ESSAY 1

1. ESSAY 1 By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes

3. Check the AS

4. Check the explanatory notes

5. Check the exam specification

6. Analyse how… • Analyse how Macbeth changed from good to bad. • Don’t describe the change. (Level 1) • What caused the change? • What were the consequences? • For Macbeth? • For other characters? • For Scotland?

7. “Brave Macbeth” “Valiant cousin, worthy gentleman” “A peerless kinsman” “Worthy Thane” “O full of scorpions in my mind.” Murderer – D, B, LM “Usurper” “Tyrant” “Hell-hound” “Acurs’d hand” “The devil himself could not pronounce a title more hateful to mine ear.” The nature of his change.

8. What causes Macbeth to change? • Ambition. • Lady Macbeth’s influence. • Reliance on the weird sisters’ prophecies. • A reliance on superstition in general. • Visions – the dagger, Banquo’s ghost • Unwillingness to face the truth. • Linked with his reliance on the weird sisters’ prophecies. • Fear and paranoia. • Hubris.

9. An essay plan

10. Writing the introduction (1) YUK! States title and author Uses the language of the question In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, changed to become less admirable. He went from being a loyal, brave Thane to a murderous, bloodthirsty tyrant. He changed because of the witches, his wife and his ambition. I think his wife was the most important factor in making him change to become less admirable. Outlines the change in the character Shows a personal response Clearly attacks the question

11. What are THREE things you can do to improve this banal introduction? How can you make this more engaging? In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, changed to become less admirable. He went from being a loyal, brave Thane to a murderous, bloodthirsty tyrant. He changed because of the witches, his wife and his ambition. I think his wife was the most important factor in making him change to become less admirable.

12. Writing the introduction (2) • Don’t do the obvious. • Use a quotation. • “Unpack” it. • Attack the question and foreshadow your approach. • No shopping lists. • Create a bridge to your first paragraph. • Don’t use the first person or second person. • Refer to the audience • Mention the historical context if it is relevant.

13. Now write ONE paragraph • Either the introduction or one body paragraph. • Maybe focus on the influence of Lady Macbeth. • Write ONE paragraph now. • 5 minutes and 9 seconds. • Go beyond simple SEXY structure. • SEXYXYY for example. • Embed quotations into your own sentences.

14. Just scraping through… Lady Macbeth is important in causing Macbeth to change from being loyal to disloyal. She is the one who encourages Macbeth to take action to make the weird sisters’ prophecy come true.She says to him, “But screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail.”This shows that she is determined while he has doubts about killing Duncan. Did you notice the SEXY structure?

15. Remember the AS descriptors

16. “convincing” and “insight” • Lady Macbeth is evil. She refers to hell and sounds a bit like one of the witches. • Because Lady Macbeth calls on “the dunnest smokes of hell” to conceal her deeds, she alienates herself from the Globe’s audience, which would have been very superstitious as well as religious in Shakespeare’s time. Her dialogue may remind the audience of a call for devilish inspiration that seems like the incantations of the weird sisters: “Come thick night…”

17. To conclude… • Don’t write the same introduction that 1000s of other students will write. • “In the drama script Macbeth written by William Shakespeare…”YUK! YUK! YUK! • Go beyond simple SEXY paragraphs. • Integrate quotations • Give two examples • Draw more than one conclusion (Y)

18. LADY MACBETH AND THE WITCHES • By praying to the ‘murdering ministers’ and calling upon the ‘dunnest smokes of hell’ to conceal her deeds, she alienates herself from the Globe’s audience, which would have been very superstitious and religious during Shakespeare’s time. • Her dialogue was very similar to the witches. when calling ‘Come thick night..’ Lady Macbeth would have reminded the Elizabethan audience of a call for devilish inspiration that seems like the incantations of the weird sisters.

19. Personifies evil • ‘unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top full Of direst cruelty’- immediately aligns herself with the witches, the supernatural and witch craft. • "Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,/ And dash'd the brains out." – most horrific act during Elizabethan era. • During the Elizabethan era, women were not thought capable of committing murder and to kill ones own child would have been the ultimate act of tyranny. Lady Macbeth was a depraved and heartless woman, that would have shocked the Globe’s superstitious and religious audience.

20. Manipulative •  Immediately after receiving Macbeth’s letter regarding the witches, Lady Macbeth fears her husband is “too full o' the milk of human kindness.” • What does this reveal about her personality? • Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth by suggesting masculinity is synonymous with “direst cruelty”. She convinces her waffling husband that "When you durst do it, then you were a man.” • Men during the Elizabethan era were battle hardened soldiers, whose efficiency at killing is ultimately what earned them status. This is made clear at the very beginning of the play when Macbeth is made Thane of Cawdor when “with his brandish'd steel, Which smoked with bloody execution,… unseam'dhim from the nave to the chaps,  And fix'd his head upon our battlements.” It is hardly surprising that Lady Macbeths attack on his masculinity and inability to commit a murder proves to be the final nudge Macbeth needs to kill King Duncan. Historical context Reinforces argument Woven quote

