Unit Notes

macbeth One of Shakespeare’s “Great Tragedies” Written around 1605/1606 Tragedy shows the rise and fall of a tragic hero, a successful person who has a tragic flaw

Shakespeare’s tragedies are broken up into 5 acts. Each act is broken into scenes. Acts I & II = rise of the tragic hero Act III = the turning point Acts IV & V = fall of the tragic hero

SHAKESPEARE’S WORDS Dialogue often includes setting and stage directions The majority of the dialogue is written in poetic form Iambic Pentameter – five sets of stressed and unstressed syllables (ten syllables per line) Rhymed Couplets – two lines of the same length that rhyme and complete a single thought

Soliloquy – a speech delivered by a character alone on stage; meant to reveal the character’s thoughts to the audience Aside – speech intended for the audience where the character is not alone on stage

Poetic/Figurative language – Metaphor and simile – Alliteration and assonance – Allusion – Personification – Paradox To maintain poetic form, Shakespeare’s language also includes inverted sentences (anastrophe), and ellipses

Major Themes in Macbeth Ambition, Greed, and Corruption – Lusting for power and decisions based on greed can ruin a person’s sense of right and wrong

Major Themes (Cont.) Ambiguity of Evil – Sometimes, your worst enemy pretends to be your best friend. – Difficulty in distinguishing between what’s good for us and what’s dangerous.

Major Themes (Cont.) Disruption (or reversal) of Nature – The normal order of nature is turned upside down. Humans, animals, and natural elements operate in strange, unnatural ways.

Major Themes (Cont.) Guilt and Judgment – Having a guilty conscience and worrying about one’s judgment (on Earth or in the afterlife)

Major Themes (Cont.) Masculinity vs. Femininity – Which personality traits define a man, and which ones define a woman? What happens when these lines are blurred?

King James background info. How/Why was this play tailor made for King James? Originally King of Scotland before succeeding Queen Elizabeth in England LOVED Shakespeare (renamed “Lord Chamberlain’s Men” to become “The King’s Men”) Based on the history of the Stuart family tree (King James was a Stuart descendant) Obsessed with witchcraft; wrote Daemonlogie Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays which James preferred

Witches – the “weird” sisters “Weird” comes from the Scottish “wyrd” which means fate or destiny Similar to the Ancient Greek belief of fate (three sisters) King James believed that treason was the result of witchcraft

How to read Shakespeare 1.Short pause at commas, long pause at periods, colons, semicolons, dash, or question mark 2.Read sentence by sentence, not line by line 3.Expect inverted sentences and skipped words (ellipses) 4.Understand soliloquies and asides 5.Try to appreciate the use of poetic or figurative language (metaphor, simile, paradox, personification, alliteration, assonance, etc.)

Types of characters… Tragic Hero – main character who will rise to and fall from power (due to a tragic flaw) – Macbeth Foil – a character whose personality contrasts strongly with another character – Banquo and Macbeth Comedic Relief – meant to make the audience laugh to break up the tension in a tragedy – Drunken Porter