Welcome to our blog post ISC Macbeth Workbook Answers : Act 2, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, “Macbeth.” As dedicated learners and educators, we recognize the importance of unraveling the nuances of Shakespearean literature, which is why we’ve curated this comprehensive guide specifically tailored to the ISC curriculum.
Within this blog, we’ll explore Act 2, Scene 1, utilizing the meticulously crafted workbook provided by Morning Star publishers. Our objective is to not only present multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and detailed answers but also to foster a deeper comprehension of the play’s themes, characters, and linguistic complexities.
While our responses are structured based on the workbook, we encourage students to use this resource as a springboard for their own exploration. Shakespeare’s works offer rich layers of interpretation, inviting individual analysis. Therefore, feel empowered to adapt and personalize our insights to suit your unique learning style and needs.
Whether you’re striving for academic excellence or simply eager to unravel the depths of “Macbeth,” join us on this enlightening journey through Act 2, Scene 1. Let’s embark on an adventure where Shakespeare’s words transcend time, captivating minds across generations.
Table of Contents
Workbook Summary :
This is a continuation of the previous scene. The feast being over, Duncan has retired to his bedchamber. Banquo and his son, Fleance, enter the stage with a torch as it is dark at midnight Just as Banquo is complaining to Fleance that he is troubled and unable to sleep due to unholy thoughts pervading his mind, they meet Macbeth crossing the courtyard with his servant Banquo tells Macbeth that he had dreamt about the three weird sisters, but Macbeth pretends that he has not thought about them and instead invites him to have a private talk at some suitable time, hinting that if Banquo falls in with his design, he will have honour and reward. Banquo lays down his conditions for doing so.
After Banquo’s departure, Macbeth sends his servant to go and inform Lady Macbeth to ring the bell once his drink is ready. While waiting for the bell to ring his heat-oppressed brain conjures up before his eyes a vision of an air-drawn dagger as if pointing him towards Duncan’s chamber with its bloody point. He tries to grab hold of its handle but is unable to do so.He feels staggered by the sight but concludes that this dagger is a product of his imagination, a hallucination and not real.
Then in a burst of poetry he says that since all evil takes place at night, the darkness and silence of the midnight will help him to proceed with the foul deed. He asks the earth not to resound his footsteps, lest the deed is prevented. Lady Macbeth is ready by now, she rings the bell as a signal for him that the stage is set for the deed and Macbeth proceeds to Duncan’s chamber to kill his sleeping kin and guest.
Workbook MCQs :
1. Where does this scene take place?
a. In the courtyard of Macbeth’s castle
b. In one of the rooms of Macbeth’s castle
c. On the battlements of Macbeth’s castle
d. At Duncan’s palace.
Answer :- a. In the courtyard of Macbeth’s castle
2. Where is Duncan at this moment?
a. He is with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
b. He is still feasting with everyone.
c. He has retired to his chamber to sleep.
d. He is in the castle courtyard.
Answer :- c. He has retired to his chamber to sleep.
3. How goes the night, boy?”
Who is the boy Banquo is referring to?
a. Malcolm
b. Fleance
с. To himself
d. One of the guards
Answer :- b. Fleance
4. Give an example of alliteration. (words beginning with the same consonant sound) When Banquo says:
a. ‘there’s husbandry in heaven.
b. Their candles are all out.
c. And yet I would not sleep
d. Who’s there?
Answer :- a. ‘there’s husbandry in heaven.
5. What is the reason that Banquo is unable to sleep even though he is sleepy?
a. He gets disturbed by the noise outside.
b. He is troubled with the sinful and tempting thoughts that come in his sleep.
c. He is a late sleeper and cannot fall asleep so early.
d. He does not feel at home in a new place.
Answer :- b. He is troubled with the sinful and tempting thoughts that come in his sleep.
6. An example of the literary device similie is when
a. Banquo tells Fleance ‘A heavy summons lies like lead upon me.’
b. And she goes down at twelve.
c. All’s well.
d. At your kindest leisure
Answer :- a. Banquo tells Fleance ‘A heavy summons lies like lead upon me.’
7. What does he pray to the Meriful powers for?
a. To give him the strength to overcome such evil thoughts.
b. To give him the courage to speak the truth
c. To help him to expose Macbeth.
d. To stop his bad dreams and let him sleep peacefully.
