Read the big ideas and the method table, then try the six questions without notes. Each question combines two or more Unit 3 topics. The extracts are from Shakespeare’s Macbeth (about 1606), Act 1, Scene 7, which is in the public domain. They are quoted from the Project Gutenberg text; spelling and punctuation vary between editions.
These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not official scoring.
Big ideas of the unit
- Characters are built over time. Early description creates expectations; actions and speech meet or break them (3.1).
- Characters may change or stay the same. Compare early and late details, and say what the change does (3.2).
- Setting is a world. Time, place and the social, cultural and historical situation convey values and shape conflict (3.3).
- Events carry the plot. The significance of an event depends on its relationship to the conflict, the narrative and character development (3.4).
- Conflict is competing values. Internal and external conflicts intersect and heighten one another (3.5).
- An argument has a thesis, commentary and evidence. A defensible thesis, a line of reasoning communicated through commentary, and relevant, sufficient evidence (3.6, 3.7, 3.8).
Key relationships and methods
| If the question asks you to… | Use… | Watch out for… |
|---|---|---|
| Explain a character’s motive | Soliloquy, dialogue, action and inaction; comparisons made by others | Taking one speaker’s view as the truth |
| Show change | An early and a late detail, a turning point, a kind of change | Claiming change without two points |
| Explain a significant event | What it causes, what it changes in the conflict and in characters | Retelling the event |
| Explain a conflict | The values on each side; internal, external or both | Naming the people and not the values |
| Write a thesis | An interpretation that answers the prompt and can be defended | A topic, a summary or a list of devices |
| Write commentary | What, how and why, linked to claim and thesis | Paraphrase in place of commentary |
| Select evidence | Relevant, varied, enough; assign a purpose | Quoting everything that seems related |
The extracts
Extract 1 (Macbeth, after his soliloquy):
We will proceed no further in this business:
He hath honour’d me of late; and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.
Extract 2 (Lady Macbeth):
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress’d yourself? … Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,”
Like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?
Extract 3 (Macbeth and Lady Macbeth):
MACBETH. Pr’ythee, peace!
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.LADY MACBETH. What beast was’t, then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man …MACBETH. If we should fail?
LADY MACBETH. We fail?
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we’ll not fail.
Extract 4 (Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5):
I have almost forgot the taste of fears.
The time has been, my senses would have cool’d
To hear a night-shriek …
I have supp’d full with horrors;
Question 1 (multiple choice · 3.1 and 3.5)
In Extract 2, Lady Macbeth asks “Was the hope drunk / Wherein you dress’d yourself?” This comparison most directly
- (A) reveals her perspective that Macbeth’s earlier resolve was unreliable and that she judges him by his consistency
- (B) shows that Macbeth has been drinking
- (C) shows that she agrees with his decision to stop
- (D) introduces a new character
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). She compares his hope to a drunken state that has worn off. The comparison reveals her standard, which is that a person should act on what he wants.
- (B) takes a figure of speech literally.
- (C) is contradicted by her challenge.
- (D) is wrong because no one new appears.
Question 2 (multiple choice · 3.5)
In Extract 3, Macbeth says “I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none”, and Lady Macbeth says “When you durst do it, then you were a man”. These lines most directly show
- (A) a conflict of values in which two characters define manliness differently
- (B) an agreement between the two characters
- (C) a conflict between Macbeth and Duncan
- (D) a change of setting
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The same word, “man”, carries two values: restraint within limits and daring.
- (B) is contradicted by their opposing statements.
- (C) is wrong because Duncan is not present.
- (D) is not shown.
Question 3 (multiple choice · 3.4)
“If we should fail?” followed by “We fail? / But screw your courage to the sticking-place, / And we’ll not fail.” This exchange most directly functions as an event that
- (A) turns the scene from a decision not to act into a discussion of how to carry out the deed
- (B) resolves the conflict between the two characters
- (C) introduces a new setting
- (D) shows that Macbeth is certain of success
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). Macbeth began the exchange with “We will proceed no further”. His question is now about failure, and her reply begins a plan. The turn is the significant event of the scene.
- (B) is wrong because the conflict continues, now centred on the plan.
- (C) is not shown.
- (D) is contradicted by the question “If we should fail?”.
Question 4 (short written response · 3.6)
Prompt. How does Shakespeare use the exchange between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to develop conflict? Write a one-sentence thesis that answers the prompt and is defensible.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. Shakespeare turns Macbeth’s internal conflict between loyalty and ambition into an external contest over the meaning of courage, so that Lady Macbeth’s challenge converts his reluctance into a plan.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (3 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Answers the prompt (how the exchange develops conflict) |
| 2 | States an interpretation that can be defended with the scene (not a summary or list) |
| 3 | Is specific, with a clear “so what” or a movement (internal to external, reluctance to plan) |
Question 5 (extended written response · 3.5, 3.7 and 3.8)
Write one paragraph that supports your thesis from Question 4. Use at least two short quotations from Extracts 1 to 3 and give commentary that explains what each shows, how it works and why it matters.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The exchange turns Macbeth’s reluctance into a contest of values. He begins with a decision: “We will proceed no further in this business”, and gives reasons based on reputation, since he has “bought / Golden opinions from all sorts of people”. Lady Macbeth meets this with an attack on his consistency, asking whether he is “afeard / To be the same in thine own act and valour / As thou art in desire”. By measuring courage by whether action matches desire, she moves the issue from his reasons to his self-respect, which is why Macbeth’s answer, “I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none”, reads as a defence of his definition, and not of the plan. The conflict has therefore moved from his private balance of loyalty and ambition to an argument about what a man should be, and her pressure, not his own reasoning, drives it forward.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (6 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | A claim that supports the thesis from Question 4 |
| 2 | At least two accurate, embedded quotations from the extracts |
| 3 | Commentary on what the evidence shows |
| 4 | Commentary on how the words or structure work (for example, the contrast of definitions of “man”) |
| 5 | Commentary on why it matters to the claim and thesis |
| 6 | Clear sentences with accurate quotation punctuation |
Question 6 (extended written response · 3.2 and 3.7)
Compare Extract 3 with Extract 4. Explain, with commentary, how the two extracts show a change in Macbeth. Use at least two short quotations.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The two extracts show a change from a man who sets limits to a man who no longer feels them. In Act 1 he draws a line: “I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none”, so he recognises a boundary of conduct that he is reluctant to cross. By Act 5 he says that he has “almost forgot the taste of fears” and has “supp’d full with horrors”. The earlier line shows a character who is hesitating at the edge of a deed, while the later line shows a man who has been numbed by the deeds that followed. The change is internal and for the worse, and the choices he makes in between, which began when he stopped saying “no further”, explain why the play ends as it does.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the earlier state (limits, hesitation) with a quotation |
| 2 | Identifies the later state (numbness) with a quotation |
| 3 | States the kind of change (internal, for the worse) |
| 4 | Commentary explaining how the words show the change (boundary against familiarity) |
| 5 | Links the change to the choices or to the ending of the play |
How to use this review
Mark your answers against the rubrics, then list the topics where you lost marks. Use the checklists for each topic and revisit the guides. When the unit feels secure, return to the Unit 3 diagnostic or go back to the Unit 1 review and Unit 2 review to mix the three units.