SHAKESPEARE ON TOUR S HANDBOOK GUIDE Macbeth · 4 Macbeth Curriculum Guide PREFACE (CONT.) Rebecca J. Ennals has been on the staff of San Francisco Shakespeare Festival since 2002

SHAKESPEARE ON TOUR

TEACHER’S HANDBOOK AND CURRICULUM GUIDE

Macbeth

BY

REBECCA J. ENNALS

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

AND

REBECCA GOODHEART

Edited by Will Shattuc, Resident Artist

and Phil Lowery, Education Director

SAN FRANCISCO SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL P.O. Box 460937, San Francisco, CA 94146

415-558-0888 • www.sfshakes.org

Copyright 2011, 2019 San Francisco Shakespeare Festival

Do not reproduce or distribute without permission.

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Macbeth Curriculum Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface .............................................................................. 3

How to Use this Study Guide ............................................ 5

Index by Lesson/Topic ....................................................... 6

List of Handouts & Supplemental Materials ..................... 8

Suggested Lesson Progressions by Age ......................... 9

Lesson Plans .................................................................... 11

Supplemental Materials ................................................... 72

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PREFACE

I am extremely grateful to Rebecca Goodheart, our former Director of Training, whose

contributions to this curriculum and the entire education department are inestimable. I am also

grateful to our Resident Artist Company, whose ideas and contributions have affected every

aspect of our work at SF Shakes, and particularly to Will Shattuc, who undertook the unenviable

task of reindexing this curriculum to the latest California Common Core Standards.

You’ll find a list of California Common Core standards covered at the beginning of every lesson.

Standards for English Language Arts and Performing Arts (Theatre) are included, but these lists

are not exhaustive. Of course, no three-week curriculum can cover all the standards, but

reading and listening to Shakespeare is one of the best ways I can think of to cover a large

number of them!

We intend Macbeth to work best for children in 5th grade and up, but we’ve found that younger

children do attend our performances and enjoy them. We therefore include age-specific lessons

in this curriculum. Because few of you have time to do a full three-week Shakespeare course,

you can focus simply on the activities intended for your grade. We also include several lessons

that can work well with many different age groups. These lesson plans are tried and tested in

our summer Shakespeare Camp program as well as in our Playshops and Tailor Made

Shakespeare residencies.

A note about “grade-level appropriate text”: We at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival have

been using Shakespeare’s actual text with grades 2 and up for twenty seven years in our

summer camp and after-school programs. The key is not to expect students to read the whole

play, but to give them short passages to read. The rest they will understand when they see it

performed. Just as young children learn foreign languages more adeptly than adults, I find that

early exposure to Shakespeare leads to extraordinary levels of comprehension. I generally

advise against “translations” of the text, which help contribute to the incorrect assumption that

Shakespeare did not write in modern English. Working with the text in small, manageable

chunks in a performance-based way allows ownership and engagement in a way that reading a

“translation” simply does not.

I recommend using a complete annotated text (e.g. the Riverside, Arden or Oxford edition).

Teachers using this curriculum will want to have access to a white board and a good dictionary

for any words not defined in the annotated text. Shakespeare’s Words, by David Crystal, is an

excellent resource. I suggest writing the Words of the Day on the board at the start of every

class, so you can refer back to them as you go along.

Your feedback is always helpful to me, and I enjoy hearing from you. Have fun!

Rebecca J Ennals, Artistic Director

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PREFACE (CONT.)

Rebecca J. Ennals has been on the staff of San Francisco Shakespeare Festival since 2002

and Artistic Director since 2012. She holds a BA in English and Theatre from Scripps College

and an MFA in performance from U.C. Davis. She has taught and written curriculum at the

elementary through college levels, has piloted several at-risk youth programs, and has served

as the Chair of the Education and Training Committee of the Shakespeare Theatre Association.

As a director and teaching artist, Ms. Ennals has worked locally with Marin Theatre Company,

PlayGround, Napa Valley Shakespeare Festival, Pear Theatre, Napa Valley Repertory Theatre,

Peninsula Youth Theatre, Los Altos Youth Theatre and Shakespeare At Stinson. She has

directed eight productions for the Festival's Shakespeare On Tour in-school touring program, six

productions for the Civic Arts Stage Company program in Pleasanton, and five productions for

Free Shakespeare in the Park. She wrote several of the Festival’s Green Shows and conceived

and executed the 2012 pop-up Shakespeare project "30 Days of Free Shakespeare in the

Parklet" and the 2017 project “35 Famous Speeches in 35 Famous Places.”

She is also an award-winning playwright and poet -- her play “Sonnets for W.H.,” based on

Shakespeare’s sonnets, was a finalist for the Samuel Goldwyn Award and Midwestern

Playwrights’ Award. A self-described “theatre geek” in high school, Ennals believes that arts

education can inspire children and teens to achieve at every level.

San Francisco Shakespeare Festival is one of the Bay Area’s leading providers of arts

education for youth. Its flagship program, Free Shakespeare in the Park, travels to five Bay

Area communities every summer, bringing Shakespeare’s plays to approximately 20,000

people, many of whom are seeing them for the first time. Hundreds of children and teens attend

Bay Area Shakespeare Camps every summer in locations from San Jose to San Francisco,

Peninsula communities to Pleasanton. Midnight Shakespeare, the Festival’s program for at-

risk youth, works with children and teens in low-income areas of San Jose, Oakland, and San

Francisco. This year, we’ve introduced Shakespeare’s Heartbeat, which uses theatre games

based on Shakespeare’s words, characters and iambic rhythm to engage students on the

autism spectrum, to help them to develop social skills. Tailor Made Shakespeare connects

educators and teaching artists for custom-tailored residencies in schools, community centers,

and homeschool programs. Finally, Shakespeare on Tour brings its acclaimed productions to

classrooms all over the state, performing in front of 120,000 children every school year. For

more information about San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and its programs, please visit

www.sfshakes.org.

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HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

We understand the demands placed on the classroom today. With system wide testing,

lowered instruction time, and raised expectations/monitoring, among other factors, it is important

to maximize instructional efficiency. Therefore, we have designed this study guide to serve the

formidable classroom challenges that you face. As a whole, thematically cherry-picked, or as a

supplemental resource, we hope that the lessons, activities, and classroom materials included

here and in our new online expansion packet will help you maximize you and your students’

time and learning.

Preparation for the Performance Only

Choose the one day option (Lesson 1), or pull targeted activities to design your own

performance preparation and/or post performance experience.

Targeted Activities

The guide is set up with 16 one-hour lessons, each with related activities. These activities are

listed in the table of contents by lesson, topic, and grade level. Most exercises last between 10

and 35 minutes and can be used to fulfill many specific Content Standards. In addition, the age

range, topic, play portion, and California Common Core content standard is listed at the top of

each lesson.

Five to Ten Day Shakespeare Unit

The lessons in the curriculum guide are designed to work together to form a five to ten day

Language & Theatre Arts unit that uses a close reading and theatrical exploration of the play,

Macbeth, to teach key components required by the California Common Core Content Standards

in both English Language Arts and VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts) Theater instruction. Use

the Suggested Lesson Progressions by Age to find the best progression of lessons for your

students.

Handouts & Supplemental Materials

There is also a host of handouts, worksheets, and Overhead/Data projection templates for use

in your classroom, designed to go with a specific lesson or to pick out and use as you see fit.

How Can We Help You More?

We want your feedback. Is there a way to organize this guide that would better suit your

needs? Is there something missing? Too much of something else? Let us know! Email us at

[email protected] with your feedback and suggestions.

mailto:[email protected]

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INDEX BY LESSON/TOPIC Page#

Lesson 1- Introduction to Synopsis & Genre All ages ..................... 11

Activity 1: Synopsis Game (45 minutes) Activity 2: Introduction to Genre: (10 minutes)

Lesson 2 – Exploring Shakespeare’s World All ages ..................... 16

Activity 1: Intro to Shakespeare and the Renaissance (25 minutes)

Lesson 3 – Exploring the Plot Grades 6-12 ..................... 19

Activity: Macbeth in ‘5’ (55 minutes)

Lesson 4 – Building the World of the Play Grades K-8 ..................... 21

Activity1: Building The World of the Play (45 minutes)

Activity 2: Word Soup (10 minutes)

Lesson 5 – Exploring Witches through Performance Grades K-5 ..................... 23

Activity 1: Learning Stage Directions: Director’s Coming! (15 minutes) Activity 2: Imaginary Clay (15 minutes) Activity 3: Text Analysis through Performance (20 minutes) OPTIONAL OR ADDITIONAL EXERCISE: Making Cauldron Ingredients

Lesson 6: Isolating Plot Structure in Macbeth Grades 3-5 ..................... 29

Activity 1: Identifying the Components of a Plot (25 minutes) Activity 2: Shakespeare’s Words: Here to There (20 minutes)

Lesson 7: Discovering Iambic Pentameter Grades 3-8 ..................... 34

Activity 1: Rhythm Walk – Physicalizing Poetic Meter (15 minutes) Activity 2: Scanning iambic pentameter verse (35 minutes)

Lesson 8 – Embodying Shakespeare’s Language Grades 5-12 ..................... 39

Activity 1: Review of Stage directions (5 minutes) Activity 2: Shakespeare Language in Space: Tableaux (10 minutes) Activity 3: Shakespeare Language in Space : ABC Statues: (10-15 minutes) Activity 4: Analysis Through Performance (15-20 minutes)

Lesson 9 – Who’s Who in Macbeth Grades 6-8 ..................... 44

Activity 1: Contextual Clues of Characters (15 minutes) Activity 2: Renaissance Philosophy of Humors (15 minutes)

Lesson 10 – Intro to Shakespeare’s Figurative Language Grades 6-12 ..................... 47

Activity 1: Introduction to Figurative Language (40 minutes) Activity 2: Using Language: Insult War (15 minutes)

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INDEX BY LESSON/TOPIC

(CONTINUED)

Lesson 11 – Acting Shakespeare! Grades 4-12 ..................... 53

Activity 1: Intro to Objectives: Walking to Alaska! (15 minutes) Activity 2: Identifying Actor/Character Objectives (10 minutes) Activity 3: Identifying Tactics (15 minutes) Activity 4: Using Objective/Tactics in Performance (15 minutes)

Lesson 12- Exploring Meter & Tone Grades 9-12 ..................... 57

Activity 1: Exploring Shared Lines in Iambic Pentameter (40 minutes)

Lesson 13- Exploring Status Grades 9-12 ..................... 59

Activity: Status in History and Onstage (40 minutes)

Lesson 14 – Exploring Soliloquies Grades 9-12 ..................... 62

Activity 1: Soliloquies on Stage - Banquo (10 minutes) Activity 2: Soliloquies on Stage - Macbeth (15 minutes) Activity 3: Soliloquies on Stage – The Porter (10 minutes) Activity 4: Using Language to make Acting Choices (20 minutes)

Lesson 15 – Shakespeare’s Theater Then and Now Grades 9-12 ..................... 67

Activity 1: Special effects in Shakespeare’s time (15 minutes) Activity 2: A scene with special effects (20 minutes) Activity 3: Jobs in the modern theatre (15 minutes)

Lesson 16 – Critiquing the Performance All ages ..................... 70

Activity 1: Get ready to watch the play! (15 minutes) Activity 2: Watching the Play! - (60 minutes)

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Supplemental Materials

(Also Available to Download Online)

General Creating This Production .................................................................................... 73

General Suggested Reading List ..................................................................................... 74

General Websites & Online Resources............................................................................ 75

Lesson 1 Synopsis Game Character Cards ...................................................................... 77

Lesson 1 Plot Synopsis ..................................................................................................... 93

Lesson 2 Handout: Shakespeare’s Life ............................................................................ 95

Lesson 2 Handout: Shakespeare’s Theater ....................................................................... 96

Lesson 2 Worksheet: What Do You Know About Shakespeare, A Group Quiz.................. 97

Lesson 2 Worksheet: What Do You Know About Shakespeare – Teacher Key ................. 98

Lesson 3 Macbeth in “5” .................................................................................................... 99

Lesson 4 Building the World of the Play – Quote Strips ................................................... 100

Lesson 5 Classroom Script: Act 4, scene 1 .................................................................... 102

Lesson 7 Handout: Shakespeare’s Language ................................................................ 103

Lesson 7 Overhead Projection: Iambic Pentameter ......................................................... 104

Lesson 7 Worksheet: Iambic Pentameter ....................................................................... 105

Lesson 7 Worksheet: Iambic Pentameter – TEACHER KEY .......................................... 106

Lesson 8 Cliché Statue Strips ......................................................................................... 107

Lesson 8 Macbeth Statue Strips ...................................................................................... 108

Lesson 9 Classroom Script: Act 1, scene 3 ..................................................................... 111

Lesson 9 Worksheet: Character Traits 1 ......................................................................... 113


