STUDY QUSETIONS Flashcards
An important theme in Macbeth is the relationship between gender and power, particularly Shakespeare’s exploration of the values that make up the idea of masculinity. What are these values, and how do various characters embody them? How does Shakespeare subvert his characters’ perception of gender roles?
Manhood, for most of the characters in Macbeth, is tied to ideals of strength, power, physical courage, and force of will; it is rarely tied to ideals of intelligence or moral fortitude. At several points in the play, the characters goad one another into action by questioning each other’s manhood. Most significantly, Lady Macbeth emasculates her husband repeatedly, knowing that in his desperation to prove his manhood he will perform the acts she wishes him to perform. Macbeth echoes Lady Macbeth’s words when he questions the manhood of the murderers he has hired to kill Banquo, and after Macduff’s wife and children are killed, Malcolm urges Macduff to take the news with manly reserve and to devote himself to the destruction of Macbeth, his family’s murderer. Ultimately, there is a strong suggestion that manhood is tied to cruelty and violence: note Lady Macbeth’s speech in Act 1, scene 5, when she asks to be “unsexed” so that she can help her husband commit murder. Yet, at the same time, the audience is clearly meant to realize that women provide the push that sets the bloody action of the play in motion. Macduff, too, suggests that the equation of masculinity with cruelty is not quite correct. His comments show that he believes emotion and reflection are also important attributes of the true man.
One of the important themes in Macbeth is the idea of political legitimacy, of the moral authority that some kings possess and others lack. With particular attention to Malcolm’s questioning of Macduff in Act 4, scene 3, try to define some of the characteristics that grant or invalidate the moral legitimacy of absolute power. What makes Duncan a good king? What makes Macbeth a tyrant?
After Duncan’s death, the nobles of Scotland begin to grumble among themselves about what they perceive as Macbeth’s tyrannical behavior. When Macduff meets Malcolm in England, Malcolm pretends that he would make an even worse king than Macbeth in order to test Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland. The bad qualities he claims to possess include lust, greed, and a chaotic and violent temperament. These qualities all seem characteristic of Macbeth, whereas Duncan’s universally lauded reign was marked by the king’s kindness, generosity, and stabilizing presence. The king must be able to keep order and should reward his subjects according to their merits. For example, Duncan makes Macbeth thane of Cawdor after Macbeth’s victory over the invaders. Perhaps the most important quality of a true king to emerge in Malcolm’s conversation with Macduff is loyalty to Scotland and its people above oneself. Macbeth wishes to be king to gratify his own desires, while Duncan and Malcolm wear the crown out of love for their nation.
Characterize the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. If the main theme of Macbeth is ambition, whose ambition is the driving force of the play—Macbeth’s, Lady Macbeth’s, or both?
The Macbeths’ marriage, like the couple themselves, is atypical, particularly by the standards of its time. Yet despite their odd power dynamic, the two of them seem surprisingly attached to one another, particularly compared to other married couples in Shakespeare’s plays, in which romantic felicity appears primarily during courtship and marriages tend to be troubled. Macbeth offers an exception to this rule, as Macbeth and his wife are partners in the truest sense of the word. Of course, the irony of their “happy” marriage is clear—they are united by their crimes, their mutual madness, and their mounting alienation from the rest of humanity.
Though Macbeth is a brave general and a powerful lord, his wife is far from subordinate to his will. Indeed, she often seems to control him, either by crafty manipulation or by direct order. And it is Lady Macbeth’s deep-seated ambition, rather than her husband’s, that ultimately propels the plot of the play by goading Macbeth to murder Duncan. Macbeth does not need any help coming up with the idea of murdering Duncan, but it seems unlikely that he would have committed the murder without his wife’s powerful taunts and persuasions.
What does the play suggest happens when one uses violence to attain power?
It begets more violence.
WHAT NEGATIVE ATTRIBUTE IS MASCULINITY EQUATED WITH THROUGHOUT THE PLAY?
Naked aggression.
WHAT IS A TRUE AND GOOD KING?
He should be loyal to Scotland above all personal interests.
WHAT ARE THE PROPHECIES OF MOST OF THE WITCHES?
Riddles that are fulfilled.
WHAT DOES BLOOD SYMBOLIZE THROUGHOUT THE PLAY?
Guilt.
WHAT KIND OF WARRIOR DOES MACBETH SOUND LIKE AS DESCRIBED BY THE WOUNDED CAPTAIN AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PLAY?
Honorable,brave,loyal.
WHAT TWO IMPULSES ARE AT WAR WITH EACH OTHER WITHIN MACBETHS MIND?
Ambition and sense of wrong.
HOW DOES LADY MACBETH ACHIEVE HER AMBITIOUS PLANS FOR MACBETH?
Through manipulation.
WHAT IS THE NICKNAME FOR THE THREE WITCHES THAT IS USED BY VARIOUS CHARACTERS CHARACTERS THROUGHOUT THE PLAY?
‘The weird sisters’.
WHICH QUALITY BEST CHARACTERIZES THE WITCHES?
Instinctive evil.
WHOSE CHILDREN ARE PROPHESIED TO ONE DAY INHERIT THE THRONE OF SCOTLAND?
Banquo’s
WHO FIRST LEADS MACBETH’S THOUGHTS TOWARD MURDER AS A MEANS TO HIS AMBITIONS ENDS.
The three witches.
WHICH KING DOES MACBETH MURDER IN THE BEGINNING OF THE PLAY?
Duncan.
WHAT DOES LADY MACBETH OBSESS OVER AS SHE GOES MAD?
Blood she cannot wash off her hands.
WHAT ARMIES JOIN FORCES AGAINST MACBETH?
The Scottish and the British.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT THE BIRNAM WOOD COMES TO DUNSINANE?
The advancing army rides to Dunsinane holding branches from Birnam wood.
IN WHAT WAY IS MACDUFF NOT WOMAN BORN?
He was born by Caesarean section.
WHO KILLS MACBETH AND PUTS HIS HEAD ON A SPIKE?
Macduff.
HOW MANY APPARITIONS DO THE WITCHES SHOW MACBETH?
Four.
WHAT DOES MACBETH DO WHEN HE HEARS MACDUFF HAS FLED TO ENGLAND?
He orders the murder of Macduff’s family.
WHAT DO MACDUFF’S WIFE AND SON ARGUE ABOUT?
Whether Macduff has betrayed them or not.
WHAT DOES MALCOLM SAY TO TEST MACDUFFS’S LOYALTY TO SCOTLAND?
He says he’s more ambitious,greedy,and bloodthirsty than Macbeth.
WHAT DOES MACDUFF PLAN WHEN HE HEARS WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS FAMILY?
Revenge on Macbeth.
