Question 1 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

Which act of Macbeth contains the exposition?

Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5
Question 2 (Multiple Choice Worth 5 points)

Which plot element provides background information?
Exposition Rising Action Climax Falling Action
Question 3 (Multiple Choice Worth 10 points)

Which of these lines provides important information for the exposition of the play?
O Banquo, Banquo!/Our royal master’s murder’d! And, for an earnest of a greater honor,/He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor Thou know’st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives. Hail, king, for so thou art: behold, where stands/The usurper’s cursed head:
Question 4 (Essay Worth 25 points)

Why are these lines from Act III important in the plot of the play?

Macbeth to Lady Macbeth

the time has been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end; but now they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools: this is more strange
Than such a murder is
Question 5 (Essay Worth 25 points)

Using these lines from Act II, explain the relationship between Macbeth’s words and the words of Duncan’s sons.

Macbeth

Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had liv’d a blessed time; for, from this instant
There’s nothing serious in mortality:
All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.

Malcolm

What will you do? Let’s not consort with them:
To show an unfelt sorrow is an office
Which the false man does easy. I’ll to England.

Donalbain.

To Ireland, I; our separated fortune
Shall keep us both the safer: where we are,
There’s daggers in men’s smiles: the near in blood,
The nearer bloody.