Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

Close Reading Organizer - Act 2, scene 1

Directions: Read each summary entry and think about which themes listed in the Themes Key apply
to it, then color in those themes in the Theme Tracker. Next, write a few sentences of Analysis to
explain how the themes you chose apply to each summary section.

Themes Key
1 Ambition
2 Fate
3 Violence
4 Nature and the Unnatural
5 Manhood

Summary Theme Tracker Your Analysis

It is after midnight in Inverness.

Banquo talks with his son Fleance
and notices the stars aren't shining.
1 2 3 4 5
He prays for angels to "restrain in
me the cursed thoughts that nature
gives way to in repose" (2.1.7-8).

Macbeth enters. Banquo tells

Macbeth his sleep has been troubled
by dreams of the weird sisters.
Macbeth claims never to think about
them. But he suggests they talk 1 2 3 4 5
about the witches soon and adds
that if Banquo supports him when
the time comes, he'll reward and
honor Banquo for it.

Banquo says he'll be receptive to

what Macbeth has to say provided
he loses no honor in seeking to gain 1 2 3 4 5
more. Banquo and Fleance head off
to bed.

Alone, Macbeth sees a bloody 1 2 3 4 5

dagger floating in the air. He can't
grasp it and can't decide whether it's

1
Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

a phantom or his imagination.

"Nature seems dead" to him
(2.1.50).

Offstage, Lady Macbeth rings the

bell to signal that Duncan's
1 2 3 4 5
attendants are asleep. Macbeth
goes to murder Duncan.