MACBETH: Study Questions—ACT 5

Scene 1

1) What do the nurse (gentlewoman) and the doctor see?

Lady Macbeth sleep walking.
2) What does Lady Macbeth mean when she says, “Out, damned spot! Out, I 

say!...will these hands never be clean.”

She sees blood on her hands but cannot wash it off.
3) What is wrong with Lady Macbeth at this point of the play?

She like Macbeth, is going crazy because of all the things that have happened.

Scene 2

1) What happens in this scene? What new characters are introduced? Why?

The soldiers are on their way to fight Macbeth. We meet Menteith, Caithness, and Angus because they introduce the opposing side.
2) What is the significance of the scene?

They give information about Macbeth and the leadrers of the army.
3) What is meant when Caithness says, “Some say he’d mad; others that lesser hate him do call it valiant fury”?
Some say Macbeth is actually psycho and others say he is angry.
Scene 3

1) How would you describe Macbeth’s attitude and mood in this scene?

Macbeth is just hearing of the army on it's way and sends for his own, he acts like he isn't afraid.
2) Why isn’t Macbeth afraid? Do his soldier’s seem afraid? Why or why not?
He knows that no one can hurt him born of a woman. They are afraid that he thinks too highly of himself and has just lost his mind.
Scene 4

1) What does Malcolm order the soldiers to do?
To keep marching on because it will all be settled with violence.
Scene 5

1) What is meant when Macbeth says, “She should have died here-after”?

She should have died after the war.
2) What is the significant of the following quote, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is told no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.”

Life is like an illusion, filled with things that distract us from important things.

Scene 6

1) What is important about this scene?

This is the start of the war, no going back.

Scene 7

1) Who does Macbeth kill in this scene? What is significant about this death?
He kills Siward's son, and brings up how he can not be killed by someone born of a woman.
Scene 8

1) What happens in this scene?

Macduff kills Macbeth.
2) Why does Macbeth lose heart in the fight against Macduff?

Macduff wins because his mother had a C-section, so he wasn't technically born of a woman.
3) Who is named king at the end of the play?

Malcolm.