freeze frame: Act 1 Scene 4 (Resource 5) Explore Macbeth’s
aside in Act 1 Scene 4 by asking your students to work in groups of between three and five,
to prepare a still image of the scene. When prompted, each character speaks his thoughts of
Duncan’s awards. (AO1)

 ‘Stars, hide your fires’ reward certificates: Act 1 Scene 4 (Resource 6) As an

alternative task, get students to create certificates explaining what Malcolm, Macbeth and
Banquo have done to receive these rewards. You could use the template in the resource.
(AO1)

Plenary activities
 Tweet the news: Students write a tweet to announce Cawdor’s execution. Tweets cannot be
more than 140 characters.
Ask students to show their knowledge of the text by referring to the information about him
at the start of Act 1 Scene 4. (AO1)

 Award ceremony: Following up on the activities based on Act 1 Scene 4, you could hold a
mini award ceremony for small groups or volunteers acting as Macbeth, Banquo and Malcolm,
who receive their awards from King Duncan. (AO1)

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 Lesson 3
Resource 4

Prophecies for Macbeth and Banquo: Act 1 Scene 3

Task one

Which of these prophecies are for Macbeth and which for Banquo? Complete the table.

Prophecy Macbeth or Banquo?

You will be king.

Your title is Thane of Glamis.

Your children will be kings, but you won’t.

You are not going to be as happy as your

friend in one way, but in another way you
will be much happier.

You are getting a new title, Thane of

Cawdor.

You’re not as important as your friend but

in another way you are more important.

Whose fortune do you think is the best? Why?

......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................

How do Macbeth and Banquo react to the prophecies?

......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 3
Resource 4
Task two

Cut up the quotations and their modern meanings, then match pairs together.

Banquo

You have given my friend such

Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear a brilliant prediction that he is
Things that do sound so fair? now taking his time to think it
over.

My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction Can we believe what wicked
Of noble having and of royal hope, people tell us?
That he seems rapt withal.

To me you speak not.

If you can look into the seeds of time Sometimes the devil tempts us
And say which grain will grow and which will not, to do wicked things by telling
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear us something true.
Your favours nor your hate.

Were such things here as we do speak about?

Or have we eaten on the insane root, Macbeth is lost in thought.
That takes the reason prisoner?

He needs time to get used to

What, can the devil speak true?
what just happened.

But ’tis strange,

If you really can tell the
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
future, tell me mine? I am not
The instruments of darkness tell us truths;
afraid of you and won’t worry
Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s
too much what you say.
In deepest consequence.

It’s good news, so why do you

Look how our partner’s rapt.
seem so afraid?

New honours come upon him,

Like our strange garments, cleave not to their Did that really happen or have
mould, we gone crazy?
But with the aid of use.

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 Lesson 3
Resource 4

Macbeth

If the first two prophecies are

true, then the best one is still
Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more.
to come, so yes! I am going to
be king!

Perhaps we can believe them

now, because they were right
By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis,
about me being Thane of
But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives
Cawdor. Aren’t you excited
A prosperous gentleman,
that your children could be
kings?

Hang on a minute, where did

to be king you get that idea from? And
Stands not within the prospect of belief, why have you come to tell us
these things?

Well yes, I am already Thane

Say from whence
of Glamis, that part is true,
You owe this strange intelligence, or why
but someone else is Thane of
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
Cawdor and I can’t inherit
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.
from someone who isn’t dead.

The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me Wait, don’t go. I want to hear
In borrowed robes? more.

Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor: I can’t believe you say I am

The greatest is behind. going to be king!

Do you not hope your children shall be kings, The Thane of Cawdor is alive
When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me and well. What are you talking
Promised no less to them? about? That’s not my title.

This supernatural soliciting

Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success, Maybe I don’t need to do
Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor. anything? Just let being king
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion, happen to me like being Thane
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair of Cawdor did.
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
Against the use of nature?

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 Lesson 3
Resource 4

Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.
I am confused. If all this is
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
good news, which it is, why do
Shakes so my single state of man that function
I feel so scared?
Is smothered in surmise, and nothing is,
But what is not.

If chance will have me king, why chance may crown Oh well, let’s see how I feel
me tomorrow; what will happen
Without my stir. will happen.

What if I have to do something

Come what come may,
terrible to become king, like a
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
murder?

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 Lesson 3
Resource 4

Teacher’s answer sheet

Banquo

Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear It’s good news, so why do you seem
Things that do sound so fair? so afraid?

My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction He needs time to get used to what
Of noble having and of royal hope, just happened.
That he seems rapt withal.

To me you speak not.

If you really can tell the future,
If you can look into the seeds of time
tell me mine. I am not afraid of you
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
and won’t worry too much what you
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
say.
Your favours nor your hate.

Were such things here as we do speak about?

Did that really happen or have we
Or have we eaten on the insane root,
gone crazy?
That takes the reason prisoner?

Can we believe what wicked people

What, can the devil speak true?
tell us?

But ’tis strange,

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, Sometimes the devil tempts us to
The instruments of darkness tell us truths; do wicked things by telling us
Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s something true.
In deepest consequence.

Look how our partner’s rapt. Macbeth is lost in thought.

New honours come upon him, You have given my friend such a
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould, brilliant prediction that he is now
But with the aid of use. taking his time to think it over.

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 Lesson 3
Resource 4
Teacher’s answer sheet

Macbeth

Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more. Wait, don’t go. I want to hear more.
Well yes, I am already Thane of
By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis, Glamis, that part is true, but
But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives someone else is Thane of Cawdor
A prosperous gentleman, and I can’t inherit from someone
who isn’t dead.
to be king I can’t believe you say I am going to
Stands not within the prospect of belief, be king!

Say from whence

Hang on a minute, where did you get
You owe this strange intelligence, or why
that idea from? And why have you
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way come to tell us these things?
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.

The Thane of Cawdor is alive and

The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me
well. What are you talking about?
In borrowed robes? That’s not my title.
If the first two prophecies are true,
Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor:
then the best one is still to come, so
The greatest is behind. yes! I am going to be king!
Perhaps we can believe them now,
Do you not hope your children shall be kings, because they were right about me
When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me being Thane of Cawdor. Aren’t you
Promised no less to them? excited that your children could be
kings?
This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
What if I have to do something
Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.
terrible to become king, like a
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion,
murder?
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
Against the use of nature?
Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.
I am confused. If all this is good
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
news, which it is, why do I feel so
Shakes so my single state of man that function
scared?
Is smothered in surmise, and nothing is,
But what is not.
Maybe I don’t need to do anything.
If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me
Just let being king happen to me like
Without my stir. being Thane of Cawdor did.
Oh well, let’s see how I feel
Come what come may,
tomorrow; what will happen will
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. happen.

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 Lesson 3
Resource 5

‘Stars, hide your fires’ freeze frame

Macbeth tells the audience in an aside (where he speaks to us but the other characters cannot
hear him):

Macbeth: The Prince of Cumberland: that is a step

On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires,
Let not light see my black and deep desires,
The eye wink at the hand. Yet let that be,
Which the eye fears when it is done to see.

Now that Duncan has given Malcolm

the title of the Duke of Cumberland,
Macbeth has realised that he is not
going to be King without taking
action. Malcolm is in his way. He tells
the stars not to shine so no one can
see what he is thinking – his thoughts
are evil.

However, we are not told what Malcolm or Banquo are thinking. The other lords too may have
some private thoughts.

In a small group, prepare a freeze frame (still picture) of the scene where Duncan is giving out
his rewards. One of you should play Duncan, one should play Macbeth, one should play Banquo
and any other group members should play the other lords who attend. On an agreed signal, each
character unfreezes to speak his thoughts. Perform your scene for the rest of the class.

Extension task

Macbeth has been given a new title, land and a second castle. But he is still not happy. He wants
more. What advice would you give Duncan at this point? Each character can answer this in role.

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 Lesson 3
Resource 6

‘Stars, hide your fires’ reward certificates

King Duncan’s Awards

The noble King of Scotland, Duncan, is pleased to
award

To his loyal subject

To show his gratitude for

In the field of battle

Signed
King of Scotland

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 Act 1
Lesson 4

Lesson 4 – Lady Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 5)

Starter activities
 Who would marry Macbeth? Students consider: from what we know of Macbeth, what might
his wife be like as a character? (AO1)

 Send the message: Macbeth writes his wife a letter about what has happened to him. Before
your students read Act 1 Scene 5, ask them to write a text message from Macbeth to his wife
with the news he needs to tell her. (AO1)

Main activities
 First impressions: Support your students in reading the first part of Act 1 Scene 5 using the
resource Impressions of Lady Macbeth (Resource 7) which compares our earlier
understanding of Macbeth with her opinions of him. (AO1)

 The evil within: Explore Lady Macbeth’s second soliloquy (which begins ‘The raven himself is
hoarse’) in Act 1 Scene 5 with the resource Lady Macbeth: the evil within (Resource 8).
The first task is to display her speech and type in evil words; you could instead give students
a paper copy of the speech to annotate and use the PowerPoint slide to consolidate your
class’s ideas. (AO2)

 Exploring the imagery: Pair up your students and ask them to read from Macbeth’s entrance
in Act 1 Scene 5 to the end of the scene. Use the resource O, never shall sun that morrow
see! (Resource 9) to examine the language used by Lady Macbeth and the relationship
between the pair. (AO1, AO2)

Plenary activities
 Illustrate the imagery: In Lady Macbeth’s speech beginning ‘Oh never / shall sun that
morrow see’ (explored in the activity above), students choose one of the following images to
illustrate, discussing the relevance and impact of the imagery:

1. Your face, my thane, is as a book where men

May read strange matters
8. Look like th’innocent flower
But be the serpent under’t. (AO2)

 Who is the most dangerous? Students consider who is the most dangerous: Macbeth or Lady
Macbeth? (AO1)

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 Lesson 4
Resource 7

Impressions of Lady Macbeth

1. Read from the start of Act 1 Scene 5 to ‘To have thee crown’d withal.’
Lady Macbeth reads aloud Macbeth’s letter, then she comments on it. How does
Shakespeare make the letter and the comments different?
2. What impression do we gain from Lady Macbeth about her husband, compared to the idea we
have of him so far? Add your ideas around the images below.

Macbeth before

Macbeth now

3. Work with a partner and jot down your responses to these questions:
 Would she know him best?
 Why does she intend to ‘chastise’ him?
 Does she want him to be king? Can you find any evidence for her wanting Macbeth to
kill the king?
4. Read the conversation with the attendant. Why does she think the servant is ‘mad’ to say the
king is coming to the Macbeths’ castle that very night?

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 Lesson 4
Resource 8
The evil within

We’ve included a screenshot of this PowerPoint here so you can see the resource.
To access this resource please log in to the and type ‘26809’ into the search bar.

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 Lesson 4
Resource 9

‘O, never shall sun that morrow see!’

Task one

Read the duologue from the entrance of Macbeth to the end of the scene, then answer the
questions below.

1. What advice is she giving Macbeth in her speech

beginning ‘O, never shall sun that morrow see!’
and why? Does the way she expresse it help the
audience remember what she said? Why has she
used this imagery?

2. How does Lady Macbeth indicate she wants Duncan

to be killed?

3. How does Macbeth reveal his reluctance to comply

with her wishes?

4. Who do you think has the upper hand in this

relationship? Back up your idea with evidence from
the play.

Task two

Consider the different moods Lady Macbeth shows in the whole of Act 1 Scene 5 and answer the
following question:

How does Lady Macbeth’s mood change as the scene progresses?

You could use some of the words below to help you answer.

excited evil vindictive manipulative

calm controlled business-like determined

persuasive calculating optimistic spiritual

valiant cowardly scheming selfish

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 Act 1
Lesson 5

Lesson 5 – To kill a king (Act 1 Scenes 6-7)

Starter activities
 Advertise the castle: Ask students to look at the conversation between Duncan and Banquo
at the start of Act 1 Scene 6 (ten lines). Translate their words into an estate agent’s or
cottage holiday advert for a castle. You could start by looking at the language used by Airbnb
hosts for castles: www.airbnb.co.uk/wishlists/stay-in-a-castle or one of the promotional
videos (e.g. ‘Belong anywhere’ on their website homepage) as inspiration. NB These links are
correct at the time of publication. (AO2)

 Dramatic irony: Display the opening ten lines of the scene on the whiteboard and ask
students to consider the following questions:

1. How does this quotation link with Lady Macbeth’s previous advice: ‘look like
th’innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t’?

9. Why is this conversation full of dramatic irony (when the audience knows
something the characters do not)? Find examples. (AO2)

 Equivocation quiz: To prepare students for analysing Lady Macbeth’s language in Act 1
Scene 6, give students the resource Equivocation quiz (Resource 10) to determine to what
extent they are an equivocator. (AO2)

Main activities
 Conspiracy to kill a king: Explain to students the context for the Macbeths’ plot:

Killing a king was the worst crime possible, because the king was believed to rule
by divine right. To plot to kill a king was therefore a plot against God. People of
this time thought that they would go to hell for this crime, even if they got away
with it in real life. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth risk their souls for earthly ambition.
People in Shakespeare’s time had seen traitors executed for plotting against
royalty. They would be fascinated and terrified by what the Macbeths are plotting
to do.

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 Act 1
Lesson 5

With this in mind, ask students to read Act 1 Scene 6 from Lady Macbeth’s entrance, and
then find quotations to show how Duncan flatters Lady Macbeth:

1. You are my honoured hostess.

10.Thank you for going to the trouble of providing beds and food for me and my men
– I know it must be a lot of work.
11.Your husband rode very fast to get home before us because he loves you so much.
12.I am going to continue to favour you and Macbeth. (AO1, AO3)

 Lady Macbeth’s equivocation: Following on from the ‘Equivocation quiz’ starter, students
could use the resource Lady Macbeth’s equivocation (Resource 11) to explore her
language and behaviour in Act 1 Scene 6. (AO1, AO2)

 Euphemism and persuasion: Explore Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 7 with your
students, using the resource Macbeth’s soliloquy (Resource 12) to consider his use of
euphemistic language. Continue reading to the end of the scene with your class, asking
students to identify Lady Macbeth’s persuasive language. You could also use the resource Act
1 Scene 7 Persuasion (Resource 13) to explore this further. (AO2)

Plenary activities
 Summary of the scenes: Looking back on Act 1, ask students to produce a one line summary
of each scene. For example for Scene 1: Away from the battlefield, three witches arrange a
meeting. (AO1)

 Characters: Students sum up the main characters by using three adjectives for each one:
Banquo, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, King Duncan. For example: Banquo – loyal, wary, happy-go-
lucky. (AO1)

 Persuasion: Recap Lady Macbeth’s persuasive techniques using the resource Persuasive
techniques in Act 1 Scene 7 (Resource 14), where students rate the effectiveness of the
techniques and explain the technique they feel is most effective. (AO2)

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 Lesson 5
Resource 10

Equivocation quiz
Answer these questions to find out whether you are an equivocator.

Select the best fit answer from the options, ticking your preference.

1. An elderly relative has given you a really horrible hand-knitted jumper.

Your response is:

a. ‘That’s a really vile jumper. If I wore that my friends would laugh at me.’

b. ‘What an interesting colour and pattern! No one I know has anything like that.’

c. ‘Oh I love it. I will treasure it and wear it every day.’

d. ‘Thank you, it might come in handy.’

2. A small child gives you a very poor scribbly drawing they have done. Do you …?

a. Laugh and ask the child what it is meant to be.

Pin it up on the fridge saying it’s marvellous and you are going to keep it
b.
forever but intend to throw it away when the child isn’t looking.

Tell the child it is a wonderful drawing and they are going to be a famous
c.
artist when they grow up.

d. Give the child some pointers on how to improve their work.

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 Lesson 5
Resource 10
3. Your best friend is telling you about someone he or she really fancies. You know there is
no chance they will get a date. Do you say:

a. ‘What? Don’t make me laugh. You have no chance with him/her.’

b. ‘Maybe they are not as nice as you think. I’ve heard some nasty gossip.’

c. ‘You are far too good for him/her.’

‘Never mind him/her. I can get us a double date with someone nicer. Let’s
d.
meet up at the weekend and try the new coffee shop in town.’

4. You’ve been invited to a party but you really don’t want to go, because the person who
invited you is a bully. Do you …?

a. Tell them you wouldn’t go if they paid you to.

Accept the invitation with apparent pleasure but then make up an excuse on
b.
the night and pretend you are really upset you can’t go.

Go, and buy them a really good present. Boast to everyone you have been
c. invited and hope it gets back to the bully, because you need to stay in their
good books.

Say you are really sorry but you won’t be able to come because you already
d.
have plans.

If you answered …
mostly a: you are far too straightforward and could do with developing some tact
but at least people know where they stand with you.

mostly b: you are an equivocator. This power can be used to good or ill; be
careful when you use it!

mostly c: you could come across as insincere, so curb a tendency to flatter

people.

mostly d: you are a kind person who knows how to be tactful, but be careful you
don’t become an equivocator.

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 Lesson 5
Resource 11

Lady Macbeth’s equivocation

Lady Macbeth uses equivocation (where you use language to hide the truth).

Equivocation is one of the sins the Porter mentions later in the play. Here’s how Lady Macbeth’s
equivocation works:

What Duncan thinks What the audience

What Lady Macbeth says
she means suspect she means

We have gone to a lot of I have checked my plans to

‘All our service in every
care and double checked murder you over several
point twice and done and
things to make sure your times to make sure it
then done double’
stay is comfortable. happens.

‘Those honours deep and You have not done enough

Thank you for all you have
broad with which your for us; you could have
done for us.
majesty loads our house’ named Macbeth your heir.

Your servants are keen to

‘Your servants ever have give you all they have
You spur us on to kill you.
theirs [spurs]’ because they love you –
us included.

Discuss these questions below and agree your answers before jotting them down.

1. Remember Lady Macbeth’s advice to her husband:

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men

May read strange matters
Look like th’innocent flower
But be the serpent under’t.

How well does she show the audience that she is following this advice here?

2. Dramatic irony happens in plays when the audience knows something not all the characters
do. If this play was a pantomime, you would want to shout out a warning to Duncan here that
Lady Macbeth plans to kill him, but because it is a tragedy, you are not supposed to shout
out. So how does this dramatic irony make you feel, as an audience member?

3. At this point in the play, which character do you like the most and why? Is that the same
thing as enjoying watching the character on stage? Which character do you prefer watching?
Share why with a partner.

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 Lesson 5
Resource 12

Macbeth’s soliloquy
A soliloquy is where one character has a solo speech on stage.
Shakespeare uses them to show the audience what the
character is thinking.

Macbeth’s soliloquy at the start of this scene shows he is

unsure about their planned murder. Macbeth is talking to
himself on stage. He does not really want to kill King
Duncan but he knows he has to if he wants to become
King. He will not use the word ‘kill’ as he cannot face it.

Task one

1. Read through this modern version of the speech and highlight or underline the words
or phrases used instead of ‘kill’ or ‘murder’.
2. Now read it out loud substituting the words you’ve highlighted or underlined with the
words ‘kill’ or ‘murder’.

If I am going to do it, I’d better do it quickly. I wouldn’t worry about it if I thought I

could get away with it and become king without anyone suspecting me. I know it is wrong
to do this thing, and if I do wrong to the king, someone might do the same to me. I might
even be done away with myself by someone else who wants to be king instead. Evil deeds
have a way of coming back to the person who did them. Perhaps I shouldn’t do this deed.
I mean, he is a member of my family and he is my king. I’m supposed to be his most loyal
knight. And even worse, he’s staying at my house. To do this thing is no way to treat a
guest! In fact, I ought to be protecting him from anyone who might want to hurt him.

He is such a good person too. Everyone loves him. People will hate anyone who treats
him cruelly. The whole country would cry and mourn at his passing. And I would only be
doing it so I could be king. That seems very selfish. Besides, he’s just been really good to
me, making me Thane of Cawdor. To take away his life seems such a mean thing to do!
I’d like to feel good for a while before I do something so dreadful.

Lady Macbeth, my wife, tells me I must do as I promised. She always keeps her promises,
even when they are cruel. She’s just told me she would kill her own baby if she’d
promised. Sometimes she frightens me. I don’t want her to think I am a coward. I
promised her I would do this, so I will.

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 Lesson 5
Resource 12
Task two

Now read Shakespeare’s version:

Macbeth
If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly. If th’assassination
Could trammel up the consequence and catch
With his surcease, success, that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all — here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases,
We still have judgment here that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague th’inventor. This even-handed justice
Commends th’ingredience of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips. He’s here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against
The deep damnation of his taking-off.
And pity, like a naked newborn babe
Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’other —

1. Repeat task one with the original version above.

2. Why does Macbeth avoid the words kill and murder? Instead he uses euphemism, a
technique people use when they want to avoid speaking openly, for example, we use ‘pass
away’ instead of die.

