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William Shakespeare

Macbeth

Act 1, Scene 5:
More challenging questions!

Keith Tankard
Knowledge4Africa.com
Updated: 23 January 2014
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In this scene we are introduced to Lady Macbeth. Unlike her husband whom we saw as a valiant soldier and one whom all Scotland honoured as its saviour, Lady Macbeth is presented as a cunning manipulator.

Indeed, she's a ruthless woman who will stop at nothing to attain her objectives. From the very first word she speaks, one realises that murder is never far from her mind.



THE SCHEMING OF LADY MACBETH

Macbeth's visit to the witches puts him in a state of mental vacillation. They had promised him the crown but didn't say how he would obtain it.

Lady Macbeth puts all doubt out of mind. The moment she receives her husband's letter explaining his strange visit to the witches, she jumps to an immediate conclusion that her husband will indeed be king although he must murder Duncan to win the crown.

At the same time, she realises that Macbeth has a loyal nature. He has the ambition to become king but not the courage to murder.

She decides that it will be her task to manipulate him into the deed. To do this, she calls upon all the evil spirits in the world to fill her with absolute cruelty, that no hint of kindness will remain in her body.

When Macbeth arrives and announces that Duncan intends to spend the night in their castle, Lady Macbeth leaps into action. She immediately instructs her husband how to act so that he will not be suspected of any foul plans.

The audience knows that, with such an introduction, Macbeth has little chance to resist. He will be coaxed and bullied into murder.

We are also presented with a man who would appear to be much weaker than his wife -- or is her strength merely a facade to hide a softer inner nature?

Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:



"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;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it!"
  • When Lady Macbeth calls on the evil spirits to "unsex" her and fill her "top-full of direst cruelty", what does she mean? (4)

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  • Why does Lady Macbeth call on the spirits to "make thick her blood"? (4)

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"Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers."
  • What does Lady Macbeth mean by these words? (6)

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"Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry 'Hold, hold!' "
  • Lady Macbeth, by use of these words, is clearly allying herself with the powers of Hell. Explain how this is so. (6)

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Lady Macbeth has been described as a fourth witch.
  • Is this title a fitting one? Explain. (30)

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Who reveals the stronger character at this stage of the play: Macbeth or Lady Macbeth? Explain your answer. (10)

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"O, never
Shall sun that morrow see!
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't. He that's coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night's great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom."
  • What advice does Lady Macbeth give to Macbeth in these lines? (4)

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