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"Your hand, your tongue; look like the innocent flower..."

Macbeth - Extract 1

Use this GCSE English Literature quiz to explore a key extract from Macbeth, focusing on Lady Macbeth’s language, imagery and ambition as she plans Duncan’s murder.

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Fascinating Fact:

References to “thick” blood and blocked “passage to remorse” use bodily imagery to suggest she wants to shut off conscience and natural feeling.

In GCSE English Literature, close reading of a key extract from Macbeth helps you track Lady Macbeth’s ambition, her rejection of guilt and the disturbing imagery that shapes the play’s tragic mood.

Key Terms

Extract: A short passage taken from a longer text, used for detailed study and analysis in an exam question.
Connotation: The extra ideas and feelings suggested by a word or image, beyond its basic, literal meaning.
Motif: A repeated image, idea or symbol in a text that helps to develop themes and atmosphere.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What is the Macbeth extract in this GCSE quiz about?

This quiz focuses on an early extract where Lady Macbeth responds to Macbeth’s news about the witches and begins to plan Duncan’s murder, revealing ambition, control and disturbing imagery.

How do I analyse a Macbeth extract for GCSE English?

Pick out short quotations, comment on key words, imagery and punctuation, then link your points to characters, themes such as ambition or guilt and the audience’s response.

Which themes appear in this Macbeth extract for GCSE?

This extract highlights ambition, power, morality and the conflict between conscience and desire. Lady Macbeth’s language suggests a struggle between natural feeling and ruthless determination.

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LADY: The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever, in your sightless substances,
You wait on nature’s mischief. Come thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry, “Hold, hold”.

Enter MACBETH

Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor,
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter,
Thy letters have transported me beyond
The ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant.

MACBETH: My dearest love,
Duncan comes here tonight.

LADY: And when goes he hence?

MACBETH: Tomorrow, as he purposes.

LADY: O never
Shall sun that morrow see.
Your face, my thane, is a book, where men
May read strange matters; to beguile the time,
Look like the time, bear welcome in your eye.
Your hand, your tongue; look like the 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: Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear.
Leave all the rest to me.

William Shakespeare Macbeth (Bloomsbury, 2015)

1 .

What is the immediate context for this passage?

This is the first scene in the play

The witches have just delivered their prophecy to Macbeth

Macbeth has just usurped the throne

Lady Macbeth has just been informed of the King's imminent arrival

Lady Macbeth first hears of the witches' prophecy through Macbeth's letter, then hears from a messenger that the King will be her guest

2 .

What immediately follows this passage?

Macbeth organises the murder of Banquo

The King arrives

The murder of the King is discovered

The witches conjure apparitions

Lady Macbeth plots against the King, referring chillingly to Duncan's "fatal entrance" into her home

3 .

"I feel now / The future in the instant." Which of the following is correct?

Lady Macbeth is fearful of what the future will bring

Lady Macbeth is afraid that her husband lives in the past

Lady Macbeth usually lives in the past, but is able to live in the present after hearing her husband's good news

To Lady Macbeth, the future feels real in the present moment

Lady Macbeth feels already as if her husband has become King; this impression of the future existing in the moment makes the murder of Duncan seem inevitable and even less important than it will be in reality

4 .

Which of the following are associated with deception in this passage?

Ravens and battlements

Innocent flowers, faces

Days and nights

Letters

Lady Macbeth warns her husband not to allow his face to express his true intentions, but to use it instead to disguise them as innocent flowers might hide serpents

5 .

What does Lady Macbeth believe to be incompatible with femininity?

Fell purpose

Cruelty

Bitterness

All of the above

In this monologue, Lady Macbeth depicts femininity as leading to peace, remorse and the desire to nurture. She wishes instead to subvert her female nature in order to be cruel and determined

6 .

Which of the following lines best depicts the act of treason?

"And fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full / Of direst cruelty"

"Wherever, in your sightless substances, / You wait on nature’s mischief"

"Come thick night, / And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, / That my keen knife see not the wound it makes"

"O never / Shall sun that morrow see"

Treason must be so secretive that the knife does not witness its own act. The following line continues the same idea: "Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark / To cry, 'hold, hold'"

7 .

What does Lady Macbeth mean by saying, "O never / Shall sun that morrow see"?

She intends that Duncan will never leave their home

She knows that stormy weather is forecast for the following day

She does not intend to let Duncan stay for even one night

She implies that events are so terrible that it seems the world is coming to an end

There will be no tomorrow for the King

8 .

What is the effect of Macbeth's statement, "Tomorrow, as he purposes"?

Macbeth's statement indicates that he does not trust the King

Macbeth's statement demonstrates his loyalty to the King

Macbeth's statement introduces an element of doubt that the King will be able to do as he plans

Macbeth is merely making a factual statement

This is the first indication that Macbeth and his wife share the intention to murder the King and grasp the throne

9 .

How do the couple describe the planned murder of Duncan?

As an "innocent flower"

As the "night's great business"

As the "ignorant present"

As the "smoke of hell"

This phrase is a euphemism, language which disguises its force by appearing on the surface to be neutral. This style of speaking is another example of false appearances in the play

10 .

Which of the following does NOT describe the atmosphere of this scene?

Dark

Sinister

Tranquil

Grim

The scene is tense. Although Lady Macbeth advises her husband to hide his feelings and assures him that she can be entrusted with the plan, the scene is anything but tranquil (calm)

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Macbeth

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)