3. List the reasons he gives for not wanting to go ahead. Use the modern version to help you if
you need to. Do you think these are valid reasons?

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 Lesson 5
Resource 13

Act 1 Scene 7: persuasion

1. In pairs or groups of three, role play a scene in which one or two
people are persuading another person to do something wrong. You
could choose one of the following examples:
 shop lifting
 going to a party your parents don’t want you to go to
 taking drugs.
The person or people doing the persuading should develop at least five arguments why the
other person should go ahead with the act and the person being persuaded should use at
least five reasons why he or she shouldn’t.

2. When you have finished the role play think about the kinds of strategies which you used both
to persuade someone to do something and to argue against doing it.

For example:
Did the person doing the persuading use bribery or did he or she accuse the other person of
being a wimp?
Why do you think this is such a powerful tool of persuasion?
How difficult did the person being persuaded find it to argue back?

3. Discuss the strategies your group used with a group who chose another issue. Were the
strategies the same? Which strategies would only work with a specific issue?

Persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan

4. When you have read to the end of Act 1 Scene 7 discuss the tactics Lady Macbeth uses to
persuade Macbeth to carry out the murder of Duncan.
Does she use any of the strategies you used in your role play?

Lady Macbeth’s persuasiveness

5. Lady Macbeth is skilful in persuading Macbeth to murder the king and so make the weird
sisters’ prophecy come true.
What do you think her success at persuading Macbeth suggests about her character and her
relationship with her husband?

6. Find quotations to show how Lady Macbeth uses the tactics listed in the following chart to
persuade Macbeth to go through with the murder.
Comment on how effective each quotation is as a means of persuasion.
Does Lady Macbeth use any ways of persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan which haven’t been
listed below?
 Lesson 5
Resource 13
Table Quotation Effectiveness

Flattery

Here Lady Macbeth is referring

And live a coward in thine own to a proverb in which a cat
esteem, wanted to catch fish but didn’t
Accusing
Letting I dare not wait upon I want to get its feet wet. It is
Macbeth of
would, effective because Lady Macbeth
cowardice
Like the poor cat i’th’adage? is suggesting Macbeth won’t be
(lines 43-5) able to have self-respect if he
doesn’t commit the murder.

Questioning
Macbeth’s
manhood

Reassurance

Emphasising
her own
determination

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 Lesson 5
Resource 14

Persuasive techniques in Act 1 Scene 7

1. Read from Lady Macbeth’s entrance to the end of Act 1 Scene 7.
2. Lady Macbeth uses a number of persuasive techniques in Act 1 Scene 7. Rate each part of her
argument, giving up to five stars.
3. Choose the one you rated most highly and write a full paragraph to explain why it is an
effective persuasive technique.

Your star
Quotation What she is doing
rating

Was the hope drunk Using rhetorical questions

Wherein you dress’d yourself? Hath it slept to mock him and make him
since? feel small. Reminding him
And wakes it now to look so green and pale he already said he would do
At what it did so freely? it.

Moral blackmail, saying she

From this time
won’t love him anymore if
Such I account thy love.
he doesn’t kill Duncan.

Art thou afeard

To be the same in thine own act and Rhetorical question implying
valour, he is a coward.
As thou art in desire?

Wouldst thou have that

Rhetorical question implying
Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,
he wants to be king but
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
won’t take any risks to get
Letting I dare not wait upon I would,
what he wants.
Like the poor cat i’th’adage?

In Jacobean times, there

What beast was’t then were accepted qualities
That made you break this enterprise to me? which made a man
When you durst do it, then you were a respected. Here, she uses a
man. rhetorical question to make
And to be more than what you were, you him feel he would be a man
would if he kills Duncan, in her
Be so much more the man. eyes, but as low as an
animal if he does not.

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 Lesson 5
Resource 14

Your star
Quotation What she is doing
rating

Nor time, nor place She builds his confidence

Did then adhere, and yet you would make here by saying that they will
both. never have a better chance
They have made themselves and that their to get what they want. But
fitness now maybe he thinks it’s too
Does unmake you. perfect?

She does two things here.

1. Gives an extreme
I have given suck and know example of a murder which
How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks makes this one seem less
me: bad.
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
2. Says she would keep her
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless
promise, and women were
gums
believed to be naturally soft
And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn
and kind by Shakespeare’s
As you have done to this.
audience, so she would be
going against nature to kill
her own baby.

But screw your courage to the sticking-

She uses flattery: it can’t go
place,
wrong if you are brave.
And we’ll not fail.

When Duncan is asleep,

Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard
journey
She lays out what seems a
Soundly invite him, his two chamberlains
foolproof plan: she will drug
Will I with wine and wassail so convince
Duncan’s guards at the
That memory, the warder of the brain,
feast, so they will sleep
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
through the murder. They
A limbeck only. When in swinish sleep
can then put the blame on
Their drenchèd natures lies as in a death,
them – the guards won’t
What cannot you and I perform upon
remember whether they did
Th’unguarded Duncan? What not put upon
it or not.
His spongy officers, who shall bear the
guilt
Of our great quell?

Who dares receive it other, She reassures him by telling

As we shall make our griefs and clamour him to make a great show
roar of his sorrow when the
Upon his death? murder is discovered.

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 Act 1
Exam style questions

Act 1: Exam style questions

AQA

Section A: Shakespeare
Answer one question from this section on your chosen text.
Macbeth

Read the following extract from Act 1 Scene 3 of Macbeth, and then answer the question that
follows it.
At this point in the play, Macbeth has just been told that he has been made Thane of Cawdor,
shortly after hearing the witches make their prophecies.

MACBETH
[Aside] Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.— I thank you, gentlemen. —
This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill, 5
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion,
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs 10
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother’d in surmise, and nothing is, 15
But what is not.
BANQUO
Look how our partner’s rapt.
MACBETH
If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me
Without my stir.

01 Starting with this moment in the play, explore how Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s ambition.
Write about:
 how Shakespeare presents Macbeth at this point in the play
 how Shakespeare presents Macbeth in the play as a whole.
[30 marks]
A04 [4 marks]

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 Act 1
Exam style questions
Edexcel

SECTION A – Shakespeare

Answer the question on ONE text from this section.

You should spend about 55 minutes on this section.
You should divide your time equally between question parts (a) and (b)

Macbeth – from Act 1 Scene 3, lines 36 to 76

In this extract, Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches.

MACBETH
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
BANQUO
How far is’t call’d to Forres? What are these,
So withered and so wild in their attire,
That look not like th’inhabitants o’th’earth,
And yet are on’t? — Live you, or are you aught 5
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her choppy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips; you should be women
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so. 10
MACBETH
Speak if you can: what are you?
FIRST WITCH
All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis.
SECOND WITCH
All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
THIRD WITCH
All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.
BANQUO
Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear 15
Things that do sound so fair? — I’th’name of truth
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction
Of noble having and of royal hope 20
That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate. 25
FIRST WITCH
Hail.

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 Act 1
Exam style questions
SECOND WITCH
Hail.
THIRD WITCH
Hail.
FIRST WITCH
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
SECOND WITCH
Not so happy, yet much happier. 30
THIRD WITCH
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.
So all hail Macbeth and Banquo.
FIRST WITCH
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail.
MACBETH
Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more.
By Sinel’s death, I know I am Thane of Glamis, 35
But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives
A prosperous gentleman, and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence, or why 40
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.
Witches vanish

1. (a) Explore how Shakespeare presents the characters of Macbeth and Banquo being
manipulated by the witches in this extract.
Refer closely to the extract in your answer.
(20)

1. (b) In this extract, the supernatural element is shaping the plot. Explain the
importance of the supernatural elsewhere in the play.

In your answer you must consider:

• how the supernatural is presented
• why the supernatural is important.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

(Total for Question 1 = 40 marks)

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 Act 1
Exam style questions
OCR

Section B
Shakespeare
Macbeth
Choose ONE question.
You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.
EITHER
8 Explore the idea that Shakespeare contrasts the characters of Macbeth and Banquo. Refer to
this extract from Act 1 Scene 3 and elsewhere in the play.
[40]*

In this extract Macbeth and Banquo have just heard the witches’ prophecies. Macbeth has just
found out he has been made Thane of Cawdor.

BANQUO
What, can the devil speak true?
MACBETH
The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me
In borrowed robes?
ANGUS
Who was the thane, lives yet,
But under heavy judgement bears that life
Which he deserves to lose.
Whether he was combined with those of Norway,
Or did line the rebel with hidden help
And vantage, or that with both he laboured
In his country’s wrack, I know not,
But treasons capital, confessed and proved,
Have overthrown him.
MACBETH
[Aside] Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor:
The greatest is behind. — Thanks for your pains. —
[To BANQUO] Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me
Promised no less to them?
BANQUO
That trusted home,
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But ’tis strange,
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths;
Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s
In deepest consequence.

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 Act 1
Exam style questions
OR

9 In what ways is Macbeth an important character in the play? Explore at least two moments
from the play to support your ideas.
[40]*

Quality of extended responses will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*).

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 Act 1
Exam style questions
WJEC Eduqas

2. Macbeth

Answer both part (a) and part (b).

You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on part (a), and about 40 minutes on part (b).

(a) Read the extract below.

What does this extract show an audience about Macbeth’s state of mind at this point in the play?
Refer closely to details from the extract to support your answer.
[15]
MACBETH
If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly. If th’assassination
Could trammel up the consequence and catch
With his surcease, success, that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all — here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases,
We still have judgement here that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which being taught, return
To plague th’inventor. This even-handed justice
Commends th’ingredience of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips. He’s here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against
The deep damnation of his taking-off.
And pity, like a naked newborn babe
Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’other —

*(b) Write about Lady Macbeth and the way she is presented in Macbeth.
[25]
*5 of this question’s marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of
vocabulary and sentence structures.

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 Act 2
Lesson 6
Act 2

Act 2
Lesson 6 – Preparing to murder a king (Act 2 Scene 1)

Starter activities
 Whatever the weather: Discuss the effects of the weather on our mood. Ask your class to
rate how much they are affected by: sunshine, rain, storms, darkness, the cold. You could
ask them to stand in a continuum line across the room. (AO1)

 Why murder Duncan? At the end of Act 1, the Macbeths had resolved to kill Duncan. What
factors went into the making of this decision? Brainstorm ideas as a class. Possible responses
are: their ambition, their impatience, the prophecies of the witches, Malcolm being made
Duncan’s heir instead of Macbeth, the circumstances of Duncan coming to stay with them so
the murder is easier, Macbeth wanting to prove to his wife that he is no coward. (AO1)

Main activities
 Macbeth and Banquo: The two men are presented in contrasting ways in this scene. Read
through the first part of the scene up to Macbeth’s soliloquy (‘Who’s there?’) and ask pairs to
consider their responses to the following questions:

1. What do you think the relationship between Banquo and his son is like?
13.‘There’s husbandry in heaven / Their candles are all out’: What is the effect of
the darkness on the mood in this scene?
14.How does Banquo feel about his encounter with the witches and why is he having
to resist temptation? How does Macbeth feel about their encounter?
15.How does Banquo’s behaviour change when Macbeth arrives?
16.What lies does Macbeth tell his friend? (AO1)

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 Act 2
Lesson 6

 Is this a dagger? Using the resource Is this a dagger? (Resource 15) explore Macbeth’s
soliloquy. You could show your class a YouTube clip of the soliloquy as preparation for the
activities:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pusU90ov8pQ (Patrick Stewart)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA0NyeFpCY8 (Ian McKellen) (AO2)

Plenary activities
 Conscience alley: Choose one student to take the role of Macbeth. Divide the rest of the
class roughly into two. The students form two lines, facing inwards. Macbeth walks down the
middle slowly. Each student acts as his conscience, with the students on his right each giving
a reason not to kill Duncan and the students on the left spurring him on with their
comments. Macbeth listens in silence and makes a decision at the end of the alley. If a
wooden dagger can be used, they can surrender it or point it as they reveal their decision.
The same effect could be achieved by dividing the class and having them write a Post-it note
of what they would say to Macbeth, and adding these to the whiteboard. (AO1)

 Pictionary: Choose some of the imagery from the scene (the moon, stars, dagger, eyes,
blood, dreams, sleep, a ghost) and play Pictionary in whichever form you like: eyes open,
eyes closed, as a whole class or in pairs. Ask students to explain how these images fit with
the emerging themes of appearance and reality, and truth and deception. (AO2)

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 Lesson 6
Resource 15

Is this a dagger?
Task one

Read Macbeth’s soliloquy from Act 2 Scene 1, below.

Choose one colour to highlight or underline words or

phrases that show Macbeth’s madness, and another
colour to show his sanity.

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?

I see thee yet, in form as palpable

As this which now I draw.

Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going;

And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o’th’other senses,

Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still

And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,

Which was not so before. There’s no such thing:

It is the bloody business which informs

Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half-world

Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse

The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates

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 Lesson 6
Resource 15

Pale Hecate’s off’rings, and withered murder,

Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,

Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.

With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design

Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,

Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear

Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,

And take the present horror from the time,

Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:

Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

A bell rings

I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

Key

Madness

Sanity

Task two

Working in a pair, take it in turns to perform the soliloquy.

One partner reads it as though Macbeth’s mind is disturbed and the other as though he is
of sound mind.

Why does Shakespeare make Macbeth’s feelings ambiguous here?

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 Lesson 6
Resource 15
Task three

Earlier Macbeth was against killing the king, until his wife persuaded him. Reread his
soliloquy from Act 1 and compare it with the soliloquy you have read in Act 2, using the
table below. One comparison has been done for you as an example.

Act 1 Scene 7

Macbeth: If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well

It were done quickly. If th’assassination
Could trammel up the consequence and catch
With his surcease, success, that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all – here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague th’inventor. This even-handed justice
Commends th’ingredience of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips. He’s here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against
The deep damnation of his taking-off.
And pity, like a naked newborn babe
Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’other —

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 Lesson 6
Resource 15
Act 2 Scene 1

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o’th’other senses,
Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There’s no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half-world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate’s off’rings, and withered murder,
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

A bell rings

I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

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 Lesson 6
Resource 15

Macbeth: Macbeth:
What has changed? ‘If it were done when ’tis ‘Is this a dagger which I see
done’ before me’

Attitude towards
killing the king

Attitude towards
Duncan

His mental state

He talks about hell,

He avoids the word ‘murder’
wickedness, blood, ghosts,
The words he uses and talks about angels and
witches, nightmares. He can
newborn babies.
now say ‘murder’.

How evil he is

How afraid he is

Extension task

When you have finished the table, use it to write a paragraph on how Macbeth’s
character has developed from Act 1 to Act 2, including brief quotations.

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 Lesson 6
Resource 15
Teacher’s answer sheet

In this example, words which show a disturbed mind are highlighted in red, and sane
ones in purple. Of course your students will give different interpretations which can also
be rewarded.

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. 1 1. Seeing visions is the
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible product of a disturbed
mind.
To feeling as to sight? 2 Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
2. He tests to see if it is
Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain? 3 real or not.
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw. 4 3. He questions his
Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going; sanity.
And such an instrument I was to use. 4. But he still sees the
Mine eyes are made the fools o’th’other senses, vision.
Or else worth all the rest. 5 I see thee still
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, 5. He suspects he is
seeing things.
Which was not so before. 6 There’s no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs 6. The vision changes,
Thus to mine eyes. 7 Now o’er the one half-world gets worse.
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates 7. Realises there is
Pale Hecate’s off’rings, and withered murder, nothing there.
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace. 8. Obsesses about ghosts
and nightmares.
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design 8
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth, 9. Personifies the stones
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear (shows his paranoia).
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout, 9
And take the present horror from the time, 10. Sane, knows what he
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives: is doing but determined
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. 10 to kill the king.

A bell rings

I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

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 Lesson 6
Resource 15

Macbeth: Macbeth:
What has changed? ‘If it were done when ’tis ‘Is this a dagger which I see
done’ before me’

Attitude towards Thinking of lots of reasons Now determined to kill

killing the king against killing Duncan. Duncan.

As Duncan is both family and

Wants to kill him and does not
Attitude towards his king, he should be
care whether he goes to
Duncan protecting him. Also Duncan is
heaven or hell.
a good person and king.

Sane and logical, but afraid to

His mental state admit to himself what he is Unstable, seeing visions.
planning to do.

He talks about hell,

He avoids the word ‘murder’
wickedness, blood, ghosts,
The words he uses and talks about angels and
witches, nightmares. He can
newborn babies.
now say ‘murder’.

Wants people to think well of

Seems to have become
How evil he is him, is still at heart a good
completely evil.
person.

Afraid of being caught, or of Still afraid but not as scared as

being assassinated in his turn; he was before. He fears being
How afraid he is
he is worried about his soul, if heard before he can commit
he commits this dreadful sin. the murder.

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 Act 2
Lesson 7

Lesson 7 – The aftermath of the murder (Act 2 Scene 2)

Starter activities
 Lady Macbeth: Students independently read Lady Macbeth’s speech at the start of Scene 2,
up to ‘live or die’. What is her mood here? Ask for evidence to support ideas. (AO1)

 Murder offstage: Ask students to consider why Shakespeare didn’t show the murder on
stage. They could work in pairs to come up with up to five reasons, and rank these from the
most to least likely. (AO1)

Main activities
 Who’s to blame? Read through Act 2 Scene 2. The class decides whether the following
responsibilities for the murder plan belong to Lady Macbeth or Macbeth. The list could be
displayed on the board for class discussion. From this activity, they should realise that all
Macbeth has to do is the actual murder. There is an interactive activity (Resource 16) for this
task.

1. Drugs the guards who sleep in Duncan’s room and places their daggers ready to
implicate them.

17.Rings the bell to signal it’s time to kill Duncan.

18.Encourages the other one not to worry.

19.Kills the king.

20.Makes a personal reminder to wash the blood off their hands.

21.Takes the guards’ daggers back into the room when they have been brought out by
mistake.

22.Reminds them to change into their night clothes to look like they have been to
bed. (AO1)

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 Act 2
Lesson 7

 The trial for murder: Based on the evidence in the Who’s to blame? task, students decide
who is the most guilty. In groups, students imagine that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are being
tried for their crimes. Allocate roles to groups of five using the resource 'The trial for murder'
role cards (Resource 17). (AO1)

 Speech: Using the evidence in the Who’s to blame? task, you could instead ask your
students to write a case for the prosecution or defence for either Macbeth, Lady Macbeth or
the supernatural. You could use the resource Who is responsible for the death of King
Duncan? (Resource 18) to prompt students’ thinking. You could ask more able students to
write two cases: one for prosecution and one for the defence of either character. This would
be good for critical thinking skills and argument writing skills. (AO1, AO4)

Plenary activities
 Staging the trial: You could get some or all of the groups to perform their trials and cast the
rest of the class as jury. After the speeches, the jury can take a vote on innocent or guilty
for each one, and the judge can invent a suitable sentence. (AO1)

 Emotion tennis: Students work in pairs. One person says an emotion felt by Lady Macbeth or
Macbeth in this scene (e.g. afraid). They take it in turns to ‘bat’ back and forth emotions
from the scene. You could ask them to use tennis scoring, and to complete a single ‘match’.
Share responses as a class and discuss which character is most afraid, confident, proud etc.
Alternatively, list the emotions on the board and ask students to find supporting evidence for
each. (AO1)

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 Lesson 7
Resource 16

Who's to blame?

We’ve included a screenshot of the interactive version here so you

can see the resource. To access this resource please log in to the
Teachit English website and type ‘26803’ into the search bar.

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 Lesson 7
Resource 17

‘
The trial for murder’ role cards

Macbeth’s prosecution lawyer

You need to prove that Macbeth is guiltier of murdering King Duncan than his wife. What has
he done? What evidence is there? Who are the witnesses? What did Macbeth say or do to
suggest he was most guilty? How would you counter arguments that he was mentally
unstable?

Macbeth’s defence lawyer

You need to prove that Macbeth is less guilty of murdering King Duncan than his wife. What
has he done? What evidence is there? Who are the witnesses? What did Macbeth say or do to
suggest he was less guilty? Could you argue that Lady Macbeth forced him into doing it? How
does he feel about it? Could you argue that he was mentally unstable?

Lady Macbeth’s prosecution lawyer

You need to prove that Lady Macbeth is guiltier of murdering King Duncan than her husband.
What has she done? What evidence is there? Who are the witnesses? What did Lady Macbeth
say or do to suggest she was most guilty? Did she use emotional blackmail? How does she
feel about it?

