Macbeth

Double, double, toil and trouble;Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

(IV.1.10-11)

NAME:

MACBETH CALENDARAll dates subject to change with notice. Quizzes given as needed – Keep up with the reading!

**YOUR VOCABULARY LOG WILL BE CHECKED EACH WEEK DURING YOUR DOUBLE PERIOD!**

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday FridayFebruary 2 3 4 5 6OFF Notes on

backgroundIntro vocab. logCase study – finish for HW

HW: Read I.3 HW: Read I.4 HW: Read I.7Act I Guided Reading due MondayVocab #1-20 due in your double

9 10 11 12 13HW: Read II.1Guided Reading Check #1

HW: Read II.2 HW: Written response prompt (given in class)

HW: II.3 Soliloquy dueMC quiz on Vocab #1-20HW: Read II.4, respond to prompt given in class

16 17 18 19 20February BreakBreak Assignment: Read Act III, complete guided reading for Acts II and III

No School No School No School No School

23 24 25 26 27HW: Read IV.1Guided Reading Check #2

HW: Respond to prompt given in class

HW: Read IV.3 up to “enter a doctor”

HW: None - Study Mid-point Exam (Incl. Vocab #21-50)HW: Read V.1-2

March 2 3 4 5 6Act IV Guided Reading dueHW: Read V.4-5

HW: Act V Guided Reading

Play closure – in classHW: select essay prompt

In-class time to work on thesis and outlineHW: finish thesis and outline, record twice if necessary

Thesis and outline due

Unit Grades/Assessments:

1. Soliloquy Creative Assignment – 50 points. Prompt:

A soliloquy is a conversation with one’s self.  In plays, it is sometimes directed at the audience.  Usually lengthy, the character speaks their inner-most thoughts aloud.  It is delivered by the character while on the stage alone.

At the beginning of Act I, scene vii, Macbeth vacillates between wanting to kill King Duncan and being content with remaining the Thane of Cawdor.  His indecision ends with him deciding that he will not kill King Duncan.  It’s not a lack of ambition, but a fear of retribution that keeps him from plotting against his king.

This activity involves creating your own soliloquy. Consider a difficult situation in which you were forced to choose between two distinct paths. Like Macbeth, weigh the consequences of each action.  Show indecision, but make a decision by the end. Creativity encouraged – but keep it PG. (1-2 pages, typed, double-spaced. Be comfortable sharing in class.)

2. Reading Quizzes (may be announced or unannounced)

3. Mid-way Exam – 100 points, May include: multiple choice, short answer, vocabulary, character matching

4. Homework/Classwork/Guided Reading checks

5. Unit Essay – 100 points. Choose between the following prompts:

a. In Macbeth, some of the most significant events are mental or psychological.  In a well-organized essay, describe how Shakespeare manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense and climax usually associated with external action.  Do not merely summarize the plot.

b. One of the strongest human drives is the desire for power. Write a well-developed essay in which you identify a major character from Macbeth and explain how that character struggles to free him/herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. In your essay, demonstrate how Shakespeare uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work as a whole.

Your response must be typed, in 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced. Electronic submissions will not be accepted. Your essay is due in class on or before March 16, 2015. If you are absent on March 16, you are responsible for emailing it on March 16 and providing a hard copy the day you return. Five points will be deducted per day for lateness.

Act I Guided Reading Questions

1. In what country is the play set? With what nation is this country at war?

2. In what way do the witches set the tone for the first act?

3. What is Macbeth’s title at the start of the play?

4. How is Macbeth characterized through the words of those that know him?

5. What are the witches’ three predictions (or their three titles) for Macbeth?

1.

2.

3.

6. What do they predict for Banquo?

7. Who does the King name as heir to the throne?

8. What do the witches symbolize?

11. Lady Macbeth’s comment that her husband is “too full o’ the milk of human kindness” indicates something about Macbeth’s character, but what quality of Lady Macbeth’s does it reveal?

12. Agree/disagree with this statement: Macbeth is ambitious. Explain your choice.

13. Explain the following quote by Lady Macbeth:

Come you spiritsThat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,And fill me, from the crown to the toe, topfullOf direst cruelty!

The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act I

Identifying Character Traits

In the first act you were introduced to five key characters in the play. In the squares below, jot down a few phrases about each character. Put their names below the squares. Then draw lines between these characters and write a brief description of their relationship to each other.

The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act I

The Criminal Mind

When Shakespeare first shows us Macbeth, we see a hero, a man who would fight to the death for the king. Throughout Act I, Shakespeare gradually introduces the moral struggle developing in Macbeth’s mind. The evil side is threatening to overwhelm the good side by the end of the act. In each column below, write events, dialogue, or thoughts that reflect these changes in Macbeth in Act I.

The Good Macbeth Neutral/Ambiguous The Evil Macbeth

1. Do you think Macbeth would have changed if the witches had not appeared? Explain.

2. Do you think most people are as susceptible to temptation as Macbeth? Explain why or why not.

Act II Guided Reading Questions

1. Characterize Banquo in 2.1 Give specific evidence.

2. What does Macbeth hallucinate that he sees before committing the crime?

3. Who is the one that commits the crime? In what way is this slightly ironic?

4. Characterize Macbeth following the murder. Cite specific evidence.

5. What do you think is the main purpose of the scene with the porter (scene 3)? Keep in mind, it comes right after the murder.

6. Why do Malcolm and Donalbain flee the country once the murder of their father becomes known?

Act III Guided Reading Questions

1. Make an inference – What is Macbeth’s next move or plan? (Soliloquy, 3.1)

2. Why is Macbeth so insistent on Banquo’s death?

3. In what ways has Lady Macbeth evolved or changed from the beginning of the play? How have her attitudes or beliefs shifted?

4. Identify the literary element at work when Macbeth scolds Banquo for being absent from the banquet. Explain.

6. In Scene 4, what does the ghost of Banquo likely represent?

8. Who is Hecate? Why is she angry with the witches?

Act IV Guided Reading Questions

1. For what purpose does Macbeth return to the witches?

2. What or whom do they conjure up? Also, what are the three warnings/prophecies?

1.

2.

3.

4. How is Macbeth encouraged by the witches’ prophecies?

5. Why does Macbeth decide to kill Lady Macduff and her children? How are their murders different from those of King Duncan and Banquo?

6. When Macduff asks about the welfare of his family, Ross replies that “they were all at peace” when he last saw them. How is this partially true?

7. How has Macbeth changed as a person over the course of the play?

Act V Guided Reading

1. Describe Lady Macbeth’s late-night activities. What do the words of Lady Macbeth during her most recent “episode” reveal?

2. Why is Macbeth not worried when he receives word that the Scottish nobles, along with thousands of English troops, are marching toward the castle? Which part of the witches’ prophecy does he overlook?

3. What is the purpose of the following lines and what do they reveal?

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury Signifying nothing.

4. Identify the loophole in the witches’ prophecy. To what extent do we, the audience, find this satisfying closure?

5. What sort of moral or lesson can we gather from the play’s action?