Today we are going to look at POETRY OUT LOUD and Act I scenes 1 and 2 of Macbeth.

VOCABULARY (from Macbeth)


1) Mirth

2) Liege

3) Parricide

4) Verity

5) Avarice

6) Avaunt

7) Posterity

8) Homage

9) Cloistered

10) Equivocator

11) Eminence

12) Avouch

13) Thralls

14) Malevolence

Macbeth

Unit Learning goal: At the end of this Unit students will be able to analysis a motif found in Macbeth, create a thesis, and connect the motif to the meaning of the play as a whole by writing a short 2-3 page essay.

Scale/Rubric relating to learning goal:
4 – The student is able to combine more than one motif into a thesis statement, and answer it by evaluating the text and using specifics to back up his/her position.
3 – The student can choose a motif, develop it into a thesis statement, and analyze the text using specific evidence to back up their position.
2 – With some direction/help from the teacher the student can choose a motif, develop it into a thesis statement, and analyze the text using specific evidence to back up their position.
1 – Even with help from the teacher the student is unable to choose a motif, or develop it into a thesis statement, and analyze the text using specific evidence to back up their position.


OBJECTIVES:  At the end of this unit students will be able to

• List the five elements of tragedy
• List the five elements of a tragic hero
• Discuss Macbeth’s tragic flaw
• Discuss who wins in Macbeth and why?  Who is the hero?
• Define soliloquy and monologue and point to examples from Macbeth
• Outline the plot according to the six elements of plot: exposition, inciting event, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution (give at least three events for the rising and falling action)
• Identify the following characters and discuss they roles in the play (Who they are, What they do, Why the do what they do)

Macbeth Macduff The Porter
Lady Macbeth Lady Macduff The Witches
Duncan Lennox The Doctor
Malcolm Ross The Bloody Captain
Donalbain Seyton Fleance
Banquo Menteith Siward


• Discuss and give examples of the following THEMES:

--Blind Ambition
--The Corruption of Power
--Appearance vs. Reality
--Superstition and how it affects human behavior
--Good vs. Evil

• Discuss the following symbols/motifs (what people and/or  ideas the represent and connect them to a theme)

--washing of hands --blood
--planting of seeds, things growing
--the atmosphere of Macbeth’s castle
--spells or chants and supernatural beings
--weather --daggers
--spirits, scorpions, snakes and things in the mind
--birds and flying:
Eagles Crows
Sparrows Geese
Owl Wren
Martlet
Falcon
• Identify the speaker and the significant of important and famous quotes from the following characters:

Witches, Apparitions, Banquo, Duncan, Macduff, Malcolm, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, The Bloody Captain, Lady Macduff, Ross

• Know and review your study questions for each Act (you should have done these for homework).  Some of these questions will be on the test.

• Act out from memory a scene of at least sixteen lines  Macbeth Study Questions
ACT I

Scene 1:

1) The play opens with thunder and lightning as the three witches enter.  What does this tell us about the mood of the play?  What do the witches symbolize beyond just superstition?  Do you really believe that they are witches?





2) What doe the witches mean when they say, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”?  What does this tell you about what is likely to go on during the play?





3) How can a battle be “Lost and won”?  What foreshadow might this set-up?  What is the real battle in this play?





4) Graymalkin and Paddock are familiars (a cat and a toad).  What does this suggest about the action of the play?  What might they symbolize?



Scene ii

1) What does the bloody man report?




2) Why is Macdonwald a worthy rebel?





3) What similes or metaphors does the captain (the bloody man) use to describe Macbeth and Banquo?  What is significant about these descriptions?







4)  “Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, or memorize another Golgotha.”  What is the allusion?  What is significant about the statement?   What does it suggest?  Please keep in mind the religious/superstitious images/symbols already presented.







5) Who was Scotland fighting?