2. Do-Now:
Part 1: Can ambition be dangerous in an individual's quest for power or personal gain? Explain. What are the benefits of being ambitious? Explain.
Part 2: Is one gender typically more ambitious than the other? Explain using some examples from everyday life/literature. (Consider what traits an ambitious person might possess. Then ask yourself if these are masculine or feminine qualities)

3. Lady Macbeth & Masculine Power
Tone: What is Lady Macbeth’s tone in this quote? Predict what kind of a person she is from these lines.
“Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex (take away my gender) me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe topful Of direst cruelty!”

4. Major Themes/ Motifs
Masculinity and violence: Lady Macbeth wishes she were male so she could be more ruthless and tough
Guilt and remorse: Macbeth suffers from a guilty conscience after committing murder
Power and ambition: Ambition leads to self-destruction throughout the play
Motifs: Blood, violence, hallucinations, sleep deprivation, prophesies

5. Pre-Reading: Agree or Disagree
Being powerful usually is the same thing as being happy.
Everyone is capable of murder under the right circumstances
If you commit a crime and don’t get caught, it doesn’t really matter because your guilt over what you have done will destroy you in the end.

6. Background of Macbeth Shakespeare wrote the tragedy in 1606
11th Century Scottish King Macbeth was a mixture of fact and legend
Shakespeare used Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland to derive his plot
**Play based on the murder of the weak King Duncan I at the hands of the power-hungry Macbeth, a rival chief
Major Themes: Murder, Deception, Guilt, and Ambition

7. Plot of Macbeth
Play is about a Scottish general, Macbeth, who receives a prophesy from three witches
Witches tell Macbeth that he will become Thane of Cawdor and eventually King
Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth is power-hungry and urges husband to kill King Duncan and take the throne as King
Macbeth experiences guilt and inner turmoil, but commits murders to get power

8. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

9. Main Characters
Macbeth: Brave and successful general in King Duncan’s army. He starts out as Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor, and eventually King.
Although a brave soldier, Macbeth suffers from doubt, guilt, and a constant battle with his conscience
Lady Macbeth: Macbeth’s heartless, power-hungry wife. Urges her husband to rise to power by killing King Duncan. She is shrewd, cunning and manipulative. EVIL

10. Main Characters
Duncan: King of Scotland- loyal and honorable. He praises Macbeth’s deeds in war only to be deceived and murdered soon after.
Banquo: Loyal friend of Macbeth. Has sons who are prophesied to become Kings of Scotland
Malcolm & Donalbain: Sons of King Duncan and legal heirs to the throne
Macduff: Scottish nobleman who seeks revenge on Macbeth and tries to restore order to Scotland by helping Malcolm take the throne

11. The Three Witches (“Weird Sisters”)
Gave prophesies that spurred Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to plot Duncan’s murder
Told Macbeth he would become Thane of Cawdor and King and that Banquo’s son would become King
They represent evil and supernatural forces throughout the play

12. Do-Now:
Analyze Lady Macbeth's motives to kill Duncan. Explain her and Macbeth's plan in your own words.
If you were to kill Duncan, what plan would you devise? Bring your plot into the modern times...how would you create the perfect crime and avoid getting caught if you were Lady Macbeth?

13. Do-Now
Analyze Lady Macbeth's speech used to motivate/manipulate Macbeth at the end of Act 1. How does she convince him to kill Duncan? Refer to a specific line and write down the quote.
If you were to kill Duncan, what plan would you devise? You can bring your plot into the modern times...how would you create the perfect crime and avoid getting caught if you were Lady Macbeth?