OL Sample Answer


Ordinary Level Sample Answers 2013


Answer all of the questions. 1. (a) Describe the actions, taken by Lady Macbeth, when she attempts to conceal the fact that Macbeth has murdered King Duncan.


(10)


Lady Macbeth takes a number of actions to conceal Macbeth’s terrible crime. Firstly, she drugs Duncan’s guards so that they may be framed for the murder. When Macbeth returns to her following the murder of Duncan, he is still carrying the daggers. Lady Macbeth takes the murder weapons back to Duncan’s chamber and smears the guards with blood to further place them under suspicion. Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to wash the blood from his hands, ‘A little water


clears us of this deed’ and then to put on a nightgown to make it seem as if he was in bed when the murder occurred. Following the discovery of Duncan’s body, Macbeth is questioned by Macduff as to why


he killed the chamberlains. To draw attention from Macbeth, she pretends to faint and distracts Macduff and the others. Without Lady Macbeth, it seems likely that Macbeth would have been immediately blamed for Duncan’s death.


(b) In your opinion, is Lady Macbeth a good influence on Macbeth? Support your answer with reference to the play.


(10)


Lady Macbeth is a terrible influence on Macbeth. This is made clear in the first act of the play when she encourages Macbeth to commit regicide. After meeting the witches, Macbeth is tempted to kill Duncan so that he can seize the


crown for himself. However, he has a crisis of conscience and decides not to go ahead with his murderous plan. He tells Lady Macbeth, ‘We will proceed no further in this business’. Lady Macbeth is infuriated by Macbeth’s change of heart and immediately criticises him. She questions his manhood: ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man!’ and calls him


a coward. This offends Macbeth’s pride and his sense of himself as a man. She also appeals to his sense of ambition: ‘Wouldst thou have that / Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life’ in the hope that Macbeth’s dream of being King will encourage him. In order to shock him, Lady Macbeth says she would never break a promise to him, even if that promise was to kill her own child:


‘I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this.’ Lady Macbeth’s criticisms and shocking language encourage Macbeth to go ahead with the murder. It is under her influence that he makes his final decision to kill the King. Furthermore, it is Lady Macbeth who outlines the plan to frame Duncan’s guards. She explains how she will spike their drinks allowing Macbeth to kill Duncan while they sleep. To get away with the crime, Lady Macbeth plans to smear the guards with the King’s blood ‘who shall bear the guilt / Of our great quell’. Although Macbeth is responsible for killing the King, Lady Macbeth has an important influence on his decision to commit this gruesome murder.


176


Macbeth


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