NOTE: There are five questions to choose from this time, since there's SO MUCH going on in these two acts. But never fear, you only have to answer TWO of them as usual:
Q1: One of the most famous speeches in the play is Macbeth’s “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” in Act 2.1. Read this speech carefully and discuss the syntax of a particular line that would be difficult to translate into modern English. Why is this? What is Shakespeare trying to show us through this difficult line?
Q2: The Porter is the only character who speaks prose (other than Lady Macbeth’s letter), which makes sense, since he is merely a servant. Why does he get so much stage time when all he does is open a door? What does his speech—silly as it is—do for the play, or the scene?
Q3: Act 3.5, the scene with Hecate, is largely considered to be the work of Thomas Middleton, a contemporary playwright who wrote a play about witches at roughly the same time of Macbeth, and added this scene to increase the witch mania of the time. In reading this scene, does anything strike you as different from the rest of the play? The language? Metaphors? Characterization? Or would you have assumed that Shakespeare wrote this, too?
Q4: How informed is Lady Macbeth about the murder of Banquo and the attempted murder on Fleance (his son)? Is she still the mastermind of the play, or has Macbeth usurped her role? Is there any way to tell who’s calling the shots at this point?
Q5: The “Murderers” that Macbeth hires in 3.1 aren’t really murderers at this point in the play (it’s clear that they haven’t murdered before, and are not professional assassins). How does Macbeth convince them to murder Banquo and/or how does he justify it to himself? Why, too, does he hire murderers now instead of doing the job himself, as he did with Duncan?
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