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 Lesson 7
Resource 17
Lady Macbeth’s defence lawyer
You need to prove that Lady Macbeth is less guilty of murdering King Duncan than her
husband. What has she done? What evidence is there? Who are the witnesses? What did Lady
Macbeth say or do to suggest she was less guilty? Could you argue that without action,
emotional pressure counts for nothing?

Judge
You need to sum up the points raised and make the final
decision on who is guiltier: Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?

Extension

Unfortunately, such a trial would not have happened at the time the play is set. In the beliefs of
the day, the Macbeths would face trial in heaven when they died. To kill a king was a crime
against God, since kings were felt to rule by divine right. If God were the judge of the Macbeths’
behaviour, who would be guiltier: Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?

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 Lesson 7
Resource 18

Who is responsible for the death of King Duncan?

Group 1 – Lady Macbeth is guilty!

Lady Macbeth / Credit: Gordon

Anthony / Getty Images / Universal
Images Group / Copyright © Getty
Images / For Education Use Only.
This and millions of other
educational images are available
through Britannica Image Quest.
For a free trial, please
visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

You must build a case to show the murder of Duncan is the fault of Lady Macbeth. Answer the
following questions, finding evidence from the text to develop and support your answer.

1. Is Lady Macbeth more power hungry than Macbeth?

Clue: Read through her reaction to Macbeth’s account in the letter he has sent her. What
is her reaction?
Development: What does this tell us about her character?

2. Is Lady Macbeth an unnatural woman?

Clue: What does she ask the ‘spirits’ to do to her body, spirit and mind?
Development: What is the difference between her public and private persona and what
does this tell us about what she is capable of?

3. Does Lady Macbeth have supernatural powers or is she perhaps a witch?

Clue: Read her speech in Act 1 Scene 5.
Development: What were the 17th century thoughts and perspectives on witchcraft that
are particularly reflected in the play?

4. Does Lady Macbeth have the power in the marriage?

Clue: Read her exchange with Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 7.
Development: Whose idea is it to kill Duncan? Is Lady Macbeth cleverer than Macbeth?

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 Lesson 7
Resource 18
Group 2 – Macbeth is guilty!

MACBETH (1948) - WELLES,

ORSON / Credit: REPUBLIC
PICTURES / Album /
Universal Images Group /
Copyright © Album / For
Education Use Only. This
and millions of other
educational images are
available through
Britannica Image Quest.
For a free trial, please
visit www.britannica.co.uk
/trial

You must build a case to show the murder of Duncan is the fault of Macbeth. Answer the
following questions, finding evidence from the text to develop and support your answer.

1. Is Macbeth capable of murder?

Clue: What has he done at the beginning of the play?
Development: What does Macbeth’s success as a soldier tell us about what sort of man
he is and what he is capable of?

2. Is Macbeth vain and ambitious?

Clue: What is his reaction to the witches’ prophecy?
Development: Compare his reaction to Banquo’s. What is the difference?

3. Is Macbeth a jealous man?

Clue: What is his reaction to Malcolm’s promotion?
Development: How do jealous people act to the success of others and what might they
be tempted to do?

4. Is Macbeth an insecure man?

Clue: Look at the exchange between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 7. How
does she persuade him to kill the king?
Development: What sort of marriage do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seem to have?

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 Lesson 7
Resource 18
Group 3 – The supernatural is guilty!

Three Sisters / Credit: Hulton Archive / Hulton Archive / Getty Images / Universal Images Group / Copyright © Getty Images / For
Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial,
please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial
You must build a case to show the murder of Duncan is the fault of the supernatural. Answer the
following questions, finding evidence from the text to develop and support your answer.

1. Do the three witches cast a spell so powerful that it is beyond the control of any of the
characters?
Clue: Read the opening of the play with the three witches.
Development: Does the beginning of the play already indicate the future is set? How
important are the supernatural and fate in the play?

2. Do you think Macbeth would have started killing if it wasn’t for the witches’ prophecy?
Clue: Read Act 1 Scene 3, the exchange between Macbeth, Banquo and the witches.
Development: Macbeth was a decent man and a decorated soldier. Why would he
suddenly become a cold-blooded killer? Does it indicate the presence of supernatural
forces?

3. Do you think Lady Macbeth was under the influence of supernatural forces?
Clue: Read Lady Macbeth’s speech in Act 1 Scene 5.
Development: Some say Lady Macbeth is a witch and she seems to be casting a spell
here. Explore this idea.

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 Act 2
Lesson 8

Lesson 8 – Hell’s Gate (Act 2 Scene 3)

Starter activities
 The Porter’s speech: Let students hear an audio version or watch a clip of the Porter’s
speech, and discuss why Shakespeare has included it. Shakespeare’s Porter imagines
someone who has committed suicide, an equivocator and a thief. Ask students to imagine
they are in hell and sinners are knocking on the door. What modern day criminals would they
include instead? You could share the audio version of this scene to discuss:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr4jULsh9Lg (David Tennant) (AO1)

 Blood on their hands: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are covered with blood after killing their
guest, King Duncan. They have gone to their rooms to wash the blood off and change into
their night clothes. In pairs, students role play the conversation they have offstage when
they hear the knocking at the door. (AO1)

Main activities
 The alarm is raised: In groups of four, students read from the start of Act 2 Scene 3 up to
the entrance of Lady Macbeth (ending with the line ‘To countenance this horror’). Guide
students with the following questions and discuss together:

1. What were Duncan’s plans for the next day?

23.How well is Macbeth concealing his thoughts?
24.Why is the weather important?
25.Why is the owl mentioned here (‘the obscure bird’)?
26.Why does Macduff describe the king as ‘the Lord’s anointed temple’?
27.A Gorgon is a snake-haired woman from Greek mythology who could turn her
victims into stone if they looked at her. How effective is Macduff’s metaphor
here?
28.When Macduff raises the alarm, Shakespeare uses short sentences and people’s
names. What effect does that have on stage and how could it be performed for
maximum effect? (AO1, AO2)

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 Act 2
Lesson 8

 News of the death: Groups read the rest of the scene, up to the exit of Lady Macbeth after
Macduff’s line ‘Look to the lady’. Ask students to identify the speakers of these reactions to
the death: ‘O horror, horror, horror, / Tongue nor heart cannot conceive, nor name thee.’
(Macduff) ‘What, in our house?’ (Lady Macbeth), ‘Too cruel, anywhere … say it is not so.’
(Banquo) ‘O, by whom?’ (Malcolm). They should then explore what each reaction shows
about each of those characters (the contrast of Lady Macbeth’s and Banquo’s reactions is
interesting here). They could also select examples of dramatic irony in this scene. (AO1,
AO2)

 ‘O gentle lady’: Discuss with students how in Shakespeare’s time, people believed women
were naturally softer and kinder than men. With this in mind, ask students to look at the
presentation of Lady Macbeth in this scene, by creating a mind map of her character here
(her behaviours, her language, the contrast with the male characters). As an extension, you
could ask students to develop their mind map to cover the presentation of Lady Macbeth in
the play so far. (AO1, AO3)

Plenary activities
 Did she faint? Whether Lady Macbeth faints or pretends to faint in this scene is up to the
interpretation of the reader/audience. Take a class vote on which is more likely and discuss
why. (AO1)

 Hypocrites: Who is the biggest hypocrite in this scene? Macbeth or Lady Macbeth? Pairs find
evidence and put forward their case, for a whole class decision. (AO1)

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 Act 2
Lesson 9

Lesson 9 – The loss of the king (Act 2 Scenes 3-4)

Starter activities
 What next? Since Duncan named his son Malcolm as his heir, by law he should now be
proclaimed king. Ask your students what they think is going to happen next. (AO1)

 What’s the question? Display the names of the characters who now discuss the aftermath of
Duncan’s death (Macduff, Banquo, Malcolm, Donaldbain and Macbeth). If each name is the
answer to a question, what is the question? This could prompt students to revise their
knowledge of the characters and their involvement in events so far. (AO1)

Main activities
 Malcolm and Donaldbain: Students should read Act 2 Scene 3 from Lady Macbeth’s exit to
the end of the scene and discuss the following questions:

 Why do Malcolm and Donaldbain decide to escape Scotland?

 Banquo suggests that they hold an enquiry into Duncan’s death. Based on what
they know, what evidence would he and Macduff use, and who would they blame?
(AO1)

 Act 2 Scene 4: Read through the scene. The dialogue between Ross and the Old Man is quite
different to the previous scene. Ask students why it has been included, and to explore what
their topic of conversation and imagery suggests about events to come.

Possible answers: the Old Man could represent ordinary people’s understanding of events,
pathetic fallacy creates foreboding, there are omens indicated by the unnatural darkness,
the owl and falcon could symbolise Duncan’s murder and the fighting horses could
foreshadow Macbeth killing Banquo. (AO1)

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 Act 2
Lesson 9

 Tweeting the news: In Act 2 Scene 4, Macduff and Ross give us information about what has
happened as a result of the murder and where suspicion falls. Students compose four tweets
to summarise the news.

 Tweet 1: who falls under suspicion of the murder?

 Tweet 2: who has been announced king and where will he be crowned?

 Tweet 3: what has happened to Duncan’s body?

 Tweet 4: what does Macduff think about it all and is he going to the coronation?
(AO1)

Plenary activities
 Hot-seating: Cast students in role as Macduff, Banquo, Malcolm, Donaldbain and Macbeth
after reading the end of Act 2 Scene 3. Get students to work in groups to prepare responses
to the following questions: Who do you think is to blame for King Duncan’s death? Why do
you think he was killed? Where will you go and why? (AO1)

 Tweets: Ask students to share their chosen tweet on a Post-it on the board, or use iPads to
actually tweet the news to a school Twitter account. (AO1)

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 Act 2
Lesson 10

Lesson 10 – Shakespeare’s language (Act 2 Scenes 1-3)

Starter activities
 Language adaptation: Ask students to answer the following questions in response to being
asked by a) a close friend or b) the head teacher:

1. What did you do at the weekend?

29.What plans do you have for the next school holiday?

They should think about how their topic and language choices varied according to their
audience. Shakespeare considers his audience using word choices too. Display the following
quotation on the whiteboard, and ask students to consider the question that follows. When
Macbeth’s hands are covered with blood after the murder, he says:

‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood

Clean from my hand? No: this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,
Making the green one red.

‘Incarnadine’ means to make red, so why does the next line say the same thing in simpler
words? You could suggest that Shakespeare was writing for a wide audience and he has
included both for clarity of meaning. (AO2)

 ‘Look like th’innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t’: Using the interactive
Matching activity Look like the innocent flower (Resource 19), students should match up
Macbeth’s words throughout Act 2 with the truth he hides beneath them. You could ask
students to find further examples and explain the connection with the theme of appearance
and reality in the play. (AO1, AO2)

Main activities
 Levels of language: Using Levels of language (Resource 20), explore the contrasts between
prose and poetry in the play so far. In task three, students may well think that Macbeth and
Lady Macbeth speak in prose, but in fact Shakespeare splits an iambic pentameter between
his two speakers. (AO2)

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 Act 2
Lesson 10

 Themes: Ask students to mind map the development of the key themes in the play so far.
You could use Themes in the play (Resource 21) to help students begin, as well as
providing quotations for students who need support. More able students could be given fewer
quotations as a starting point, and include their own quotations or key events as evidence.
You could return to this activity at a later point in the play, or complete it as a revision
activity. (AO1, AO2)

 Theme sorting: As an alternative to creating mind maps for themes, students could sort the
quotations in the resource Themes in the play (Resource 21) into relevant themes, and
consider the context of some of the quotations to discuss their importance and how they
contribute to the relevant theme’s development. (AO1, AO2)

Plenary activities
 Recap on language levels: More able students could look back over the two acts they have
studied and identify examples of different types of language levels used in specific sections.
They suggest ideas about why this level was chosen at that point. (AO2)

 Just a Minute: In pairs, students talk about their understanding of each theme from either of
the theme tasks. Based on the rules of the popular Radio 4 show, give them a one minute
time limit per person, and remind them that they can’t repeat, hesitate or deviate! Their
partner should take over if they don’t manage it. (AO1)

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 Lesson 10
Resource 19
Like the innocent flower

We’ve included a screenshot of the interactive version here so you

can see the resource. To access this resource please log in to the
Teachit English website and type ‘26804’ into the search bar.

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 Lesson 10
Resource 20

L
evels of language
Shakespeare’s plays were written to be
played in daylight on an open air stage. To
give a range of intensity and focus, whereas
in modern times a director might use
lighting, and a film director would use
different shots, such as close up and long
shots, Shakespeare uses different styles of
language.
Auditorium of the Garden Theatre at Herrenhausen, Hanover / Credit:
Lebrecht / Universal Images Group / Universal Images Group /
Copyright © Lebrecht Music & Arts/ For Education Use Only. This and
millions of other educational images are available through Britannica
Image Quest. For a free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

The levels are (in increasing levels of intensity):

 Prose – most like normal speech, it is often used for comedy characters and moments of
relaxed talk.

 Blank verse – iambic pentameter without rhyme, used for the bulk of a play and lines are
easier to remember.

 Rhymed verse – also iambic pentameter, but with the addition of rhyme.

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 Lesson 10
Resource 20
 Song – used to give texture and variety, rhymed but not usually iambic. Mostly used by
the witches in Macbeth.

Task one

Prose

The Porter’s speeches in Act 2 Scene 3 are in prose. Read the reasons for this below, and decide
on which is the strongest argument for the Porter speaking in prose. Rank these from 1-4 (1
being the strongest reason, 4 being the weakest).

Low born character

Relief of tension

Comedy

Contrast from how noble characters speak

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 Lesson 10
Resource 20
Task two

Blank verse

Look at Macbeth’s soliloquy ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me’. Macbeth is under the
spotlight here. Why is this written in blank verse? List some reasons.

 .............................................................................................................
 .............................................................................................................
 .............................................................................................................
 .............................................................................................................

Rhymed verse

At the end of this speech some rhymes appear. Find them.

Why do you think they are used?
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................

Task three

Look back at the dialogue between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth after he has killed Duncan. Using
your knowledge, what level of language you do think Shakespeare is using here?

Macbeth: I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?
Lady Macbeth: I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.
Did not you speak?
Macbeth: When?
Lady Macbeth: Now.
Macbeth: As I descended?
Lady Macbeth: Ay.
Macbeth: Hark, who lies i’th’second chamber?
Lady Macbeth: Donaldbain.
Macbeth: This is a sorry sight.

Why do you think he does this? How would you deliver these lines on stage?
....................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 10
Resource 21

Themes in the play

Shakespeare introduces and develops themes throughout the play.

Here are some of the themes introduced in Act 1 and Act 2:

what is real and what only seems real, what lies are
Appearance and reality
told, who is fooled

how stable the government is, the weather, people’s

Order and disorder
minds

Ambition how the desire to be rich or important affects people

Evil and the supernatural how someone can be corrupted by wickedness

Violence threats, emotions and actual violence

Macbeth is a focus for this theme, along with Lady

Guilt and conscience
Macbeth

What makes a king? this question is asked throughout the play

Loyalty Banquo and Macduff are important for this theme

Create a mind map of the themes.

Use a different colour for each theme, and add characters and quotations or events on the
branches.

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 Lesson 10
Resource 21
Quotation cards

In every point twice done and then done

double, I have no spur
Were poor and single business to contend To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Against those honours deep and broad Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
wherewith And falls on th’other –
Your majesty loads our house.

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men

May read strange matters. To beguile the
Stars, hide your fires,
time,
Let not light see my black and deep desires,
Look like the time, bear welcome in your eye,
The eye wink at the hand. Yet let that be,
Your hand, your tongue; look like th’innocent
Which the eye fears when it is done to see.
flower,
But be the serpent under’t.

Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor:

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
The greatest is behind.

Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse

The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate’s off’rings, and withered murder,
Were such things here as we do speak about? Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,
Or have we eaten on the insane root, Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his
That takes the reason prisoner? stealthy pace,
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his
design
Moves like a ghost.

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 Lesson 10
Resource 21

Come to my woman’s breasts

Why, worthy thane, And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring
You do unbend your noble strength to think ministers,
So brain-sickly of things. Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief.

By th’clock, ’tis day

And yet dark night strangles the travelling But ’tis strange,
lamp. And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
Is’t night’s predominance, or the day’s The instruments of darkness tell us truths;
shame, Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s
That darkness does the face of earth entomb In deepest consequence.
When living light should kiss it?

I have given suck and know

Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name
How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks
hereafter
me:
The Prince of Cumberland, which honour
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
must
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless
Not unaccompanied invest him only,
gums
But signs of nobleness like stars shall shine
And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn
On all deservers.
As you have done to this.

Duncan
Come, thick night, Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, So clear in his great office, that his virtues
That my keen knife see not the wound it Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued
makes, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off.

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 Lesson 10
Resource 21

with his brandished steel

Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like Valour’s minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave,
Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell A little water clears us of this deed.
to him,
Till he unseamed him from the nave to
th’chaps
And fixed his head upon our battlements.

He’s here in double trust:

First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
There’s no art
Strong both against the deed; then, as his
To find the mind’s construction in the face.
host,
He was a gentleman on whom I built
Who should against his murderer shut the
An absolute trust.
door,
Not bear the knife myself.

Knock, knock, knock. Who’s there, i’th’name

merciful powers, of
Restrain in me the cursèd thoughts that Beelzebub? Here’s a farmer, that hanged
nature himself on th’expectation of plenty. Come in
Gives way to in repose. time – have napkins enough about you, here
you’ll sweat for’t.

Still it cried ‘Sleep no more’ to all the house;

‘Glamis hath murdered sleep’, and therefore
still keep
Cawdor
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no
more.

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 Lesson 10
Resource 21
Teacher’s answer sheet

These are the suggested themes for the quotations, although of course there is not an exact fit
with a single theme.

Appearance and reality

‘In every point twice done and then done double …’
‘Your face, my thane, is as a book …’
‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair:’
‘There’s no art …’

Order and disorder

‘Were such things here as we do speak about? …’
‘Why, worthy thane …’
‘By th’clock, ‘tis day …’

Ambition
‘I have no spur …’
‘Stars, hide your fires …’
‘Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor …’

Evil and the supernatural

‘Nature seems dead …’
‘Come to my woman’s breasts …’
‘But ‘tis strange …’
‘Knock, knock, knock. Who’s there, i’th’name of Beelzebub? …’

Violence
‘I have given suck and know …’
‘Come, thick night, …’
‘with his brandished steel …’

Guilt and conscience

‘A little water clears us of this deed.’
‘He’s here in double trust:…’
‘merciful powers,…’
‘Still it cried ‘Sleep no more’ to all the house;…’

What makes a king?

‘Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter …’
‘Duncan / Hath borne his faculties so meek …’

Loyalty
‘still keep
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,’

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 Act 2
Exam style questions
Act 2: Exam style questions
AQA

Section A: Shakespeare
Answer one question from this section on your chosen text.

Macbeth
Read the following extract from Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2, and answer the question that follows it.
At this point in the play, Macbeth has just murdered King Duncan.

LADY MACBETH
These deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad.
MACBETH
Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more:
Macbeth does murder sleep’, the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care, 5
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.
LADY MACBETH
What do you mean?
MACBETH
Still it cried ‘Sleep no more’ to all the house; 10
‘Glamis hath murdered sleep’, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more.
LADY MACBETH
Who was it, that thus cried? Why, worthy thane,
You do unbend your noble strength to think
So brain-sickly of things. Go get some water, 15
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.
Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
They must lie there. Go carry them and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.
MACBETH
I’ll go no more. 20
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on’t again, I dare not.
LADY MACBETH
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures; ’tis the eye of childhood 25
That fears a painted devil.

01 Starting with this moment in the play, explore how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as an unstable
character.
Write about:
 how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth at this point in the play
 how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in the play as a whole.
[30 marks]
A04 [4 marks]

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 Act 2
Exam style questions
Edexcel

SECTION A – Shakespeare

Answer the question on ONE text from this section.

You should spend about 55 minutes on this section.
You should divide your time equally between question parts (a) and (b)

Macbeth – from Act 2 Scene 1, lines 31 to 64.

In this extract, Macbeth is on his way to murder King Duncan.

MACBETH
Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready,
She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed.
Exit [Servant]
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. 5
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable 10
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going,
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o’th’other senses,
Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still 15
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There’s no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half-world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse 20
The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate’s off’rings, and withered murder,
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design 25
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives; 30
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

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 Act 2
Exam style questions
A bell rings
I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
Exit

1. (a) Explore how Shakespeare presents the character of Macbeth. Refer closely to the extract
in your answer.
(20)

1. (b) In this extract, Macbeth is showing signs of madness. Explain the

importance of madness elsewhere in the play.

