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WorksheetsMacbeth Unit Assessment Review
Total questions: 35
Worksheet time: 18mins
All of the following themes develop throughout the course of the play EXCEPT…
Fate vs. Free Will
Ambition & Power
Love & Romance
Gender & Cruelty
The murder of Lady Macduff and her child differs from the murder of Banquo and Duncan because…
Macbeth has no valid motive to murder Macduff’s family. His pure evil and cruelty drives him to commit violent acts.
Macbeth’s murderers failed to murder Lady Macduff and they all survived, unlike Banquo.
Macbeth committed the murder of Lady Macduff and her child himself, where before he hired a team of murderers.
For once, Lady Macbeth begged him not to kill them because she thought it was too cruel, even for her.
Which of following quotes reflects the content of the third apparition’s prophecy in Act V, Scene V when the Messenger says: “As I did stand my watch upon the hill, / I looked toward Birnam, and anon methought / The Wood began to move.”
“Beware Macduff! / Beware the Thane of Fife! Dismiss me. Enough.”
“Laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth.”
“Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him.”
“Show his eyes and grieve his heart. / Come like shadows; so depart.”
Lady Macbeth says “Out damned spot, out I say!” during a sleepwalking episode. Which of the following quotes from Act II after the murder of Duncan represents the irony in her saying this?
“My hands are of your color; but I shame / To wear a heart so white.”
“‘Tis the eye of childhood / That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, / I’ll gild the face of the grooms withal, / For it must seem their guilt.”
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?”
“A little water clears us of this deed. / How easy it is, then! / Your constancy / Hath left you unattended.”
Why is Lady Macbeth saying the quote “A little water clears us of this deed. / How easy it is, then! / Your constancy / Hath left you unattended" ironic?
It is ironic because Lady Macbeth was hesitant to commit the murders, but now she is suffering the guilt of her husband’s actions.
It is ironic because Lady Macbeth told Macbeth that he can easily wash himself of the guilt, but now it haunts her and keeps her awake at night.
It is ironic because Lady Macbeth had nothing to do with the murder plots.
It is ironic because Lady Macbeth is the one who planned and committed all of these murders, but only now does she regret it.
What theme does “Out damned spot, out I say!” represent?
Prophecy
Guilt
Deceptive appearances
Violence
Who is Macbeth referring to when he says: “If thou couldst, doctor, cast / The water of my land, find her disease / And purge it to a sound and pristine health.” Who is the “disease” of Scotland in Macbeth’s opinion?
Malcolm
Macduff
Lady Macbeth
Ross
What is ironic about the quote: “If thou couldst, doctor, cast / The water of my land, find her disease / And purge it to a sound and pristine health?"
Macbeth wants to bring Scotland back to its former glory, and Malcolm is ruining his plans.
Macbeth has been called the “disease” of Scotland by other characters in the play, but he does not know this.
Lady Macbeth has been called the “disease” of Scotland by the doctor and her attendant.
The doctor says that he cannot cure Lady Macbeth’s sickness except through a religious ceremony, but Macbeth believes in free will instead of fate.
Macbeth says in his famous soliloquy in Act V: “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.” What is he acknowledging through this quote?
He is acknowledging that life is short and relatively meaningless.
He is acknowledging that Lady Macbeth’s life was too short, and he wishes that she would not have committed suicide.
He is acknowledging that his reign as king is too short because he has no sons to pass the crown onto after he dies.
He is acknowledging that Lady Macduff’s life was too short, and that he ultimately should not have murdered her.
How does the quote “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" show a development in Macbeth’s character compared to the beginning of the play?
He used to be violent and ruthless, but now he is reformed and working on being a better man for his wife and country.
He used to be indifferent to power, but now he is ready to accept and embrace Malcolm as the rightful ruler of Scotland.
He used to be a noble gentleman, but now he is indifferent to the country and plans to go meet up with Macduff in England.
He used to be a noble leader in Scotland, but now power and prophecies have consumed even his most basic thoughts and actions.
Which of the following quotes represents the content of the second apparition’s prediction in Act V, Scene VIII when Macduff says: “Tell thee Macduff was from his mother’s womb / Untimely ripped.”
“Beware Macduff! / Beware the Thane of Fife! Dismiss me. Enough.”
“Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him.”
“Laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth.”
“Show his eyes and grieve his heart. / Come like shadows; so depart.”
How was Macduff not a “woman born?”
Macduff was born via caesarean section.
Macduff was born from one of the three witches.
