HONORS LITERATURE

STUDY GUIDE
ACT 1
VOCABULARY
Disdain; fortune:
“Disdaining fortune . . . [he] carved out his passage / Till he faced the slave”. (I. ii. 19-
22, pg. 9)
Unseamed:
“Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chops” (I. ii. 24, pg.9)

The verb 'unseamed' implies an ease in the brutal attack that Macbeth has made on
his enemy. This shows that he is violent and ruthless. The word 'seam' is a homophone
and could also hint at the deception that will follow: it might 'seem' as if Macbeth will be
loyal, but the opposite turns out to be the case.
Weird:
Strange or fate:
“The Weird Sisters, hand in hand, / Posters of the sea and land” (I. iii. 33-4, pg.15)
Withered:
“So withered, and so wild in their attire” (I. iii. 41, pg.17)
Rapt:
“My noble partner / You greet with . . . great prediction / That he seems rapt” (I. iii. 57-
60, pg. 17)
Corporal:
“What seemed corporal melted, / as breath into the wind” (I. iii. 84, pg. 19)
Macbeth is
trying o decipher how it was possible for the witches to
help suddenly "melted" into thin air. He is wishing that they had
stayed longer and told him more. Welcome hither.
bodily/physical
Prologue, Imperial:
“Two truths are told / As happy prologue to the swelling act / Of the imperial theme” (I.
iii. 140-1, pg. 23)
Macbeth metaphorically compares the favorable prophecies to
elements of a drama. The "two truths" are his thaneships of Glamis
and Cawdor, which he likens to "happy prologues" or introductions
to plays. These metaphorical prologues lead to the "swelling act of
imperial theme," which represents his ascension to the throne. In
Macbeth's metaphor, attaining the Scottish throne and becoming
king is the final act of the play.

Supernatural soliciting:
“This supernatural soliciting / Cannot be ill, cannot be good.” (I. iii. 143, pg. 23)
Surmise:
 HONORS LITERATURE

“. . . function is smothered in surmise / And nothing is but what is not.” (I. iii. 144, pg.
154)
Chastise, valor:
“That I may pour my spirits in thine ear / And chastise with the valor of my tongue” (I.
v. 29-30, pg. 31)
Compunction:
“That no compunctious visitings of nature / Shake my fell purpose” (I. v. 52, pg. 33)
Gall:
“Come to my woman’s breasts / And take my milk for gall” (I. v. 54-55, pg. 33)
Beguile:
“To beguile the time, / Look like the time.” (I. vi. 74, pg. 35)
Serpent:
“Look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under it” (I. vi. 75-6, pg. 35)
Trammel, Surcease:
“If the assassination / Could trammel up the consequence and catch / With his surcease
success” (I. vii. 2-4, pg. 39)
Commends, Chalice:
“This even-handed justice / Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice / To our
own lips” (I. vii. 10-11, pg. 39)
Plucked, Dashed:
“Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums / And dashed the brains out” (I. vii.
65-6, pg.43)
Chamberlains, wassail, warder:
“. . . his two chamberlains / Will I with wine and wassail so convince / That memory,
the warder of the brain / Shall be a fume.” (I. vii. 73-5, pg. 43)
Undaunted:
“Bring forth men children only, / For thy undaunted mettle should compose nothing but
males” (I. vii., 83-85, pg. 43)
SHORT ANSWER
1. Macbeth seems already to be planning the murder of the king – even as he receives
the news that he has become Thane of Cawdor. What is his attitude towards the
murder he plans? Explain.

MACBETH
[Aside] Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.--I thank you, gentlemen.
Aside
Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
 HONORS LITERATURE

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair

And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not. (I. iii. 140-155, pg. 23)

2. Explain the function of Macbeth’s letter to Lady Macbeth. Why does Macbeth
send it? How does Lady Macbeth use this letter to pressure him to commit the
murder?

3. Consider Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act I, scene I, 1-30. What arguments does he

make against the murder? Why doesn’t he follow them?

MACBETH
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double trust;
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
 HONORS LITERATURE

Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,

That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other. (I. vii. 1-28, pp. 39-40)

4. Explain how Lady Macbeth pressures Macbeth into committing the murder.
Consider especially the passage below. Do you think that she is getting Macbeth to
do something he wants to do anyway? Or do you think that Macbeth is really
unwilling? Why?

LADY MACBETH
What beast was't, then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this. (I. vii. 54-66, pg. 43)

ESSAY Who do you think has the most responsibility for committing the murder: Lady
Macbeth, Macbeth, or the witches?