In your answer you must consider:

• how madness affects Macbeth and other characters
• why madness is important in the play.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

(Total for Question 1 = 40 marks)

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 Act 2
Exam style questions
OCR

Section B
Shakespeare

Macbeth

Choose ONE question.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.

EITHER

8 Explore how Shakespeare creates horror in the play. Refer to this extract from Act 2 Scene 3
and elsewhere in the play.
[40]*

In this extract Macduff has just discovered the body of King Duncan.

MACDUFF
O horror, horror, horror,
Tongue nor heart cannot conceive, nor name thee.
MACBETH and LENNOX
What’s the matter?
MACDUFF
Confusion now hath made his masterpiece:
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord’s anointed temple and stole thence
The life o’th’building.
MACBETH
What is’t you say, the life?
LENNOX
Mean you his majesty?
MACDUFF
Approach the chamber and destroy your sight
With a new Gorgon. Do not bid me speak:
See and then speak yourselves.
Exeunt MACBETH and LENNOX
Awake, awake!
Ring the alarum bell! Murder and treason!
Banquo and Donaldbain! Malcolm, awake,
Shake off this downy sleep, death’s counterfeit,
And look on death itself. Up, up, and see
The great doom’s image. Malcolm, Banquo,
As from your graves rise up and walk like sprites
To countenance this horror.

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 Act 2
Exam style questions

Bell rings
Enter LADY MACBETH
LADY MACBETH
What’s the business,
That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
The sleepers of the house? Speak, speak.
MACDUFF
O gentle lady,
’Tis not for you to hear what I can speak.
The repetition, in a woman’s ear
Would murder as it fell. —
Enter BANQUO
O Banquo, Banquo,
Our royal master’s murdered.
LADY MACBETH
Woe, alas.
What, in our house?
BANQUO
Too cruel, anywhere.
Dear Duff, I prithee contradict thyself
And say it is not so.

OR

9 How and why is ambition important in the play? Explore at least two moments from the play to
support your ideas.
[40]*

Quality of extended responses will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*).

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 Act 2
Exam style questions
WJEC Eduqas

2. Macbeth

Answer both part (a) and part (b). You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on part (a), and
about 40 minutes on part (b).

(a) Read the extract below.

What does this extract show an audience about Macbeth and Banquo’s consciences at this point
in the play? Refer closely to details from the extract to support your answer.
[15]

Enter BANQUO, and FLEANCE bearing a torch before him

BANQUO
How goes the night, boy?
FLEANCE
The moon is down; I have not heard the clock.
BANQUO
And she goes down at twelve.
FLEANCE
I take’t, ’tis later, sir.
BANQUO
Hold, take my sword. — There’s husbandry in heaven,
Their candles are all out. — Take thee that too.
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
And yet I would not sleep: merciful powers,
Restrain in me the cursèd thoughts that nature
Gives way to in repose.
Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch
Give me my sword —
Who’s there?
MACBETH
A friend.
BANQUO
What, sir, not yet at rest? The king’s abed.
He hath been in unusual pleasure
And sent forth great largess to your offices.
This diamond he greets your wife withal,
By the name of most kind hostess, and shut up
In measureless content.
MACBETH
Being unprepared,
Our will became the servant to defect,
Which else should free have wrought.

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 Act 2
Exam style questions

BANQUO
All’s well.
I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters;
To you they have showed some truth.
MACBETH
I think not of them;
Yet when we can entreat an hour to serve,
We would spend it in some words upon that business,
If you would grant the time.
BANQUO
At your kind’st leisure.
MACBETH
If you shall cleave to my consent, when ’tis,
It shall make honour for you.
BANQUO
So I lose none
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
I shall be counselled.
MACBETH
Good repose the while.
BANQUO
Thanks, sir; the like to you.

*(b) Write about the theme of appearance and reality and its importance in Macbeth.
[25]

*5 of this question’s marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of
vocabulary and sentence structures.

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 Act 3
Lesson 11
Act 3

Act 3
Lesson 11 – King Macbeth (Act 3 Scene 1)

Starter activities
 A changed man: Get your students to imagine this scenario: Imagine something great
happened for your best friend. However, you have a feeling they did something wrong to
make this happen. You have noticed they are not as friendly as they used to be. What would
you say to them about their behaviour and its impact on your changed relationship? Explain
the connection with Macbeth and Banquo’s current situation. (AO1)

 Election of the king: Give students a paired role play task based on an imagined scene. One
student plays one of the thanes who went to Macbeth’s coronation, the other plays Macduff.
Presume that Macduff did not go. What is Macduff told about the event? (AO1)

 The role of men: In Shakespeare’s time, manly qualities were courage, honour, physical
strength, success fighting in battles and being in control of their emotions. Ask students to
consider what character traits would be considered ‘manly’ in modern times. As you work
through the activities on this scene, consider Macbeth in this light. (AO3)

Main activities
 Losing a friend: Macbeth is now king, but is he happy? Ask students to read Macbeth’s
soliloquy from Act 3 Scene 1 and complete the tasks on the resource Losing a friend
(Resource 22) to consider why Macbeth should fear Banquo. There is an interactive version
of the ranking task available (Resource 23), with suggested reasons. Follow up the activities
with a class vote on task two, to discuss what Macbeth should do. (AO1)

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 Act 3
Lesson 11
 Macbeth’s plan: Display Banquo’s soliloquy on the whiteboard and ask students to discuss
whether Macbeth is right to worry about Banquo.

Banquo: Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,

As the weird women promised, and I fear
Thou played’st most foully for’t; yet it was said
It should not stand in thy posterity,
But that myself should be the root and father
Of many kings. If there come truth from them —
As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine —
Why by the verities on thee made good,
May they not be my oracles as well
And set me up in hope? But hush, no more. (AO1)

 Reading: In groups of six (or five if easier and someone can double as the servant who only
has one line), pupils read the whole scene (Act 3 Scene 1). Ask students to discuss the
following:

1. Banquo is invited to a special supper tonight. Do you think he will get there? If
not, why not?
30.Why is Macbeth so keen to know if Fleance will be with Banquo, who has to ride
out on an errand?
31.How does Macbeth continue to make himself look innocent of the murder?
32.You can tell a person by the company they keep. Who is Macbeth friendly with
now instead of Banquo? What does this show about him?
33.How does Macbeth make these men want to kill Banquo?
34.What is the plan? (AO1)

Plenary activities
 Prose and poetry: Macbeth and the murderers begin speaking in prose but switch to poetry.
Suggest why Shakespeare has written the conversation this way. (AO2)

 What is a man? Macbeth’s speech starting ‘Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men’ raises the
question of ‘What is a man?’, a debate which Lady Macbeth started in Act 2, when she
suggested Macbeth is only a ‘man’ if he kills Duncan. Ask students to look at this speech and
identify how Macbeth persuades the murderers to murder Banquo, and what he considers
distinctive of real men. (AO2, AO3)

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 Lesson 11
Resource 22

Losing a friend
Task one

With a partner, read Macbeth’s soliloquy below. Underline or highlight parts of the speech that
give reasons why Macbeth is dissatisfied with his friend, Banquo.

When you have identified the reasons, number them from most to least important (1 being the
reason that makes Macbeth most dissatisfied with Banquo).

To be thus is nothing,
But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo
Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be feared. ’Tis much he dares,
And to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety. There is none but he,
Whose being I do fear; and under him
My genius is rebuked, as it is said
Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the sisters
When first they put the name of king upon me
And bade them speak to him. Then prophet-like,
They hailed him father to a line of kings.
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If’t be so,
For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind;
For them, the gracious Duncan have I murdered,
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them, and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,
To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings.
Rather than so, come Fate into the list.
And champion me to th’utterance. 

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 Lesson 11
Resource 22
Task two

Now discuss with your partner what you think Macbeth should do about Banquo.

Should he …

a. try to talk to him?

b. bribe him by giving him lands and power to gain his loyalty?

c. kill him?

d. have someone else kill him?

e. make Fleance (Banquo’s son) his heir?

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 Lesson 11
Resource 23

Losing a friend interactive

We’ve included a screenshot of the interactive version here so you

can see the resource. To access this resource please log in to the
Teachit English website and type ‘26805’ into the search bar.

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 Act 3
Lesson 12

Lesson 12 – The murder of Banquo (Act 3 Scenes 2-3)

Starter activities
 Macbeth’s character: You could ask students to populate a ‘role on the wall’ template to
consider Macbeth’s character development. How do you think Macbeth might be feeling now
he has set a plan in motion to kill his best friend? Macbeth has not shared his plan with his
wife. ‘Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, / Till thou applaud the deed.’ What do
you think this shows about their relationship since the murder of Duncan? (AO1)

 Dusk: Display the word ‘dusk’ or ‘twilight’ on the board and ask students to add ideas of the
connotations of this time of day using Post-its, or writing on ideas. Why might this time of
day be chosen for a murder scene? How could this be staged? (AO2)

Main activities
 Ambush! Use the PowerPoint resource Ambush! (Resource 24) to explore Macbeth’s
relationship with Lady Macbeth and his intentions to kill Banquo and Fleance in Act 3 Scene
2. (AO1, AO2)

 Banquo’s murder: Ask students to read Act 3 Scene 3 in groups of four. The scene takes
place in the dark. How could this scene be shown on stage? There are supposed to be two
murderers but three have turned up. Some say it is Macbeth, others suggest the devil. Ask
students for their ideas. Banquo’s first thought is to save his son. How will Macbeth react to
the news Fleance has escaped? (AO1)

Plenary activities
 Imagery of darkness: Using slides 5-7 of the PowerPoint presentation Ambush! (Resource
24), model, then ask students to annotate an extract demonstrating the darkness within
Macbeth’s mind. (AO2)

 Witnessing the murder: We have just seen a murder on stage. Students imagine they were
nearby in the woods when Banquo was being killed and Fleance was running away. In pairs,
they role play the conversation they would have to report what they witnessed. (AO1)

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 Lesson 12
Resource 24
Ambush!

We’ve included a screenshot of this PowerPoint here so you can see the resource.
To access this resource please log in to the and type ‘26811’ into the search bar.

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 Act 3
Lesson 13

Lesson 13 – The banquet and Banquo’s ghost

(Act 3 Scene 4)

Starter activities
 A party to remember: Ask students to think about the following questions: What is the worst
party you have ever been to, or seen on film or TV? Why might a party end up in disaster?
(AO1)

 Jigsaw puzzles: Photocopy the resource Banquet jigsaw (Resource 25) and enlarge the
pictures. Cut up each of the images into smaller pieces and distribute the pieces so that
students have one piece each. Get them to find others with a piece of their puzzle, and
assemble the full picture. What do they find interesting about that image? How is Macbeth
portrayed? How is the ghost dressed? Discuss the images on the whiteboard. (AO1, AO3)

Main activities
 Comparing productions: Show students three different versions of the banquet scene, to
compare – links are given below. The banquet scene on screen (Resource 26) includes a
table for comparison.

1. Macbeth (Polanski, 1971):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U0DwUC0BuE

35.William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (Casson, 1978):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCFjpr3Ehm4

36.Macbeth (Goold, 2010) :

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaIfPfZ7C5s (AO1, AO3)

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 Act 3
Lesson 13
 Performing the scene: The banquet scene in performance (Resource 27) gives a
dramatic structure for your class to perform the scene. The activities include using a defining
space, freeze frame, re-enactment and thought-tracking. The drama is very structured, with
support and guidance alongside the scene.(AO1)

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 Act 3
Lesson 13

Plenary activities
 Thought-tracking: The drama task comes with its own plenary activity in the teaching notes,
to thought-track the characters in a freeze frame at the end of the performance. The
alternative plenary is to write a witness statement, referring to the play script for details.
(AO1)

 Alternative production: Students design their own setting for the scene, working individually
or in groups. They should describe the setting and write a brief explanation. (AO1)

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 Lesson 13
Resource 25

Banquet jigsaw
Jigsaw 1

SHAKESPEARE: MACBETH. - The ghost of Banquo appears before Macbeth (Act III, scene 4) / Credit: The Granger Collection / Universal Images Group /
Copyright © The Granger Collection / For Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image
Quest. For a free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

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 Lesson 13
Resource 25
Jigsaw 2

Banquo’s ghost appearing in front of Macbeth / Credit: De Agostini Picture Library / Universal Images Group / Copyright © DeAgostini Editore / For
Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial, please
visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

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 Lesson 13
Resource 25
Jigsaw 3

Parnell as Macbeth and Dr. Cronin as Banquo’s ghost. Plate to: St. Stephen’s Review / Credit: Wellcome Trust Library\UIG /
Copyright © Wellcome Trust Library / For Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through
Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

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 Lesson 13
Resource 25
Jigsaw 4

akg-images / Macbeth / Liebig

Nr.3 / Credit: Shakespeare /
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 Lesson 13
Resource 26

The banquet scene on screen

Watch the three different versions of the banquet scene, and make notes to compare the
presentation of the main characters and different production choices.

Polanski (1971) Casson (1978) Goold (2010)

Setting and its

effect

How the ghost

was presented
(or not)

How Lady
Macbeth
behaves

How Macbeth
behaves

Others’
behaviour and
reactions to
Macbeth

Which was the

most effective?

Do you think it was more effective and terrifying to include the ghost or not?
Explain why / why not.
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 13
Resource 27

The banquet scene in performance

Teaching notes

This is a very structured drama activity, so you could make use of a school drama space to allow
students to take the drama more seriously. Everyone will need a role for the performance, so
you could split your class into groups of seven, or have one central group, with the rest of the
class playing unnamed lords, the wives of all the lords, the second murderer and servants.

To set the scene, add as many suitable props as you can (e.g. candelabra, goblets, a table cloth)
and simple costumes (e.g. a piece of fabric as a cloak or crowns for the royals).

Casting:

Students will need to take on the following named roles:

 Macbeth
 Lady Macbeth
 The first murderer
 Ross
 Lennox
 Banquo’s ghost
 Narrator (to announce the guests)

Allow the class some time to read over their roles and check they understand, and allow some
time for inventing personas. If not playing a named role, they should make a few character notes
to help them stay consistent, including giving themselves a name.

Setting:

You will need a central banqueting table (groups of desks) as a defining space. It helps students
imagine the set. The table for the banquet needs enough seats for the cast, as well as an extra
empty chair which should be labelled ‘Reserved’.

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 Lesson 13
Resource 27
Possible layout:

Queen
Macbeth’s
throne
Banqueting table with odd
number of seats
King
Macbeth’s
throne
Door

Follow up:

At the end of the dramatic performance, all the players return to their positions, with the guests
seated, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth on their thrones and the ghost of Banquo in the corner.
Prepare students to freeze in role on the count of three. If possible, take photos to display on
the whiteboard later as a reminder.

Go round and touch random pupils on the shoulder to prompt them to state in role what their
character is thinking about the scene they just witnessed. For example, one of the servants
might say ‘That was so embarrassing. Our master often seems a bit strange but he made a show
of us in front of all the lords, and after we worked so hard in the kitchen to make the food
really good. Look at it, not even touched!’

Alternatively (or additionally) students write a statement of what happened in their character
role, or as a servant, as a witness statement.

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 Lesson 13
Resource 27
Read through the script below, and prepare your role by making notes around the suggested performance notes. You could
highlight your lines, and add stage directions, gestures or facial expressions for your character. You could also adapt the
suggestions, if you have different ideas about how you would like to stage the scene.

Lady Macbeth and Macbeth sit on the seats (thrones) at the front. Servants are setting out the table, straightening chairs, generally being busy. The two
murderers stand apart near the door. Lords and their wives, including Lennox and Ross, line up ready to be announced. They should stand in procession in
pairs, well away from the murderers.

When they are in position, the characters are announced. Macbeth and his wife stand up and shake hands with the announcer. Guests stand behind their
chairs (remember the reserved one is left empty).

MACBETH: You know your own degrees; sit down;

at first and last, the hearty welcome.
LORDS: Thanks to your majesty. The lords and their wives speak their line together and sit
MACBETH: Our self will mingle with society and play the humble down round the table.
host; our hostess keeps her state, but in best
time we will require her welcome. Lady Macbeth sits down, then speaks her line to her
LADY MACBETH: Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends for my heart husband.
speaks, they are welcome.

First Murderer appears at the door Macbeth moves towards the door.

MACBETH: See, they encounter thee with their hearts’ thanks. He turns his face towards the table and speaks these four
Both sides are even: here I’ll sit i’th’midst. lines to the lords at the table.

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 Lesson 13
Resource 27
Be large in mirth, anon we’ll drink a measure Macbeth turns away to speak to the murderers. This
The table round. conversation should be whispered.

To First Murderer

There’s blood on thy face.

FIRST MURDERER: ’Tis Banquo’s then.
MACBETH: ’Tis better thee without, than he within. Macbeth seems pleased until he hears this news.
Is he dispatched?
FIRST MURDERER: My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him. This speech should be read in an angry, slightly louder
MACBETH: Thou art the best o’th’cut-throats, voice.
Yet he’s good that did the like for Fleance;
If thou didst it, thou art the nonpareil.
FIRST MURDERER: Most royal sir, Fleance is ’scaped.
MACBETH: Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect;
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,
As broad and general as the casing air:
But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in The second murderer can be given these lines or some
To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo’s safe? others if needed.
FIRST MURDERER: Ay, my good lord: safe in a ditch he bides,
With twenty trenchèd gashes on his head, When the murderers leave, they can take the roles of
The least a death to nature. servants if they wish to stay in the drama.

MACBETH: Thanks for that.

There the grown serpent lies; the worm that’s fled
Hath nature that in time will venom breed,

No teeth for th’present. Get thee gone; tomorrow

We’ll hear ourselves again. Macbeth is standing deep in thought, so Lady Macbeth

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 Lesson 13
Resource 27
reminds him he is hosting a party. She could get up to
Exit Murderer
speak to him, and offer him a goblet of wine.
LADY MACBETH: My royal lord,
You do not give the cheer; the feast is sold
That is not often vouched while ’tis a-making,
’Tis given with welcome. To feed were best at home: He toasts his wife and then the guests.
From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony,
Meeting were bare without it. Lennox points to the empty seat.

Enter the Ghost of Banquo and sits in

The person playing Banquo enters silently and sits in the
Macbeth’s place
empty chair. No one except Macbeth can see the ghost so
MACBETH: Sweet remembrancer! no one else must react.
Now, good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both! Macbeth has not seen the ghost yet, so he sounds rather
LENNOX: May’t please your highness, sit. grand and formal in this speech.
MACBETH: Here had we now our country’s honour roofed,
Were the graced person of our Banquo present, A further request to sit down.
Who may I rather challenge for unkindness
Than pity for mischance. Macbeth sees that there is no room but not who is sitting
ROSS: His absence, sir, there.
Lays blame upon his promise. Please’t your highness
To grace us with your royal company? Lennox points to the empty seat.
MACBETH: The table’s full.
LENNOX: Here is a place reserved, sir.
MACBETH: Where?
At this point Macbeth realises what is sitting in the seat.
LENNOX: Here, my good lord. What is’t that moves your highness? His face looks horrified. The ghost stares at him.
MACBETH: Which of you have done this? He appears to think it is a trick at first.
LORDS: What, my good lord?

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 Lesson 13
Resource 27
MACBETH: Thou canst not say I did it; never shake The ghost shakes his head.
Thy gory locks at me!
ROSS: Gentlemen, rise, his highness is not well. At Ross’s words, the guests begin to get up from their
seats.
Lady Macbeth joins the Lords
Lady Macbeth stands up. She tries to rescue the party.
LADY MACBETH: Sit, worthy friends. My lord is often thus,
And hath been from his youth. Pray you, keep seat. ‘Are you a man?’ is said privately to Macbeth, in a
The fit is momentary; upon a thought whisper. She could also touch his arm.
He will again be well. If much you note him
You shall offend him and extend his passion. The rest of this conversation is a row between Macbeth
Feed, and regard him not. [To Macbeth] Are you a man? and his wife.
MACBETH: Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appal the devil.
LADY MACBETH: O proper stuff! She cannot see the ghost and is not sympathetic to him.
This is the very painting of your fear; He did not tell her he was having Banquo killed.
This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts,
Impostors to true fear, would well become
A woman’s story at a winter’s fire
Authorised by her grandam. Shame itself! Macbeth is agitated and tries to prove to his wife there is
Why do you make such faces? When all’s done something there.
You look but on a stool.
MACBETH: Prithee, see there! Behold, look, lo! How say you?
He becomes braver and challenges the ghost to speak –
[To Ghost] Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak
he could point at it.
too.