Macduff was born from a woman who died during childbirth.
Macduff was born from Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft.
Who is crowned the King of Scotland at the end of the play?
Macbeth
Macduff
Malcolm
Donalbain
At the end of the play, the audience may feel an emotional cleansing or a sense of relief once all of the action has stopped. This element of Shakespearean drama is called catharsis. Which of the following quotes best represents this element?
“Hail, king! For so thou art. Behold where stands / Th’ usurper’s cursed head. The time is free.”
“We shall not spend a large expense of time / Before we reckon with your several loves / And make us even with you.”
“Some must go off; yet by these I see / So great a day as this is cheaply bought.”
“They say he parted well and paid his score, / And so, God be with him. Here comes newer / comfort.”
In Act IV, Scene I, Macbeth says: “From this moment / The very firstlings of my heart shall be / The firstlings of my hand.” What “vow” is Macbeth making at this moment?
He will be a better king to Scotland and fix the atrocities that he has committed.
He will think more carefully about his actions from now on, but he still plans to go after Macduff and Malcolm.
He will make amends with Lady Macbeth and fix the stresses that the murders have put on their relationship.
He will immediately act on his impulses from now on, no matter what the consequences may be.
Who has the most influence on Macbeth’s actions, especially towards the end of the play?
Lady Macbeth
Malcolm
Duncan
The Weird Sisters
In Act V, Scene V, Macbeth is brought the news that Lady Macbeth has died. His response is: “She should have died hereafter. / There would have been a time for such a word. / 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.” What does this quote mean?
Macbeth has always cared about Lady Macbeth. He is deeply saddened and disturbed by her death.
Macbeth says that he is in a deep state of mourning. He wishes to be left alone for at least the next three days while he reconciles his emotions.
Macbeth says that it does not matter that she died now, because it would have happened eventually anyways.
Macbeth says that he does not care that she died because he was secretly plotting her murder this whole time.
Which of the following statements best describes King Duncan’s fatal flaw that led to his demise?
King Duncan was constantly paranoid about the motivations of the people around him.
King Duncan was overly willing to trust everyone around him and assumed that his nobles were loyal to him.
King Duncan was an abusive and tyrannical ruler that destroyed Scotland.
King Duncan experienced fits of sleepwalking and hallucinations that harmed his mental state.
Which of the following quotes from Act V, Scene VIII represents Macbeth’s belief in fate?
“I bear a charmed life, which must not yield / To one of woman born.”
“Of all men else I have avoided thee. / But get thee back. My soul is too much charged / With blood of thine already.”
“Why should I play the Roman fool and die / On mine own sword? Whiles I see lives, the gashes / Do better upon them.”
“I will not yield / To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet / And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.”
Which motif is represented in the quote “I bear a charmed life, which must not yield / To one of woman born?"
Hallucinations
Violence
Prophecy
Cruelty
Which of the following quotes said by Macbeth in Act V, Scene VIII best echoes the warning from Banquo in Act I, Scene III?: “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.”
“Before my body / I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff.”
“Thou closest labor. / As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air / With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed.”
“But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, / Brandished by man that’s of a woman born.”
“And be these juggling fiends no more believed / That palter with us in a double sense, / That keep the word of promise to our ear / And break it to our hope.”
In Act I, Scene V, Lady Macbeth says: “Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood.” Which of the following quotes said by Lady Macduff in Act IV, Scene II represents the difference between her and Lady Macbeth’s view on gender roles?
“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 defense / To say I have done no harm?
“Why, I can buy me twenty at any market.”
“Wisdom? To leave his wife, to leave his babes, / His mansion and his titles in a place / From whence he himself does fly? He loves us not.”
“Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. / All is the fear, and nothing is the love.”
Looking at the quote said by Lady Macduff, “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 defense / To say I have done no harm," what is the difference between Lady Macduff's and Lady Macbeth's outlooks on gender roles?
Lady Macbeth believes that women can do harm, but Lady Macduff believes that they cannot because of their kind and motherly nature.
Lady Macbeth believes that women are supposed to stand behind their husbands no matter what they do. Lady Macduff believes that women should be able to abandon their husbands if they do harm.
Lady Macbeth believes that women need special spiritual guidance to do harm like men can. Lady Macduff believes that women often believe they cannot do harm, but they are just as capable as men.
Lady Macbeth believes that women cannot do harm no matter how hard they try. Lady Macduff eventually believes the same thing after her son was murdered.
How is the first apparition’s prophecy ultimately fulfilled?
