Revision workbook

Revise the play by choosing from the shorter and longer revision activities throughout.
They are designed to support your understanding of the play for the purpose of the
exam, and are organised in three categories:

 language  characters  themes  the whole play.

Language

Quotations

For each of the quotations below, consider the effects of language and structure:

 Create a mind-map around the quotation to include appropriate themes or

characters, with a brief explanation of how and why.

 Consider whether it would be useful to learn it for the exam – if so, learn it.

1. ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’ (the witches, Act 1 Scene 1)

2. ‘And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us

truths,’ (Banquo, Act 1 Scene 3)

3. ‘Nought’s had, all’s spent, / Where our desire is got without content’ (Lady
Macbeth, Act 3 Scene 2)

4. ‘Fit to govern!
No, not to live. O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter’d,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again,’ (Macduff, Act 4 Scene 3)

Extracts

For each of the extracts below, complete the following tasks:

 Highlight significant quotations and comment on the language and structure.

Annotate directly onto the extract if you like.

 Highlight and comment on the significance of any dramatic devices.

 Highlight any passages in the text that link to general themes, ideas or messages
from the play: state the themes.

 Highlight and annotate passages to which you could link any historical or
contextual points.

 Consider how the characters are presented, and how they are presented by other
characters.

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 Revision workbook
The first extract includes some suggestions, to get you started.

Act 1 Scene 2 - Extract

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
5 Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
’Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
Say to the king the knowledge of the broil
As thou didst leave it.

SERGEANT
Doubtful it stood;
10 As two spent swimmers, that do cling together
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
15 Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;
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,
20 Which smoked with bloody execution,
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,
25 And fix’d his head upon our battlements.

DUNCAN
O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!

Dramatic device: Duncan draws the audience’s attention to the sergeant

through his initial question which raises the theme of battle and levels of
command. It highlights the fact that unlike other medieval kings he does not
personally fight; this could connote his weakness, either physical or mental, and
undermine his right to command and rule.

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Act 5 Scene 9 – Extract

Enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM, SIWARD, ROSS, the other Thanes, and
Soldiers.

MALCOLM
I would the friends we miss were safe arrived.

SIWARD
Some must go off: and yet, by these I see,
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.

ROSS
5 Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier’s debt:
He only lived but till he was a man;
The which no sooner had his prowess confirm’d
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.

SIWARD
10 Then he is dead?

ROSS
Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow
Must not be measured by his worth, for then
It hath no end.

SIWARD
Had he his hurts before?

ROSS
15 Ay, on the front.

SIWARD
Why then, God’s soldier be he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death:
And so, his knell is knoll’d.

MALCOLM
20 He’s worth more sorrow,
And that I’ll spend for him.

SIWARD
He’s worth no more
They say he parted well, and paid his score:
And so, God be with him! Here comes newer comfort.

Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH’s head.

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MACDUFF
25 Hail, king! for so thou art: behold, where stands
The usurper’s cursed head: the time is free:
I see thee compass’d with thy kingdom’s pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine:
30 Hail, King of Scotland!

ALL
Hail, King of Scotland!

Flourish.

MALCOLM
We shall not spend a large expense of time
Before we reckon with your several loves,
And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
35 Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour named. What’s more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,
As calling home our exiled friends abroad
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
40 Producing forth the cruel ministers
Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen,
Who, as ’tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life; this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
45 We will perform in measure, time and place:
So, thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown’d at Scone.

Flourish. Exeunt.

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Characters

Character profiles

Create a character profile for each of the following characters:

 Macbeth  Lady Macbeth

Present this in any way that will be useful. For example, you might chart the character
chronologically or look at the character from a certain point in the play and how the
character changes before and after that point.

You might create a visual collage or use sticky notes. You could choose key quotations or
pick out longer extracts from the text which you think are pivotal to his character
development. You might react to the character then try to argue against it - could there
be alternative views?

The most important thing is: each selection should be justified and you should be able to
explain its significance.

Exploring the characters further

Answer the following questions on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to develop your
understanding.

Macbeth Lady Macbeth

 Is Macbeth evil?  Is Lady Macbeth evil?

 How does he treat those closest to  Does she act in the way she does
him? because she is frustrated by the
 Can he tell the difference between gender constraints imposed on her by
right and wrong? her society?
 How do his ambitions change  Is she all talk and no action?
throughout the play?  What does she really want?
 Is he under the influence of the  Does she love her husband?
witches?  Would she have harmed her baby?
 Is he weak and foolish and/or easily  Does she enjoy the power she gains?
led?
 Does he love violence?

Quotation quest

Find key quotations relating to some of the other characters. Choose which of these are
most useful and relate to the key themes of the play. Choose which ones you will
memorise.

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Themes

Events relating to themes

Write down the main themes from the play in the table below. Find three events in the
play which relate to this theme. Explain how the theme is significant at each point.
There’s an example below to get you started.

Theme 1st Example 2nd Example 3rd Example

Betrayal In the second scene of Macbeth betrays his best Macbeth’s betrayal is
the play the theme of friend, Banquo in Act 3 finally punished by
betrayal is raised with by having him murdered MacDuff at the end of
the treachery of and attempting the the play. This could be
Macdonwald who sides assassination of his son seem as a just and
with the invading Fleance, an innocent hopeful resolution to
Norwegians against King child. the treachery of kings or
Duncan. Ironically, he is as part of a continuation
executed for this of the cycle of betrayal
betrayal by Macbeth and punishment.
who then goes on to
betray and murder his
King, Duncan, in Act 2.

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Quotation quest

Find key quotations relating to some of the main themes. Choose which of these are
most useful and relate to the key themes of the play. Choose which ones you will
memorise.

The whole play

Context research

Research the historical and social context of Macbeth.

During your research you might consider the following questions:

 When was it written?

 What importance did the monarchy play in life and what influence might it have
had on the people and the theatre? What were the key issues of the time?
 What might be some of the reasons why Shakespeare chose to write this play,
especially at that time?

Final thoughts

Answer the following questions, to consider some of the lasting messages of the play.

 What is the significance of the setting?

 What do you think of Macbeth’s claim that he is so disturbed by Duncan’s death
that he cannot return to the chamber with the bloody knives and yet he barely
mentions that had also just killed Duncan’s grooms?
 Why are the witches sometimes referred to as the weird sisters?
 Did Shakespeare write Macbeth to entertain James I, as a warning, or for other
reasons?
 Why are there so many ghosts?
 What might the play Macbeth teach us?

Summarising

Go through the whole play, and for each scene, write a one-sentence summary of the
key events.

Using your revision

Finally, use the work you have completed to help you revise your understanding of the
whole play:

 Get someone to test you on key quotations.

 Record yourself talking about key characters, themes, specific extracts or
quotations, and how these develop at different points in the play.

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