Lesson 9 Worksheet: Character Traits 2-TEACHER KEY ............................................... 115

Lesson 10 Worksheet: Rhetorical Devices ........................................................................ 116

Lesson 10 Insult Cards ...................................................................................................... 117

Lesson 11 Worksheet: Objectives/Tactics ......................................................................... 118

Lesson 11 Worksheet: Objectives/Tactics – TEACHER KEY ............................................ 119




Lesson 12 Classroom Script Act 2, scene 2 ...................................................................... 124


Lesson 14 Classroom Script Act 3, scene 1 (Banquo) ....................................................... 128

Lesson 14 Classroom Script Act 3, scene 1 (Macbeth) ..................................................... 129

Lesson 14 Classroom Script Act 2, scene 3 (Porter) ......................................................... 130

Lesson 15 Classroom Script Act Four, scene 1, 48-124 .................................................... 131

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SUGGESTED LESSON PROGRESSIONS BY AGE/TOPIC

Grades K-2

Introduction to Plot & Characters

Lesson 1 - Synopsis Game ..................................................................................................... 11

Exploring the World of the Play

Lesson 2 - Intro to Shakespeare & the Renaissance .............................................................. 16

Exploring Shakespeare’s Language

Lesson 4 - Building the World of the Play ............................................................................... 21

Bringing Shakespeare’s Words to Life

Lesson 5- Exploring Witches through Performance ................................................................ 23

Preparing to See the Play Today

Lesson 16 - Preparing to see the play see the play today/Drama Critique ......................... 70

Grades 3-5

Introduction to Plot & Characters



Lesson 2 - Intro to Shakespeare & the Renaissance .............................................................. 16

Lesson 4 - Building the World of the Play ............................................................................... 21


Lesson 6 – Isolating Plot Structure in Macbeth/Here to There ................................................ 29

Lesson 7 – Discovering Iambic Pentameter ............................................................................ 34


Lesson 5- Exploring Witches through Performance ................................................................ 23

Lesson 11 – Acting Shakespeare! ........................................................................................... 53


Lesson 16 - Preparing to see the play see the play today/Drama Critique ......................... 70

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SUGGESTED LESSON PROGRESSIONS BY AGE/TOPIC (CONT.)

Grades 6-8

Lesson 1: Introduction to the Plot & Characters

Lesson 1 - Synopsis Game ............................................................................................... 11

Lesson 3 – Exploring the Plot w/ Macbeth in ‘5’ ............................................................... 19


Lesson 2 - Intro to Shakespeare & the Renaissance ....................................................... 16

Lesson 4 - Building the World of the Play ......................................................................... 21

Lesson 9 – Who’s Who in Macbeth .................................................................................. 44


Lesson 7 – Discovering Iambic Pentameter ..................................................................... 34

Lesson 10 – Intro to Shakespeare’s Figurative Language ............................................... 47


Lesson 8 – Embodying Shakespeare’s Language in Space ............................................ 39

Lesson 11 – Acting Shakespeare! .................................................................................... 53


Lesson 16 - Preparing to see the play see the play today/Drama Critique ...................... 70

Grades 9-12

Introduction to the Plot & Characters


Lesson 3 – Exploring the Plot w/ Macbeth in ‘5’ ...................................................................... 19


Lesson 7 – Discovering Iambic Pentameter ............................................................................ 34

Lesson 10 – Intro to Shakespeare’s Figurative Language ...................................................... 47

Lesson 12 – Exploring Meter & Tone ...................................................................................... 57

Lesson 14 – Exploring Soliloquies........................................................................................... 62


Lesson 8 – Embodying Shakespeare’s Language in Space ................................................... 39

Lesson 11 – Acting Shakespeare! ........................................................................................... 53


Lesson 2 – Intro to Shakespeare & the Renaissance ............................................................. 16

Lesson 13 – Exploring Status .................................................................................................. 59

Lesson 15 – Shakespeare’s Theater Then & Now .................................................................. 67


Lesson 16 - Preparing to see the play see the play today/Drama Critique ............................. 70

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Lesson 1- Introduction to Synopsis & Genre

ALL AGES

TOPIC:

SYNOPSIS GAME: LEARNING THE PLOT OF MACBETH DISCUSSION: GENRE

Goal : To introduce the plot and characters in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. To introduce the idea of genre.

Words of the Day:

synopsis character gesture genre comedy

romance tragedy history hubris

English Language Arts Content Standards:

Grade K: RL 3 (Identify characters in a story); SL 2 (confirm oral information) Grade 1: RL 3 (Identify characters in a story); SL 2 (confirm oral information) Grade 2: RL3 (Describe how characters respond to challenges) Grade 5: RL 5 (Describe how scenes fit together to provide structure for a story) RL 9 (Genre and theme or topic) Grade 6: RL 3 (Describe how a story unfolds); RL 9 (Forms & genres, and their approaches to themes & topics) Grad 7: RL 9 (Fictional portrayal of time, place or character, and relation to history Grades 11-12: RL 5 (Analyze how the structure of specific parts of a text contributes to its overall structure)

Visual and Performing Arts Theatre Standards: Grade 1: Th.Cr1b, Cr2b, Pr4b Grade 2: Th.Cr1b, Pr4a

Activity 1: Synopsis Game (45 minutes) Materials (Found in Supplemental Materials Section & Online)

Synopsis: Character cards Synopsis Step One: Assigning roles (10-15 minutes)

TEACHER introduces the lesson by explaining that the class will soon have the opportunity to see a play, which is coming to the school.

TEACHER then reads the following famous phrases from the play:

● Double, double, toil and trouble Fire burn and cauldron bubble

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● Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?

● Sleep no more

● What’s done, is done. Blood will have blood.

● Out damned spot, out, I say.

● Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day…

● Out, out brief candle, Life’s but a walking shadow…

TEACHER asks: Have you heard any of these phrases before? Did you know they came from the play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare? Have you heard of Macbeth before? (If you have time, this is also a good moment to do a quick discussion of who Shakespeare was, using the Day One lesson.)

TEACHER continues: Because Shakespeare wrote in early Modern English, which is more ornate and uses some different words than the modern English we use now, it’s often helpful to review the plot of the play in advance, using a summary called a synopsis. I’m going to read the story of the play out loud, and when you hear the name of your character, you’ll make an action and a sound

TEACHER asks volunteers to hold the cards for the following characters: (Cards available for printing in Supplemental Materials and Online) Macbeth: The Thane of Glamis, an ambitious Scottish warrior

Lady Macbeth: His wife, intelligent, ambitious, and without scruples

King Duncan: The popular King of Scotland

Malcolm: The King’s oldest son, young and inexperienced

Banquo: Another Thane, a loyal friend of Macbeth’s

Fleance: Banquo’s son, loves his father

Macduff: Another Thane, brave and morally upstanding

The Witches: Three women who practice dark magic and predict the future

Lady Macduff: Macduff’s wife and mother of his children

Ross: Lady Macduff’s cousin, a Thane who loves his country

Murderers: Criminals hired by Macbeth to carry out his dirty work

A Servant: A young man who serves Macbeth and his wife

A Doctor: An older man who is brought in to care for Lady Macbeth

A Gentlewoman: A servant of Lady Macbeth

Seyton: A mysterious personal servant to Macbeth

Scottish Thanes: The lords of Scotland (This can be everyone else in the class)

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Step Two: Character gestures and Locations (10 minutes)

TEACHER asks each performer to read all the information on his/her card, and think of a character gesture to go with it. The character gesture should be a strong movement that embodies the personality of the character. It’s even better if the students can come up with a sound, as well.

STUDENTS take a minute or two to work this out on their own. TEACHER can offer help to anyone who is stuck.

When everyone is ready, TEACHER continues: There are a few locations mentioned in the play. Whenever one of these locations are mentioned, we’re all going to do a gesture and sound together.

TEACHER writes the following locations on the board: Dunsinane The Heath

Birnam Wood England

STUDENTS can help decide on gestures and sounds, or TEACHER can pick them in advance. (All of this can be naturally quite silly and fun.) Some suggestions would be:

● Dunsinane - A royal or dramatic sound, like trumpets – this is the royal castle in Scotland.

● The Heath – A spooky night sound, since this is where the witches meet to do their magic.

● Birnam Wood – Wild sounds like an owl hooting – this is where the English army comes from to defeat Macbeth.

● England – Hum “God save the Queen” or something similar – where the exiled Thanes gather to plan war against Macbeth.

STUDENTS and TEACHER practice the location sounds/gestures until everyone has them memorized.

Step Three: Acting out the synopsis (15 minutes)

STUDENTS gather in a circle so that they can all see each other.

TEACHER may go around the circle asking everyone to perform their character gesture and sound, as a review and to get some of the giggles out.

TEACHER reads the synopsis (provided in supplemental materials) out loud, pausing after the bolded words for the individual actors, or whole class, to perform their sounds and gestures. Locations are in all-caps. TEACHER may also choose to give STUDENTS the opportunity to read part of the synopsis.

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Step 4: Discussion, Feedback, and Conclusion (10 minutes)

TEACHER asks for feedback from STUDENTS: What parts of the plot stood out for you during this exercise? Did you understand the order of events?

STUDENTS respond with ideas.

Activity 2: Introduction to Genre: Discussion (10 minutes)

TEACHER asks: Back in Shakespeare’s time, both theatre artists and audiences liked to divide plays up by genre, or type of play. We still like to do this today, especially with movies and TV shows. What are some of the genres of movies and TV shows that you’ve seen?

STUDENTS respond with ideas: sitcom, romantic comedy, buddy comedy, action, thriller, horror, sci-fi, documentary, cartoon, mystery… and more!

TEACHER continues: Plays in Shakespeare’s time were usually divided up into three categories - comedy, tragedy, and history. Shakespeare frequently resisted the boundaries that the culture demanded, and some of his comedies are now placed into a fourth category that Shakespeare basically invented - romance. What kind of play is Macbeth? STUDENTS may guess that it’s a tragedy or a history.

TEACHER continues: The friends who gathered up Shakespeare’s plays and published them after his death categorized Macbeth as a tragedy, although since it has a historical figure at the center, it could also be called a history. What might be some of the elements of a tragedy?

If you’ve already studied Aristotle and Greek tragedies, STUDENTS may be able to list some of the following characteristics of tragedies. If not, they will probably guess at a couple of them.

● The main character dies at the end.

● The main character has a fatal flaw, moral shortcoming, or hubris.

● The main character sometimes tries to take his fate into his own hands against the will of the gods.

● The events of the play cause chaos, which is resolved by the character’s death.

TEACHER continues: Macbeth was probably written at the beginning of the reign of King James, between 1603 and 1607. The earliest account of a performance of this play at the Globe Theatre is around 1611. Tradition dictates that the play was written to please the new King, who was Scottish and a descendant of the character Banquo – based on the synopsis game we just played, why do you think that idea would please the King? STUDENTS may remember that the witches predict Banquo at the head of a long line of kings, implying that King James’ bloodline will have the throne for a long time. TEACHER continues: King James was also quite obsessed with witches and the occult, so you can imagine that the play would have been very enjoyable for him in that regard.

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Some scholars also believe the play was written to take advantage of the new staging possibilities in the indoor Blackfriar’s Theatre.

TEACHER concludes: Tomorrow (or whatever the day of the show is) you’ll get to see a shortened, one-hour version of Macbeth. In the version we’re going to see, many of the scenes will be shorter. All of the parts will be played by five actors, so, for example, Duncan and Macduff will be played by the same person. The doubling of roles was not uncommon in Shakespeare’s day – a cast of 12-13 actors would often play up to 40 roles.

Homework

● For Grades K-5: Draw a picture of your character from the synopsis game. How would you be dressed? Alternatively, draw one of the locations.

● For Grades 6-12: Write a one-page essay about the characteristics of tragedy discussed in class. What other tragic heroes do you know? Argue whether Macbeth has all of the characteristics of a tragic hero.