If charnel houses and our graves must send The person playing the ghost gets up from their chair and
Those that we bury back, our monuments stands in the corner with their face to the wall.
Shall be the maws of kites.

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 Lesson 13
Resource 27
Lady Macbeth is scornful. Another row between them
Exit Ghost
follows.
LADY MACBETH: What, quite unmanned in folly?
MACBETH: If I stand here, I saw him. Lady Macbeth tries again to save the occasion.
LADY MACBETH: Fie, for shame.
MACBETH: Blood hath been shed ere now, i’th’olden time, Macbeth rallies and makes an excuse.
Ere humane statute purged the gentle weal;
Ay, and since too, murders have been performed
Too terrible for the ear. The time has been
That when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end. But now they rise again
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns
And push us from our stools. This is more strange
Than such a murder is. A servant refills the goblets, and Macbeth drinks a toast;
LADY MACBETH: My worthy lord, the others join in by raising their goblets.
Your noble friends do lack you.
MACBETH: I do forget — Macbeth toasts Banquo and this is the actor’s cue to
Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends. return to the seat.
I have a strange infirmity which is nothing
To those that know me. Come, love and health to all,
Then I’ll sit down. Give me some wine; fill full!

Enter Ghost
Macbeth tries bravery. ‘Avaunt’ is an instruction for a
I drink to th’general joy o’th’whole table,
ghost to leave. He points at the ghost and speaks aloud.
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss.
Would he were here! To all, and him we thirst,
And all to all.
LORDS: Our duties, and the pledge.

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 Lesson 13
Resource 27
MACBETH: Avaunt and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! Lady Macbeth is embarrassed, and tries to make excuses
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; for him.
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes
Which thou dost glare with. This speech could be delivered as though Macbeth is
LADY MACBETH: Think of this, good peers, panicking.
But as a thing of custom. ’Tis no other,
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.
MACBETH: What man dare, I dare;
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The armed rhinoceros, or th’Hyrcan tiger, The person playing Banquo’s ghost returns to the offstage
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves position.
Shall never tremble. Or be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword; Macbeth recovers himself. But the guests have had
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me enough and are rising from their seats, putting on their
The baby of a girl. Hence horrible shadow, cloaks.
Unreal mock’ry, hence.
Lady Macbeth is very angry because he has ruined her
Exit Ghost
party.
Why, so: being gone,
I am a man again. Pray you, sit still.
Macbeth is now thoughtful, and amazed his wife was not
LADY MACBETH: You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting
afraid. He speaks this aloud.
With most admired disorder.
MACBETH: Can such things be,

And overcome us like a summer’s cloud,

Without our special wonder? You make me strange Ross has heard him and questions him. Others are leaving
Even to the disposition that I owe, the party. Ross lingers behind.
When now I think you can behold such sights
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,

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 Lesson 13
Resource 27
Lady M does not want Ross and Lennox to question her
When mine is blanched with fear.
husband, She ushers them to follow the others.
ROSS: What sights, my lord?
LADY MACBETH: I pray you speak not; he grows worse and worse.
Lady Macbeth tries to preserve the formal occasion with
Question enrages him. At once, good night.
a formal good night.
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once.
LENNOX: Good night, and better health
Attend his majesty.
LADY MACBETH: A kind good night to all.

Exeunt Lords. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth remain

MACBETH: It will have blood they say: blood will have blood.
The tone changes to just a conversation between the two
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak.
of them. The servants are clearing away. The lords and
Augurs, and understood relations, have
ladies are lined up in procession to leave.
By maggot-pies, and choughs, and rooks brought forth
The secret’st man of blood. What is the night?
LADY MACBETH: Almost at odds with morning, which is which.
MACBETH: How say’st thou that Macduff denies his person
At our great bidding?
Future plans are calmly made and the pair seems
LADY MACBETH: Did you send to him, sir?
reconciled.
MACBETH: I hear it by the way, but I will send.

There’s not a one of them but in his house

I keep a servant fee’d. I will tomorrow —
And betimes I will — to the weird sisters:
More shall they speak. For now I am bent to know
By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good,
All causes shall give way. I am in blood

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 Lesson 13
Resource 27
Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er.
Strange things I have in head, that will to hand,
The couple leaves the stage arm in arm.
Which must be acted ere they may be scanned.
LADY MACBETH: You lack the season of all natures, sleep.
MACBETH: Come, we’ll to sleep. My strange and self-abuse
Is the initiate fear that wants hard use;
We are yet but young in deed.

Exeunt

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 Act 3
Lesson 14

Lesson 14 – Plots against Macbeth (Act 3 Scenes 5-6)

Starter activities
 Changing characters: Pair up students, and ask them to perform a conversation in role as
someone who knows Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Discuss their recent behaviour. (AO1)

Main activities
 Act 3 Scene 5: Organise students in groups to read Hecate’s speech round the group, each
person reading a rhyming couplet. They should experiment with different ways of reading
the scene, for example in an angry tone, a mocking tone, laughing or whispering. They could
also plan movements, for example, a dance round a cauldron, and some gestures, and you
could ask groups to perform it. What is the plot against Macbeth? They will need to explain
this to the class, which can be done in role or out of role. How do the other witches react
when Hecate has gone? Are they afraid/relieved/rude behind her back? (AO1, AO2)

 Act 3 Scene 6: Here Lennox and another lord discuss the situation; they are deeply
suspicious of Macbeth. Lennox has to check he can speak freely to the other lord, so he tries
him out first. Ask groups of students to prepare a performance of the scene by dividing up
the speeches for more speakers and adding movements where appropriate (slapping backs,
stamping feet etc.). They should read the scene a few times, experimenting with changes of
tone. What is the plot against Macbeth and who mistrusts him? Ask them to explain this to
the class, using examples of language which show Macbeth is no longer trusted, e.g. ‘tyrant’,
‘accursed’ etc. (AO1)

Plenary activities
 Choosing the plot: Compare the plots against Macbeth:

1. The witches’ plot

Bring Macbeth down by telling him his future using strange visions, to make him over-
confident. This will confuse him and trick him.

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 Act 3
Lesson 14

37.The lords’ plot

Bring Macbeth down by encouraging Malcolm, Duncan’s son, who is in England at the
court of Edward the Confessor, to raise an army to take Scotland back. Macduff
has already gone to ask Malcolm. However, they need to be very careful because
those who oppose Macbeth don’t seem to survive long.

Which plot seems to be the best way of getting rid of Macbeth? Take a class vote. (AO1)

 Advising the plotters: Get students to make advice notes for the plotters. What visions could
the witches show Macbeth? They already told his fortune once before. What might they tell
him this time? Would he believe them? How might the plotters be in danger from Macbeth?
How can they keep their disloyalty secret when Macbeth has spies everywhere? (AO1)

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 Act 3
Lesson 15

Lesson 15: Imagery (Act 3)

Starter activities
 Poetic techniques: Recap on students’ knowledge of poetic techniques by using the
interactive task Poetic techniques (Resource 28) to match the quotations with the
techniques. (AO2)

 The catalogue of beasts: Referring to Macbeth’s ‘catalogue’ of living creatures (‘ay, in the
catalogue ye go for men’), explain to students the great chain of being where God is at the
top, then kings, and so on to the lowliest animal. Macbeth implies that the murderers could
rise on the list if they kill Banquo. You could ask students to make a list of the beasts
referred to in the play so far, ranking them from highest to lowest on the chain of being:

sparrows (1.2), eagles (1.2), hare (1.2), lion (1.2), rat (1.3), serpent/snake (1.5, 3.2,
3.4), wolf (2.1), owl (2.2), crickets (2.2), horses (2.4), scorpions (3.2), bat (3.2), beetle
(3.2), worm (3.4), bear (3.4), rhinoceros (3.4), tiger (3.4).

(AO1, AO2)

Main activities
 Imagery treasure hunt: The resource Imagery treasure hunt (Resource 29) includes two
tasks for students to explore some of the imagery in the first three acts. The second task on
the sheet is a class treasure hunt. This works by splitting your class into three (one team per
act), and getting them to find as many quotations as they can within a given time frame. You
might like to get students to tear up some paper to make numbered bookmarks on which
they could write the line numbers of their located quotations. Alternatively, students could
just list these in their books. Make it competitive by stopping the clock and praising the
student(s) with the most quotations.

To follow up on this task, you could get students to write out the quotations onto Post-its
and sort them into appropriate imagery categories on large sheets of paper displayed around
the classroom, copying these for revision. (AO1, AO2)

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 Act 3
Lesson 15

 Bird spotting: Use the resource Bird spotting (Resource 30) to find references to birds in
the play, and analyse the significance of these. (AO1, AO2)

 Analysing imagery: Using the traditional PEE structure, the resource Analysing imagery
(Resource 31) helps students to explain the effectiveness of the imagery in the play. (AO1,
AO2)

Plenary activities:
 Imagery impressions: Ask students to choose a quotation from the imagery activities and get
pairs or small groups to devise a freeze frame. Alternatively, individuals could draw a picture
to represent it. The rest of the class should guess the quotation the freeze frame or image
represents.(AO1, AO2)

 Peer assessment: Part of the Analysing imagery (Resource 31) worksheet includes peer
assessment of written analyses of the imagery in the play so far. You could use this activity
following the Bird spotting activities too. (AO1, AO2, AO4)

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 Lesson 15
Resource 28
Poetic techniques

We’ve included a screenshot of the interactive version here so you

can see the resource. To access this resource please log in to the
Teachit English website and type ‘26806’ into the search bar.

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 Lesson 15
Resource 29

Imagery treasure hunt

Macbeth has some central themes such as ambition,

evil, appearance versus reality. These are sometimes
shown through imagery as well as events and
characters. Imagery is also used to create
atmosphere, setting and revealing characters’ inner
thoughts. Shakespeare uses imagery because our
brains think in pictures. Also, the sets used at the
Globe Theatre were very simple, so the imagery helps
the audience imagine the scene and remember
things. Look back through the imagery in the three
acts studied so far with the activities below.

Macbeth / Credit: Private Collection / Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images / Copyright © Bridgeman Images / For Education Use Only. This and millions
of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial, please visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

Some of the imagery which is central to Macbeth:

Darkness Motherhood Animals, birds

Clothing Sleep
and light and birth and insects

Feasting and Disease, madness

Blood Hunting Children
banquets and medicine

Task one

Read through the quotations below and decide which form of imagery they fit best. Cut
them out and write the appropriate category on the back of each quotation.

Give me some wine; fill

come Fate into the list*, full!
And champion me to I drink to th’general joy
th’utterance*. o’th’whole table, Was the hope drunk
And to our dear friend Wherein you dressed
(Act 3 Scene 1)
Banquo, whom we miss. yourself?
Would he were here! To (Act 1 Scene 7)
all, and him we thirst,
list = jousting tournament,
And all to all.
battlefield
Utterance = death (Act 3 Scene 4)

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 Lesson 15
Resource 29

I have given suck and

know
Come, seeling night,
How tender ‘tis to love
Scarf up the tender eye of Augurs, and understood
the babe that milks me:
pitiful day relations, have
I would, while it was
And with thy bloody and By maggot-pies, and
smiling in my face,
invisible hand choughs, and rooks brought
Have plucked my nipple
Cancel and tear to pieces forth
from his boneless gums,
that great bond The secret’st man of blood. 
And dashed the brains out,
Which keeps me pale. (Act 3 Scene 4)
had I so sworn
As you have done to this. (Act 3 Scene 2)

(Act 1 Scene 7)

This is the very painting of I am in blood

your fear; Had he not resembled Stepped in so far that,
This is the air-drawn My father as he slept, I should I wade no more,
dagger which, you said had done’t. Returning were as tedious
Led you to Duncan. as go o’er.
(Act 2 Scene 2)
(Act 3 Scene 4) (Act 3 Scene 4)

Task two

Your teacher will split you into class teams. You will work against the clock to read back
through one of the first three acts, finding quotations rich in imagery. Either note these
down with line references or mark them with bookmarks.

Next, sort the quotations you have found into the appropriate imagery category/ies.
Write out each quotation on an individual Post-it and stick all of these onto large sheets
of paper around the room. You can use the quotations from the first task to save you
writing these out.

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 Lesson 15
Resource 30

Bird spotting
Cut up the cards below, and match the bird with the
relevant quotation. When you have done this, choose three
birds and analyse why they have been used at that point in
the play and their significance.
You will need your copy of the play.

Birds Quotations

This guest of summer,

The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
Owl
By his loved mansionry that the heaven’s breath
The cry of a screech owl was Smells wooingly here. No jutty, frieze,
thought to announce a death. Buttress, nor coign of vantage but this bird
The owl is the ‘obscure bird’, Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle;
because it flies in the night and Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed
can’t be seen. The air is delicate.
(Act 1 Scene 6 lines 3-10)

Augures, and understood relations, have

Wren
By maggot-pies, and choughs, and rooks brought forth
The smallest of British native The secret’st man of blood. 
birds.
(Act 3 Scene 4 lines 124-126)

Eagle
A bird of prey which often
symbolises spiritual protection It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman
and wisdom. Which gives the stern’st good-night.
Sparrow (Act 2 Scene 2 lines 3-4)
Small, common bird often
associated with loyalty.

Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.

If charnel houses and our graves must send
Raven
Those that we bury back, our monuments
A bird of ill omen. Shall be the maws of kites.
(Act 3 Scene 4 lines 70-73)

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 Lesson 15
Resource 30

Birds Quotations

Crow
Light thickens,
A bird of ill omen. And the crow makes wing to th’rooky wood;
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse,
Rook
Whiles night’s black agents to their preys do rouse
A bird of ill omen. They would
(Act 3 Scene 2 lines 50-53)
attack and kill a lone crow.

Falcon
as sparrows eagles, or the hare, the lion.
A noble bird of prey, a royal
companion, active in the (Act 1 Scene 2 line 35)
daytime.

Martlet He loves us not;

He wants the natural touch, for the poor wren,
A kind of swallow (a martin)
The most diminutive of birds, will fight,
who is ‘temple-haunting’
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
because it likes to build its
All is the fear, and nothing is the love;
nests high on the walls of tall
buildings. (Act 4 Scene 2 lines 8-12)

A falcon tow’ring in her pride of place

Kite
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.
Another bird of prey.
(Act 2 Scene 4 liens 12-13)

Magpie
Another bird of ill omen, also
associated with this rhyme: The raven himself is hoarse
One for sorrow, two for joy, That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
three for a girl, and four for a Under my battlements. 
boy …
(Act 1 Scene 7 lines 36-38)
Chough
A bird of the crow family.

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 Lesson 15
Resource 31

Analysing imagery
Analysing imagery means writing about its effectiveness. To understand that, you need to
consider how the image connects with the object, as well as considering the context.

For example, when Macbeth says ‘Oh, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife’ in Act 3 Scene 2,
including the information that he is driven mad by the thought that Banquo and Fleance are still
alive helps to explain why he feels as though venomous arachnids are running round in his head.

Shakespeare shows the mental state Macbeth is in very

effectively in Act 3 Scene 2, when Macbeth says:

‘Oh, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife’

Macbeth says this privately to his wife. To everyone else

he must appear as king and in charge. This metaphor
shows his private hell, because the witches have told him
Banquo’s line will inherit his throne. Evil thoughts are
running through his mind. Shakespeare uses scorpions
because they are terrifying and capable of killing a
human with their sting.

This kind of comment will help you achieve a good grade. Avoid making weak comments like ‘has
a good effect’.

Task one

Choose an example of imagery from anywhere in the play. It might be one you have found doing
other activities on imagery in the play.

Point

Quotation

Explanation

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 Lesson 15
Resource 31
Task two

Swap with a partner and assess each other’s work using this checklist:

Does it have a clear point?

Has the correct terminology been used?

Does the quotation fit the point?

Has context been included?

Does the quotation prove the point?

Is the comment specific?

Does the analysis add to your understanding of the play?

What could be improved?

...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................

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 Act 3
Exam style questions

Act 3: Exam style questions

AQA

Section A: Shakespeare
Answer one question from this section on your chosen text.

Macbeth

Read the following extract from Macbeth Act 3 Scene 1, and answer the question that follows it.

At this point in the play, Macbeth has been crowned king but Banquo suspects Macbeth killed
Duncan.

BANQUO
Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all
As the weird women promised, and I fear
Thou played’st most foully for’t. Yet it was said
It should not stand in thy posterity.
But that myself should be the root and father 5
Of many kings. If there come truth from them —
As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine —
Why by the verities on thee made good,
May they not be my oracles as well
And set me up in hope? But hush, no more. 10
Sennet sounded. Enter Macbeth, as King, Lady Macbeth as Queen,
Lennox, Ross, Lords, and Attendants
MACBETH
Here’s our chief guest.
LADY MACBETH
If he had been forgotten,
It had been as a gap in our great feast
And all-thing unbecoming.
MACBETH
Tonight we hold a solemn supper sir, 15
And I’ll request your presence.
BANQUO
Let your highness
Command upon me, to the which my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie
Forever knit. 20
MACBETH
Ride you this afternoon?
BANQUO
Ay, my good lord.

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 Act 3
Exam style questions

MACBETH
We should have else desired your good advice,
Which still hath been both grave and prosperous,
In this day’s council: but we’ll take tomorrow. 25
Is’t far you ride?
BANQUO
As far, my lord, as will fill up the time
’Twixt this and supper: go not my horse the better.
I must become a borrower of the night
For a dark hour or twain. 30

01 Starting with this moment in the play, explore how Shakespeare presents the relationship
between Macbeth and Banquo.

Write about:
 how Shakespeare presents Macbeth and Banquo at this point in the play
 how Shakespeare presents Macbeth and Banquo’s relationship in the play as a whole.

[30 marks]
A04 [4 marks]

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 Act 3
Exam style questions
Edexcel

SECTION A – Shakespeare

Answer the question on ONE text from this section.

You should spend about 55 minutes on this section.
You should divide your time equally between question parts (a) and (b)

Macbeth – from Act 3 Scene 2, lines 29 to 61.

In this extract, Macbeth is plotting to have Banquo killed.

LADY MACBETH
Come on,
Gentle my lord, sleek o’er your rugged looks:
Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight.
MACBETH
So shall I, love, and so I pray, be you.
Let your remembrance apply to Banquo: 5
Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue:
Unsafe the while, that we
Must lave our honours in these flattering streams
And make our faces vizards to our hearts,
Disguising what they are. 10
LADY MACBETH
You must leave this.
MACBETH
O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
Thou know’st that Banquo and his Fleance lives.
LADY MACBETH
But in them Nature’s copy’s not eterne. 15
MACBETH
There’s comfort yet, they are assailable;
Then be thou jocund: ere the bat hath flown
His cloistered flight, ere to black Hecate’s summons
The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
Hath rung night’s yawning peal, there shall be done 20
A deed of dreadful note.
LADY MACBETH
What’s to be done?
MACBETH
Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
Till thou applaud the deed. — Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day, 25
And with thy bloody and invisible hand

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 Act 3
Exam style questions
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
Which keeps me pale. Light thickens,
And the crow makes wing to the rooky wood:
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, 30
Whiles night’s black agents to their preys do rouse. —
Thou marvell’st at my words: but hold thee still.
Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.
So prithee, go with me.

1. (a) Explore how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Macbeth and his wife at this
point in the play.
Refer closely to the extract in your answer.
(20)

1. (b) In this extract, Macbeth is becoming increasingly wicked. Explain the

importance of evil and the supernatural elsewhere in the play.

In your answer you must consider:

• how evil has taken over Macbeth’s mind
• why evil and the supernatural are important.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

(Total for Question 1 = 40 marks)

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 Act 3
Exam style questions
OCR

Section B
Shakespeare

Macbeth

Choose ONE question.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.

EITHER

8 Explore how Shakespeare shows that a guilty conscience affects Macbeth’s behaviour. Refer to
this extract from Act 3 Scene 4 and elsewhere in the play.
[40]*

In this extract Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are holding a supper party, shortly after Banquo has
been murdered.

LADY MACBETH
My worthy lord,
Your noble friends do lack you.
MACBETH
I do forget —
Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends,
I have a strange infirmity which is nothing
To those that know me. Come, love and health to all,
Then I’ll sit down. Give me some wine; fill full!

[Enter Ghost]

I drink to the general joy o’th’whole table,

And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss.
Would he were here! To all, and him we thirst,
And all to all.
LORDS
Our duties, and the pledge.
MACBETH
Avaunt and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes
Which thou dost glare with.
LADY MACBETH
Think of this, good peers,
But as a thing of custom. ’Tis no other,
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.