Macduff is the one to kill Macbeth.
Great Birnam Wood “walked” up Dunsinane Hill to conquer him.
The witches tricked Macbeth into murdering his friends.
Macduff was not born from a woman.
In Act IV, Scene III, Malcolm is talking to Macduff about the current conditions in Scotland: “A good and virtuous nature may recoil / In an imperial charge. But I shall crave your / pardon. / That which you are, my thoughts cannot transpose. / Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell. / Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, / Yet grace must still look so.” Who is he comparing to an “angel” that “fell?”
Himself
Lady Macbeth
Lady Macduff
Macbeth
What theme does the quote “A good and virtuous nature may recoil / In an imperial charge. But I shall crave your / pardon. / That which you are, my thoughts cannot transpose. / Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell. / Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, / Yet grace must still look so" represent?
Guilt
Ambition
Power
Deceptive appearances
What literary device is used in the quote: “A good and virtuous nature may recoil / In an imperial charge. But I shall crave your / pardon. / That which you are, my thoughts cannot transpose. / Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell. / Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, / Yet grace must still look so?"
Simile
Allusion
Metaphor
Oxymoron
In Act II, Scene II, Macbeth says: “Methought I heard voice cry ‘Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep’ --the innocent sleep, / Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care.” In Act V, Scene I, Lady Macbeth sleepwalks. What is ironic about this?
Lady Macbeth is the one who committed all of the murders, so it is ironic that she ended up regretting them.
Lady Macbeth is the one who planned to have the murderers kill Duncan and Banquo, but it is ironic because she isn’t actually the one who committed the murders, yet she still carries the guilt.
It is ironic because Macbeth is the one who committed and had the murders carried out and said that he would never be able to sleep again, but Lady Macbeth absorbed her husband’s guilt and cannot sleep now.
It is ironic because Macbeth is the one who encouraged her to sleep walk to get her truth out because it was causing her emotional and mental distress.
In Act V, Scene I, the gentlewoman talks about Lady Macbeth during her sleepwalking episode: “Why, it stood by her. She has light by / her continually. ‘Tis her command.” What literary device is being used by Shakespeare in this scene?
Simile
Metaphor
Irony
Symbolism
How does Shakespeare use the contrast between light and dark in the following quote: “Why, it stood by her. She has light by / her continually. ‘Tis her command.”
Shakespeare uses symbolism to show how Lady Macbeth uses the light as a symbol of peace to ward off the darkness of her guilt.
Shakespeare uses metaphor to make an implied comparison between light and dark because they are opposites.
Shakespeare uses simile as a direct comparison between light and dark because they are opposites.
Shakespeare uses irony to show how Lady Macbeth using light in the darkness creates a contradiction.
In Act II, Scene IV, Malcolm and Donalbain decide to flee the castle where their father’s murder was committed. How is this an example of the theme “fair is foul and foul is fair?”
They planned to commit the murder of their father, who has been trustworthy of them.
They knew Macbeth committed the murder and they were afraid of his wrath.
They had nothing to do with the murder, but since they ran, now they look guilty.
They knew Lady Macbeth planned the murder and they were afraid of her wrath.
Which of the following quotes from the conversation between Malcolm and Donalbain from Act II, Scene IV represents the theme of “fair is foul and foul is fair?”
“Our separated fortune / Shall keep us both the safer.”
“The near in blood, / The nearer bloody.”
“Where we are, / There’s daggers in men’s smiles.”
“This murderous shaft that’s shot / Hath not yet lighted.”
Ultimately, how do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth represent the theme of “fair is foul and foul is fair?”
They thought that becoming king and queen would empower them, but in the end, they were both destroyed by it.
They thought that becoming king and queen would empower them, but the throne was too much for them to handle, so they abdicated the throne to Malcolm.
They were a righteous pair as king and queen, but their subjects were constantly trying to assassinate them.
They were great rulers to Scotland and they died of old age.
The play Macbeth is a Shakespearean tragedy. In every tragedy, there is a tragic hero. How does Macbeth fulfill the definition of a tragic hero?
Macbeth is a tragic hero because he dies in the end.
Macbeth is a tragic hero because he starts out as a loyal and noble gentleman.
Macbeth is a tragic hero because he ends up committing heinous acts to get what he wants.
All of these options are correct.
What was Macbeth’s tragic flaw?
Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his hubris (pride) in himself.
Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his trustworthiness of others.
Macbeth’s tragic flaw is causing his wife to sleepwalk.
Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his apathy towards his life.
