Mss141: Questions for MacBeth, Acts IV-V

1.  What do the three witches reveal to MacBeth at the start of Act IV?  How does this feed his ambition and his fear?

2.  Why does MacBeth send assassins to kill MacDuff's family?  Why is Lady MacDuff cross with her husband?  

3.  How does Malcolm come to trust MacDuff?  What is Malcolm's plan to avenge his father and take back Scotland?

4.  What is MacDuff's reaction when he learns the fate of his family?

5.  What does the doctor believe about Lady MacBeth's sleepwalking?  What does she do and say in her sleep?  What eventually happens to Lady MacBeth?

6.  Why does MacBeth believe he is virtually invinceable in Dunsinane castle?  What happens to trouble his faith?

7.  Who is the man of no woman born who slays MacBeth?  What is MacBeth's reaction to the real meaning of the witches' prophecies?

8.  "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." (Act 5, Sc.5 lines 27-31)

What is the context for these lines?  How do you interpret them?

Questions for William Dement's The Promise of Sleep, pp. 208-216

1.  What is REM behavior disorder?  How does it differ from sleepwalking and night terrors?

2.  What is dangerous about REM behavior disorder?  What are typical characteristics of someone who suffers from it?  What are some hypotheses about its cause?

3.  Which factors seem to contribute to sleepwalking and night terrors?  

4.  What is the state of the sleepwalker's brain?  

5.  Does Dement believe that a sleepwalker is responsible for his or her actions while asleep?  

Questions for Lavie, The Enchanted World of Sleep, Ch. 18: pp.208-212

1.  How does Lavie read the Lady MacBeth sleepwalking scene?  In what ways does Shakespeare's account of a sleepwalker conform to contemporary studies of sleepwalking?

2.  Do you find that Lavie agrees with Dement about the causes of sleepwalking and night terrors?