1. Why has Shakespeare chosen to use rhyming couplets in these scenes?
Connect
Task:
Look through your copy of the play – which scenes feature rhyming couplets at the end?
Support:
Rhyming couplets - a rhyming pair of successive lines of verse, typically of the same length
Couplets are used in two important ways:
The witches use them in their conversation, which is appropriate as it reflects the nature and structure of spells and incantations
Shakespeare, frequently, has characters conclude a scene with a couplet; they often point to a central idea.
Stretch:
Why has Shakespeare chosen to use rhyming couplets in these scenes?

2. Learning Objectives & Outcomes
To explore the structure of Macbeth
SO THAT
You can examine and evaluate the different features of Macbeth.
To identify how structure is manipulated in Macbeth
To analyse how the time frame effects the structure
To evaluate how structure is used throughout Macbeth
Context:
Macbeth (1606 approx.) was Shakespeare’s shortest and bloodiest tragedy. The play reflects his close relationship with the Sovereign, James I. The setting of the play pays homage to James’ Scottish lineage. The theme of bad vs good kingship resonated at the royal court where the King was busy developing his English version of the theory of divine right.
Motifs:
Nature
Light vs Darkness
Childhood
Blood
Sleep
Visions
Themes:
Ambition
Kingship
Fate & Free Will
Appearance vs Reality

3. New Information
The play is based on historical characters. The real Macbeth ( ) reigned for 17 years (from 1040) before he was killed in battle by Malcolm (not Macduff). The time frame that Shakespeare adopts appears to be much smaller. Although Macbeth refers to ‘old age’ (5.3), the events of the play appear to happen in rapid succession and this is emphasised by the use of very short scenes in Act 5.
In the 29 scenes of the play, the action takes place in a range of locations, both indoors and outdoors. Elizabethan and Jacobean drama was performed in the late afternoon on an open stage. For this reason, playwrights had to convey the necessary details of an individual setting through words alone. For example, Shakespeare presents the exterior of Macbeth’s castle through the exchange between Duncan and Banquo, beginning ‘This castle hath a pleasant seat’ (1.6).
The structure of Macbeth is strictly chronological. Not all of the events are shown; some are described (Macbeth becoming king) or happen offstage (Duncan’s murder).
Shakespeare was inspired by two theatrical models from previous centuries when writing Macbeth:
Senecan tragedy
(1st century AD)
The morality play
(15th and 16th centuries)
Senecan Tragedy – Seneca departed from classical models of dramatic structures and was the first to introduce the five-act structure, that is used in Macbeth and which was widely adopted by Renaissance playwrights. (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action/reversal and catastrophe)
Morality Play – They present moral instruction through the experiences of an Everyman figure (Macbeth), who meets abstract characters, such as: Vice (The Witches and Lady Macbeth); Virtue (Duncan, Banquo & Lady Macduff); Pleasure; and Valour (Macduff and Malcolm). He meets these characters on his spiritual journey towards salvation or damnation. Shakespeare borrows from, but does not slavishly adopt, this convention to create a unique tragedy of the individual, Macbeth.

4. You must refer to the text to justify your decisions.
Challenge
Task:
Work out a timeline for the key events opposite using days, months and years.
You must refer to the text to justify your decisions.
Defeat of the Norwegians/rebels
Macbeth and Banquo meet the Witches
Macbeth and Banquo receive thanks from the king
Duncan’s murder
Macbeth’s investiture
Banquo’s murder
Macbeth revisits the Witches
Slaughter of the Macduff family
Macduff meets with Malcolm in England
The march on Scotland
Macbeth is Killed
Support:
Use your knowledge from the New Information to support your reasoning
Stretch:
Write a brief explanation of how Shakespeare presents the time frame in the play

5. New Information Patterns in the plot
Shakespeare uses a variety of patterns in the play, for example, Macbeth begins and ends in a battlefield. In Act 1, Macbeth is victorious in defeating the rebels and enemy force on behalf of his king; In Act 5, it is Macbeth who is killed as a traitor to Scotland, a regicide and a usurper.
In the play, two kings are killed: the gracious King Duncan and ‘the butcher’ (5.9) King Macbeth. Two wives die: the nurturing and loving mother Lady MacDuff, and the ‘fiend-like’ (5.9) and unnatural queen Lady Macbeth.
There are two meetings between Macbeth and the Witches. In the first, Macbeth and Banquo both receive prophecies, but each deals with his supernatural visitations in a different way.
Two courts are depicted: the court of Macbeth, where courtiers are fearful and murderers seem free to visit, and the court of the English King Edward the confessor, where Malcolm finds a safe haven and subjects receive blessings from their king.
Patterns in the plot
Senecan Tragedy – Seneca departed from classical models of dramatic structures and was the first to introduce the five-act structure, that is used in Macbeth and which was widely adopted by Renaissance playwrights. (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action/reversal and catastrophe)
Morality Play – They present moral instruction through the experiences of an Everyman figure (Macbeth), who meets abstract characters, such as: Vice (The Witches and Lady Macbeth); Virtue (Duncan, Banquo & Lady Macduff); Pleasure; and Valour (Macduff and Malcolm). He meets these characters on his spiritual journey towards salvation or damnation. Shakespeare borrows from, but does not slavishly adopt, this convention to create a unique tragedy of the individual, Macbeth.

6. Demonstrate
Task:
Explain how Shakespeare uses structure to create the events in the play.
Write about:
how Shakespeare uses structure in this extract
how Shakespeare uses structure in the play as a whole.
Star Vocabulary:
Patterns
Chronological
Recurring motifs
Rhyming Couplets
Irregular sentence forms
Senecan dramatic structure
Regression
Regicide
Usurper
Foreshadowing
Contrasts
Support:
Consider the use of pairs to help structure the events of the play.
Stretch:
Link to the contextual influence on the play.

7. Review & Reflect
Task:
Peer assess your work using the ABC approach as guidance – pick one and assess.
ADD an additional comment about a structural feature that they have not yet mentioned.
BUILD on a point that they have made, possibly discuss historical or social context.
CHALLENGE an interpretation that your partner has made, you must justify your challenge.