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Lesson 2 – Exploring Shakespeare’s World

ALL AGES

TOPICS:

INTRO TO SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE & THE RENAISSANCE

Goal: To introduce Shakespeare’s world and how it influenced his writing. NOTE: This is another good lesson to do with only a day or two to prepare before the performance. This lesson works best when it follows Lesson 1. Words of the Day:

Renaissance


Grades 2-5: RI 3 (Relation to historical context) Grade 5: W 3 (Write narratives) Grade 9-10: RL 6 (Different cultural context)

Visual and Performing Arts Theatre Standards:

Activity 1: Intro to Shakespeare and the Renaissance (25 minutes)

Materials: (Found in Supplemental Materials Section & Online)

● Worksheet: Shakespeare Quiz ● Handout: Shakespeare’s Life ● Optional…Any Models or photographs of Shakespeare’s Globe and other relevant

historical photos Step 1: Discussion of Shakespeare’s Life & Times

TEACHER introduces the life of Shakespeare as follows: William Shakespeare was born in the small town of Stratford, England in April of 1564, the son of a glove maker and a wealthy landowner’s daughter. He traveled to London and eventually joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a company of actors, and became their principal playwright. In all he wrote nearly 40 plays, numerous epic poems, and 154 sonnets before his death in 1616. Shakespeare is generally considered to be the greatest Western playwright of all time, and his plays continue to be performed regularly around the world. While Shakespeare was writing his plays, England was enjoying a Renaissance of art and culture after decades of war at home and abroad. “Renaissance” is a French word that means “re-birth.” Queen Elizabeth ruled England for most of Shakespeare’s life, from 1558 to her death in 1603. Her reign was a period of relative stability, followed

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by the reign of James I, her chosen successor. Both monarchs loved plays and entertainment, and encouraged live performance. Shakespeare spent much of his life living in London away from his wife and children, although he provided for them financially. While he went to school in Stratford, he never went to the University, unlike most of the other playwrights in London. It’s likely that he became an actor first and then a playwright, later helping in the management of his theatre company. He was quite a successful businessman, and left his family members comfortably off when he died. TEACHER may choose to share additional materials, such as models of Elizabethan theatres, pictures of Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, and King James, or perhaps an excerpt of a Shakespeare biography on video or DVD (PBS has a good one called “In Search of Shakespeare.”) TEACHER asks: Is it important to know something about a person before you’ve read his or her writing? Why or why not? Do you think that knowing something about the playwright will help you to better understand the play? How does what’s going on in the world at the time affect a writer’s work? STUDENTS respond with thoughts. TEACHER engages them by asking what plays, books, or movies they’ve most enjoyed. Did they know anything about the writer when they saw or read it? Did they find out anything later? How did that affect their enjoyment or appreciation? Step 2: A Group Quiz / Information Hunt

TEACHER divides students up into groups of about 3 students, and hands out the Shakespeare Quiz (See Day One Worksheet: Shakespeare Quiz, available in Supplemental Materials or online). TEACHER continues: Take about ten minutes to complete this quiz as a team. If you don’t know the answers, that’s okay, just make a guess. Then we’ll see which team got the most correct answers. When STUDENTS are finished, TEACHER goes through the quiz question by question, using the teacher’s key. TEACHER awards points to each team. Some answers can even get points for creativity! Applause for the group with the most right answers. TEACHER engages the group in discussion: Were there things in the quiz you had heard of before, or were you just guessing? Did it help to have other people in your group to share ideas with? You can see that even though we’re just beginning, there are a lot of things you might know about Shakespeare already, just from hearing other people talk about him. He has influenced our language more than almost any other writer, and because the United States was founded by colonists from England, the Renaissance had a lot of influence on the way we think and behave even now.

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Homework:

For Grades K-4: As a class or in smaller groups, build a paper model of the Globe (kits are available from some bookstores, or you can do a simple one with cardboard and construction paper). What does the model tell you about the way the plays were performed? What kind of scenery, lights, and costumes do you think they used? Where did the audience sit or stand? For Grades 5-8: Pretend you’re an actor at the Globe Theatre. Write a journal entry about what it’s like to perform there. What Renaissance people can you talk about in your journal entry? For Grades 9-12: What else would you like to know about Shakespeare? Take a moment to write down a question to which you’d like to find the answers. Share your question with the class and find out if anyone else knows the answers, or look up the answers on-line or in Shakespeare biographies or reference books (see SUGGESTED READING LIST and WEB RESOURCES for some ideas.) Write a one-page paper explaining what you’ve discovered.

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Lesson 3 – Exploring the Plot

GRADES 6 -12 A DEEPER EXPLORATION OF THE PLOT OF MACBETH

Goal: To give students ownership of the plot and characters by allowing them to create their own short version of the play. NOTE: This is another good lesson to do with only a day or two to prepare before the performance. This lesson works best when it follows Lesson 1. Words of the Day:

Synopsis Dramatis Personae


Grade 6: RL 3 (How plot unfolds) Grade 7: RL 2 (Provide a summary of the text) Grade 8: RL 2 (Provide a summary of the text)

Visual and Performing Arts Theatre Standards: Grade 4: Th.Cr2a Grades 5-8: Th.Cr2a, b Materials: (Found in Supplemental Materials Section & Online)

● Worksheet: Macbeth in 5

Activity: Macbeth in ‘5’ (55 minutes) Step 1 - Introduction (5 minutes)

Divide STUDENTS into groups of roughly 5 each. Go over the rules as stated on the “Macbeth in 5” worksheet (in the supplemental materials section), while setting a tone of mock seriousness or serious play. Using the worksheet as a reminder of the plot and a script (5 official quotes), STUDENTS will create a 5-minute performance that tells the plot of the play using whatever convention they choose (choices exist beyond straight narrative such as movie trailer, talk show, news report, soap opera, movie pitch, book report, etc.) Extra credit will be given for inclusion of ALL plot points, and minor characters. Each performance must include a clear beginning and a curtain call at the end, and must be no longer than 5 minutes (in truth they often are, but this allows you to cut rambling performances short, and enhances the ‘serious play’ factor of everything being in 5). Everyone must speak. Everyone must participate onstage. Lastly, stress the difference between goodhearted irreverent fun and stupidity.

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Step 2 - Students work on their own (15-20 minutes)

Give students 10 minutes to work on their own. Circulate and answer any questions. Coach students into on their feet rehearsals vs. endless negotiation. Give students clear time management calls in 5-minute increments. Coach sequencing of events, a clear start, and a big finish with curtain call.

Step 3 - Performance Sharing (20-25 minutes)

Bring everyone together and review great audience skills and generosity. Have everyone sit on their forms to ensure this. Make a big deal announcing the international Macbeth festival with companies from across the globe. Have each group take their place, begin clearly and end with a dramatic bow for their cheering fans.

Conclusion/Feedback (5 minutes)

TEACHER leads a brief discussion on what the students discovered about the play and/or performing it. Ask what excites them about the story now - why do they want to tell the story? What most excites them about it (magic powers, ambition, famous language, sword fighting?)

Homework:

For Grades 5-8: Create a movie poster that for Macbeth. How would you hint at the subplot for Macduff? For Grades 9-12: Create the script for a trailer to the movie of Macbeth. What kind of sound track would it have underneath?

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Lesson 4 – Building the World of the Play

GRADES K-8

TOPICS:

EXPLORING THE WORLD OF THE PLAY

INTRODUCTION TO IMAGERY & FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Goal: To use visual arts to help understand some of the poetic language of Macbeth. To build a connection between the ideas and themes of the play and visual imagery.

Note: This activity can be useful for older students as well – please feel free to use it with any age group. It is best used after playing the synopsis game so that students are familiar with the basic plot and characters of Macbeth.

Words of the Day:

Theme


Grade K: RL 4, RI 4 Grade 1: RL 4, RI 4 Grade 2: Grade 3: RL 4, RI 4 Grade 4: RL 4, RI 4 Grade 5: RL 4, RI 4 Grade 6: RL 2, 4, 7, RI 4, SL 1, 2, 5, L 4, 5 Grade 7: RL 2, 4, SL 1, 2, 5, L 4, 5 Grade 8: RL 2, 4, SL 1, 2, 5, L 4, 5


Materials:

Chinette plates or Styrofoam trays (1 plate for 2 students) Art supplies for three-dimensional sculpture, such as pipe cleaners, fabric, bottle caps, popsicle sticks, corks, beads, foamies, colored paper, etc. Glue, tape, scissors, pens or crayons if desired World of the Play strips (Found in Supplemental Materials Section & Online)

Activity 1: Building The World of the Play (45 minutes)

Preparation:

Before the class, set up two tables – one with art supplies, and one with the “World of the Play” quotes from the play cut into strips (each strip with one line).

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Step 1: Introduction & Planning (5-10 minutes)

Divide the students into pairs and give each pair a “base” – a Chinette plate (turned upside down) or Styrofoam tray. Explain that they are going to create sculptures based on lines from the play, and the plate or tray is the base of their sculpture. STUDENTS then pick a line of text from the word slips at the center of the table. (For pre-readers or early readers, the teacher can pick the lines and read it to each group). They then take 5 minutes to discuss and agree how they are going to build their statue and use the strip of text in their work of art. TEACHER can help coach by giving examples: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on” might inspire images of clouds, sleeping people, beds, fairy dust… Encourage them to let their imaginations run wild. The statue does not need to represent the play, only whatever these words mean to the students. They can take the images literally or use the words to inspire a statue of abstract color and forms.

Step 2 - Construction (20-30 minutes)

Students use the other supplies to build a three-dimensional sculpture of the line. Give students plenty of time to create their sculptures. As they work, make sure everyone has the glue and scissors they need, and encourage fair sharing. Check in with each student on his or her progress. Give them warnings when their time is nearly up. Step 3 - Placing each sculpture in a larger “World of the Play” (10 minutes)

Give each group a chance to briefly share their sculpture by reading their quote and commenting on what they notice about their words. After each student has shared, place the sculptures on a table in order of Act and Scene, as indicated on the slip of paper. Take a look at all the sculptures together – a visual representation of the world of the play. Are there dominant colors or images? Do they change from the beginning to the end of the play?

Activity 2: Word Soup: A Discussion of Theme (20 minutes)

List some words that come up often in the past two days on the board – magic, death, evil, murder, blood, power, etc. Ask, “What do we call these words?” Suggest that these might be main ideas of the play, or themes. Suggest that when they watch the play, STUDENTS should look for ways in which these themes and main ideas come across.

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Lesson 5 – Exploring Witches through Performance

GRADES K-5

TOPICS:

STAGE MOVEMENT/BLOCKING

EXPLORING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

CLOSE READING: ACT FOUR, SCENE 1

Goal: To learn the basic vocabulary of staging. To visualize objects using poetic language. To use implied stage directions and other context clues to stage a scene. Words of the Day:

blocking stage right stage left upstage downstage

rake prose implied stage directions shared lines inciting incident


Grade K: RL 4, RI 4, RF 1, 2 Grade 1: RL 4, RI 4, RF 1, 2 Grade 2: RL 4, RI 4, Grade 3: RL 1, 4, RI 4, RF 3 Grade 4: RL 1, 4, RI 4, RF 3 Grade 5: RL 1, 4, RI 4, RF 3



Classroom Scripts for Macbeth Act 4, scene 1

Activity 1: Learning Stage Directions: Director’s Coming! (15 minutes)

Step 1: Learn the terms

Begin with the following prompt: Let’s pretend we’re a company of actors, and we’re going to do a scene from Macbeth. Let’s go over some basics of staging.

Write on the board the following words: Blocking

Stage left

Stage right

Center stage

Upstage

Downstage

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Continue: These are some basic terms that will help you as you’re deciding how to stage the scenes. Can anyone define these words? Stage left, stage right and center stage should be easy, but remember that these directions are always from the actor’s perspective, so if you’re watching from the audience, everything is reversed. Upstage means the back of the stage, away from the audience and downstage is the front of the stage, towards the audience. These directions come from a time when stages were on a slope, called a rake, with the back of the stage higher than the front, allowing the audience to better see the action. The word for stage movement in general is blocking. If a director says s/he is going to block a scene, it means that s/he is going to tell the actors where to enter, where to move and stand during the scene, and where to exit. Blocking can also include physical bits like stage combat, physical comedy, etc.

Step 2: The Game

The director / teacher acts as Simon. The students start in a straight line onstage and follow the directions of the Director who gives directions to actors/students, who in turn mime a certain action and/or travel to the correct location in response to certain Prompts. Things move more and more quickly and increase in complexity and Students are eliminated as they goof.

TEACHING NOTE: It should be stressed that the game is for learning and fun, not a competition. When students are eliminated, the director and students shout “Huzzah,” underscoring a great effort. The game focuses on learning stage directions, ensemble building, and listening as an actor.

The teacher will call out any of the following (and with creativity, you may add your own “directions”). Director’s Coming: Each student stands on one leg saluting down stage. They cannot break this pose until the teacher says, “Rehearsal Break.” Rehearsal Break: Each student returns from the one leg-salute to neutral actor position. If a student moves out of the Director’s Coming position before the teacher says “Rehearsal Break,” he/she is eliminated - Huzzah! Therefore, à la Simon-Says, if a teacher says “Director’s Coming” followed by “move Stage Right,” and a student(s) moves, they are out – since “Rehearsal Break” had not been called. Stage Right, Left, Upstage, Downstage, Center Stage: The teacher calls out one of these directions. Students then move to the appropriate area. If a student goes the wrong way, or Rehearsal Break has not been called, they are eliminated – Huzzah! With more experienced students, or as the class evolves, teachers may add some complexity, such as: Downstage Right/Left, Upstage Center, Downstage Center, Upstage Right/Left, even directions such as Downstage Right-Center, etc.