Answer :- a. To give him the strength to overcome such evil thoughts.
8. Macbeth pretends to show no interest when Banquo honestly and frankly tells him:
a. What, sir, not yet at rest? The king’s a-bed.
b. All’s well
c. I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters
d. At your kindest leisure.
Answer :- c. I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters:
9. Macbeth’s soliloquy in the beginning reveals to the audience
1. His eagerness to go murder Duncan.
2. how he is so terribly upset by a strong sense of guilt due to his loyalty to Duncan.
3. His vivid sense of imagination
4. His loyalty to his wife and his wish to please her.
a. 1 and 4
b. 4 and 3
c. 2 and 3
d. 1 and 2
Answer :- c. 2 and 3
10. Macbeth, in his soliloquy, realises that
a. He is dreaming of a dagger.
b. The dagger he is imagining is the result of his murderous intent and is a hallucination.
c. It will take him to Duncan’s chamber.
d. The dagger is within his grasp and he can easily grab it.
Answer :- b. The dagger he is imagining is the result of his murderous intent and is a hallucination.
11. It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes.
What is the ‘bloody business’ Macbeth refers to?
a. Duncan’s murder
b. Banquo’s murder
c. Fleance’s murder
d. The guard’s murder
Answer :- a. Duncan’s murder
12. Macbeth says that night is the appropriate time when:
a. all is quiet
b. people sleep peacefully.
c. diabolical deeds are committed in the cover of darkness
d. people pray to God and make offerings to him.
Answer :- c. diabolical deeds are committed in the cover of darkness
13. Who is Hecate?
a. A witch
b. A familiar
c. The goddess of witchcraft
d. The goddess of the night
Answer :- c. The goddess of witchcraft
14. The fact that Macbeth is filled with guilt even at this stage reveals that he
a. is a criminal.
b. is not a habitual criminal but is ambitious for the crown.
c. is only obeying his wife’s orders.
d. Has second thoughts yet again
Answer :- For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
15. An example of the literary device similie is: …..moves like a ghost (Tarquin’s movement)
a. …..witchcraft celebrates
b. The wolf, who howl’s his watch
c. The bell invites me
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16. An example of a double personification is when:
a. Macbeth mentions how ‘wither’d murder’ is alarum’d by his sentinel, the wolf.
b. I am a friend
c. I think not of them.
d. Good repose the while
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17. What is dead over half the hemisphere?
a. The people who are fast asleep
b. Nature seems to be dead as it is past midnight
c. The animals of the night
d. The world
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18. How did Tarquin move towards the sleeping Lucretia with the intention of ravishing her?
a. Just like the murderer who moves towards his victim with the same noiseless stealthy footsteps.
b. Just like the wolf which creeps towards his prey.
c. Like a person walking in his sleep unaware of his surroundings
d. Like someone who is about to commit a robbery in the middle of the night.
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19. What is the ‘it’ Macbeth refers to towards the end of his soliloquy?
a. His drink is ready
b. The ringing of the bell.
c. The cruel deed of the night
d. His act of murdering Duncan
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20. Blood is a recurring theme in the play. One such example of blood is when Macbeth
a. imagines spots of blood on the dagger
b. thinks he can see blood on one of his fingers.
c. speaks of blood to Banquo
d. says that blood is red in colour
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21. Where and why would Macbeth go from here?
a. To his bedchamber to sleep.
b. To Duncan’s bedchamber to murder him.
c. To speak with Banquo
d. To sit in one of rooms and ponder over the proposed murder.
Answer :- For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
22. On whom will the blame be placed according to Lady Macbeth’s plan?
a. On the king’s sons who are sleeping in the next room.
b. On the two grooms (chamberlains) who are sleeping in Duncan’s chamber.
c. On one of the many servants in the castle.
d. On Banquo and his son Fleance.
Answer :- For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
23. Do you think Macbeth is at peace with himself at this moment?
a. Yes
b. No
c. My be
d. Impossible
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24. If you were to give a title of your own to this scene which of the following, would you give?
a. Macbeth’s Soliloquy
b. Macbeth and his Vivid Imagination
c. Macbeth’s Criminal Action
d. The Dark Deed of Macbeth
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25. How far would you go to achieve your burning ambition?
a. Go to any lengths to achieve my ambition.
b. Do my very best, pray and leave the rest to Fate/Destiny
c. Kill, murder and loot
d. Achieve it at any cost no matter how much it harms or hurts others.