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 Act 3
Exam style questions
MACBETH
What man dare, I dare;
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The armed rhinoceros, or th’Hyrcan tiger,
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble. Or be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword;
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow,
Unreal mock’ry, hence.
[Exit Ghost]
Why, so: being gone,
I am a man again. Pray you, sit still.

OR

9 How important is the theme of appearance and reality in the play? Explore at least two
moments from the play to support your ideas.
[40]*

Quality of extended responses will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*).

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 Act 3
Exam style questions
WJEC Eduqas

2. Macbeth

Answer both part (a) and part (b). You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on part (a), and
about 40 minutes on part (b).

(a) Read the extract below.

How does this extract show differences between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s consciences and
behaviours at this point? Refer closely to details from the extract to support your answer.
[15]
LADY MACBETH
My worthy lord,
Your noble friends do lack you.
MACBETH
I do forget —
Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends,
I have a strange infirmity which is nothing
To those that know me. Come, love and health to all,
Then I’ll sit down. Give me some wine; fill full!

[Enter Ghost]

I drink to the general joy o’th’whole table,

And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss.
Would he were here! To all, and him we thirst,
And all to all.
LORDS
Our duties, and the pledge.
MACBETH
Avaunt and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes
Which thou dost glare with.
LADY MACBETH
Think of this, good peers,
But as a thing of custom. ’Tis no other,
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.

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 Act 3
Exam style questions
MACBETH
What man dare, I dare;
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The armed rhinoceros, or th’Hyrcan tiger,
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble. Or be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword;
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow,
Unreal mock’ry, hence.
[Exit Ghost]
Why, so: being gone,
I am a man again. Pray you, sit still.

*(b) Write about the theme of the supernatural and its importance in Macbeth.
[25]

*5 of this question’s marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of
vocabulary and sentence structures.

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 Act 4
Lesson 16
Act 4

Act 4
Lesson 16 – Macbeth returns to the weird sisters (Act 4 Scene 1)

Starter activities
 Hubble bubble / Double, double: Ask students to continue this spell to see how much of it
they already know. It is one of the most famous speeches in any Shakespeare play, and is
often misquoted. Explain that the witches are making a spell full of nasty ingredients. If you
were writing a modern version of this play, what might you have them throw into their
cauldron? Go for a ‘Room 101’ take on the activity if you like, allowing more than just
concrete items to go in (but pre-warn that no students/teachers are allowed to go in!).
(AO1)

 Cast a spell on Macbeth: Hecate tells the witches to trick Macbeth with some fortune
telling. Ask students to make some predictions: what do they think is going to happen to him?
(AO1)

Main activities
 Double, double toil and trouble: Using the activities on Double, double toil and trouble
(Resource 32) students study the first part of the scene. They consider other ‘doubles’ in
the play, complete a cloze activity for the spell, and perform their own version of the spell.
You could show them a conventional portrayal of the scene as a starting point:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXQoFm8hbI4.

Some suggested responses to task one: the two-facedness of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth,
Duncan’s two sons, the way Macbeth is contrasted with Banquo and then Macduff. (AO1,
AO2, AO3)

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 Act 4
Lesson 16

 Macbeth: a changed man: Using the tasks on Macbeth: a changed man (Resource 33),
students should read the rest of the scene, and work through tasks to compare the
presentation of Macbeth with earlier impressions in the play. For task two, you could split
your class so that one group focuses on close analysis of this scene to complete the first
column, and more able students could range more widely through the play to complete the
second column, both of which are valuable preparation for the exam. (AO1, AO2)

 The prophecies: Using the PowerPoint resource The prophecies (Resource 34) students
consider each of the prophecies, and Macbeth’s responses to them. (AO1)

Plenary activities
 The line of kings: Ask eight students to act out the line of kings shown in the last prophecy,
reading the last part of the scene together from line 111 ‘Thou art too like the spirit of
Banquo. Down!’ Discuss whether the witches should be pleased with their work, and then
consider whether Lennox is loyal to Macbeth or not (refer back to Act 3 Scene 6). (AO1)

 The witches in control: Ask students to imagine that the three witches gather for a gossip
when Macbeth has gone, and improvise their conversation. Draw students’ attention to the
additional ingredients that have now gone into the cauldron: the blood of a pig which has
eaten her young, and the grease from the forehead of a murderer about to be hanged for his
crimes. (AO1)

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 Lesson 16
Resource 32

Double, double toil and trouble

Task one

The word ‘double’ in the witches’ spell ‘Double, double toil and trouble …’ reminds the
audience of some doubles in the play, for instance the two captains, Macbeth and Banquo.
Which other ‘doubles’ can you think of?

Task two

The witches’ spell in Act 4 Scene 1 is written in rhythm and rhyme. With this in mind, fit in the
missing words where they sound best and make most sense.

Turk blind-worm dragon shark babe

baboon newt tiger howlet’s wing Lizard’s leg

yew Toad tongue of dog tooth of wolf hemlock

FIRST WITCH: Round about the cauldron go;

In the poisoned entrails throw.
....................., that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweltered venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’the charmed pot.
ALL: Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
SECOND WITCH: Fillet of a fenny snake
In the cauldron boil and bake:
Eye of ..................., and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and ....................,
Adder’s fork, and ...................’s sting
................... and ....................,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth, boil and bubble.
ALL: Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
THIRD WITCH: Scale of ................, .................
Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf

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 Lesson 16
Resource 32
Of the ravined salt-sea ...................,
Root of ....................., digged i’th’dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of .....................,
Slivered in the moon’s eclipse;
Nose of ....................., and Tartar’s lips,
Finger of birth-strangled ......................,
Ditch-delivered by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab.
And thereto a .....................’s chawdron
For th’ingredience of our cauldron.
ALL: Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
SECOND WITCH: Cool it with a .................’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

Task three

After the ghost of Act 3, the audience is already terrified. In Shakespeare’s time, there was no
interval in the performance, so they have had very little time to calm down.

Given that they believed in witches and their powers to communicate

with the devil, they would have been terrified to hear what sounded
like a real spell performed on stage. However, modern audiences
would be more dubious about witches’ abilities to curse people or tell
the future. The terror is more diluted.

In groups of four prepare a version of this scene, including some

movement. One member acts as a director, and also plays the part of
Hecate. You can include more witches if you wish.

Here are a few ideas to start you off:

masks puppets dolls

a fortune teller /
a cookery programme talking Hallowe’en lanterns
tarot card readers

three grandmothers children voices on the radio

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 Lesson 16
Resource 33

Macbeth: a changed man

Macbeth’s entrance is sensed by the witches:

By the pricking of my thumbs

Something wicked this way comes
Open locks, whoever knocks

This is his second meeting with the witches, but the first time he has sought them out.

Task one

How has Macbeth changed since that first meeting in Act 1 Scene 3? Complete this comparison
chart:

Macbeth at the end of Act 3 or start of

Macbeth at the start of the play …
Act 4 …

1 is loyal to King Duncan

2 is a brave fighter

3 is a good husband

4 is a good friend to Banquo and others

5 is well respected

6 has a promising career

7 has a clear conscience

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 Lesson 16
Resource 33
Task two

Find a quotation for each point in the table. Here’s an example:

Macbeth has a promising career:

Duncan tells Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 4:

I have begun to plant thee, and will labour

To make thee full of growing

However, in Act 3, he is regarded as a tyrant by his lords and they are arranging to bring an army
against him. His career as king will be over if they succeed, as Lennox says (Act 3 Scene 6):

Some holy angel

Fly to the court of England and unfold
His message ere he come, that a swift blessing
May soon return to this our suffering country
Under a hand accursed.

Extension task

The first time Macbeth had his fortune told by the

witches, he did not seek it, but now he has gone to
them to ask for more hints about his future. The
witches use particular language, for example
words to do with magic, wickedness and evil. They
also speak in riddles, use rhyme and speak in
threes. What do you notice about Macbeth’s
speech in Act 4 Scene 1 lines 48-60?

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 Lesson 16
Resource 34
The prophecies

We’ve included a screenshot of this PowerPoint here so you can see the resource.
To access this resource please log in to the and type ‘26812’ into the search bar.

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 Act 4
Lesson 17

L
esson 17 – Macbeth’s crimes worsen (Act 4 Scene 2)

Starter activities
 Danger!: Ask students to consider what they would do if a friend was in danger. Give them
options of scenarios to imagine:

1. their friend has been asked to meet in person by someone they have met online
38.their friend has been threatened by someone with a history of physical violence
39.their friend is about to talk to someone who they argue with constantly
40.their friend is thinking of doing something dangerous.

Link these ideas with Act 4 Scene 2, where Lady Macduff is warned of nearby danger, but
ignores the warnings. (AO1)

 Dramatic irony: Display the last lines of the previous scene on the board:

The castle of Macduff I will surprise;

Seize upon Fife; give to th’edge o’th’sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool;
This deed I’ll do before this purpose cool,

Ask students to predict what is about to happen and who will be in the next scene. Do they
think Macbeth will do this himself? (AO1)

Main activities
 Reading: Read through the scene in small groups, or together, and discuss the following
questions:

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 Act 4
Lesson 17
1. Why is Lady Macduff angry with her husband? Is she right to be?
41.Why is Ross there? And why is he in such a hurry to leave? Does he know for sure
she is in danger?
42.Why is Macduff’s son introduced here as a new character?

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 Act 4
Lesson 17

43.What sort of relationship does Lady Macduff have with her husband and son?
44.Would you say Lady Macduff is an obedient wife, as women were supposed to be
then?
45.Think about the theme of babies and children in the play. Why would Shakespeare
show us a promising young boy at this stage?
46.Why might this part of the scene be in prose, not poetry?
47.Why does Lady Macduff refuse to go when the messenger warns her? (AO1, AO2)

 Slow motion miming: Reread the last part of the scene, from the entrance of the murderer,
with groups of students performing the action in slow motion. This part of the scene relies
much more on the action than the dialogue, so you could take out the dialogue once the
students have got the gist of the scene. Set a time limit for students to fill, and stop them to
freeze frame at various moments. (AO1)

Plenary activities
 Performances: Watch some of the slow motion mimes together, and ask the class to mark
these with two stars and a wish for improvement, according to how well they represented
the scene, and how seriously you could take it on the stage. (AO1)

 Rating the killings: Take a class vote by asking students to go to a different part of the room
for each of the killings, choosing the one they think is the worst crime: killing Duncan, killing
Banquo and trying to kill Fleance or killing Macduff’s family. Ask students why they have
chosen the one that they have. (AO1)

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 Act 4
Lesson 18

Lesson 18: England (Act 4 Scene 3)

Starter activities
 What is a tyrant? Increasingly Macbeth is being called a tyrant. Share a definition and give
out Post-its for students to add ideas to support the idea that Macbeth is a tyrant.

An extremely oppressive, unjust, or cruel ruler.
An absolute ruler who governs without restrictions, especially one 

who seized power illegally.
An oppressive, harsh, arbitrary person. (AO2)

 Tyrants: Using the resource Tyrants (Resource 35) students could compare Macbeth with
these historical tyrants, by writing a profile for him and considering how he fits among these
tyrants from history. (AO1, AO3)

Main activities
 Malcolm and Macduff: Using the resource Malcolm and Macduff (Resource 36) students
should read the scene up to the doctor’s entrance and compare the behaviour of these two
characters by sorting out statements and finding quotations to prove the points. For more
able students, you could ask them to find the evidence. As a follow-up, you could discuss
whether Macduff would want Malcolm to be king after all the elaborate lying. (AO1)

 A true king: Explore the historical context with the reference to Edward the Confessor, King
of England, made by Malcolm in lines 149-161. Display an image of Edward such as Edward
the Confessor (1003-1066) (Resource 37) and discuss his reputation as someone whose
touch could cure disease. Ask students to analyse the description of him in this scene from
the doctor’s entrance, exploring the contrast he presents with Macbeth. Ask students to
decide whether Malcolm could be a king like him, using evidence from the scene. (AO1, AO3)

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 Act 4
Lesson 18

Plenary activities
 Puppets: To consolidate students’ understanding of the two characters in the early part of
the scene, get them to create puppets for Malcolm and Macduff. On one side, they should
write quotations or statements to show their external character traits and behaviour; on the
other side they should show their inner thoughts.(AO1)

 Interview: Pairs of students role play a conversation between a journalist and Malcolm,
about Malcolm’s plans to invade Scotland. Questions might include: Why do you think you
would be a good king? What can you offer Scotland? What is your vision for a new Scotland
once you have defeated Macbeth? How will you reward your supporters? How will you create
stability in Scotland? (AO1)

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 Lesson 17
Resource 35

Tyrants
Cut out the tyrants with their evil deeds, and rank them according to how evil they
were. Add a short biography to Macbeth’s card, and place him among the tyrants.
Does he deserve the name ‘tyrant’?

Tyrant Evil deeds

Henry VIII
King of England 1509-1547. Ordered friends, relatives and wives to be
executed, showing no mercy. Said he forgave rebels, but later had them
executed. Allowed torture. Dissolved the monasteries. Persecuted people who
would not recognise him as head of the church.

Pinochet
President of Chile 1973-1990. Attacked his people who wanted democracy
using mass arrests, unfair trials, systematic torture, secret executions and
imprisonment. Over 2000 people were killed during his rule, 31947 tortured,
and 1312 exiled.

Hitler

Chancellor of Germany from 1933-1945. Started World War II, murdered

millions of Jews, Roma, disabled people and homosexuals in death camps.
Over seventy million people died because of him.

Genghis Khan

Founder and ruler of the Mongol Empire 1206-1227. He was known for his
cruelty to the areas he conquered, massacring the defeated and harshly
enforcing his empire’s rules.

Stalin
General Secretary of the Soviet Union 1922-1953. Many of his crimes are still
coming to light, including massacres during the war. The Soviet people
suffered during his time in power, from the famine of the 1930s, the notorious
Purges, where many Russian people were slaughtered, and the creation of the
gulag system (corrective labour camps).

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 Lesson 17
Resource 35
Tyrant Evil deeds

Pol Pot
Ruler of Democratic Kampuchea, now Cambodia, from 1975-1979. Killed a
million of his own people (nearly 25% of the population), by cruel means, after
making them dig their own graves (in the Killing Fields). Abolished education
and religion.

Ivan the Terrible

Tsar of Russia from 1533-1584. Gave his first death sentence aged 13. Killed
his own people in cruel ways, without trial, and had several of his wives and his
eldest son murdered.

Robespierre

Ruler of France from 1793-1794. An estimated 16000 to 40,000 people were

killed during his reign of terror following the French Revolution.

Qaddafi
Ruler of Libya from 1969 to 2011. Though his Arab nationalist ideas and
socialist style policies gained him support in the early days, his corruption,
military interference in Africa, and horrific human rights abuses turned the
population against him. He supported terrorism and was suspected of being
behind the Lockerbie bombings and other acts of terrorism against the west.

Fidel Castro
Prime Minister of Cuba 1959-1976 and President 1976-2008. Opinions differ
on whether he was a hero or a tyrant. Many abuses of human rights during his
time, and approximately one million Cubans went into voluntary exile for their
own safety. There were food shortages and personal freedom was curtailed.

Macbeth
.........................................................................................
.........................................................................................
.........................................................................................
.........................................................................................

By Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile. [CC BY 2.0 cl (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/cl/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-H1216-0500-002 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons
[Attribution], via Wikimedia Commons
All other images within creative commons and require no attribution

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 Lesson 17
Resource 36

Malcolm and Macduff

In this scene, Malcolm and Macduff are presented as very contrasting characters.

Task one

Read the statements below and decide whether they are true of Malcolm or Macduff. Cut them
up, and sort them out so that they match the correct character.

1. Speaks softly, with lots of long vowel 2. Speaks more assertively, with harsh
sounds. consonant sounds.

4. Is distrustful of the other, because

3. Speaks with language of action. Macbeth used to be his friend and
Macbeth has not harmed him.

5. Talks of appearance versus reality, 6. Has left behind his wife and children but
showing a lack of trust. won’t talk about it.

7. Personifies Scotland as a bleeding, dying 8. Has openly accused the other as a

individual. villain.

9. Considers himself capable of more evil 10. Considers Macbeth far more fearsome
than Macbeth – and is bluffing. than anyone else.

11. Considers himself a danger to women – 12. Considers lust a problem that has
and is bluffing. caused the downfall of many kings.

14. Thinks that should he be King of

13. Considers himself too greedy to be king
Scotland, he would ruin the country –
– and is bluffing.
and is bluffing.

15. Vows to leave Scotland because being 16. Reveals that he has been tricking the
ruled by the other makes him despair. other, and says he trusts him now.

17. Uses an oxymoron to show how he is

confused.

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 Lesson 17
Resource 36
Task two

Now match the quotations with the statements, to prove the points.

Hold fast the mortal sword, and like

good men
the villain that thou think’st (line 35)
Bestride our down-fall’n birthdom:
(lines 3-4)

each new morn

Bleed, bleed, poor country (line 31)
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new
I think our country sinks beneath the yoke;
sorrows
It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
gash
As if it felt with Scotland and yell’d out
Is added to her wounds. (lines 39-41)
Like syllable of dolour. (lines 4-8)

all things foul would wear the brows of Why in that rawness left you wife and child
grace (line 23) …? (line 26)

Let us seek out some desolate shade, and

you have loved him well — there
He hath not touched you yet. (lines 13-14) Weep our sad bosoms empty. (lines 1-2)

black Macbeth
Boundless intemperance
Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor
In nature is a tyranny; it hath been
state
Th’untimely emptying of the happy throne
Esteem him as a lamb, being compared
And fall of many kings (lines 66-69)
With my confineless harms. (lines 52-55)

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 Lesson 17
Resource 36

Your matrons, and your maids could were I king,

not fill up I should cut off the nobles for their lands,
The cistern of my list (lines 62-63) Desire his jewels … (lines 78-80)

These evils thou repeat’st upon thyself

Such welcome and unwelcome things
Hath banished me from Scotland.
at once (line 138)
(lines 112-113)

Not in the legions had I power, I should

Of horrid hell can come a devil more Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,
damned Uproar the universal peace, confound
In evils to top Macbeth. (lines 55-57) All unity on earth. (lines 97-100)

this noble passion,

Child of integrity, hath from my soul
Wiped the black scruples, reconciled
my thoughts
To thy good truth and honour. (lines 114-
117)

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 Lesson 17
Resource 36
Teacher’s answer sheet

Statement Quotation

1. Speaks softly, with lots of long vowel Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there
sounds (Malcolm) Weep our sad bosoms empty. (lines 1-2)

2. Speaks more assertively, with harsh Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men
consonant sounds (Macduff) Bestride our down-fall’n birthdom: (lines 3-4)

each new morn

New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows
3. Speaks with language of action
Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
(Macduff)
As if it felt with Scotland and yell’d out
Like syllable of dolour. (lines 4-8)

4. Is distrustful of the other, because

Macbeth used to be his friend and you have loved him well —
Macbeth has not harmed him He hath not touched you yet. (lines 13-14)
(Malcolm)

5. Talks of appearance versus reality, all things foul would wear the brows of grace
showing a lack of trust (Malcolm) (line 23)

6. Has left behind his wife and children Why in that rawness left you wife and child …?
but won’t talk about it (Macduff) (line 26)

Bleed, bleed, poor country (line 31)

7. Personifies Scotland as a bleeding,
I think our country sinks beneath the yoke;
dying individual (Malcolm and
It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash
Macduff)
Is added to her wounds. (lines 39-41)

8. Has openly accused the other as a

the villain that thou think’st (line 35)
villain (Malcolm)

black Macbeth
9. Considers himself capable of more
Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state
evil than Macbeth – and is bluffing
Esteem him as a lamb, being compared
(Malcolm)
With my confineless harms. (lines 52-55)

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 Lesson 17
Resource 36

Statement Quotation

Not in the legions

10. Considers Macbeth far more fearsome
Of horrid hell can come a devil more damned
than anyone else (Macduff)
In evils to top Macbeth. (lines 55-57)

11. Considers himself a danger to women Your matrons, and your maids could not fill up
– and is bluffing (Malcolm) The cistern of my list (lines 62-63)

Boundless intemperance
12. Considers lust a problem that has
In nature is a tyranny; it hath been
caused the downfall of many kings
Th’untimely emptying of the happy throne
(Macduff)
And fall of many kings (lines 66-69)

were I king,
13. Considers himself too greedy to be
I should cut off the nobles for their lands,
king – and is bluffing (Malcolm)
Desire his jewels … (lines 78-80)

had I power, I should

14. Thinks that should he be King of
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,
Scotland, he would ruin the country –
Uproar the universal peace, confound
and is bluffing (Malcolm)
All unity on earth. (lines 97-100)

15. Vows to leave Scotland because being These evils thou repeat’st upon thyself
ruled by the other makes him despair Hath banished me from Scotland.
(Macduff) (lines 112-113)

this noble passion,

16. Reveals that he has been tricking the Child of integrity, hath from my soul
other, and says he trusts him now Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my
(Malcolm) thoughts
To thy good truth and honour. (lines 114-117)

17. Uses an oxymoron to show how he is Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
confused (Macduff) (line 138)

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 Lesson 17
Resource 37
Edward the Confessor (1003-1066)

Edward The Confessor (c1003-66) Anglo-Saxon king of England from 1042. Edward on his throne. / Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group / Copyright
© Universal Images Group / For Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial, please
visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

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 Act 4
Lesson 19

Lesson 19: What is a king? (Act 4 Scene 3)

Starter activities
 What is a good leader? Students think about the qualities of a good leader and mind map
these qualities. For each quality, they could add why this is an advantage, and any pitfalls
that could occur along the way. For example if a good leader has a vision and doesn’t sway
from it, the vision might not be accepted by the leader’s followers, and/or could turn out to
be a poor choice. (AO1)

Main activities
 Malcolm as king: Read through the rest of the scene, so that students know how Malcolm and
Macduff behave towards each other. They should then complete the activity What is a king?
(Resource 38) to assess Malcolm’s qualities as a king. For your more able learners, you could
take out the examples and ask them to complete this column. (AO1, AO3)

 Why does Macduff support Malcolm? Is it better to have an untried, potentially good king,
or a strong tyrant? Macduff is taking a huge chance on Malcolm. Discuss with your students
why he is prepared to follow him. Using the resource Why does Macduff support Malcolm?
(Resource 39), also available as an interactive resource (Resource 40), get students to
consider whether they agree or disagree with the statements, and which are the strongest
motivating factors for Macduff to support Malcolm. (AO1)

Plenary activities
 Macbeth’s Scotland: Ask students to imagine they are an ordinary person living in Scotland
at the time of Macbeth. His reign has been full of violence, storms and strange happenings.
Get students to write a diary entry recording how they feel and what they wish for the
future. (AO1, AO3)

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 Lesson 19
Resource 38

What is a king?
Throughout Macbeth, this question is asked, alongside the
question ‘what is a man?’