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Advanced Directions Back-Stage: Students move to designated areas back/off stage, depending on the performance space. In-the-House: Students move to the area where the audience will be watching. Curtain Call: Student get into a straight line, facing the audience/down stage, grasp hands and take a bow, (followed by a kiss with the hand to the audience, if you wish). Lunch Break: 4 students become actors at lunch. 4 Students required – 1 becomes the table, down on hands and knees, and 3 eat lunch around the “table.” Any student(s) who cannot make a table for four are eliminated – Huzzah! Photo Shoot: 3 Students required. 1 student is the “star,” and 2 are photographers taking pictures. Any student(s) who cannot join a photo-op of 3 are eliminated – Huzzah! Make-up: 2 Students required. 1 student stands while the make-up artist applies make-up. Any student(s) who cannot make a pair are eliminated – Huzzah! Groupies: 3 students required. 1 student is the “star actor” and 2 students are groupies begging for autographs. Any student(s) who cannot make a group of 3 are eliminated – Huzzah! Monologue: All students find a place in the performance area, stand in neutral actor position, and say the line from a play they are working on- picked by the director ahead of time. In Shakespeare Camp, either pick a line from a play rehearsing or the standard line is “To be or not to be, that is the question.”

Activity 2: Imaginary Clay (15 minutes)

Step 1: Intro to Clay

Gather STUDENTS into a circle and continue: Do you remember the witches from our Synopsis game? Today, we’re going to stage a scene with the witches. We’re going to start by inventing our props. Like many theatre companies, we don’t have a lot of money to spend, so we’re going to make our props out of imaginary clay. We’re going to make ingredients for our magic witches’ brew. Everyone get a big ball of magic clay in your hands. (STUDENTS should mime a ball of clay.) How big is it? What does it feel like? Is it slimy? Is it soft? Can you roll it and flatten it? STUDENTS continue to mime clay. Continue with prompts: Keep working with your clay, and I’m going to read you a list of ingredients we need for this witches’ brew.

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Step 2: Building Imaginary Props for the Cauldron

Read the list aloud. If STUDENTS are stuck, prompt them with “what does that sound like?” or

demonstrate it yourself. After practicing with a few items, start to have STUDENTS bring their

imaginary ingredients to an imaginary cauldron in the middle of the circle and drop them in.

Alternatively, one student can start miming an item, and then pass it around the circle for everyone to

feel. Many of these items should be gross, so don’t be surprised if imagination takes over and there

are things they don’t want to “hold”!

● Poisoned entrails

● Toad

● Fillet of a fenny snake

● Eye of newt

● Toe of frog

● Wool of bat

● Tongue of dog

● Adder's fork

● Blind-worm's sting

● Lizard's leg

● Owlet's wing

● Scale of dragon

● Tooth of wolf

● Witches' mummy

● Maw and gulf of the ravined salt-sea shark

● Root of hemlock digged in the dark

● Finger of birth-strangled babe

● Baboon’s blood

Activity 3: Text Analysis through Performance (20 minutes)

Step 1 – Learn the chorus

Now that everyone is feeling very immersed in the language, pass out copies of the “Witches’

Brew” scene from the supplemental materials section.

Start by learning the repeated chorus. During this scene, the witches have a magic spell that they

repeat to make sure that the brew turns out the way they like it. Let’s learn it!

Do call and response for the following lines:

Double, double, toil and trouble

Fire burn and cauldron bubble

These shouldn’t take long to memorize. Even better, come up with movements for the lines that

help with memorization. Repeat the lines several times as a class. Now you have a magic spell!

Step 2 – Explore the first three lines

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If you have comfortable readers, ask for a volunteer to read out the first line:

Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.

Ask the students: What’s this line about? What do you think a “brinded” cat is? That’s not a

word we use much these days. How many times does the cat meow?

Allow the students to respond with ideas, and then let them know that a brinded cat is a cat with

stripes. If you like, assign one of the students to start the scene by playing the brinded cat and

giving three nice big meows.

Continue by having another volunteer read out the second line, which is a little tougher:

Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whin’d.

Make sure they’re clear on once versus thrice – then ask the STUDENTS what they think a

hedge-pig is. Technically it’s a hedgehog, but if they want it to be a guinea-pig, that’s okay. It

could even be an imaginary animal. What does a hedge-pig whining sound like? Perhaps one

student would like to play the hedge-pig.

Have one more volunteer read out the third line:

Harpier cries, “‘Tis time, ‘tis time.”

Who is Harpier? Scholars suggest that this is the Third Witch’s familiar spirit, which might

appear in the form of an animal. Harpier could be a harpy, which is a kind of scary bird. Have

you heard of witches having familiar animal spirits? If you’re familiar with the Harry Potter

books, the young witches and wizards have owls, rats, cats, and other animals who serve as their

animal familiars.

What does it sound like when Harpier cries these words? Have the whole class do it together. Are

there three students who would like to be the familiars of the three witches?

Step 3 – Do the scene!

You may choose to divide students into groups of 4 to look at this, or just get volunteers to work

on it in front of the group. If you’re dividing the classes into groups, assign three witches and a

director for each group. Alternatively, use the whole class as witches, familiars, and other

characters and play director yourself – this works best with young pre-readers.

Invite the witches to perform the first three lines as discussed, with the assistance of any sound

effects or familiars you’ve assigned. When you get to the first big speech of Witch 1, ask them

what the script is telling them to do when the witch says:

Round about the cauldron go,

In the poison’d entrails throw

STUDENTS will likely guess that the lines are telling them to move around the cauldron,

throwing in the ingredients.

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Let them know that clues like this, hidden in the lines, are called implied stage directions. As

you stage the scene, try to follow the directions that Shakespeare has put in the scene for you.

Continue on with the scene, and as you go through the various ingredients, remember the

Imaginary Clay exercise, and create those ingredients again in mime before throwing them in.

The whole group should do the chorus together, as you practiced.

When you reach the ending lines, discuss what’s about the happen:

By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something wicked this way comes.

Open locks,

Whoever knocks.

Ask the STUDENTS: What sound effect is included in the implied stage directions? What does it

mean to have “pricking thumbs”? Have you ever had a feeling like that?

If you have time, do the whole scene again. Change the parts around if you like. Remember to

keep the focus on experiencing the language and understanding what all the different ingredients

are like. Don’t worry about “good acting”, whatever that means to you – if the students are

committing to the language and their imaginary experience of making the witches’ brew, they

will be doing all the acting they need to do. The focus should be on process, not product.

OPTIONAL OR ADDITIONAL EXERCISE: Making Cauldron Ingredients

If you want to spend more time on this scene, or if the goal is to present it to an audience in some way,

you may choose to create some of the ingredients from craft materials. When our 7-8-year-old campers

did this scene at summer camp in 2011, we had great success with imagining what the ingredients looked

like and cutting them out of construction paper to add to the pot. Engaging the kids’ ideas about the words

led to ownership of the language and the story.


Take a few minutes at the end to ask everyone about his or her experience of the exercise. Did

they have a favorite ingredient? Why was it their favorite? Which words was their favorite to say?

Begin to touch on the idea of objectives by asking, what were the witches trying to do during this

scene? Did they succeed? What do you think happens next?

If you are seeing the play soon, let them know that this whole scene is not included in the play,

but a shortened version is. Ask them to keep their ears open for it so they can recognize their

favorite lines.

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Lesson 6: Isolating Plot Structure in Macbeth

GRADES 3-5

TOPICS:

EXPLORING SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

DRAMATIC STRUCTURE

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Goal: To learn the basic outline of a plot, and how it applies to the plot of Macbeth. To begin to explore

the language of the play with low-risk activities.

Words of the Day:

plot

exposition

complication (rising action)

crisis

climax

resolution (denouement)


Grade 3: RS 2, 3, 5, SL 4,

Grade 4: RS 2, 3, 5, SL 4,

Grade 5: RS 2, 3, 5, SL 4,



Synopsis

Activity 1: Identifying the Components of a Plot (25 minutes)

Note: If you have not played the Synopsis Game (All Ages, Lesson 1), you’ll want to start with that.

List the following words on the board: plot exposition complications (rising action) crisis climax resolution In literature and drama, we call the events of the story the plot. These are the basic elements that make up a plot. Prompt the STUDENTS as follows: At the beginning of the play, we find out a few things we need to know about Scotland, Macbeth, and what has just happened. What do we find out? Let’s act out the following scenarios as a dumb show. In Shakespeare’s time,

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dumb shows were often performed to give an audience an idea of the play they were about to see, kind of like the Synopsis Game we already played. Get volunteers to act out the following scenarios: • The Scottish forces have just fought a battle to defeat the rebellious Thane of Cawdor. • Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis. • Macbeth and Banquo are walking home across the heath.

Ask the STUDENTS: Can you guess what plot element these circumstances represent? STUDENTS respond, referring to the words on the white board, that this might be part of the exposition.

Exposition: The characters describe what has happened to them before the action of the play. Major characters, locations, and situations are introduced.

Get volunteers to act out the following as a dumb show:

• Macbeth and Banquo hear the witches’ prophesy • King Duncan makes Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, fulfilling the first part of the

prophesy • Macbeth writes to his wife • Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to kill King Duncan

Ask: What do you think we would call these events? Complications: Also called the “rising action.” Events occur that place the characters in situations where they encounter problems and obstacles. Volunteers act out the following plot points:

• Lady Macbeth and Macbeth kill Duncan • Macbeth is crowned King, fulfilling the prophesy

Continue: Shakespeare spends a large part of the play describing the lead-up and immediate aftermath of this murder, which has a huge effect on the Macbeths. What would you guess this event is called?

Crisis: A major conflict emerges that must be solved by the main characters before they can get what they want. Continue: There can be more than one crisis in a play. What other crises occur after the murder of Duncan? Let’s act them out:

• Macbeth fears the rest of the prophesy, that Banquo’s heirs will be kings • He hires murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance, but Fleance escapes • Banquo’s ghost haunts Macbeth at a banquet, causing him to become more

remorseful and paranoid • Macbeth demands the witches give him further prophesies, which both calm his

fears and contribute to them • The Thanes start to defect, causing Macbeth more paranoia • Macbeth has Macduff’s family murdered, causing Macduff and Malcolm to attack

Scotland • Lady Macbeth’s guilt is causing her to sleepwalk

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Continue: The crises keep building and building until what happens? Let’s act out these scenes:

• Almost at the same moment, Lady Macbeth kills herself and Malcolm’s forces attack Dunsinane bearing boughs of Birnam Wood, fulfilling the first part of the witches’ prophesy.

• Macbeth seems unbeatable in battle until he encounters Macduff, who was born of Cesarean section, fulfilling the second part of the prophesy.

Ask: What is this moment called? Climax: The crisis reaches its peak. The main characters are forced into action. At this point, everything is at stake and a comedy can become a tragedy (and vice versa.)

Continue: For just a moment, it seems like Macbeth might surrender, but he fights to the death. Then what happens? Let’s act out the last moments of the play:

• Macduff brings Macbeth’s severed head to Malcolm • Malcolm is declared King of Scotland, and order is restored

Ask: What is this final scene called? Resolution: The ending. Also called the “denouement,” it’s the aftermath of the climax.

Give yourselves a round of applause! At this point, the STUDENTS should have a really good sense of the plot of Macbeth. Now it’s time to explore the language.

Activity 2: Shakespeare’s Words: Here to There (20 minutes)

Step 1

Gather students at one end of the room and establish that end as ‘Here’, and the other end of the room as ‘There.’ Repeat prompts as needed until energy is high and everyone is involved.

Prompt: “Where are we?” (Students shout back “HERE!”) “Where we going to go?” (Students shout, “There!”)

Step 2

Now ask students to walk from ‘here’ to ‘there’ in particular ways, each time ending the walk with…

Prompt: “But where are we NOW?” (Students shout back “HERE!”) “Well, where do we want to go?” (Students shout back “THERE!”)

“This time I try going from ‘Here’ To ‘There’ AS IF…. As a warm up, start with simple physicalizations like walk on your toes, walk on your heels, AS IF you were being pulled by your nose, your belly, your knees.

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TEACHING NOTE: Encourage all levels of participation and all answers with phrases like… “Whatever that means to you,” or “how would that (IMAGE) make you move?” or “what does that SOUND like?”

End each journey with “OK, now let that go… wait where are we?” (Students shout…) Step 3

Now begin to give with generic image based directions:

Prompt: “But where are we NOW?” (Students shout back “HERE!”),

“Well, where do we want to go?” (Students shout back “THERE!”), “This time I try going from ‘Here’ To ‘There’ AS IF…. ● You have ants in your pants ● You have a song in your heart ● You are flat as a pancake

● You have feet made of clay ● You have a chip on your shoulder ● Your head is in the clouds

Step 4

Now begin to give image based directions from Shakespeare (and Macbeth): Prompt: “But where are we NOW?” (Students shout back “HERE!”), “Well, where do we want to go?” (Students shout back “THERE!”), “This time I try going from ‘Here’ To ‘There’ AS IF….

