The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act III “Reading Check”/”Making Meanings” Questions
Directions – Answer the following questions in complete sentences on a separate sheet of paper.
Reading Check
a. In the short soliloquy that opens Scene 1, what does Banquo reveal he suspects about Macbeth
and what does he decide to do?
b. How and why does Macbeth arrange Banquo’s murder? How is Lady Macbeth involved in the
murder?
c. In Scene 3, who escapes the murderers?
d. Describe what happens in scene 4 when Ross, Lennox, and the other thanes invite Macbeth to
share their table.
e. Macduff doesn’t appear in Act III. Where is he, and why?
f. By Scene 6, what opinion do Lennox and the other thane have of Macbeth?
Making Meanings
1. What title would you give to Act III?
3. The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth has changed in several ways since they became
rulers of Scotland. Find details in this act that reveal some of these changes. What reasons can you
suggest for these changes?
5. In Shakespeare’s tragedies, a turning point usually occurs in the third act. At this moment, something
happens that moves the action ever downward to its tragic conclusion. How is Fleance’s escape a
turning point in this play?
7. At the beginning of Scene 2, Lady Macbeth quietly tells herself, “Nought’s had, all’s spent, / Where
our desire is got without content.” What does she mean? At this point, would her husband agree?
9. After his vision of Banquo’s ghost in Scene 4, Macbeth finally accepts that “blood will have blood.”
What does this phrase mean? Is it relevant to today’s world? How?