KNOWLEDGE
Macbeth
practice question 1
The question itself is shown below or you can download it as a PDF.
Starting with this extract, explore how far Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a strong woman in Macbeth.
Write about:
how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a strong woman in this extract.
how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in the play as a whole.
Extract from Act 1 Scene 5
Enter Macbeth
LADY MACBETH
Great Glamis, Worthy Cawdor,
Greater than both by the all-hail hereafter,
Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant.
MACBETH
My dearest love,
Duncan comes here tonight.
LADY MACBETH
And when goes hence?
MACBETH
Tomorrow, as he purposes.
LADY MACBETH
O never
Shall sun that morrow see.
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time, bear welcome in your eye,
You hand, your tongue; look like th’innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t. He that’s coming
Must be provided for, and you shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch,
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
MACBETH
We will speak further –
LADY MACBETH
Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear.
Leave all the rest to me.