Macbeth Final Test: Whole-Play Quiz

Macbeth Whole Play questions

The answers and an explanation for each question appear as you play, and on the answer-key page of the printout.

1. Early on, Lady Macbeth says a little water will wash the blood away. What does she say about her hands in Act V?
   They are stained with wine · They are colder than Duncan's · No perfume can sweeten them · They shame her husband's heart
2. Who kills Macbeth?
   Malcolm · Young Siward · Lennox · Macduff
3. Which line from the witches sets up the play's concern with appearance and reality?
   Fair is foul, and foul is fair · Sound and fury, signifying nothing · Vaulting ambition that o'erleaps · Blood will have blood, they say
4. How does Banquo's response to the witches differ from Macbeth's?
   He tells Duncan about it · He refuses to act on it · He warns Lady Macbeth of it · He asks the witches for more
5. What do the three promises of the cauldron scene have in common?
   Each is spoken by Hecate · Each repeats an earlier prophecy · Each is true in an unexpected way · Each names Macduff directly
6. Why does Macbeth kill the two grooms found beside Duncan's body?
   Because they resisted arrest · Because Macduff accused them · To prove his love for Malcolm · To silence them before they speak
7. Which recurring image describes Macbeth's hold on titles that are not his?
   Ill-fitting borrowed clothes · A seed sown in winter · A chained and baited bear · A ship lost in thick fog
8. What unnatural events are reported in Scotland after Duncan's murder?
   The river at Forres runs with blood · Horses turn wild and the day stays dark · A comet burns above Dunsinane · Birnam wood withers overnight
9. The show of eight kings descended from Banquo flattered which ruler of Shakespeare's own time?
   Edward the Confessor · Queen Elizabeth I · King James I · King Duncan's heirs
10. Preparing for the siege, what does Macbeth say his life has become?
    A debt he cannot repay · A crown too heavy to wear · A long road without an end · A withered, yellowing leaf

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Original questions written for Pagine. Quotations are from the public-domain text.