1. Turn In Homework Packets!
Author Study Questions
Canto 1 & 3 Questions
Canto 5 & 34 Questions
Hero’s Journey Tracking Sheet

2. Macbeth Vocab Part I
Tragedy: a play dealing with tragic events that has an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of a main character.
Tragic Hero: A hero who is brought to their demise by a flaw in their character.
Tragic Flaw: A fatal flaw leading to the downfall of the tragic hero or heroine.
Elizabethan: A person, especially a writer, of the time of Queen Elizabeth I
Motif: any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story
Aside: A short speech directed only to the audience or to specified characters.
Soliloquy: A character’s thoughts out loud; a long speech in which only the audience can hear.
Dramatic irony: Occurs when the audience knows more than the characters do.
Usurp: to seize power or position wrongfully or by force.

3. Macbeth Vocab Part II! heinous: very wicked
Regicide: the killing of a king
Malevolent: wishing to harm others
Surreal: bizarre or dreamlike
Prophecy: a prediction for the outcome of the future.
Superstition: a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge, in or of the ominous significance of a particular thing
Ambition: a strong desire to achieve something

4. Macbeth Rap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyytzE13iV4
In your journals, as you watch, write down what you think this play is going to be about.

5. Anticipation Guide Complete the anticipation guide for Macbeth.
You must write whether you agree or disagree with each statement, followed by your reasoning.
We will discuss these when you are done.

6. The Curse of Macbeth Macbeth is a very deadly play…

7. The Many Meanings of Macbeth
6/4/2018
The Many Meanings of Macbeth
A historical thriller
a fast-moving, action-packed murder mystery demonstrating that crime doesn’t pay
A psychological study of a murderer’s mind
A play of political and social realism
how oppressive and hierarchical society can corrupt individuals
A play of illusions
the effect of the mysterious or supernatural on humans
A play of ideas or themes
for example, “appearance versus reality”
A tragedy
the fall of a great person brought about by a fatal flaw in their character
Everyone brings something unique to their reading of a play or a novel . . .
How people interpret something is largely due to their own prior experiences . . .
These are just a few of the interpretations of Macbeth that people have dreamed up over the years. More than anything else, I want to impress you with the fact that Macbeth is a really gutsy, interesting play.

8. Historical Context of Macbeth
6/4/2018
Historical Context of Macbeth
Shakespeare was a playwright, not a historian. However, he knew that history provided great material for plays: war, conflict, ambition, the downfall of great rulers.
Eleventh-Century Scotland was a violent and troubled country.
Feuding families and clans fought to control trade and territory.
The castle was the power base of each rival war-lord (thane).
Political murder and revenge killings were commonplace.
BEFORE INSERTING THE BULLETS . . .
Can anyone tell me when the action of the play takes place? Where the action takes place?
**Lay out the main characters and the basic plot line without giving too much away**
Bring in the bullets

9. A Macbeth for King James?
6/4/2018
A Macbeth for King James?
King James’ interest in witchcraft was well known
King James visited Oxford in 1605 and was greeted by three witches who hailed him as the descendent of Banquo interesting.
There are the weird sisters . . .
The weird sisters - the witches - open the play, Macbeth. They're a pretty gruesome threesome, and when we view one of the film versions of the play, you'll see just how awful one director thought they should look (Kenneth Branagh version)
Alexandre-Marie Colin, The Three Witches from Macbeth

10. Witches & Witchcraft A witch-mania characterized the Elizabethan era.
6/4/2018
Witches & Witchcraft
A witch-mania characterized the Elizabethan era.
Most people believed in witches and circulating pamphlets containing tales of witches and witchcraft were the equivalent of today’s popular newspapers.
Remember that a person is very much a product of their times.
Elizabethan and Renaissance audiences were morbidly fascinated with witches and witchcraft. Persecution of people for the "crime" of witchcraft reached terrifying proportions - between 1560 and 1603, hundreds of people (nearly all of them women) were convicted as witches and executed.
The most popular method of execution?
King James was as fascinated by witchcraft as were his subjects. There is a story that in 1590, a group of witches tried to kill James (before he was king). Their plot was discovered, and they were brought to trial. One of the "witches", Agnes Sampson, claimed that she had collected toad venom to poison the king, christened a cat, tied parts of a dead man's body to it (we don't know which parts), sailed out to sea in a "sieve" and had thrown cat and body-bits overboard in order to raise a storm that would sink James' ship. A bit elaborate . . .
King James personally interrogated one of the three accused witches, "Doctor Fian" - a male. The doctor was tortured during the interrogation: "his nails upon all his fingers were riven and pulled off his legs were crushed and beaten together as small as might be, and the bones and flesh so bruised that the blood and marrow spouted forth in great abundance". Yuck.
So. . . all fired up by his witchy experience, King James personally investigated other cases, and in 1597 he wrote and published "Demonology", a book on witchcraft. When he became king of England in 1603, he ordered its immediate printing in London.
Henry Fuseli, The Three Witches