● Your blood is thick ● You are sick at heart ● You are green and pale ● You are full of sound and fury ● You are a walking Shadow ● You are full of Direst Cruelty ● You are Lion-mettled, proud, and take no care ● You have a heat-oppressed Brain ● You are full of the Milk of Human Kindness ● You lack the season of all natures, sleep ● Fear and scruples shake you ● You have eaten on the Insane Root that takes the Reason Prisoner ● Your dull Brain is wrought with things forgotten ● Full of scorpions is your mind ● Your bones are marrowless, your blood is cold, and you have no speculation in your

eyes

TEACHING NOTE: It helps to create an atmosphere in which students feel permission to look silly, get it wrong, and have whatever experience they choose to have.

Conclusion: Discussion, Feedback, and Wrap Up (10 minutes)

End by asking if everyone knew what all the words meant. The response will most likely be NO! Ask how they knew how to move… Gently encourage the concepts that the SOUNDS

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of the words held information, as did the context, and your inflection. Conclude that Shakespeare’s language helps actors to make acting choices, and audience members to imagine what’s happening more clearly. Allow them to reflect on whatever the language did to them. Think back over the plot of Macbeth. Today you’ve had experiences with Shakespeare’s story and Shakespeare’s language. Tomorrow you’ll have your first experience with the structure of Shakespeare’s plays – the rhythm and heartbeat of the plays.

Homework:

Create a comic strip of Macbeth. Each square should show one of the five elements of the plot. So there will be a square for Exposition, a square for Complications, a square for Crisis, a square for Climax, and a square for resolution. This can also be done with any favorite fairytale or myth.

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Lesson 7: Discovering Iambic Pentameter

GRADES 3-8

TOPICS:

EXPLORING SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE

POETIC METER: IAMBIC PENTAMETER

SCANSION

Goal: To learn about Shakespeare’ verse structure, Iambic Pentameter, and how to scan verse, using text

from Macbeth.

Words of the Day:

verse

Iambic pentameter

stress

slack mark

foot

iamb

scansion

feminine (weak) ending

stress mark

compression

trochee

feminine (or weak) ending


Grade 3: RL 4, RF 3

Grade 4: RF 3

Grade 5: RL 5, RF 3, L 5

Grade 6: RL 5, RI 5

Grade 7: RL 5

Grade 8: RL 5



Iambic Pentameter Overhead/Data Projection Sheet

Iambic Pentameter Worksheet

Handout: Shakespeare’s Language

Activity 1: Rhythm Walk – Physicalizing Poetic Meter (15 minutes)

Step 1 - Walking to simple rhythm

Gather students at one end of the room, in rows of 4-6 students (depending on size of room and

group). Ask students to simply walk across the room to the rhythm you are going to clap (or beat

out on the bottom of a small empty trashcan or drum).

Beat a straight, even 8 beats: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Allow each of the rows to walk in rhythm from

one end of the room to the other. Repeat several times if needed to allow everyone to get the

hang of it.

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Step 2 - Moving to more complex rhythms

Change the rhythm to 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, pause 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, pause

(Iambic pentameter).

Ask students to cross the floor to the following rhythm. Demo the following “choreography” and

have them cross the floor that way while you beat out the rhythm for them. Encourage flair and

fun on the dramatic poses.

tip toe STEP, tip toe STEP, tip toe STEP, tip toe STEP, tip toe STEP,

dramatic pose

tip toe STEP, tip toe STEP, tip toe STEP, tip toe STEP, tip toe STEP

dramatic pose

Change the rhythm to 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12 (Trochaic)

Ask students to find a partner and sashay (gallop) across the floor hand in hand

Change the rhythm to 112, 112, 112, 112, 112, 112, 112, 112 (Anapestic).

Ask students to cross the floor, skipping (which is step, hop, land – step, hop, land)

Step 3 - Adding Text

Do the same progression again and get the students to say the following text as everyone moves

across the floor…

12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12,

my horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse.

12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12

Double, double, Toil and Trouble, Fire burn and Cauldron bubble

112, 112, 112, 112, 112, 112, 112, 112

over hill, over dale, thorough bush, thorough brier

12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12,

But screw your courage to the sticking place

That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold

A foolish thought to say a sorry sight

Step 4 - Feedback

Ask students for feedback. What was that like? Did some of the words work well with the

rhythms? Why? Did the words or the rhythms make you feel a certain way?

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Explain that Shakespeare writes many of his plays in verse, which has a rhythm called meter.

Prompt: The meter that he uses most is called Iambic Pentameter, like in those last 4 lines we all

did across the floor. It’s like a heartbeat and it affects all of his poetry. We’re going to go into

detail with it in just a minute.

TEACHING NOTES: As you proceed into teaching scansion and iambic pentameter, it is important

to stress that while this is a form that Shakespeare follows, it is not a black/white, right/wrong rule.

Shakespeare rarely wrote in straight Iambic Pentameter; he used Iambic Pentameter like a back beat

to play against, so that the language goes against the heartbeat when emotions are high or ‘things get

tough.’ We are constantly giving students CLUES and exciting them about how Shakespeare plays

with rhythm. The goal is to get them excited about what they might find out from the language - the

sounds, the rhythms, the patterns.

Activity 2: Scanning iambic pentameter verse (35 minutes)

Step 1 - Learning Iambic (15 minutes)

Introduce iambic pentameter. Do it slowly, and take it one step at a time. Have the students sit

down, and use a whiteboard to write down the following vocabulary:

NEW VOCABULARY

Iamb: Two syllables: the first one is weak the second one is strong.

Penta: The Greek word for five. (Penta-gram, Penta-gon)

Meter: The word used to describe the rhythm of the verse.

Iambic Pentameter: Poetry that normally has FIVE IAMBS per line.

Write out a Shakespearean line that has no irregularities like:

But screw your courage to the sticking place …or

That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold …or

A foolish thought to say a sorry sight

Have the kids say the line aloud. Reinforce the vocabulary with questions like: “How many iambs

do I have in this line? And what’s the Greek word for ‘five’?”

NEW VOCABULARY

Slack Mark: Used to indicate a weak syllable (usually the first). U

Stress Mark: Used to indicate a strong syllable (usually the second). –

Foot Bar: Used to divide each iamb in the line. /

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Step 2 - Iambic Jazz (5 minutes)

Write on board:

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears

Talk about how to scan it… get one student to try to say it as if it were Iambic Pentameter,

something like:

Friends, RO mans, COUNT ry MEN lend ME your EARS

Talk through what is happening on stage: that Antony is trying to quiet a shouting mob. Have

one student use the line to quiet the other students down (this can be a fun break in the energy).

Point out that the rhythm is actually

FRIENDS, RO mans, COUNT ry men, LEND ME YOUR EARS.

1 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 (or 1234)

- - u - u u - - - - (u u u u)

Introduce the concept that the Iambic Pentameter is the regular rhythm lying underneath, that

Shakespeare plays with and against to create character and dramatic moments. You may share

that if iambic pentameter is the heart beat of a character, then there is often heartbreak. Our job as

actors is to discover and play the heartbreak, that scansion is a scavenger hunt for rhythmic acting

clues.

Step 3 - A Scavenger Hunt for Rhythmic Acting Clues (5 minutes)

Pass out copies of the scansion worksheet (in the supplemental materials section). Divide the

students into groups of 3-5, and have them scan the sections on the first page using slack and

stress marks and footbars. Walk around the room and answer any questions that they may have.

Results will vary widely between and within groups. If students are confused, have them clap the

verses while speaking them.

Step 4 - Playing the Clues (10 minutes)

Gather the students into a standing circle. Have the students walk across the circle taking one step

for each syllable of the verse that they've just scanned. Make sure that they take bigger steps and

give heavier vocal emphasis to the strong syllables. This step will reinforce what you’ve already

taught, and provide the class with some new vocabulary. Pay attention to the following:

NEW VOCABULARY:

Compression - Condensing two syllables into one.

Feminine or Weak, Ending - when a line has an extra, unstressed syllable.

Trochee - A foot with two syllables, the first strong, the second weak.

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Step 5 - Why does all this matter? … a further exploration for older students

Once the mechanics of iambic pentameter are learned, you can use the irregularities, or the

exceptions (which are frequent) to help the students make character discoveries. Use the King

Lear example that is provided.

You SEE/ me HERE/ you GODS/ a POOR/ old MAN

as FULL/ of GRIEF/ as AGE/ WRETCHed/ in BOTH

You've already established that “wretched” is a trochee, not an iamb. It’s different, it’s unusual,

and it breaks up the rhythm of the line. It calls attention to that particular word. “Wretched.” The

line stops in its tracks for a moment while Lear virtually retches on his grief. Have one or more of

the students experiment with different ways to say the line. Encourage extreme, even ridiculous

choices. Remind the students that “wretch” is what we do when we vomit – “retch.” Lear is so

enraged that he is vomiting up his own emotions.

Skip ahead to the first line of the “To be or not to be” speech.

“To BE/ or NOT/ to BE/ that IS/ the QUES/ tion.”

The feminine ending leaves the line hanging. The rhythm is indecisive and unsatisfactory, the

rhythm of a man who can not decide whether to live or die, to exist or not to exist, to be or not to

be. Contrast that with the how the line would feel if Hamlet said… “To be or not to be that is the

Quest!”

Adaptation for Younger Students - After following Steps 1 and 2:

Step 3 – adapted for younger students

Have the group scan a few lines from the scansion worksheet. Have students place the slack and

stress marks on the whiteboard. Have them clap or stomp out the verse if they get confused.

Step 4- adapted for younger students

Have the group read the lines that you’ve written on the white board, letting each one stomp out a

line -- over-emphasizing the rhythm. Ask them what might be the most important thing the

character is saying with that one line.

Conclusion/Feedback (5 minutes):

Acknowledge that today’s class was very technical, and that some of them may not fully understand the

way that verse works yet. It takes time. Get a sense of how the students feel about the ideas discussed

today. End with positive reinforcement.

Homework:

If you haven’t already, scan the rest of the speeches on the Scansion Worksheet.

TEACHING NOTE: If students are grasping the concept well: Write your own short poem in

iambic pentameter. Scan it to make sure you have ten syllables per line and five stressed

syllables.

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Lesson 8 – Embodying Shakespeare’s Language

GRADES 5-12

TOPICS:

STAGE MOVEMENT/BLOCKING

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

MACBETH: ACT ONE, SCENE 3

Goal: To learn the basic vocabulary of staging. To use implied stage directions and other context clues to stage a scene. To help students comprehend complex imagery by physicalizing the language.

Words of the Day:

blocking stage right stage left upstage

downstage rake implied stage directions objective


Grade 5: RL 2, 3 4, RI 3, SL 5, L 4 Grade 6: RL 4, 7, RI 3, Grade 7: RL 4, 7, RI 3, 7 Grade 8: RL 4, 7, RI 3, Grade 9-10: RL 3, 4, L 4 Grade 11-12: RL 4, L 4



Act One, Scene 3 scripts Strips of Cliché Statues and Strips of Quote Statues

Activity 1: Review of Stage directions (5 minutes)

Review “Director’s Coming” Game from Lesson 5.

Activity 2: Shakespeare Language in Space: Tableaux (10 minutes)1

Step1

1 Thank you to Kevin Coleman and the education department of Shakespeare & Company located in Lenox, MA for this

exercise.

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Give students 4 seconds to find themselves in a PERFECT circle, and then count down (or bang a drum) from four to one and have everyone ‘FREEZE’. Most likely, it will not be a very good circle in such a short time and without any set up.

Prompt: Take a look at where you are, and where WE are…. How can you help the group succeed in making an even more perfect circle, you have three seconds to make it even better. THREE, TWO, ONE, FREEZE… how did WE do? Great, and now….

TEACHING NOTE: Do not explain this exercise to the students before leading it. Let them experience it and give feedback based on their experience, not on what they think they’re supposed to get out of it.

Step 2 – Simple Shapes

The exercise continues with the same process, each time giving the students a bit more time and a more complicated structure to create. Each time, acknowledge their success or failure (as an Observation vs. any sort of Good/Bad Judgment) and then “Let that go.” (See progression of Statue Titles/Tableaux themes) below.

● Circle within a Square ● Triangle within a Circle ● The Capital Letter …. Q, R, W, F ● The Roman Numeral …. IV ● A Half-unzipped Zipper

TEACHING NOTES: This is an exercise in NON verbal communication you should encourage students to function without talking or negotiating/directing others in what they should do. The short time allotment (never more than a 12 count) will prevent much talking, regardless.

