Favor Alabi

Ms.Allen-6th
12/5/16
Act V Reading Guide
Part I: Questions
1. Lady Macbeth is wracked by guilt. She is so overcome with her role in the
murder of King Duncan that she cannot rest. She sleepwalks, writes, and tries
over and over again to wash her hands, but she cannot get the blood out
because it is no longer thereit is in her mind.
2. Lady Macbeth talks of the murders she and her husband have committed and
wrings her hands complain that their is blood on her hands and tries to wash
it off.
3. Birnam at Dunsinane where the witches said Macbeth would come to an end.
4. Macbeth believes he is unstoppable, and can do anything he wants to.
5. He believes that the witches prophesies maybe are not going to happen.
Questions himself.
6. He get troops prepared and says his castle can with stand everything thinks
the opponents army is smaller than it looks. also knows he cant be killed by
anyone who was born of a woman.
7. his fellow nobles and attackers
8. When Macduff says he was prematurely ripped from his mothers womb.
9. he knows that he can be defeated and this is where he will die.
10.Macbeth wants to be free of the witches prophesies and doesn't want to die.
He is angry of his choices.
11.Malcolm will be the next king he was the son of Duncan the previous king
who was killed by Macbeth. Happy and joyful, finally free of the evil Macbeth.

Part II: Compare/Contrast Scenes

In Act III of the play, Lady Macbeth tends to act as if nothing is wrong. That
Macbeth was having some ailment thats been with him from childhood, but in Act V
her actions have totally changed. She is now feeling a sense of guilt.
The scene of Lady Macbeth sleepwalking is similar and ironic to Act IV
because Lady Macbeth is starting to act just as mad as her husband was when he
saw the ghost of Banquo.
Part III: Character Analysis
Throughout the play, we see several characters develop into their final form.
Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth are a prime example of how power can corrupt any
individual. In Act One of the play Macbeth by Shakespeare, Macbeth is seen as a
selfish and overly ambitious man who wants to win favor of the king so he can take
over slowly without gratification. When he was approached by the witches and they
tell him about their prediction, he becomes very interested in their predictions and

Favor Alabi
Ms.Allen-6th
12/5/16
tries to take manners into his own hands. Though many people saw Macbeth as a
strong man physically, mentally, he was incapacitated because he was easily
swayed by almost anyone.
Though Macbeth is from an upper class and is in a position of power, he still
possesses insecurities. In the aside by Macbeth, he says, Whose horrid image doth
fix my hair and make my heart seated knock. To describe how he is uncertain
about himself. Macbeth never really knows what he wants. The quote describes how
Macbeth constantly uses juxtapose to show his uncertainty even about his own
thoughts. This is why he is easily persuaded by his wife to commit an evil act
without full thought about the consequences of his actions.

Part IV: Theme

Appearance plays a double standard in the play Macbeth. Power corrupts and
absolute power corrupts absolutely. This was seen in the when he first realizes that
the witches prophecies are coming true. When Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor
he starts plotting on how he is going to achieve the last prophecy prophesied on his
life; becoming king of Scotland. Knowledge transformed into power when Macbeth
started being suspicious about Macduffs absence at his banquet.
We are shown how appearance isnt reality when Macbeth visits the witches
for the second time and he is told of what the future holds. Though Macbeth knows
that Banquos descendants will be king after him he cannot do anything about it. He
is also powerless when he thinks that there was no claim to the throne for a long
time because trees cannot walk when the witches tell him he would be King until
the forests of Dunsinane ascends on his castle.

Part V: Essay
When you hear the saying, all men are evil, you would see it firsthand in
this play. In Act One of the play Macbeth by Shakespeare, Macbeth is seen as a
selfish and overly ambitious man who wants to win favor of the king so he can take
over slowly without gratification. When he was approached by the witches and they
tell him about their prediction, he becomes very interested in their predictions and
tries to take manners into his own hands. Though many people saw Macbeth as a
strong man physically, mentally, he was incapacitated because he was easily
swayed by almost anyone.
Macbeth was indeed a victim of the supernatural sisters and Lady Macbeth,
but he wasnt innocent. His ambition was what led him to believe what the
supernatural sisters said and what Lady Macbeth wanted for him. The evil of

Favor Alabi
Ms.Allen-6th
12/5/16
Macbeth's actions was driven by his lust for the power the witches promised him
when they prophesized he would become king, "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king
hereafter." The three witches played an important role in Macbeths decision of
murdering King Duncan and Banquo.
Even after being told of his fate, Macbeth remained apprehensive about
becoming king because it meant he would have to kill Duncan, to whom he was
loyal, "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." (I, vii, 13). However Lady Macbeth, who was hungry for the power that
would come with her husband being king, manipulated Macbeth into changing his
mind. She was able to do this by challenging the very thing Macbeth was insecure
about; his manliness.