The Kings of Scotland in the play are Duncan, Macbeth and

King Elect, Malcolm. In England, Edward the Confessor rules,
although we never see him as a character.

The King of England at the time Shakespeare wrote the play

was James I, who was also James IV of Scotland. Everything
about kingship in the play would have been of particular
interest to him.

In Act 4 Scene 3, Malcolm says that these twelve

qualities are needed to be a good king. Complete this
chart, giving Malcolm a mark out of ten for each quality.

Qualities Malcolm’s known actions Score

Justice
(fairness)

Verity Lies to Macduff about his character, to test him.

(truthfulness) (Act 4 Scene 3)

Temperance
(self-control)

Stableness Changes often when talking to Macduff. (Act 4 Scene

(even temper) 3)

Bounty Tells Macduff to ‘dispute it like a man’ (pull yourself

together) when he is upset about the murder of his
(generosity) wife and children. (Act 4 Scene 3)

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 Lesson 19
Resource 38

Qualities Malcolm’s known actions Score

Gives up the chance of the throne by running away

Perseverance instead of seizing the throne when Duncan was
killed. (Act 2 Scene 3)

Mercy

Lowliness Does claim he isn’t worthy to be king when testing

(humility) Macduff in Act 4 Scene 3, but is he telling the truth?

Devotion Mentions God when speaking to Macduff in Act 4

(to God) Scene 3 (‘God above deal between me and thee’).

Waits in England for it to be safe to return to

Patience
Scotland.

Runs away to England when his father Duncan is

Courage
murdered (Act 2 Scene 3).

Fortitude
(strength)

Total
/120

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 Lesson 19
Resource 39

Why does Macduff support Malcolm?

The statements below are all reasons why Macduff
might support Malcolm. Put them in order from the
one you agree with most to the one you agree with
least.

Which one do you agree with the most and why? Discuss.

He hopes that if he helps He hates Macbeth so much

He’s loyal to Duncan and he
Malcolm become king, he he’s prepared to try
wants to follow his wishes.
will be richly rewarded. anything.

He thinks the ordinary

people of Scotland will He thinks Malcolm can He doesn’t want to be king
support Duncan’s named muster the best army. himself.
heir.

He doesn’t know where He supports Malcolm

There is no one else left.
Donaldbain is. because he’s the oldest.

He really is a double agent

He thinks he can shape and He looks to rule through
and he hopes to deliver
mould Malcolm into being a Malcolm by becoming his
Malcolm to Macbeth for
good king. close adviser.
slaughter.

He wants stability for He thinks because Duncan

He admires Malcolm and
Scotland by the showed all the qualities of a
thinks he is the best person
continuation of the same king, his son will take after
to rule.
family as kings. him.

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 Lesson 19
Resource 40

Why does Macduff support Malcolm? Interactive

We’ve included a screenshot of the interactive version here so you

can see the resource. To access this resource please log in to the
Teachit English website and type ‘26807’ into the search bar.

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 Act 4
Lesson 20

L
esson 20: News from Scotland (Act 4 Scene 3)

Starter activities
 How do you break bad news? Ask students to imagine that they have some bad news to tell
a friend. How would they time giving the news? How would they behave? What might they
say? Link this with Ross having to tell Macduff that his wife and children have been killed.

Explore the dramatic irony in Ross’s line: ‘they were well at peace when I did leave ’em.’
(line 181) How will this affect Macduff’s feelings towards Macbeth? (AO1)

Main activities
 Reading: Reread the scene from Ross’s entrance and ask students to answer the following
questions:

1. Malcolm seems suspicious of Ross because he does not recognise him. How could
this be shown on stage by an action or gesture?

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 Act 4
Lesson 20
48.Ross gives us some insight into what life is like in Scotland; it has got worse all the
time Macduff has been away. What does Ross mean when he says ‘[Scotland]
cannot / Be called our mother, but our grave’? What are the sounds most
commonly heard in Scotland now?

49.What news does Malcolm give Ross?

50.When Ross finally tells Macduff the news, he is worried that his friend will hate
him for telling him. Macduff is so overcome by grief that at first he does not
respond. How does Macduff express his grief now, and then at the end of the
scene?

51.Why does Macduff say Malcolm has no children? Do you think Malcolm is a little
insensitive here? How does it change our view of Malcolm? (AO1)

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 Act 4
Lesson 20

Plenary activities
 Plot the fear: Ask students to draw graphs to plot the rise and fall of the tension through Act
4. Get them to plot the events along the x-axis and the level of tension on the y-axis. (AO1)

 What is a man? In response to Macduff’s open expression of grief, Malcolm tells Macduff to
‘Dispute it like a man’ and Macduff responds by saying ‘But I must also feel it as a man.’
Take a class vote on whose version of manliness they prefer and discuss why. (AO1)

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 Act 4
Exam style questions

Act 4: Exam style questions

AQA

Section A: Shakespeare
Answer one question from this section on your chosen text.

Macbeth

Read the following extract from Macbeth Act 4 Scene 1, and answer the question that follows it.

At this point in the play, Macbeth has sought out the witches to learn his fate, but they have
decided to trick him. They show him visions.

FIRST APPARITION

Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth: beware Macduff,

Beware the Thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.
Descends
MACBETH
Whate’er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks;
Thou hast harped my fear aright. But one word more,—
FIRST WITCH 5
He will not be commanded. Here’s another,
More potent than the first.
Thunder. Second Apparition, a bloody child
SECOND APPARITION
Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth!
MACBETH
Had I three ears, I’d hear thee.
SECOND APPARITION
Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born 10
Shall harm Macbeth.
Descends
MACBETH
Then live, Macduff, what need I fear of thee?
But yet I’ll make assurance double sure
And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live,
That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, 15
And sleep in spite of thunder.
Thunder. Third Apparition, a child crowned, with a tree in his hand

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 Act 4
Exam style questions

What is this
That rises like the issue of a king
And wears upon his baby-brow the round 20
And top of sovereignty?
ALL
Listen, but speak not to’t.
THIRD APPARITION
Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are.
Macbeth shall never vanquished be until 25
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.
Descends
MACBETH
That will never be:
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree
Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements, good. 30
Rebellious dead, rise never till the wood
Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath
To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart
Throbs to know one thing. Tell me, if your art 35
Can tell so much, shall Banquo’s issue ever
Reign in this kingdom?
ALL
Seek to know no more.

01 Starting with this moment in the play, explore how Shakespeare presents Macbeth and his
anxieties.

Write about:
 how Shakespeare presents Macbeth and his interactions with the witches at this point in
the play
 how Shakespeare presents Macbeth and his interactions with the witches in the play as a
whole.

[30 marks]
A04 [4 marks]

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 Act 4
Exam style questions
Edexcel

SECTION A – Shakespeare

Answer the question on ONE text from this section.

You should spend about 55 minutes on this section.
You should divide your time equally between question parts (a) and (b)

Macbeth – from Act 4 Scene 3, lines 88 to 139.

In this extract, Macduff has gone to England to persuade Malcolm to claim the throne of
Scotland, but Malcolm does not trust him so tests him.

MACDUFF
Scotland hath foisons to fill up your will
Of your mere own. All these are portable,
With other graces weighed.
MALCOLM
But I have none. The king-becoming graces —
As justice, verity, temp’rance, stableness, 5
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness,
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,
I have no relish of them, but abound
In the division of each several crime,
Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should 10
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,
Uproar the universal peace, confound
All unity on earth.
MACDUFF
O Scotland, Scotland!
MALCOLM
If such a one be fit to govern, speak. 15
I am as I have spoken.
MACDUFF
Fit to govern?
No, not to live. O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptred,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again, 20
Since that the truest issue of thy throne
By his own interdiction stands accursed
And does blaspheme his breed? Thy royal father
Was a most sainted king; the queen that bore thee,
Oft’ner upon her knees than on her feet, 25
Died every day she lived. Fare thee well.
These evils thou repeat’st upon thyself
Have banished me from Scotland. O my breast,
Thy hope ends here.

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 Act 4
Exam style questions
MALCOLM
Macduff, this noble passion, 30
Child of integrity, hath from my soul
Wiped the black scruples, reconciled my thoughts
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth
By many of these trains hath sought to win me
Into his power, and modest wisdom plucks me 35
From over-credulous haste; but God above
Deal between thee and me, for even now
I put myself to thy direction and
Unspeak mine own detraction, here abjure
The taints and blames I laid upon myself, 40
For strangers to my nature. I am yet
Unknown to woman, never was forsworn,
Scarcely have coveted what was mine own,
At no time broke my faith, would not betray
The devil to his fellow, and delight 45
No less in truth than life. My first false speaking
Was this upon myself. What I am truly
Is thine and my poor country’s to command:
Whither indeed, before thy here-approach,
Old Siward with ten thousand warlike men 50
Already at a point, was setting forth.
Now we’ll together, and the chance of goodness
Be like our warranted quarrel. Why are you silent?
MACDUFF
Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
’Tis hard to reconcile. 55

1. (a) Explore how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Malcolm and Macduff at this
point in the play.
Refer closely to the extract in your answer.
(20)

1. (b) In this extract, Malcolm discusses the qualities of a king. Explain the importance of
kingship elsewhere in the play.

In your answer you must consider:

• what it means to be a king according to the play
• why kingship is important.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

(Total for Question 1 = 40 marks)

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 Act 4
Exam style questions
OCR

Section B
Shakespeare

Macbeth

Choose ONE question.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.

EITHER

8 Explore how Shakespeare shows Macbeth’s character has changed since killing Duncan. Refer
to this extract from Act 4 Scene 1 and elsewhere in the play.
[40]*

In this extract Macbeth has gone to the witches to find out more about his future.

SECOND WITCH
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes;
Open, locks, whoever knocks.
Enter Macbeth
MACBETH
How now, you secret, black and midnight hags?
What is’t you do?
ALL
A deed without a name.
MACBETH
I conjure you by that which you profess,
Howe’er you come to know it, answer me.
Though you untie the winds and let them fight
Against the churches, though the yeasty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up,
Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down,
Though castles topple on their warders’ heads,
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
Their heads to their foundations, though the treasure
Of nature’s germen tumble altogether
Even till destruction sicken: answer me
To what I ask you.

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 Act 4
Exam style questions
OR

9 How important is the theme of kingship in the play? Explore at least two moments from the
play to support your ideas.
[40]*

Quality of extended responses will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*).

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 Act 4
Exam style questions
WJEC Eduqas

2. Macbeth

Answer both part (a) and part (b). You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on part (a), and
about 40 minutes on part (b).

(a) Read the extract below.

How does this extract show Macduff’s grief at the loss of his wife and children? Refer closely to
details from the extract to support your answer.
[15]
ROSS
Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes
Savagely slaughtered. To relate the manner
Were on the quarry of these murdered deer
To add the death of you.
MALCOLM
Merciful heaven!
What, man, ne’er pull your hat upon your brows:
Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak,
Whispers the o’erfraught heart and bids it break.
MACDUFF
My children too?
ROSS
Wife, children, servants, all
That could be found.
MACDUFF
And I must be from thence?
My wife killed too?
ROSS
I have said.
MALCOLM
Be comforted.
Let’s make us med’cines of our great revenge
To cure this deadly grief.
MACDUFF
He has no children. All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?
MALCOLM
Dispute it like a man.
MACDUFF
I shall do so;
But I must also feel it as a man;
I cannot but remember such things were

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 Act 4
Exam style questions
That were most precious to me. Did heaven look on,
And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff,
They were all struck for thee. Naught that I am,
Not for their own demerits but for mine,
Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now.
MALCOLM
Be this the whetstone of your sword, let grief
Convert to anger. Blunt not the heart, enrage it.
MACDUFF
O, I could play the woman with mine eyes
And braggart with my tongue. But gentle heavens,
Cut short all intermission. Front to front
Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself;
Within my sword’s length set him. If he scape,
Heaven forgive him too.

*(b) Write about the theme of children and how it is presented in Macbeth.
[25]

*5 of this question’s marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of
vocabulary and sentence structures.

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 Act 5
Lesson 21
Act 5

Act 5
Lesson 21 – Guilt will out (Act 5 Scene 1)

Starter activities
 The Macbeths: Get students to consider whether the Macbeths have grown apart. They
should work in pairs to improvise some arguments between them. They could be based
around these topics:

 why he didn’t tell her he was having Banquo killed

 why he had her friend Lady Macduff and her children killed

 why he ruined her party

 why he is avoiding her

 why she encouraged him to kill Duncan in the first place

 why they have no children. (AO1)

Main activities
 Watch and read the scene: Use the YouTube clip www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dgbbtUbgcM
and read the scene together. Ask students to consider why it is in prose and then changes to
poetry at the end. (AO1, AO2)

 Sleepwalking torment: The resource Sleepwalking torment (Resource 41) includes an

activity exploring what haunts Lady Macbeth. To differentiate, you could set more able
students the challenge of finding the quotations for themselves. For less able students, you
could add the events from earlier in the play for them to match with the parts of Lady
Macbeth’s sleepwalking narrative. (AO1)

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 Act 5
Lesson 21

 Confessions: Once you have read or watched the scene, ask students to imagine they are the
gentlewoman or doctor, and then write a letter to a friend to say what she or he has heard
from Lady Macbeth.

You could guide more able students to write as the gentlewoman who says ‘I will not report
after her’ (and therefore has heard her say more than the words the doctor hears). Less able
students could write as the doctor, using only the evidence from this scene. (AO1, AO4)

Plenary activities
 Doctor’s report: Get students to write the doctor’s report on Lady Macbeth’s illness. (AO1)

 Peer assessment: If students completed the writing task Confessions above, they could
swap their letter with a partner and give a score to show how many of the earlier events in
the play they had covered. (AO1, AO4)

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 Lesson 21
Resource 41

Sleepwalking torment
Task one

Lady Macbeth’s conscience reveals some of the secrets that haunt her.
Complete the second column of the table with the haunting memories she is referencing
when she’s sleepwalking.

Quotation
Lady Macbeth sleepwalking Event from earlier in the play
no.
Yet who would have thought the old
man
to have had so much blood in him?

The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where

is she now?

What, will these hands ne’er be

clean?

No more o’ that, my lord, no more

o’ that. You mar all with this
starting.

Wash your hands, put on your

night-gown, look not so pale.

I tell you yet again, Banquo’s

buried; he
cannot come out on’s grave.

To bed, to bed; there’s knocking at

the gate.

Task two

Now choose from the following quotations for each of the events, and write the number
of a relevant quotation in the third column of the table above.

1. Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us,

And show us to be watchers. Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts. (Lady Macbeth)

2. I hear a knocking
At the south entry: retire we to our chamber; (Lady Macbeth)

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 Lesson 21
Resource 41

3. If he do bleed,
I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal;
For it must seem their guilt. (Lady Macbeth)

4. Whither should I fly?

I have done no harm. But I remember now
I am in this earthly world; where to do harm
Is often laudable, to do good sometime
Accounted dangerous folly: why then, alas,
Do I put up that womanly defence,
To say I have done no harm? (Lady Macduff)
Enter Murderers

5. O proper stuff!
This is the very painting of your fear:
This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said,
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts,
Impostors to true fear, would well become
A woman’s story at a winter’s fire,
Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!
Why do you make such faces? When all’s done,
You look but on a stool. (Lady Macbeth)

6. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood

Clean from my hand? No: this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red. (Macbeth)

7. You do unbend your noble strength to think

So brain-sickly of things. (Lady Macbeth)

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 Lesson 21
Resource 41
Teacher’s answer sheet

Lady Macbeth sleepwalking Event from earlier in the play Quotation

Yet who would have thought the old She remembers seeing Duncan dead and
man how she needed to put blood on the 3
to have had so much blood in him? guards.

The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where She thinks about her murdered friend
is she now? Lady Macduff. 4

She remembers when both she and

What, will these hands ne’er be
clean?
Macbeth needed to wash the blood from 6
their hands.
No more o’ that, my lord, no more
She had told Macbeth to stop appearing
o’ that. You mar all with this
so nervous. 7
starting.
She had told Macbeth to put his
Wash your hands, put on your
night-gown, look not so pale.
nightclothes back on so they would look 1
innocent.
I tell you yet again, Banquo’s
She recalls how Macbeth had seen visions
buried; he
of Banquo at the banquet. 5
cannot come out on’s grave.
She is haunted by the knocking sound
To bed, to bed; there’s knocking at
the gate.
when she and Macbeth were disturbed 2
after Duncan’s murder.

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 Act 5
Lesson 22

Lesson 22 – Dunsinane Castle (Act 5 Scenes 2-6)

Starter activities
 Insults: Macbeth calls his servant a ‘cream-faced loon’ for bringing him a message he
dislikes. Get students to make new insults and pair up to vent some hot air using the Insults
generator (Resource 42) or Shakespearean insults starter resource (Resource 43).
(AO2)

 An army on stage: Present students with this problem for Act 5:

How does Shakespeare show an army marching on foot from London to Scotland on stage?

Discuss Shakespeare’s solutions and whether any students had chosen these solutions:

 he alternates scenes between the destination (Macbeth’s castle) and the marching
army

 he shows the leaders talking but no ordinary soldiers

 he uses Lady Macbeth in Act 5 Scene 1 to show the passage of time. (AO1)

Main activities
 Reading: You could split your class into five groups to cover the next set of scenes, with
each group focusing on one of the scenes involving the advancing army and Macbeth’s castle.
The resource The army marches (Resource 44) includes discussion questions for each
group. To differentiate, you could give a group of weaker readers Act 5 Scene 4 and Act 5
Scene 6 (or combine these scenes if you have an able class), and more able learners could
work on Act 5 Scene 5 where the questions prompt further thinking. (AO1)

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 Act 5
Lesson 22

Plenary activities
 Spies: Ask students to look back over Act 5 Scenes 2-6. Get them to imagine they are a spy
for the invading army or for Macbeth. Choose one or two pieces of espionage to share with
the class as a tweet. (AO1)

 Feedback: Groups should share their learning from the army’s approach in Scenes 2-6.
Choose whichever format you like: flipchart paper with Post-its for students to visit by
moving around the room, large sheets of sugar paper, collages using iPads, a formal
presentation etc. (AO1)

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 Lesson 22
Resource 42

Insult generator

We’ve included a screenshot of the interactive version here so you

can see the resource. To access this resource please log in to the
Teachit English website and type ‘5974’ into the search bar.

