Macbeth 6

Study Guide Questions for Act 4, Scenes 1-2

If you are looking for the beginning of the study for Shakespeare’s Macbeth then you can go HERE for a brief introduction. At the bottom of the introduction you will find the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. If you would like to see the growing list of book studies available for free on this site you can go HERE. Enjoy!

Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)

Evil, Indifference, Recklessness, Prudence, Truth

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. What refrain repeats three times during the witches potion making?

2. Which line in the witches’ incantation doesn’t fit with the rhyming couplets?

3. Whom did the witches say Macbeth could speak to instead of them?

4. What was Macbeh told when he tried to speak to the first apparition?

5. How was the first apparition described and what was its warning to Macbeth?

6. How was the second apparition described and what did it tell Macbeth?

7. How was the third apparition described and what did it tell Macbeth?

8. What was the last thing Macbeth demanded to know from the witches and what did he see?

9. What did Macbeth learn about Macduff and what did he resolve to do?

10. What was Lady Macduff’s response to the realization her husband had gone to England?

Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)

1. Why might there be one line in the witches’ incantation that doesn’t rhyme? What are some possible explanations for this?

2. Do you think Macbeth trusts the Weird Sisters? Use the text to justify your answer?

3. Why did the Weird Sister tell Macbeth, “Seek to know no more” and why did they go on to answer him anyway?

4. Macbeth said, “The flighty purpose never is o’ertook unless the deed go with it. From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand.” What did he mean by that?

5. Why didn’t Macduff take his family with him when he went to England?

Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)

1. What is truth? How should we define the concept of truth? In a court of law witnesses during a trial are directed to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” What is the purpose behind dictating that the truth be told in those terms? In light of these ideas, do you think the Weird Sisters are truth tellers or not? If so, how so? If not, why not?  

2. Macbeth has received numerous prophecies about the future. Do you think knowing what will happen in the future necessarily changes what will happen in the future? Do people act differently with knowledge than they do with ignorance? Is the future something that can be changed or is it a fixed reality? Defend your answer with reason and Scripture.

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read 1 Samuel 28. Compare and contrast Saul’s experience with the medium (witch) at Endor versus Macbeth’s experience with the Weird Sisters. What is similar and what is notably different? What should we take away from what the Scriptures say here?

2. Read Acts 8:9-24. From Simon the Sorcerer’s story, what would you say seems to be the primary motivation for practicing witchcraft?

3. Read Exodus 7 and 8. How should we answer the question, “Is magic real?” What is clear about magic in comparison to God’s power?