AQA ENGLISH LITERATURE
MACBETH SAMPLE EXAM QUESTIONS
Read the following extract from Act 1, Scene 5 and then
answer the question that follows.
At this point in the play Lady Macbeth is speaking. She has
just heard about the Witches prophecy that Macbeth will
be King.
LADY MACBETH
Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou'ld’st have, great Glamis,
That which cries, “Thus thou must do,” if thou have it,
And that which rather thou dost fear to do,
Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear
And chastise with the valor of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crowned withal.
Starting with this extract, explain how far you think
Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as an ambitious woman with influence over her
husband.
Write about:
•how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in this extract
•how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in the play as a
whole
Read the following extract from Act 3, Scene 4 and then answer the question that follows.
At this point in the play Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are
speaking to each other while they are entertaining guests at a banquet. Macbeth
believes he can see the ghost of Banquo.
LADY MACBETH
Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus,
And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat;
The fit is momentary; upon a thought
He will again be well: if much you note him,
You shall offend him and extend his passion:
Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man?
MACBETH
Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appal the devil.
LADY MACBETH
O proper stuff!
This is the very painting of your fear:
This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said,
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts,
Impostors to true fear, would well become
A woman's story at a winter's fire,
Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!
Why do you make such faces? When all's done,
You look but on a stool.
MACBETH
Prithee, see there! behold! look! lo!
how say you?
Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.
If charnel-houses and our graves must send
Those that we bury back, our monuments
Shall be the maws of kites.
GHOST OF BANQUO vanishes
LADY MACBETH
What, quite unmann'd in folly?
Starting with this extract, explain how far you think
Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a man who is in control.
Write about:
•how Shakespeare presents Macbeth in this extract
•how Shakespeare presents Macbeth in the play as a whole.
Read the following extract from Act 5, Scene 5 and then answer the question that follows.
Macbeth is waiting for the English army to attack his
castle.
MACBETH
She should have died hereafter.
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Enter a MESSENGER
Thou comest to use
Thy tongue; thy story quickly.
Starting with this extract, write about how Shakespeare
presents Macbeth’s state of mind. Write about
•how Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s state of mind in this
extract.
•how Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s state of mind in the
play as a whole.
