Do-Now: • Part 1: Can ambition be dangerous in an

individual's quest for power or personal gain? Explain. What are the benefits of being ambitious? Explain.

• Part 2: Is one gender typically more ambitious than the other? Explain using some examples from everyday life/literature. (Consider what traits an ambitious person might possess. Then ask yourself if these are masculine or feminine qualities)

Lady Macbeth & Masculine Power• Tone: What is Lady Macbeth’s

tone in this quote? Predict what kind of a person she is from these lines.

• “Come, you spiritsThat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex (take away my gender) me here,And fill me from the crown to the toe topfulOf direst cruelty!”

Major Themes/ Motifs• Masculinity and violence: Lady Macbeth

wishes she were male so she could be more ruthless and tough

• Guilt and remorse: Macbeth suffers from a guilty conscience after committing murder

• Power and ambition: Ambition leads to self-destruction throughout the play

• Motifs: Blood, violence, hallucinations, sleep deprivation, prophesies

Pre-Reading: Agree or Disagree

1. Being powerful usually is the same thing as being happy.

2. Everyone is capable of murder under the right circumstances

3. If you commit a crime and don’t get caught, it doesn’t really matter because your guilt over what you have done will destroy you in the end.

Background of Macbeth• Shakespeare wrote the tragedy in 1606Shakespeare wrote the tragedy in 1606

• 1111thth Century Scottish King Macbeth was a mixture Century Scottish King Macbeth was a mixture of fact and legendof fact and legend

• Shakespeare used Raphael Holinshed’s Shakespeare used Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland of England, Scotland, and Ireland to derive his plotto derive his plot

• **Play based on the murder of the weak King **Play based on the murder of the weak King Duncan I at the hands of the power-hungry Duncan I at the hands of the power-hungry Macbeth, a rival chiefMacbeth, a rival chief

• Major Themes: Murder, Deception, Guilt, and Major Themes: Murder, Deception, Guilt, and AmbitionAmbition

Plot of Macbeth• Play is about a Scottish general, Macbeth, who

receives a prophesy from three witches • Witches tell Macbeth that he will become

Thane of Cawdor and eventually King• Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth is power-hungry

and urges husband to kill King Duncan and take the throne as King

• Macbeth experiences guilt and inner turmoil, but commits murders to get power

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Main CharactersMain Characters

• Macbeth: Brave and successful general in King Duncan’s army. He starts out as Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor, and eventually King.

• Although a brave soldier, Macbeth suffers from doubt, guilt, and a constant battle with his conscience

• Lady Macbeth: Macbeth’s heartless, power-hungry wife. Urges her husband to rise to power by killing King Duncan. She is shrewd, cunning and manipulative. EVIL

Main Characters• Duncan: King of Scotland- loyal and honorable.

He praises Macbeth’s deeds in war only to be deceived and murdered soon after.

• Banquo: Loyal friend of Macbeth. Has sons who are prophesied to become Kings of Scotland

• Malcolm & Donalbain: Sons of King Duncan and legal heirs to the throne

• Macduff: Scottish nobleman who seeks revenge on Macbeth and tries to restore order to Scotland by helping Malcolm take the throne

The Three Witches (“Weird Sisters”)

-Gave prophesies that spurred Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to plot Duncan’s murder

- Told Macbeth he would become Thane of Cawdor and King and that Banquo’s son would become King

- They represent evil and supernatural forces throughout the play

Do-Now:

• Analyze Lady Macbeth's motives to kill Duncan. Explain her and Macbeth's plan in your own words.

• If you were to kill Duncan, what plan would you devise? Bring your plot into the modern times...how would you create the perfect crime and avoid getting caught if you were Lady Macbeth?

Do-Now• Analyze Lady Macbeth's speech used to

motivate/manipulate Macbeth at the end of Act 1. How does she convince him to kill Duncan? Refer to a specific line and write down the quote.

• If you were to kill Duncan, what plan would you devise? You can bring your plot into the modern times...how would you create the perfect crime and avoid getting caught if you were Lady Macbeth?