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 Lesson 22
Resource 43

S
hakespearean insults

block pander boggler

drone coxcomb time-pleaser

lubber hilding flibbertigibbet

patch mountebank whoremonger

fancy-monger puke-stocking varlet

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 Lesson 22
Resource 43

shoulder-clapper basilisk bug

fragment ticklebrain candle-maker

varlet bubble double-dealer

popinjay whey-face pantaloon

mag wag horse-drench boil

promise-breaker shrimp

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 Lesson 22
Resource 44

The army marches

Act 5 Scene 2
The Scottish lords wait to meet up with the army coming from England.
Read the scene and discuss the following questions:
 This dialogue is all written in poetry. Why might Shakespeare have chosen to
do that?
 Notice that the lords mention Birnam Woods more than once. Why is this of
interest?
 Pick out some words which show the lords’ low opinion of Macbeth.

Act 5 Scene 3
This scene takes place inside Dunsinane Castle.
Read the scene and discuss the following questions:
 In his first speech, Macbeth refers to the three prophecies the visions gave
him. What does that show about his attitude towards them?
 Why does he speak so nastily to his servant?
 List Macbeth’s moods in this scene. What does that show about him?
 How does he react to the news about Lady Macbeth and what effect does this
have on the doctor?

Act 5 Scene 4
This short scene is where Malcolm gives the order that every man shall cut a branch
to carry as a disguise for their approach to Macbeth’s castle.
Read the scene and discuss the following questions:
 Which of the prophecies comes true in this scene?
 Whose idea was it to use the branches as disguise for the approaching army?
 Siward comments ‘We learn no other but the confident tyrant / Keeps still in
Dunsinane’ – what does this mean and what are the implications for the army?

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 Lesson 22
Resource 44

Act 5 Scene 5
Macbeth thinks he can survive a siege. He puts his faith in the castle’s high
position. Lady Macbeth dies and her husband has no time to mourn her. Macbeth is
angry with the servant who tells him Birnam Wood is getting closer.
Read the scene and discuss the following questions:
 Do you think Macbeth seems confident or is he putting on a brave face in his
opening speech?
 Macbeth says he has forgotten what it is to be afraid because he has seen so
many horrors. Do you think he has regrets?
 How does Lady Macbeth die? Do you think it was an accident or suicide?
 Macbeth is angry with the servant who tells him about Birnam Wood.
Do you think the servant will leave Macbeth or stay?

Act 5 Scene 6
The approaching army shows itself. Malcolm gives the order to throw down the
branches and invade the castle, with Siward and his son leading the attack.
Read the scene and discuss the following question:
 Shakespeare alternated scenes to suggest the passage of time and a huge
invading army. To what extent do you think this tactic worked?

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 Lesson 22
Resource 44
Teacher’s answer sheet

Here are some possible ‘answers’ for the questions in each scene. Of course, many of
the questions are open to interpretation.

Act 5 Scene 2

 Shakespeare has chosen to write the scene in poetry to stress the seriousness of
the situation, to create dramatic tension, to show the army is well disciplined and
because the speakers are lords.
 Birnam Woods is important because it is in one of the prophecies. Macbeth is not
to fear until Birnam Woods come to Dunsinane.
 Macbeth is mad, distempered, has secret murders sticking on his hands, is sickly,
and his king’s robes are too big for him.

Act 5 Scene 3

 Macbeth believes the prophecies and is clinging to them. They make him feel
confident.
 Macbeth is angry with his servant because he looks afraid.
 Refuses to show fear, anger, sadness, showing that he is ready to die, feels
defiance, impatience, and he is worried people are running away – he is confused.
 Macbeth expects the doctor to be able to cure his wife. The doctor vows to leave
and never return.

Act 5 Scene 4

 ‘Macbeth shall never vanquished be until / Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane
hill / Shall come against him.’ (Act 4 Scene 1)
 It was Malcolm’s idea.
 It means they have found out from their spies that Macbeth has been deserted by
his army and no one will oppose their approach to his castle.

Act 5 Scene 5

 Students should choose a quotation to prove some of these opinions.

Act 5 Scene 6

 Students should justify their thinking by referring to specific moments in the plot.

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 Act 5
Lesson 23

Lesson 23 – Macbeth’s character (Act 5 Scene 7)

Starter activities
 Do you like Macbeth? Ask students to identify some moments in the first four acts where
Macbeth has seemed likeable. Do they think his life would have been better had he never
met the witches? (AO1)

Main activities
 Plotting Macbeth’s rise and fall: Use the resource Macbeth’s rise and fall (Resource 45)
for students to analyse the language Macbeth uses in Act 5 and previously, to explore the
changes in his character. (AO1, AO2)

 Reading: Read Act 5 Scene 7. This scene shows the advancing army entering Dunsinane
Castle to dethrone Macbeth. After reading, discuss these questions:

1. Macbeth kills young Siward. Which one of them do you think is the most
courageous and why?

52.Macbeth thinks no one born of woman can harm him. What do you think he is
expecting?

53.Macduff says he only wants to kill Macbeth, not his servants, who have done him
no harm. Do you think he is right to think that way, or should he be more wary of
anyone loyal to Macbeth?

54.Old Siward and Malcolm follow Macduff into the castle. ‘Gently rendered’ means
it was easy to gain access as no one is defending the place. Why do you think this
is? (AO1)

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 Act 5
Lesson 23

Plenary activities
 Metaphors for life: Looking again at Macbeth’s speech in Act 5 Scene 5 ‘Tomorrow, and
tomorrow, and tomorrow …’), get students to come up with their own metaphors for life.
(AO2)

 Comparing graphs: Ask students to compare or present their graphs of Macbeth’s rise and
fall, following the activity on Macbeth’s rise and fall (Resource 45). Ask them to think of
other scenes that they could include on the graph. (AO1)

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 Lesson 23
Resource 45

Macbeth’s rise and fall

In Act 5 Scene 5, Macbeth expresses a mood of despair in response to his wife’s death.
He accepts his imminent death (or at least the end of his rule).

Task one

Read and annotate his speech, identifying interesting imagery, words that suggest
despair and anything else that interests you about Macbeth’s character and his view of
life and death.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle,
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.

Task two

Compare Macbeth’s attitude to life and death with his speech in Act 3 Scene 2:

Come, seeling night,

Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day
And with thy bloody and invisible hand
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
Which keeps me pale. Light thickens,
And the crow makes wing to th’rooky wood;
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse,
Whiles night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.
Thou marvell’st at my words, but hold thee still;
Things bad begun, make strong themselves by ill.

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 Lesson 23
Resource 45
Task three

Now plot the rise and fall of Macbeth on a graph. Plot the following events to show how
we regard him as a character:

 He is introduced as a brave soldier.

 He responds to the prophecies.
 Malcolm is made Duke of Cumberland.
 He tries to resist his wife’s plans to kill the king.
 He kills the king.
 He starts being dissatisfied and has Banquo killed.
 He visits the witches who give him further prophecies.
 He has Macduff’s wife and children killed.
 He shouts at his servants.
 He sees an end of his reign by violent means.

By Window & Grove (photographer) [CC BY-SA 4.0

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Extension task

Look back through the play and select quotations for each of the events.
Add these to your graph.

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 Lesson 23
Resource 45
Graph

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 Act 5
Lesson 24

Lesson 24 – The fall of Macbeth (Act 5 Scenes 8-9)

Starter activities
 Advice for Macduff and Macbeth: The next few scenes will see Macduff finally confront
Macbeth. Ask students to suggest one piece of advice for each of them. Who would they back
to win? (AO1)

 Macbeth the bear: Display an image of bear baiting and discuss how this makes us feel about
Macbeth when he compares himself to a baited bear. An image and Macbeth’s comparison
are included in the resource Macbeth’s courage (Resource 46). (AO3)

Main activities
 Reading: Read through Act 5 Scenes 8-9 with students. Ask students to summarise the
events, and then discuss their lasting impressions of Macbeth at the end of the play. (AO1)

 Macbeth’s courage: Use the resource Macbeth’s courage (Resource 46) to compare
Macbeth and Macduff’s courage as they fight to the death. (AO1, AO2)

Plenary activities
 Epitaphs: Display Malcolm’s last words about Macbeth:

‘this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen’

Ask students to come up with their own epitaphs to go on Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s
gravestones, based on their more complete understanding of their characters. (AO1)

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 Lesson 24
Resource 46

Macbeth’s courage

Bear Baiting’, pub. by Thomas McLean, 1820 / Credit: Henry Thomas Alken / Bridgeman Art Library / Universal Images Group / Copyright © Bridgeman
Art Library / For Education Use Only. This and millions of other educational images are available through Britannica Image Quest. For a free trial, please
visit www.britannica.co.uk/trial

In Shakespearian times, people used to bait bears. It was a cruel sport. A bear, tied to a
stake, and sometimes blinded and/or with its claws removed, would be set upon by
dogs. The crowd bet on which animal would win the fight.

They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly,

But bear-like I must fight the course.

Macbeth compares himself to such a bear. How do you feel about Macbeth?

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 Lesson 24
Resource 46
Look at the chart below. Use it to judge who is the bravest of Macbeth and Macduff, as they
confront each other in a fight to the death. Mark each speech with your score 1-10, where 10 is
high. There are some footnotes below the chart to help you if you need them.

Speaker Speech Bravery

Why should I play the Roman fool, and die

Macbeth
On mine own sword?1

Macduff Turn, hell-hound, turn.

Of all men else I have avoided thee,

Macbeth But get thee back, my soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already.2

I have no words:
Macduff
My voice is in my sword3

Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;

Macbeth I bear a charmèd life, which must not yield
To one of woman born.4

Despair thy charm,

And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Macduff
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripped.5

Macbeth refers to the ancient Roman practice of honour suicide by falling on your own sword
when you know you are beaten. He refuses to do this and wants to fight to the death.
2

Macbeth had hoped to avoid Macduff. Maybe he feels guilty for killing his family, or is he afraid
of him?
3

Macduff does not want to talk, just to fight. The time for words is over.
4

Is it easy to be brave when you think your enemy cannot hurt you?
5

Macduff tells his enemy that he was not born from a woman, but by Caesarian section. At this
time, it was only done to free a baby from a dead mother.
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 Lesson 24
Resource 46

Speaker Speech Bravery

Accursèd be that tongue that tells me so,

For it hath cowed my better part of man;
And be these juggling fiends no more believed
Macbeth
That palter with us in a double sense,
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope. I’ll not fight with thee.6

Then yield thee, coward,

And live to be the show and gaze o’ th’time.
Macduff We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted on a pole, and underwrit,
‘Here may you see the tyrant.’

I will not yield,

To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet,
And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.
Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane
Macbeth
And thou opposed being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,
And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’7

Macduff total Macbeth total

When he hears this Macbeth does not want to fight. He’s angry with the witches. Does this show
bravery or cowardice?
7

In the end Macbeth fights on, even though he knows he will lose, because at least death is
preferable to the humiliation if he lets himself be taken prisoner.
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 Act 5
Lesson 25

Lesson 25 – Revising characters

Starter activities
 Which character … ? Ask students to choose one character for the following statements.
Which character is the …

1. … bravest?

55.… most evil?

56.… most kinglike?

57.… most worthy?

58.… most trustworthy?

59.… most engaging on stage?

60.… least likeable? (AO1)

Main activities
 Top Trumps: Use the resource Character Top Trumps (Resource 47) to revise the
characters and consider how they compare with other characters. For a long version of the
task, each student makes their own pack of cards. For a short version of the task, you could
get students to work in groups of three so that they only make three cards each, then share
the pack of nine cards to play. (AO1)

 Secret identities: You could revise the characters of the play by asking students to choose a
particular character to concentrate on, and then reread parts of the play where they appear.
They should then write down five pieces of cryptic information about their character
(choosing less obvious facts, and perhaps including the opinions of other characters).

Put students in small groups, to reveal one fact at a time about their character, or to guess
the identity of another team member. The winner is the last to be identified. (AO1)

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 Act 5
Lesson 25

 Decorate a chair/hat: Get students to work in groups to decorate a chair or hat for a
particular character. You’ll have to provide the hats if you choose this option (or ask them to
bring them in)! Using paper, magazines, craft materials or anything you like, students
decorate a chair for their character. You could follow this up with a hot-seating activity,
making sure that students have prepared probing questions for other characters. (AO1)

Plenary activities
 Quiz: Using students’ Top Trumps cards, make a display of the key quotations. You could
number them around the classroom to create a quick quiz. (AO1)

 Guess Who? Have a game of ‘Guess Who?’ choosing a student to pretend to be one of the
characters, and respond with yes/no answers to questions. (AO1)

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 Lesson 25
Resource 47

Character Top Trumps

Using the template, make a set of character cards, using the example below as a model. 5 is a
high score, while 1 is the lowest score available for each of the character traits.

You will need to make one for each of these main characters:

The three weird sisters

King Duncan Macbeth
(one card for all three)

Lady Macbeth Banquo Macduff

Ross Malcolm A murderer

Name The three weird sisters/ witches

Role/character type Supernatural

They give Macbeth prophecies which tempt him to

Any changes during
kill the king, but later bring about his downfall with
the play
further prophecies.

Main events Appear in Act 1 and Act 4, using black magic

Status at the end Vanished, never seen again

Double, double, toil and trouble;

Key quotation
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Character attributes
Power: 5
Wickedness: 5
Honesty: 2
Bravery: 1
Leadership: 1

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 Lesson 25
Resource 47

Name

Role/character type

Any changes during

the play

Main events

Status at the end

Key quotation

Character attributes
Power:
Wickedness:
Honesty:
Bravery:
Leadership:

To play:

First deal out all the cards face down, then each player puts their cards into a stack and
turns them over, so only one card can be seen, and hidden from other players.

Player one chooses one attribute, for example, power. Player two then reads out the
value of that attribute on their first card, and so on around the team. Whoever has the
highest value wins all the first cards, collects them and places them at the bottom of
their stack.

Whoever won the cards then chooses any attribute to read from their next card, and
again whoever has the best value of this attribute on their top card wins the cards and
begins the next turn. This continues until one of the players collects all the cards – they
then win the game!

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 Act 5
Exam style questions

Act 5: Exam style questions

AQA

Section A: Shakespeare
Answer one question from this section on your chosen text.

Macbeth

Read the following extract from Macbeth Act 5 Scene 1, and answer the question that follows it.

At this point in the play, Lady Macbeth is beginning to show that the guilt of Duncan’s murder is
affecting her health. She is sleepwalking.

Enter Lady Macbeth, with a taper

GENTLEWOMAN
Lo you, here she comes. This is her very guise and, upon my life, fast asleep.
Observe her, stand close.
DOCTOR
How came she by that light?
GENTLEWOMAN
Why, it stood by her. She has light by her continually, ’tis her command.
DOCTOR
You see, her eyes are open. 5
GENTLEWOMAN
Ay, but their sense is shut.
DOCTOR
What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands.
GENTLEWOMAN
It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands; I have known
her continue in this a quarter of an hour.
LADY MACBETH
Yet here’s a spot. 10
DOCTOR
Hark; she speaks. I will set down what comes from her to satisfy my remembrance
the more strongly.
LADY MACBETH
Out, damned spot! Out, I say! — One: two: why then, ’tis time to do’t. — Hell is
murky. — Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear? Who knows
it, when none can call our power to account? — Yet who would have thought the 15
old man to have had so much blood in him?

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 Act 5
Exam style questions

DOCTOR
Do you mark that?
LADY MACBETH
The Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? — What, will these hands ne’er be
clean?— No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that. You mar all with this starting.
DOCTOR
Go to, go to; you have known what you should not. 20
GENTLEWOMAN
She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that. Heaven knows what she has
known.
LADY MACBETH
Here’s the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this
little hand. O, O, O! 25
DOCTOR
What a sigh is there! The heart is sorely charged.
GENTLEWOMAN
I would not have such a heart in my bosom for the dignity of the whole body.
DOCTOR
Well, well, well —
GENTLEWOMAN
Pray God it be, sir.
DOCTOR
This disease is beyond my practice; yet I have known those which have walked in 30
their sleep who have died holily in their beds.
LADY MACBETH
Wash your hands, put on your night-gown, look not so pale. I tell you yet again,
Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave.

01 Starting with this moment in the play, explore how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth’s
state of mind.

Write about:
 how the guilt of past deeds is affecting Lady Macbeth at this point in the play
 how Lady Macbeth behaved earlier in the play as a whole.

[30 marks]
A04 [4 marks]

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 Act 5
Exam style questions
Edexcel

SECTION A – Shakespeare

Answer the question on ONE text from this section.

You should spend about 55 minutes on this section.
You should divide your time equally between question parts (a) and (b)

Macbeth – from Act 5 Scene 5, lines 7 to 27

In this extract, Macbeth has been given the news his wife is dead, leaving him to face his
enemies alone.

A cry within of women

MACBETH
What is that noise?
SEYTON
It is the cry of women, my good lord.
Exit
MACBETH
I have almost forgot the taste of fears;
The time has been, my senses would have cooled 5
To hear a night-shriek and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in’t. I have supped full with horrors;
Direness familiar to my slaughterous thoughts
Cannot once start me. 10
Seyton re-enters
Wherefore was that cry?
SEYTON
The queen, my lord, is dead.
MACBETH
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow 15
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle,
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player 20
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.

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 Act 5
Exam style questions

1. (a) Explore how Shakespeare presents the character of Macbeth in this extract.
Refer closely to the extract in your answer.
(20)

1. (b) In this extract, Macbeth says he has had enough horror in his life. Explore the importance
of horror elsewhere in the play.

In your answer you must consider:

• which events in the play have been horrifying
• the effects of these horrific events on Macbeth.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

(Total for Question 1 = 40 marks)

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 Act 5
Exam style questions
OCR

Section B
Shakespeare

Macbeth

Choose ONE question.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.

EITHER

8 Explore how Shakespeare shows Macbeth as a tyrant in his behaviour towards others. Refer to
this extract from Act 5 Scene 3 and elsewhere in the play.
[40]*

In this extract Macbeth is in Dunsinane Castle as Malcolm’s army approaches.

Enter Macbeth, Doctor, and attendants

MACBETH
Bring me no more reports; let them fly all;
Till Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane,
I cannot taint with fear. What’s the boy Malcolm?
Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know
All mortal consequences have pronounced me thus:
‘Fear not, Macbeth, no man that’s born of woman
Shall e’er have power upon thee.’ Then fly false thanes
And mingle with the English epicures;
The mind I sway by and the heart I bear
Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear.
Enter Servant
The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!
Where got’st thou that goose look?
SERVANT
There is ten thousand —
MACBETH
Geese, villain?
SERVANT
Soldiers, sir.
MACBETH
Go prick thy face, and over-red thy fear,
Thou lily-livered boy. What soldiers, patch?
Death of thy soul, those linen cheeks of thine
Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face?

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 Act 5
Exam style questions

SERVANT
The English force, so please you.
MACBETH
Take thy face hence!
Exit Servant
Seyton!— I am sick at heart,
When I behold — Seyton, I say! — this push
Will cheer me ever, or disseat me now.
I have lived long enough. My way of life
Is fall’n into the sear, the yellow leaf,
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have; but, in their stead,
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.
Seyton!

OR

9 How important is the theme of children and heredity in the play? Explore at least two
moments from the play to support your ideas.
[40]*

Quality of extended responses will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*).

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 Act 5
Exam style questions
WJEC Eduqas

2. Macbeth

Answer both part (a) and part (b). You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on part (a), and
about 40 minutes on part (b).

(a) Read the extract below.

What does this extract show an audience about Macbeth’s courage at this point in the play?
Refer closely to details from the extract to support your answer.
[15]

MACBETH

Why should I play the Roman fool, and die

On mine own sword? Whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better upon them.
Enter Macduff
MACDUFF
Turn, hell-hound, turn!
MACBETH
Of all men else I have avoided thee.
But get thee back: my soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already.
MACDUFF
I have no words:
My voice is in my sword, thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out.
They fight
MACBETH
Thou losest labour.
As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed.
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmèd life which must not yield
To one of woman born.
MACDUFF
Despair thy charm,
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripped.
MACBETH
Accursèd be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cowed my better part of man;
And be these juggling fiends no more believed
That palter with us in a double sense,

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 Act 5
Exam style questions

That keep the word of promise to our ear

And break it to our hope. I’ll not fight with thee.
MACDUFF
Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the show and gaze o’th’time:
We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted upon a pole, and underwrit,
‘Here may you see the tyrant.’
MACBETH
I will not yield
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet
And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.
Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou opposed being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,
And damned be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’
Exeunt, fighting. Alarums

*(b) Write about the theme of violence in Macbeth.

[25]

*5 of this question’s marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of
vocabulary and sentence structures.

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