11. Witches and Witchcraft
6/4/2018
Witches and Witchcraft
Witches were said to have “diabolical” powers. They could:
predict the future
bring on night in the daytime
cause fogs and tempests
kill animals
curse enemies with fatal, wasting diseases
cause nightmares and sterility
take demonic possession of any individual
raise evil spirits by concocting a brew
It was believed that witches allowed the devil to suck their blood. Accused witches were examined for the “Devil’s Mark” - a red mark on their body from which the devil had sucked blood.
So here's some of the stuff Elizabethans and Renaissance people thought about witches . . .

12. Witches and Witchcraft - Misogyny?
6/4/2018
Between 1560 and 1603, hundreds of people, nearly all of them women, were convicted as witches and executed
In 1604 an official Act of Parliament decreed that anyone found guilty of practicing witchcraft should be executed
Those who confessed to being witches did so under torture or because they were in the grip of delusions recognized today as psychiatric disorders.
You would think that these "witches" would be pretty powerful people . . .
. . . but it was mostly single, old women who kept cats that were in danger of being accused of witchcraft. Remember, in 1604 an Act of Parliament decreed that if you were convicted, you were to be executed - and with the methods of "information extraction" used by the interrogators, people were likely to "spill their guts" (literally - know where that term comes from?)..
CHECK - does the group want to get into women's rights in the Seventeenth Century?
. . . here's another idea for your project: maybe you could examine Shakespeare's portrayal of women in Macbeth - very interesting topic . . .

13. Themes & Big Ideas
Appearance vs. reality (Fair and foul) –Throughout the play, fair appearances hide foul realities. Things are not always what they seem.
Nature vs. the unnatural – In Macbeth the word “nature” usually refers to human nature.The whole play is about Macbeth’s unnaturalness.
The negative effects of guilt- Macbeth is driven mad by his evil deeds and cannot sleep due to guilt…contributing to his paranoia and ultimate demise.

14. Motifs Cont Blood Hands Sight, Light, Darkness, and Blindness Manhood
Babies and children
Sleep
Birds
Heaven and Hell
Crown/Kingship

15. Tragic Hero The tragic hero is a man of noble stature.
“high position” usually means a king, duke, prince, company owner, etc.
He is not an ordinary man, but a man with outstanding quality and greatness about him.
He is good—but not “too good”—so the audience can identify with him.

16. Tragic Hero
His own destruction is for a greater cause or principle—i.e. it proves a point.
It should be noted that the hero's downfall is his own fault as a result of his own free choice, but his misfortune is not wholly deserved.
Usually his death is seen as a waste of human potential.

17. Characteristics of a Tragic Hero
According to Aristotle:
Usually of noble birth
Hamartia – a.k.a. the tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall; often this leads to a mistake in judgment.
Peripeteia – a reversal of fortune brought about by the hero’s tragic flaw; this is often also influenced by “fate” or the gods.
His actions result in an increase of self- awareness and self-knowledge…though he may not choose to act on this!
The audience must feel pity and fear for this character.

18. The “tragic flaw”
The “flaw” in the character is a defect which keeps him/her from being aware of the situation around him/her. The character does not understand (for much of the story) his/her part of creating the situation.
Ex: Pride (“Hubris”)
Skywalker thinks he is
so good, he can take on an
experienced Jedi all by himself.

19. Examples of Flaws Greed Obsession with one thing Fear of failure
Mistrust
Uncertainty
Lack of patience
Easily influenced
Hesitation
Selfishness
Ambition