1. Do Now:
List all the words/ideas/feelings that you associate with this picture.

2. LO: To explore the context surrounding Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’.
William Shakespeare.
LO: To explore the context surrounding Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’.

3. James I Read the historical sources about King James.
When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth (1606), James I was King of England and Scotland.
Read the historical sources about King James.
What sort of King was James I?
What was King James I afraid of?

4. REGICIDE Keyword The punishments for this crime: Hanging Whipping
Branding
Cutting off limbs
Starvation in a public place
Stretching
Burning
Boiling alive in water or lead
Beheading
Hung, drawn and quartered

5. The monarchy is the highest position in the land
The monarchy is the highest position in the land. I only have to explain myself to God not Parliament.
What does this statement tell us about Kings in Shakespeare’s time?

6. A famous attempt at Regicide:
What do you know about this event in 1605?
A famous attempt at Regicide:
Remember, remember the 5th of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason,
Why gunpowder and treason,
Should ever be forgot!

7. List as many as you can think of (the pictures might help you).
What is a superstition?
List as many as you can think of (the pictures might help you).

8. Some Jacobean Superstitions:
Saying "God Bless You" following a sneeze - Elizabethans believed that the devil could enter your body when you opened your mouth to sneeze - the blessing warded off the Devil
It was unlucky for a black cat to cross your path ( Black is the color associated with evil magic and a cat was strongly associated with a witch's familiar
Not to walk under ladders - considered bad luck as ladders are associated with the gallows and executions
Shoes on a table - If you put shoes on a table it was very bad luck - inviting an imminent death

9. Are you superstitious?

10. What do these images tell us the Jacobeans thought witches were like?

11. What happened to witches?

12. Read the factsheet you have been given.
Write down 5 things you learn about Jacobean society and witches