DIRECTIONS: Review Lady Macbeth's soliloquy in Act I, Scene v, lines 1–30. Use textual evidence from the story to support your responses. 1. What action begins Lady Macbeth's soliloquy?

2. What information does Lady Macbeth learn in this soliloquy?

3. What hopes does Lady Macbeth reveal in this soliloquy?

4. What fears does she express?

5. What plans does she reveal at the end of the soliloquy?

6. Why might Shakespeare have decided to introduce Lady Macbeth with a soliloquy rather than a scene with another character?

Dickens exposed societal problems.

Explanation:

Born in England in 1812, Charles Dickens was one of the most popular English novelists of the Victorian era. In addition to his well-known novels, he wrote short stories, pieces and journalistic articles. In his works, he addressed many of the major social problems of Victorian England, such as violence, poverty, unemployment, and poor working conditions in factories. He died in 1870, at the age of 58, a victim of a stroke. Difficult times is his tenth work and inaugurates the second creative phase of the author, when he begins to make heavy criticism of the society in which he lived and to expose its vices.