Prompt : “See if you can do this without saying anything… don’t figure it out, just jump in and find your place.”

Step 3 – Picture Postcards (tableaux)

The exercise continues with the same process, each time giving the students with students now creating more creative tableaux, and then abstract sculpture. Each time, acknowledge their success or failure (as an Observation vs. any sort of Good/Bad Judgment) and then “Let that go.” (See progression of Statue Titles/Tableaux themes below.)

● A picture postcard of : -Your vacation in Paris France -Your expedition to Ancient Egypt -Your Night at a Brazilian Dance Party -Your adventure on the Planet KoozeBain

● Loneliness ● Victory ● Joy ● Grief ● Mischief

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When reacting to the statues, simply say what you see, instead of big praise or coaching, give the students 2-4 seconds to make the stature even more satisfying to themselves…. Encourage everyone to participate, and when a statue is complete acknowledge or clarify what individuals have contributed. Prompt: “Oh, NAME, I see you are the mysterious sphinx (or whatever they are clearly doing), oh, NAME, what are you doing… oh, you are (repeat what they said. This can even be the Unknown, if the child just doesn’t know.) Wow, we even have the unknown represented in OUR statue…”

Acknowledge if one student has a strong impulse… oooh, look what NAME is doing, can you follow his/her impulse…

Step 4 – Shakespeare Tableaux

The exercise continues with the same process, with students now creating more tableaux or statues with the title of a Macbeth quote. Each time, acknowledge what you see and then “Let that go.”

● Plenteous joys wanton in fullness, seek to hide themselves in drops of sorrow.

● False face must hide what the false heart doth know

● Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there weep our sad bosoms empty.

● Hell is murky!

● Let our griefs and clamour roar upon his death?

● Then the liars and swearers are fools; for there are liars and swearers enough to beat the honest men and hang them up.

TEACHING NOTE: This game is a quick moving, but is more than the light introduction to acting out Shakespeare’s imagery that it seems. It uses and enhances kinetic learning styles. There are no wrong answers, and the point is not to discuss or negotiate ‘the best choice.’ Don’t give students too much time to analyze (and judge!), allow them to move from simple instructions, to emotional and abstract images, to Shakespearean imagery without explanation or preparation. Feedback at the end of the exercise about finding meaning through context or sound is helpful if there is time. Keep reinforcing the idea that there is no right answer, that whatever impulse they have is useful if acted on, and that the language can give us information beyond right/wrong text book definitions. They often will discover that they DO know what the phrase means, and that the they do have reference points for the images. This can deeply change students’ relationship to complex text, giving them a visceral experience of what often seems inapproachable through linear or linguistic comprehension.

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Activity 3: Shakespeare’s Language in Space: ABC Statues (10-15 minutes)2

Step 1 – Introduction

Allow students to form groups of three (with a group of four if odd numbered). Have students pick an A, B, and C. Inform them that one person will be a sculptor and other two the clay. The sculptor will be given the title of the statue and then will physically mold their cooperative “clay” into the image they have in their mind. They can move their clay by physically moving a piece of the clay’s body, or by demonstrating the desired position, and by making the desired facial expression for the clay to mimic.

Helpful prompts include reminders that Clay has no opinions, and that everyone will sculpt and be clay and that revenge can be swift and painful…

Step 2 – Generic Statues

Have the sculptor come and get a strip of paper which will have Cliché Statue Title strips, and then give them “15 seconds” to create their statue without discussing it or showing the title to their two willing “Clay” pieces. (The 15 seconds is counted down using your judgment as a timer… it may be more like 30 seconds, with you speeding up or slowing down the count based on the progress of the group).

Once the time is up, each student presents his/her statue saying loudly, “I’d like to present my statue entitled…” and then reading their strip of paper.

Repeat until all three participants (A, B, and C) have had the chance to be sculptor. Step 3 – Shakespeare Statues

Repeat the same process above using the Quote Statue strips.

A great final variation is to have the Statue itself, instead of the sculptor, say the title (as if acting it out!). This is a simple exercise that gets the text into the kids’ mouths in a really physical way. It also provides a great opportunity to reinforce generosity both onstage and as an audience member.

Activity 4: Analysis through Performance (20-30 minutes)

Divide STUDENTS up into groups of 5+ actors and continue: Now we’re going to take a look at one of the very first scenes in the play – the scene in which Macbeth and Banquo first meet the Witches. (Act One, Scene 3 – in the supplemental materials section.) In your groups, spend about 15 minutes staging these scenes. Keep an eye out for implied stage directions. For example, when Banquo says, “You seem to understand me,/ By each at once her choppy finger laying/ Upon her skinny lips,” this implies the witches put their fingers to their lips all at the same time. As you stage the scene, try to follow the directions that Shakespeare has put in the scene for you.

2 Thank you to Kevin Coleman and the education department of Shakespeare & Company located in Lenox, MA for this

exercise.

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As the STUDENTS work on their own, go from group to group helping with staging. Use the blocking vocabulary from earlier in the class. If the students are feeling confident about iambic pentameter, you can help them to scan their lines. It may be helpful for STUDENTS to paraphrase lines and put them in their own words. From their earlier work on the plot of the play, they probably have a pretty good idea of what’s happening, but they may be stuck on some of the longer speeches. Invite each group to perform for the class. Encourage good audience behavior and applause after every performance. Afterwards, STUDENTS should try to identify the following:

• Who are the characters? What is their relationship to each other? • Where are they? What does it look like? • What has happened right before the scene? What might happen next? • What do the characters want in the scene? (We call this their objective.) Did they

get what they wanted?

• What words were the most difficult? How did you figure out what they meant?

• What were some implied stage directions? • Did you notice anything unusual in the verse? Did it affect the way you performed the

scene? Conclusion/Feedback (5 minutes):

If this is your last class on Macbeth before seeing the play, take a moment to review the classes you’ve done. How did the students feel about Shakespeare before these classes? How do they feel about him now?

Homework:

Based on the lines spoken by Macbeth and Banquo in Act One, scene 3, what do you think of these two characters? Write out some of their characteristics. How are they similar? How are they different? Create a facebook page for each character.

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Lesson 9 – Who’s Who in Macbeth

GRADES 6-8

TOPICS:

DRAMATIC STRUCTURE: CONTEXTUAL CLUES CHARACTER TRAITS

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE HUMOURS

MACBETH: ACTS ONE AND TWO

Goal: To learn more about the characters based on what is said about them by other characters. To learn

about the science of the humours in Shakespeare’s day and how it affected character.

Note: The lessons for Grades 6-8 are most effective if they build on lessons for the younger grades. We

suggest reviewing plot, iambic pentameter, figurative language, and basic staging before continuing with

these lessons.

Words of the Day:

contextual clues

humours

sanguine

choleric

melancholic

phlegmatic


Grade 6: RL 1, 6, RI 1, 3, W 6, SL 3

Grade 7: RL 1, 6, RI 1, 3, W 6, SL 3

Grade 8: RL 1, RI 1, 3, W 6, SL 3



Worksheets 1 & 2 (Character Traits)

Classroom Script: Act One, scene 3

Activity 1: Contextual Clues of Characters (15 minutes)

At this point, your students should have played the synopsis game, and have a basic sense of the plot

and characters.

Begin by passing out the context clues Worksheet 2 and giving the prompt: Shakespeare doesn’t

provide detailed descriptions of his characters at the beginning of the plays. Instead, we find out

about the characters from what they do and what others say about them. These are called

contextual clues. We can also use contextual clues to figure out the meaning of words and what

the characters are doing.

Let’s read aloud some passages from Act One and Act Two in which characters describe other

characters or themselves.

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Have volunteers read the lines on Worksheet 1, while the rest of the class guesses which character

the lines refer to – in some cases, it should be obvious!

When everyone has completed the worksheet, write the names of the three characters, Macbeth,

Lady Macbeth, and Duncan, on the board and ask the students to list some of their characteristics

in their own words. Make sure to point out that in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s case, many of

their darker characteristics are a secret from the other characters at this point in the play. Duncan

certainly thinks very highly of them both!

Activity 2: Renaissance Philosophy of Humors (15 minutes)

Step 1 - The Humours

First, give a short explanation of what the “humours” are. Elizabethan psychology was based

upon the understanding that everyone possessed a set of humours, or internal bodily fluids, the

balance of which determined the balance of a person's personality. The humours and their

attributes are as follows:

Name of

Humour

Connected

w/ Element Qualities

Made from the

Body Substance

Ruled by the

body part…

Complexion and

Body type

Causes of

Personality Traits

Sanguine air hot and

moist blood liver

red-cheeked,

corpulent

amorous, happy,

generous, optimistic,

irresponsible

Choleric fire hot and dry yellow bile spleen red-haired, thin

violent, vengeful,

short-tempered,

ambitious

Phlegmatic water cold and

moist phlegm lungs corpulent

Sluggish, pallid,

cowardly

Melancholic earth cold and

dry black bile gall bladder sallow, thin

Introspective,

sentimental,

gluttonous

As you describe each humor, have the students get on their feet and perform some simple action.

“Now wash the windows as a melancholic person,” etc. The action is affected by the humor—

“How are you moving? How do you feel about the action you are doing?” After they have gone

through each humor as a group, ask them to help you define the physical and emotional

differences they found.

Prompt: If you had to choose a humor for each of the three characters we just discussed, what

would you choose?

STUDENTS give suggestions. They might look something like this, but other combinations are

possible:

Macbeth Melancholy (moody)

Duncan Sanguine (cheerful, good-humored)

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Lady Macbeth Choleric (quick to anger, emotional)

Unlike some of his contemporaries, Shakespeare created well-rounded characters who might go

through several different humors in the course of the play. Keep in mind, though, that at the time

he was writing, these humors were considered to be the height of medical science, and they would

have informed everything he wrote.

Prompt: How do these personality types compare to people in the present day? Are they more

extreme, or do you know people like this?

STUDENTS share ideas.

Step 2 - Improvising Humours (20 minutes)

Now set up a simple improv and assign different humors to different players to see how each type

will behave in this situation. Example: four friends come to a restaurant only to find out that

there is no record of their reservation. Let the scene develop to see how the characters develop.

When the improv is over, discuss discoveries made in rhythms and responses. Get students to

suggest other scenarios.

When you’ve performed a few modern scenarios, try improvising some scenarios with the

characters from Macbeth. Add Banquo as a phlegmatic character.

While improvising, remember that the cardinal rule of improvisation is “say yes.” React to the

other actors in the scene by agreeing to the ideas they bring in. Build on what they offer rather

than trying to take the scene in another direction.


Discuss what choices/discoveries the students made about their character throughout the class.

They may want to share what they have written but do not need to. Discuss how this might show

up on stage.

Homework:

Pretend you are one of the three characters discussed today, and write a journal entry about the

day the murder of Duncan takes places. Can you write in the voice of the character in a way that

expresses their characteristics?

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Lesson 10 – Introduction to Shakespeare’s Figurative Language

GRADES 6-12

TOPICS: RHETORICAL DEVICES/ FIGURES OF SPEECH

SHAKESPEARE’S INSULTS

Goal: To introduce and identify Rhetorical Devices/Figures of Speech and how Shakespeare uses them. To have some fun with Shakespeare’s vivid language using an insult game. Words of the Day:

metaphor simile hyperbole alliteration assonance

antithesis onomatopoeia personification aside subplot rhetoric


Grade 6: RL 4, RI 4, SL 2, L 5 Grade 7: RL 4, RI 4, 5, SL 2, 7, L 5 Grade 8: RL 4, RI 4, SL 2, L 5 Grade 9-10: RL 4, 6, RI 4, 6, SL 3, L 5 Grade 11-12: RL 4, RI 4, 6, SL 3, L 5



Insult cards Projection sheet of Act Two, Scene 2 and Act Five, Scene 5

Activity 1: Introduction to Figurative Language (40 minutes)

Step 1: Close Reading of a passage from Act Two, scene (10 minutes)

Write (or project) the following lines on the board: (Found in Supplemental Materials)

That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold;

What hath quench’d them hath given me fire. Hark! Peace! It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman, Which gives the sterns’t good-night. He is about it; The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms Do mock their charge with snores. I have drugg’d their possets, That death and nature do contend about them, Whether they live or die.

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Ask a volunteer to read the lines out loud. This is a line of Lady Macbeth’s from the beginning of Act Two. What is she doing here? STUDENTS answer that she is waiting to find out if Macbeth has murdered Duncan. Ask the class what they notice about this speech. How does it begin? What kinds of words are used? Write the STUDENTS’ ideas on the board. For example:

• It begins with two comparisons between how she feels and how everyone else feels. • She seems nervous because the owl’s cry startles her. • There are a lot of mentions of death and dying. • Etc.

