Posted on by

Question #13

What does Macbeth mean when he says:

"To–morrow, and to–morrow, and to–morrow,
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."
Act 5, Scene 5, Lines 19–28





Posted on by

Question #16

Were there any words or events that weren't clear to you?

What do you think caused Macbeth's downfall? There are lots of contributing factors, but describe the primary reason he fell to you.

Posted on by

Act 5

Text of Book

Act 5, page 1

Act 5, page 2

Act 5, page 3

Act 5, page 4

Act 5, page 5

Act 5, page 6

Act 5, page 7

Act 5, page 8

Questions

1) What is the main idea of Act 5?

2) The Gentlewoman says:

"Lo you, here she comes!
This is her very guise, and upon my life fast asleep.
Observe her, stand close."
Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 22–23

What does "guise" mean in this passage?

3) The Doctor says:

"Foul whisp'rings are abroad: unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets:"
Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 79–81

What does "discharge" mean in this passage?

4) Malcolm says:

"Let every soldier hew him down a bough,
And bear't before him: thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host, and make discovery
Err in report of us."
Act 5, Scene 4, Lines 4–7

What does "hew" mean in this passage?

5) Young Siward says:

"The devil himself could not pronounce a title
More hateful to mine ear."

What does "title" mean in this sentence?

6) Macbeth says:

"Hang out our banners on the outward walls;
The cry is still 'They come': our castle's strength
Will laugh a siege to scorn:"
Act 5, Scene 5, Lines 1–3

What does "scorn" mean in this passage?

7) What action does Lady Macbeth act out while sleepwalking?

8) One of the most famous lines in this play is when Lady Macbeth says:

"Out, damned spot!
Out, I say!"
Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 39

What is she trying to wash away?

9) What does the doctor say is the cause of Lady Macbeth's illness?

10) One of the prophesies said that Birnam Wood would come to Dunsinane.

How does Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane?

11) Who does Macbeth discover was "from his mother's womb untimely ripped"?

12) What does Macbeth mean in this quote?

"I have almost forgot the taste of fears:
The time has been, my senses would have cooled
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."
Act 5, Scene 5, Lines 9–16

13) What does Macbeth mean when he says:

"To–morrow, and to–morrow, and to–morrow,
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."
Act 5, Scene 5, Lines 19–28

14) What caused Macbeth to change from a war hero to a ruthless killer throughout the play?

15) What does Malcolm's speech at the end of Act V reveal?

16) Were there any words or events that weren't clear to you?

Posted on by

Act 1, page 2

Table of Contents

ACT 1, SCENE 2
Setting: A camp near Forres.

[ Alarum within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant ]

DUNCAN What bloody man is that? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.
MALCOLM This is the sergeant
Who like a good and hardy soldier fought 5
Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
Say to the king the knowledge of the broil
As thou didst leave it.
Sergeant Doubtful it stood;
As two spent swimmers, that do cling together 10
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald––
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; 15
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
Show'd like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak:
For brave Macbeth––well he deserves that name––
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution, 20
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 unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements. 25
DUNCAN O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
Sergeant As whence the sun 'gins his reflection
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,
So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come
Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark: 30
No sooner justice had with valour arm'd
Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage,
With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men
Began a fresh assault. 35
DUNCAN Dismay'd not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Sergeant Yes;
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
If I say sooth, I must report they were 40
As cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they
Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha,
I cannot tell. 45
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
DUNCAN So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;
They smack of honour both. Go get him surgeons.
[Exit Sergeant, attended]
Who comes here?
[Enter ROSS]
MALCOLM The worthy thane of Ross. 50
LENNOX What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look
That seems to speak things strange.
ROSS God save the king!
DUNCAN Whence camest thou, worthy thane?
ROSS From Fife, great king; 55
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
And fan our people cold. Norway himself,
With terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict; 60
Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,
Confronted him with self–comparisons,
Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm.
Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude,
The victory fell on us. 65
DUNCAN Great happiness!
ROSS That now
Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition:
Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed at Saint Colme's inch 70
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
DUNCAN No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
ROSS I'll see it done. 75
DUNCAN What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.
[Exeunt]

Posted on by

Act 1, page 3

Table of Contents

ACT 1, SCENE 3
Setting: A heath near Forres.

Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

First Witch Where hast thou been, sister?
Second Witch Killing swine.
Third Witch Sister, where thou?
First Witch A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd:–– 5
Give me,' quoth I:
Aroint thee, witch!' the rump–fed ronyon cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger:
But in a sieve I'll thither sail,
And, like a rat without a tail, 10
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.
Second Witch I'll give thee a wind.
First Witch Thou'rt kind.
Third Witch And I another.
First Witch I myself have all the other, 15
And the very ports they blow,
All the quarters that they know
I' the shipman's card.
I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall neither night nor day 20
Hang upon his pent–house lid;
He shall live a man forbid:
Weary se'n nights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost, 25
Yet it shall be tempest–tost.
Look what I have.
Second Witch Show me, show me.
First Witch Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wreck'd as homeward he did come. 30
Drum within.
Third Witch A drum, a drum!
Macbeth doth come.
ALL The weird sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about: 35
Thrice to thine and thrice to mine
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Peace! the charm's wound up.
Enter MACBETH and BANQUO.
MACBETH So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
BANQUO How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these 40
So wither'd and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her choppy finger laying 45
Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
MACBETH Speak, if you can: what are you?
First Witch All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis! 50
Second Witch All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
Third Witch All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!
BANQUO Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? I' the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed 55
Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction
Of noble having and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time, 60
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate.
First Witch Hail!
Second Witch Hail! 65
Third Witch Hail!
First Witch Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
Second Witch Not so happy, yet much happier.
Third Witch Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! 70
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;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king 75
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you. 80
Witches vanish.
BANQUO The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,
And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd?
MACBETH Into the air; and what seem'd corporal melted
As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd!
BANQUO Were such things here as we do speak about? 85
Or have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner?
MACBETH Your children shall be kings.
BANQUO You shall be king.
MACBETH And thane of Cawdor too: went it not so?
BANQUO To the selfsame tune and words. Who's here?
Enter ROSS and ANGUS.
ROSS The king hath happily received, Macbeth,
The news of thy success; and when he reads
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend 95
Which should be thine or his: silenced with that,
In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day,
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as tale
Came post with post; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.
ANGUS We are sent
To give thee from our royal master thanks; 105
Only to herald thee into his sight,
Not pay thee.
ROSS And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor:
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!
For it is thine.
BANQUO What, can the devil speak true?
MACBETH The thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me
In borrow'd robes?
ANGUS Who was the thane lives yet; 115
But under heavy judgment 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 labour'd in his country's wrack, I know not;
But treasons capital, confess'd and proved,
Have overthrown him.
MACBETH Aside.
Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor:
The greatest is behind.
To ROSS and ANGUS.
Thanks for your pains.
To BANQUO. 125
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.
Cousins, a word, I pray you. 135
MACBETH Aside.
Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme. –– I thank you, gentlemen.
Aside.
This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor: 140
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,
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
But what is not.
BANQUO Look, how our partner's rapt. 150
MACBETH Aside.
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,
Without my stir.
BANQUO New honors come upon him,
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould
But with the aid of use.
MACBETH Aside. 155
Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
BANQUO Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.
MACBETH Give me your favour: my dull brain was wrought
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains
Are register'd where every day I turn
The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king. 160
Think upon what hath chanced, and, at more time,
The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.
BANQUO Very gladly.
MACBETH Till then, enough. Come, friends.
[Exeunt]

Posted on by

Act 1, page 4

Table of Contents

ACT 1, SCENE 4
Setting: Forres. The palace.

Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, and Attendants.

DUNCAN Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet return'd?
MALCOLM My liege,
They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
With one that saw him die: who did report
That very frankly he confess'd his treasons,
Implored your highness' pardon and set forth
A deep repentance: nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it; he died
As one that had been studied in his death
To throw away the dearest thing he owed, 10
As 'twere a careless trifle.
DUNCAN There's no art
To find the mind's construction in the face:
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.
Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSS, and ANGUS.
O worthiest cousin!
The sin of my ingratitude even now
Was heavy on me: thou art so far before
That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,
That the proportion both of thanks and payment
Might have been mine! Only I have left to say, 20
More is thy due than more than all can pay.
MACBETH The service and the loyalty I owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part
Is to receive our duties; and our duties
Are to your throne and state children and servants,
Which do but what they should, by doing every thing
Safe toward your love and honour.
DUNCAN Welcome hither:
I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserved, nor must be known 30
No less to have done so, let me enfold thee
And hold thee to my heart.
BANQUO There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.
DUNCAN My plenteous joys,
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
And you whose places are the nearest, know
We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
The Prince of Cumberland; which honour must
Not unaccompanied invest him only, 40
But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers. From hence to Inverness,
And bind us further to you.
MACBETH The rest is labour, which is not used for you:
I'll be myself the harbinger and make joyful
The hearing of my wife with your approach;
So humbly take my leave.
DUNCAN My worthy Cawdor!
MACBETH Aside.
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; 50
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.
Exit
DUNCAN True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant,
And in his commendations I am fed;
It is a banquet to me. Let's after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome:
It is a peerless kinsman.
[Flourish. Exeunt.]