21. LADY MACBETH WAS ALL TALK- COULDN’T MAN UP! • What happened to Lady Macbeth? Soon after the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth disappears into the margins and becomes a weak and feeble figure in the play. By Act V Lady Macbeth is reduced to a figure who sleepwalks, continuously tries to wash the imaginary blood from her hands and talks of murder in her sleep.  She's grown so ill that the doctor says there's nothing he can do to help her. "The disease," he says, "is beyond" his "practice," and what Lady Macbeth needs is "the divine" (a priest or, God), not a "physician" (5.1.12-13).  •  Lady Macbeth is so consumed by guilt for her evil acts that she eventually loses her mind. We can also say that her transformation (from a powerful and "unnaturally" masculine figure into an enfeebled woman) is significant insofar as it re-establishes a sense of "natural" gender order in the play. In other words, Lady Macbeth is put in her place as a woman (remember the Ptolemaic system- natural harmony will always restore itself). In other words, Lady Macbeth is put in her place as a woman – she's no longer the dominant partner in her marriage and Macbeth makes all the decisions while she sleepwalks through the palace. However we read Lady Macbeth's transformation, one thing's certain.

22. Ambition • “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,Shakes so my single state of man that functionIs smother'd in surmise, and nothing isBut what is not. (1.3.9) -After the weird sisters predict that Macbeth will be king, his thoughts turn to "murder," which the sisters have said nothingabout. Could it be that the witches' prophesy awakens within Macbeth a murderous ambition that was there all along? • MACBETH [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! That is a stepOn which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;Let not light see my black and deep desires.The eye wink at the hand; yet let that beWhich the eye fears, when it is done, to see. (1.4.4) -By the time Malcolm is proclaimed Prince of Cumberland and heir to the throne of Scotland, Macbeth is willing to push all morality aside. He knows that killing Duncan in order to become king is wrong, which is why he says it's necessary to hide his "black and deep" desires. Here, ambition is portrayed as something dark and ugly.

23. Ambition •  thou wouldst be great;Art not without ambition, but withoutThe illness should attend it: (1.5.1) After reading the letter from her husband (which recounts the witches' prophesy), Lady Macbeth's thoughts immediately turn to murder. In her mind, Macbeth must take action if he is to become king. Macbeth, she says, is certainly not without "ambition." The problem, as Lady Macbeth sees it, is that her husband is too "kind" to do what's necessary to achieve "great[ness].“ • MACBETH […] I have no spurTo prick the sides of my intent, but onlyVaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itselfAnd falls on the other. (1.7.1 As Macbeth deliberates, he realizes that "vaulting ambition" is all that compels him to the heinous act of murdering Duncan and that his intent is nothing but personal gain. This is not enough to justify the act of killing a king, which is why he resolves to not go through with it after this speech. Of course, we know that Macbeth (with some encouragement from his wife) does murder Duncan.

24. Ambition • ROSS 'Gainst nature still!Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin upThine own life's means! Then 'tis most likeThe sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth. (2.4.6) Here, Ross implies that ambition leads to the most unnatural acts as he accuses Duncan's sons of being "ambition" personified. Ambition, he suggests, is a cannibal that goes "'gainst nature" to kill its father and "raven up" or, devour the very man who gave it life.  • MACBETH[…] For mine own goodAll causes shall give way. I am in bloodStepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more,Returning were as tedious as go o'er. (3.4.24) By comparing his heinous actions to wading through a bloody river, Macbeth suggests that once a man commits a murderous act for his own gain, it's impossible to stop. Turning back would be "tedious." By this point, Macbeth is willing to anything in order to help himself and it's becomes easier for him to commit evil deeds. According to Macbeth, he's got to look out for his own best interests.

25. Belief in the supernatural • Aside] Two truths are told,As happy prologues to the swelling actOf the imperial theme.--I thank you, gentlemen.AsideCannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,Why hath it given me earnest of success,Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:If good, why do I yield to that suggestionWhose horrid image doth unfix my hairAnd make my seated heart knock at my ribs,  Upon hearing the news, Macbeth assumes the witches' prediction that he will become king will also come true and, here, he eagerly looks forward to his future (the "imperial theme").  What's so striking about this passage is not that Macbeth thinks about murder (he's a warrior and in the world of the play, murder and violence are going all around him) but, rather, that Macbeth is horrified by his own thoughts. The witches never say anything to Macbeth about murdering Duncan in order to make the prediction come true – Macbeth thinks of that all on his own.

26. Belief in the supernatural • MACBETH [Aside] If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,Without my stir. (1.3.10) Here, Macbeth seems content to leave his future to "chance.“ • MACBETH [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! that is a stepOn which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;Let not light see my black and deep desires:The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be,Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.   Macbeth seemed content to sit back and let his fate unfold. But, once he learns that King Duncan has named Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland and heir to the crown of Scotland, Macbeth decides that he must take action or, "o'erleap" what now appears to obstruct his path to the throne. 

27. Who is responsible? There have been many debates over who is ultimately responsible for the downfall of Macbeth. Many critics argue that Macbeth is the victim of Lady Macbeth’s unyielding ambition and the influence of the witches, while others believe it was Macbeth’s powerful imagination coupled with his mental fragility that resulted in his demise. Ambition is also regularly alluded to when discussing Macbeth’s fatal flaw. Task: Those of you that have finished your Macbeth common assessment tasks will be split into groups. Each group will be assigned a possible cause for Macbeth’s tragic fall from grace. In these groups you will present a brief discussion, arguing why your cause is ultimately responsible for Macbeth’s demise. Causes: • Lady Macbeth • The witches • Macbeth’s active imagination, resulting in fear and paranoia • Ambition (Macbeth and Lady Macbeth).