Macbeth - Character overview test questions - Edexcel - GCSE English Literature Revision

Read the following extract which comes just after Macbeth has been told the news of his wife's death. Then answer the questions.

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. 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)

1

Macbeth has just been told that his wife has died. How does he seem?

Shocked

Uninterested

Upset

2

When he says 'Out, out, brief candle!' what does he mean?

He is instructing the servants to dim the lights

He is thinking back to the night of King Duncan's murder

He is referring to life in general as being like a candle that can suddenly be put out

3

Macbeth compares life to what type of person?

A foolish idiot

A struggling actor

A poor servant

4

Macbeth is talking to himself at this point. What is this type of speech known as?

Narration

Exposition

Soliloquy

Read the following extract in which Lady Macbeth talks to her husband about the proposed murder of King Duncan. Then answer the questions which follow.

Was the hope drunk

Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?

And wakes it now, to look so green and pale

At what it did so freely? From this time,

Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard

To be the same in thine own act and valour,

As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that

Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,

And live a coward in thine own esteem,

Letting I dare not wait upon I would,

Like the poor cat i'th'adage?

(Act 1 Scene 7)

5

What is the general tone of Lady Macbeth's speech here?

She shows that she is loving and supportive

She is highly critical of what she sees as Macbeth's cowardice

She thinks Macbeth should come to his own conclusions about what to do

6

What does she mean by 'From this time such I account thy love'?

She is saying she will measure Macbeth's love for her by whether he carries out the murder or not

She is saying her love for him will lessen if he carries out the murder

She is saying she will love Macbeth no matter what

7

What does this speech tell us about the position of women like Lady Macbeth in society at the time?

It shows that women had more power than men

It shows that men and women had equal rights

It shows that a woman's path to power was through her husband

Read the following extract in which Macbeth and Banquo think about the Witches' predictions which they have just been listening to. Then answer the questions which follow.

BANQUO: The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,

And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?

MACBETH: Into the air, and what seemed corporal,

Melted, as breath into the wind. Would they had stayed.

BANQUO: Were such things here as we do speak about?

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.

(Act 1 Scene 3)

8

Which of Banquo's key characteristics is shown in this extract?

He questions things

He automatically believes what he is told

He is jealous of Macbeth

9

What alternative theory does Banquo put forward for what they have just seen and heard?

That they are both tired and imagining things after the battle they have just fought

That someone has played a trick on them

That they have somehow been drugged and are therefore hallucinating

10

When Macbeth says 'Would they had stayed' how does this show his attitude to the Witches is different from Banquo's?

Macbeth is more afraid than Banquo

Macbeth would like to have heard more from the Witches and questioned them

Macbeth does not believe a word that he has heard