Can you paraphrase the speech? Ask a volunteer to say the speech in his or her own words, using as simple language as possible. It might sound something like this: “They got drunk, but drinking made me bold. They lost energy, but I got more of it. Listen! Oh, it’s nothing, just an owl shrieking. He’s doing it now. The doors are open, and the servants are asleep. I drugged them and now they look like they’re either dead or asleep.” If one student struggles to paraphrase the whole thing, take it line by line.

Step 2: Introduction of Rhetoric: What is Figurative Language ? (10 minutes)

Prompt: So why didn’t Shakespeare just say that? Why did he make it so complicated? Imagine if language only communicated the facts. It would be dull, but Shakespeare uses language in specific ways to make the audience imaginatively see, feel, and enjoy the story. One of the most important ways he does this is through Rhetoric. Does anyone know what rhetoric is or have an example? STUDENTS respond with rhetorical (or moot) questions, political debates, or sermons. Continue: Those are the places we notice rhetoric the most, but it’s actually used, in every commercial on TV, in every pop song, in nursery rhymes, even every time we choose particular word patterns to communicate … it’s everywhere! It also has come to mean the opposite of what it is. Rhetorical today often means pointless, like a rhetorical question or flashy but meaningless like high rhetoric in a debate. Rhetoric is actually a very old art form dating back to 350BC! It’s the art using language to influence the listener. People, today, often think rhetoric is hollow language that doesn’t mean anything… ever hear the phrase. ‘Turn down the rhetoric?” That’s because rhetoric got a bad reputation because people used to make lots of money creating flowery speeches that meant nothing. In Shakespeare’s time, however, rhetoric was used to help communicate big ideas in a way that excited people’s imagination and emotions. There are many different aspects to rhetoric that help us create inspirational or moving arguments, but we going to look specifically at the aspect of Linguistic Style…choosing the right words and patterns to affect your listener. These ways of using language are called devices. What’s a device?

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Students respond a device is a mechanism that does something like orthodontics, eggbeater, washing machine. Teacher responds that language works the same way and so there are Rhetorical Devices that use language to DO something to the listener. They are also called Figures of Speech… A Figure of Speech, like in figure skating, shapes language to create specific patterns. Remember, Rhetoric, like Shakespeare’s plays, was meant to be spoken aloud… not written down or studied. Now rhetorical devices are used in all kinds of writing, but we still use the term Figures of Speech.

Step 3: Introducing Specific Figures/Devices in passage (10 minutes)

TEACHER continues: So let’s look at some specific devices that make this passage really effective. Lady Macbeth is comparing how she feels with what she is imagining is happening in the other room. What does she say? STUDENTS respond that the grooms are drunk and she is bold. Teacher continues by asking what is the difference between being drunk and bold. Students respond that one is ‘ready for anything’ and the other is not. This is an example of a very common rhetorical device called ANTITHESIS. It is one of a larger group of rhetorical devices or figures of speech called BALANCE. Figures of balance use the comparison of one thing to another to tell the audience something about one of the items being discussed. ANTITHESIS does this by comparing two things that are opposite. How does that work in this speech? Does it happen again. Teacher points out that while the bodyguard’s have been quenched with the drugged drinks, Lady Macbeth feels just the opposite… she is ‘on fire’ and cannot be quenched. The class can discuss how these are opposite and how the imagery helps the audience to see Lady Macbeth as strong and maybe unstoppable in comparison to the ‘stupid’ grooms who are still better than the monarch which their snores ‘mock’ or make fun of. Teacher continues, asking students to read the lines ending in Hark, Peace! STUDENTS try it. They may notice that the explosive to words, not only add tension, and might contain e a clue to the actress to pause and listen to the sound just outside the room, but that it also sounds like a screeching owl, which she decides it is. TEACHER continues: When a writer chooses words that sound like the thing they describe, it’s called ONOMATOPOEIA. This is very helpful to an actor performing a descriptive passage, since the very sounds of the words help the audience to imagine what’s being described. Does it happen again in the passage? Students may identify ‘screeched’ and ‘snore.’ TEACHER continues: Another rhetorical device that is used in the passage is PERSONIFICATION. It means that the writer gives human characteristics to an inanimate object or concept. Can anyone find a personification in the passage? Students discover that Death and Nature are contending (or fighting over) the outcome of the two passed out guards, because Lady Macbeth has given them so much sleeping

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potion that they are not just passed out, they could die too. Also, the owl is a bellman or presage of death. These are just a few of the many Figures of Speech that Shakespeare uses (there are over 270!) Many have crazy sounding Greek names like (Hypozeugma, Epizeuxis, Chiasmus, or Antimetabole). Here are just two more figures used in this passage. Look at it again. Is there any letter of the alphabet used more than any other?

STUDENTS may notice that the words snore, groom, surfeited, charge all have rounded “r” sounds.

TEACHER continues: It’s pretty subtle in this speech, but Shakespeare does use two of his favorite figures of speech here – ALLITERATION AND ASSONANCE. Alliteration means that a number of words start with the same letter. Like rhyme, alliteration catches our attention and helps unify a group of words. It’s pleasing to listen to. Occasionally the vowel sound also contributes to a mood or feeling in the lines. Some other good examples from the play would be when the witches say, “Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair” or “Fillet of Fenny Snake.” TEACHER continues Assonance is similar to alliteration, but instead of the repetition of consonant sounds, it’s the repetition of vowel sounds. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the words have to rhyme. Snore, surfeited, and charge all have similar sounds to the interior of the words.

Step 4: Students search and Identify for Figures/Devices in the Passage (10 minutes)

TEACHER breaks students into smaller groups and everyone looks for figures of speech in the second piece of text (Act 5, scene 5, 19-28) on the hand out. STUDENTS discuss and identify examples of hyperbole, alliteration, personification, and onomatopoeia. If you’ve already studied metaphor and simile in class, they might look out for those as well. Here are a few examples (there are many more):

assonance: petty pace from day to day

personification: To-morrow creeps

Life’s but a walking shadow, and a poor player

Yesterday has lighted fools

alliteration: petty pace

dusty death

tale / told

hyperbole: last syllable of recorded time

onomatopoeia: creeps

petty pace

struts and frets

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Activity 2: Using Language: Insult War (15 minutes)

Step 1 – Set Up

Now that you’ve had a chance to look at some figurative language, it’s time to have some fun with the words in the play! Divide class into two groups, have them take 1 minute to come up with a team name and cheer. At one end of the room, place the three piles of battle cards. Gather the two groups at the other end of the room and share the team name and cheers. Explain that this is a TEAM competition… and how the game will work… demonstrating.

Step 2 – The Game

One person from each team (two total) will run to the other end of the room and pick up one of their team’s cards. A Team Member will say, “YOU ARE SO…..” and fill in word #1 (adjective) Team A Cheer wildly B Team Member will say…”At least I’m not…” and fill in the word on card # 1 (adjective) Team B Cheer wildly

A Team Member will say, “Oh yeah? Well you are…” and fill in word #2 (hyphenated - adjective) Team A Cheer wildly B Team Member will say…”At least I’m not…” and fill in word #2 (hyphenated - adjective) Team B Cheer wildly A Team Member will say, “YOU ARE A” and say word #3 (adj, hyphenation, noun) Team A Cheer wildly B Team Member will say…”YOU ARE A” and say word #3 (adj, hyphenation, noun) Team B Cheer wildly THEY SHAKE HANDS and return to triumphant cheering. You award a point to one team or the other. Repeat…. Step 3 – Sudden Death Lightning Round

Miraculously, it will always end in a tie score! Have everyone line up shoulder to shoulder, team facing team. Rapid-fire, they hurl just the words on the card back and forth down the line, and then the whole team says one good insult (that you choose on the fly from what they have said) and the whole team B does the same. Choose a winning team, who gets 10 seconds to do a victory dance, and everyone shakes hands and congratulates the other team on a game well played.

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IMPORTANT TEACHING NOTE: This is meant to be fun, not genuinely insulting. Setting the right tone to this game is extremely important. Keeping it a GAME, and TEAM focused, keeping the cordiality of a formal duel with hand shaking, keeping the mood silly and very broad will keep it from being mean. Be strict about only using SHAKESPEARE’s words. The minute it starts to get actually mean, diffuse it with a group cheer, or give the points to who needs them psychically. If your group really doesn’t get along well, or if they are very young, consider using the flattery cards instead of the insulting cards.


Give the students a chance to express what that was like and ask if everyone knew the dictionary definition of every word? (The answer will likely be no.) Ask if it mattered? Reinforce the idea that HOW you USE the words, especially the sounds gave meaning and were enjoyable. Note that the combination of rhetorical devices and acting choices makes Shakespeare’s language interesting to listen to.

Homework:

Take one of the following phrases and make it more interesting and ornate by use of rhetoric or figurative language:

• It’s very late. • Will you marry me? • I knew your father. • This tastes good. See how Shakespearean you can become!

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Lesson 11 – Acting Shakespeare!

GRADES 4-12

TOPICS:

THEATER ARTS: OBJECTIVES/TACTICS/OBSTACLES

MACBETH ACTS ONE, TWO, AND THREE

CLOSE READING THROUGH PERFORMANCE

Goal: To identify characters’ objectives and super-objectives. To identify tactics used to achieve an objective, and obstacles that might stand in their way Words of the Day:

objective super-objective

tactics obstacles


Grade 4: L 5 Grade 5: L 5 Grade 9-10: L 5 Grade 11-12: L 5



Worksheet: Objective/Tactics

Activity 1: Intro to Objectives: Walking to Alaska! (15 minutes)

Step 1 – Set Up

Start by having all the students stand in one corner of the room, facing the opposite corner. Tell them that this game is called “Walking to Alaska.” The objective is to get from California, where they are now, to Alaska (the other side of the playing space). The obstacle is that no one can get to Alaska the same way. Demonstrate by walking from “California” to “Alaska.” Say “I just walked to Alaska. Now no one else can walk to Alaska. What can you do?”

Step 2 – Crossing to Alaska

Students then cross “to Alaska” one at a time as soon as they feel ready – this is a game that rewards the bravest souls with more options!

TEACHING NOTE: It’s tempting to give the students ideas, like skipping, running, walking backwards, crawling, etc., but we’ve found that they figure it out

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on their own. If they repeat, send them back cheerfully to try again. Reward all of the choices with applause and praise.

Once everyone has come across once, see if they can go back to California without repeating any of the ways they used on the way to Alaska. You can do this as long as ideas keep flowing…

Step 3 - Processing

When you’re done, ask the students why you did this exercise. They’ll usually figure out that it’s about finding multiple solutions to the same problem, or multiple tactics to achieve the same objective. Introduce the concepts of HOW vs. WHAT, and DOING vs. FEELING. (How you felt didn’t help you get to Alaska, but what you did mattered… parallel to Acting: we care what you do onstage more than how you feel about it.)

Activity 2: Identifying Actor/Character Objectives (10 minutes)

Explain that just like in the game you just played, all the characters in Macbeth have an objective. They use various tactics to achieve that objective. Every character has an objective for everything they do in the play, just as in real life, we always want something, no matter how small. Think about it - what do you want right now? STUDENTS respond: Maybe they want to eat, or sleep, or get out of class. Maybe they want to learn – we can hope! - or talk to their friends.

Continue: On top of these small things we all want at every moment, we also have what’s called a super-objective. This is the big thing we all want in life. For characters in a play, the super-objective is what they want to over the course of the entire play. Sometimes this will change as a result of the action of the play. Can you guess, for example, what Macbeth’s super-objective is? STUDENTS guess that Macbeth wants to have power, or be successful, or be King for the rest of his life, or something along those lines. TEACHER passes out the Objectives Worksheet and continues: Take a moment to write down the super-objective for the characters on this worksheet, as best you can. You can always change your mind as we read more.

Activity 3: Identifying Tactics (15 minutes)

Step 1:

Continue: If you were the actors playing these roles, knowing the objectives would be very important. Everything you did within the scene, all your gestures and lines, would be geared toward trying to achieve your objectives. You might try a number of different things in order to achieve that objective. These are called tactics.

Divide STUDENTS into pairs. One of each pair stands on one side of the room across from the other. There should be some distance between the partners.

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Using just the words “Come here,” one partner should get the other to come to him/her. So that partner’s objective should be to get the other person to come to him/her. The other partner’s objective should be to come to their partner if they feel honestly persuaded. Some students may decide not to come just to be difficult, so if you feel that anyone is not letting him/herself be persuaded, intervene. Let both partners have a chance to say “Come here.”

Step 2:

Using just the words “Go Away,” each partner should convince the other to go back to the other side of the room. STUDENTS should find that different tactics are effective: If yelling at their partners doesn’t work, try whispering. If jumping happily up and down doesn’t work, try crying. The main thing is to commit to the tactic and try something else if it’s not working. Continue: You’ve just played a scene where you had to try a lot of different things to get what you want. This is the basis of all good theatre, this simple little exercise you just did. When you really want something on stage and can make your partner believe it, the audience believes you too.

