Discussion Questions

The play opens with the witches speaking of Macbeth before he appears: what does that change in the way we meet him later?

Banquo warns that the instruments of evil sometimes tell the truth in order to betray in what matters: how does Macbeth handle this warning?

Duncan says there is no art of reading character in the face and, right after, thanks Macbeth and showers him with promises: what does the scene suggest about how the king judges the men around him?

Lady Macbeth describes her husband as ambitious but too good for the shortcut: what image of Macbeth does the scene give us, coming from her alone?

Macbeth says that he dares all that befits a man, and Lady Macbeth replies that he was more of a man when he proposed the plan: what does each person understand here by being a man?

Lady Macbeth says that sleepers and the dead are only paintings, but she confesses that she did not kill Duncan because he reminded her of her father. What does one speech say about the other?

Macbeth says he killed the chamberlains out of love for the king, in an impulse that outran reason. What does the scene give us to believe or doubt about that explanation?

Macbeth hides his plan from Lady Macbeth and asks her to stay innocent until she applauds the deed. What does this show about each one's place in the couple now?

Only Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost. What explanations does the scene leave open for this?

Lennox praises Macbeth in phrases that say the opposite. What can he manage to say this way, and what could he not say openly?

After hearing that no one born of woman can defeat him, Macbeth still decides to kill Macduff. What does this decision show about how he reads a promise of security?

Malcolm describes himself as worse than Macbeth to see how Macduff reacts. What could he not find out about an ally without this test?

Why does the Doctor say that Lady Macbeth needs spiritual help more than medical help?

Macbeth wants the Doctor to erase from the queen's memory the grief that consumes her. What could such a remedy resolve?

Macbeth answers the queen's death with a speech about time and the meaning of life. What does the news seem to set off in him?

Macduff offers Macbeth his life in exchange for being displayed as a rare monster, and Macbeth prefers to fight. What is it that he cannot bear to lose?

Do the witches predict or determine? If Macbeth was already destined for the throne, what does Duncan's death add, and what was still left for him to decide?

Lady Macbeth pushes her husband in Act I and, after the banquet in Act III, reappears only as a sleepwalker in Act V. What does the play do with her in that interval?

Only Macbeth sees the dagger and Banquo's ghost. What changes in the play if they are visions of guilt, and what changes if they are the work of the witches?

At what point could Macbeth have read the apparitions in another way?

Macbeth becomes king, eliminates rivals, and exercises absolute power, and near the end he describes life as a tale told by an idiot. What did he expect the crown to give him?