Answer :- For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
26. This is for the first time that the nervous and guilt racked Macbeth is going to
a. commit a heinous crime.
b. Duncan’s chamber
c. Awaken the sleeping king.
d. Visit the king at night
Answer :- For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
Workbook Questions :
(I) Banquo tells Macbeth that Duncan has gifted Lady Macbeth a diamond because she has been a very kind hostess.
(II) Macbeth tells Banquo that they could not give Duncan the best reception/welcome because they could not get enough time to welcome Duncan properly.
(III) Banquo cannot fall in line with Macbeth in conspiracy because Banquo neither believes the words of the witches as thoroughly as Macbeth does ; nor he is as ambitious as Macbeth.
(IV) Macbeth is waiting for Lady Macbeth to ring the bell because it has been settled between them that Lady Macbeth will ring the bell when she has settled everything regarding their plan.
(V) Macbeth tells himself that there is no such thing as the dagger in the air because it is only a hallucination.
(VI) Macbeth compares ‘Tarquin’s ravishing strides ‘to his own because For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
(VII) Macbeth does not want the stones to speak because Answer :- For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
(VIII) Macbeth realises that time is slipping by because Answer :- For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
(IX) Macbeth feels that words can have a dampening effect because Answer :- For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
(X) Macbeth does not wish for Duncan to hear the bell because Answer :- For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
Question Answers :
(I) Keeping in mind that the play Macbeth abounds in contrasts, contrast the characters of Macbeth and Banquo in this scene. Write your answer in a short paragraph of about 150 words.
Answers: In Macbeth and Banquo Shakespeare has created two sharply contrasted characters. Both are brave and good fighters. Both have met the three witches. Whereas Macbeth believes the words of witches to be true, Banquo considers them no butter than bubbles of air. Words of witches stir the imagination of Macbeth who is highly ambitious. He makes a plan to murder king Duncan to gain kingship. But Banquo has firm faith in God. He is honest and loyal to the king. He is not ready to do anything immoral to achieve anything in life. Even when Macbeth throws him a hint to side with him, he is not tempted to indulge in any unethical action. He seems to be more practical and contented man than Macbeth.
(II) Give an account of the atmosphere or mood of darkness in this scene. Write your answer in a short paragraph of about 150 words.
Answer :- For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
(III) (a) Give the significance of the dagger scene in short. What does it reveal about the mental anguish going on in Macbeth’s mind?. Write your answer in about 200-250 words.
Answer :- The dagger scene (Act 2, Scene 1) is a crucial moment that reveals Macbeth’s inner turmoil before murdering Duncan. As he prepares to commit the crime, he hallucinates a bloody dagger floating in the air, pointing toward Duncan’s chamber. This supernatural vision serves multiple purposes:
Foreshadows Murder: The dagger, covered in “gouts of blood,” is a dark omen, signaling the violence about to unfold. It prepares the audience for Duncan’s impending death.
Mental Anguish: Macbeth’s hallucination exposes his guilt-ridden conscience. Though ambitious, he is not a natural killer—his mind is so tormented that it creates visions of the weapon he will use. His famous line—”Is this a dagger which I see before me?”—shows his descending madness.
Struggle Between Fear and Resolve: He wishes for complete silence (“Thou sure and firm-set earth, hear not my steps”), fearing discovery. The dagger represents his irreversible choice—once he takes this step, there is no turning back.
This scene proves Macbeth is deeply conflicted, not a cold-blooded murderer. His hallucination and panic contrast with Lady Macbeth’s ruthlessness, making his downfall more tragic.
(b) Give an account of Macbeth’s ‘poetic imagination’ in his soliloquy. Write your answer in about 200-250 words.
Answer :- For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
Essay Question :
Q. State the ‘compunctious visitings of nature’ which make Macbeth shrink from murdering the King.
Answer :- ‘Compunctious visitings of nature’ are the words quoted from the speech of Lady Macbeth. In course of which she asks the mysterious poetry of evil to take away from her heart her softness and to stop the passage of remorse in her hearts that these ‘compunctious visitings of nature’ could enter it. ‘Compunctious visiting of nature’ are considerations of natural feeling, For Full Answers Get The Workbook Answers PDF – View