Ask: Did you have to try a lot of things to achieve your objective? If so, why? STUDENTS respond that their partners didn’t believe them. Continue: Your goal was to make your partner come here, or go away. Sometimes they didn’t believe you, and that prevented you from getting what you wanted. This is called an obstacle - the thing that prevents the character from getting what they want. Sometimes characters can overcome their obstacles, sometimes they can’t. What obstacles does Macbeth have in achieving his objective? STUDENTS respond that his own fear, guilt, and paranoia gets in the way, and that he might get caught for having murdered Duncan. Continue: Look at your worksheet and fill in tactics and obstacles as best you can for the characters’ super-objectives.

Activity 4: Using Objective/Tactics in Performance (15 minutes)

Pass out the Objective/Tactic/Obstacle scenes and divide the students up into pairs, giving each pair one of the scenes (there are three different ones). See if you can identify objectives, tactics, and obstacles for each short scene. Read the scenes out loud with each other, really trying different tactics to achieve objectives.

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If time, perform the scenes for each other. Have one half of the class cheer for one of the characters and the other half cheer for the other. Make it competitive and really encourage each actor to try every tactic possible to “win” in the scene!


Ask the class what they noticed about performing the scenes. Did certain tactics work better

than others? How did it compare to the “Come here/Go away” game?

Homework:

When you are watching one of your favorite TV shows or a movie, choose a character and

identify their super-objective. See if you can figure out what their objective is in a particular

scene, what tactics they use to achieve it, and what obstacles are in their way.

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Lesson 12- Exploring Meter & Tone

GRADES 9-12

TOPICS:

SCANSION: SHARED LINES

LANGUAGE ARTS: TONE

Goal: To use Scansion to better understand a dramatic scene. To learn about the role of status in Elizabethan society.

Note: The lessons for Grades 9-12 are most effective if the previous lessons have already been taught.

Words of the Day:

shared lines tone

status


Grade 9-10: RL 5, RI 5, W 3 Grade 11-12: RL 5, W 3



Deck of cards Classroom Script – Act Two, Scene Two

Activity 1: Exploring Shared Lines in Iambic Pentameter (40 minutes)

Note: If you haven’t recently taught Scansion, it’s important to review it before teaching this class – see Grades 3-5, Lesson 2.

Step 1 – Review Iambic Pentameter & Breakdown Scene (10 minutes)

Review Iambic pentameter basics. Remind students how Shakespeare used rhythm to tell dramatic stories.

Project Act Two, Scene Two on the board and/or pass out the worksheet. Invite a volunteer to start scanning the scene on the board. STUDENTS may notice that the beginning of almost every line starts halfway through a line of verse. Some lines are only a word or two long.

Continue: This type of Iambic Pentameter variation is called a shared line. It indicates that there is no pause between speakers. One speaker picks up when the other stops. What does this do to the scene? Why might Shakespeare have used it?

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Step 2 – Discovery through Playing with the Verse (10 minutes)

Divide the student’s into pairs and read the scene out loud. Keep in mind the idea that even though your scene partner’s line might have ended, the line of verse hasn’t. You have to jump right in with your line so that there’s no pause in the line of verse. STUDENTS try this in pairs. Ask: How did that feel? STUDENTS may notice that the scene feels jumpy, edgy, nervous, and suspenseful.

Step 3 – Discuss Discoveries (10 minutes)

Continue: Think about all the clues Shakespeare gives us to tell us how to perform this scene. It starts with Lady Macbeth alone on stage, very jumpy (this speech was studied in Grades 6-8, Lesson 2). Then Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have many shared lines. How does this affect the tone, or mood, of the scene? STUDENTS may say that the scene is scary or tense.

TEACHER asks, how else does Shakespeare use language to create the mood? Teacher points out the many interjections in the scene such as “Who’s there? What ho?” and “Hark!”. How many questions are in the scene? What does asking so many questions do? What images appear?

Step 4 – Putting Discoveries to Work (10 minutes)

Pairs work again, trying to incorporate all of the elements to create a specific tone. Teacher prompts What rhetorical figures are in the scene? Can you find and physicalize the antitheses? Hyperboles? What imbedded stage directions are there?

Step 5 – Sharing Discoveries (10 minutes)

Ask for volunteers to perform the scene, keeping in mind the objectives of the characters, the scansion, the tone of the scene, and what we know about the characters. Get feedback from the class about the effect of the shared lines.

Homework:

Write a short scene of no more than 10 lines that creates tone through the rhythm and sounds of the words and the images used.

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Lesson 13 - Exploring Status

GRADES 9-12

TOPICS:

PERFORMING ARTS: STATUS IN HISTORY AND ONSTAGE

Goal: To use Scansion to better understand a dramatic scene. To learn about the role of status in Elizabethan society.

Note: The lessons for Grades 9-12 are most effective if the previous lessons have already been taught.

Words of the Day:

status English Language Arts Content Standards:

Grade 9-10: RL 2, 6, RI 6, SL 3, L 3 Grade 11-12: RI 6, SL 3, L 3



Deck of cards Classroom Script – Act One, Scene 4

Activity: Status in History and Onstage (40 minutes) Step 1 – Introducing Status (5 minutes)

Status is something it’s very important to keep in mind when reading or acting Shakespeare’s plays. It informed all aspects of Elizabethan society. In this play, status is extremely important, because so many things happen than turn the normal order of things upside down. A Lord murders a King, because he’s encouraged to do so by his wife. What do you think would be the normal, approved status of those people? STUDENTS may guess that in the Elizabethan world, a Lord should serve his King, and his wife should be lower status than him and not tell him what to do.

Step 2 - Status Game (10 minutes)

Pass out a stack of playing cards, preferably a mix of high and low cards from various suits, with more than one of each number. Ask students to hold their cards face up on their foreheads without looking at them themselves. Prompt: The very highest status is the king, then the queen, then the jack. The middle numbers would be middle-class people, like Shakespeare himself, merchants, and

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artisans. Threes, fours, and fives might be servants, while aces and twos would be outcasts such as beggars and people with contagious diseases. STUDENTS move around the room silently, looking at each other’s cards. If they see a high status person, they bow, offer chairs, etc. If they see a low status person, they turn away, ignore them, etc. Try it first silently, then with words. Stress that when using words, it’s important not to tell others what cards they have on their foreheads. Physical contact should be avoided, since it tends to lead to pushing and shoving! As STUDENTS start to figure out who they are, they may start to behave accordingly. After about five minutes, STUDENTS try to line themselves up in order of status, based on how others reacted to them, still not looking at their cards. Go down the line and asks each person what card s/he thinks s/he has. After guessing, the student looks at his/her card to see how accurately s/he guessed. Discuss the exercise. How did they know their status? How did everyone’s body language change as they began to guess their status? How did you feel if you were low status? How did you feel if you were high status? How about if you were in the middle?

Step 3 – Status in Macbeth (10 minutes)

TEACHER continues: If you had to assign a playing card to each character in this play, how would you do it? Here are some ideas:

Witches/Spirits Ace, since they almost have a god-like status and can control the mortals.

King Duncan King.

Malcolm Jack – he is next in line to the throne.

Macbeth Starts out as a high number, like a Ten, then becomes a King.

Lady Macbeth As a woman, she would start out with a lower number, like Eight or Nine, then becomes Queen.

Banquo, Macduff, Ross, Lenox As Thanes, they could be Nines and Tens.

Lady Macduff As a noblewoman, she’d be lower in rank than the men, like a Six or Seven.

Doctor, Gentlewoman As the middle-class people, they could be Five or Six.

Servants Servants, they might also be Threes or Fours.

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Try the game again with using the character cards (printed with only name on one side) STUDENTS should try to guess which character they’re playing. You can try this silently or with some words allowed, as long as they’re not actually using the characters’ names. Step 4 – Status in Macbeth (10 minutes)

Project or pass out the Classroom Script for Act One, scene 4. Line everyone as the character card they are holding in a line up according to status. Then, working together as a class, stage the scene using status to decide who should stand where, who should kneel, who can touch each other, who enters first or last, etc.

Discuss what happens physically on stage when Duncan announces the young Malcolm will be heir to the throne. (Remember that Royalty is NOT hereditary at this time). Who has status at the beginning of the scene? Who has status at the end of the scene? How does it change? It’s important to recognize that status is a changeable, mutable thing, not a permanent state. The whole plot of Macbeth is really about changes in status.

Homework

Status may not be as obvious to us today as it was to the Elizabethans, but it still exists in modern American society. Who do you think has the highest status in today’s culture? Who has the lowest? What status do you think you have, and why? Cut pictures from magazine or newspapers and create a collage of different status. Write a brief essay about status in our society.

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Lesson 14 – Exploring Soliloquies

GRADES 9-12

TOPICS

DRAMATIC STRUCTURE: SOLILOQUIES

USING FIGURES OF SPEECH TO COMPREHEND/COMMUNICATE

THEATRE ARTS: ACTING CHOICES

Goal: To learn the purpose of soliloquies in dramatic structure. To discover some new figures of speech, and use them through performance to comprehend and communicate character.

Words of the Day:

Soliloquy Monologue Fourth wall


Grade 9-10: RL 1, 3, 4, 6, RI 1, 5, 6, L 4, 5 Grade 11-12: RL 1, 4, 6, RI 1, 5, 6, L 4, 5



Overhead Sheet: Act Three, Scene 1, Banquo and Macbeth (Soliloquies)

Activity 1: Soliloquies on Stage - Banquo (10 minutes)

Begin by asking if anyone knows what it’s called when a character alone on stage begins to speak to the audience. Some students may (not incorrectly) call this a monologue. Note that a monologue, which is simply a long speech, can be spoken to another character on stage. When a character is alone, speaking to the audience, this is called a soliloquy. Soliloquies play an important role in Macbeth. Through soliloquies by the major characters – Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo – we find out what the characters are thinking and learn about the changes in their mental states. A minor comic character, the Porter, also has a soliloquy.

Write (or project) the soliloquy worksheet on the board.(Overhead/Data projections available in supplemental materials) Take a look at the first soliloquy, and ask students to whom Banquo is speaking.

STUDENTS may say that he’s talking to himself, the audience, God, an imaginary friend, etc.

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Continue: Today, we’re used to realistic types of theatre and movies where characters don’t usually talk to the audience. But in Shakespeare’s time, there was no imaginary fourth wall between the actors and the audience - the actors never pretended like the audience wasn’t there. The concept of the fourth wall came later, in the 19th century. As the actor playing this role, you could talk directly to the audience, or you could imagine that you were speaking to someone else, like God, an imaginary friend, someone like that. Let’s take a look at this first soliloquy and see what it tells us about Banquo and his current state of mind. Let’s think about all the tools we have at our disposal to analyze this speech. Is it in verse or prose? STUDENTS take a few minutes to scan the speech, or just a few lines of it. They may notice it is fairly regular. What does it tell us about a character when he speaks in very regular iambic pentameter? STUDENTS may guess that Banquo is a reliable, logical, stable sort of person, not affected by chaotic emotions. Now look at some of the figures of speech. What do you see in this speech? STUDENTS point out the following (there may be others, too): alliteration: “weird women” “fear/foully/for’t” “speeches shine” Metaphor Banquo (myself) as root of a tree with many branches = father to many kings “like apes,” “like hedgehogs onomatopoeia: “hush” assonance: “oracles, hope, no, more Now look at the actual content of the speech. What is Banquo asking himself, and the audience? Get a volunteer to read the speech out loud. Ask: Why do you think Shakespeare included this speech in the play? STUDENTS respond with ideas. He is setting up the “good guys” versus the “bad guys” at this point. Banquo has noticed that the witches’ prophesies have come true regarding Macbeth, and that he may have done something terrible to make them happen. He is also tempted by the idea that the prophesies may come true for him as well – but he is cut off before he can go much farther with those thoughts. Ask: Do we, the audience, believe that Banquo will behave like Macbeth does to get what he wants? Does this soliloquy help to create suspense? What do we worry will happen to Banquo now? STUDENTS respond.

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Activity 2: Soliloquies on Stage - Macbeth (15 minutes)

Later in the scene, Macbeth also has a soliloquy. Let’s look at the speech. (Overhead/Data projections available in supplemental materials)

Ask a volunteer to scan the speech, even just the first few lines. What do you notice right away?

STUDENTS may notice that the speech has two weak endings in the first two complete lines – already it is less even and orderly than Banquo’s.

What figures of speech do you notice?

To be thus, is nothing, But to be safely thus: our fears in Banquo Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature Reigns that which would be fear’d. 'Tis much he dares; And, to that dauntless temper of his Mind, He hath a Wisdom, that doth guide his Valour To act in safety. There is none but he, Whose being I do fear; and under him My Genius is rebuk’d, as it is said Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the sisters When first they put the name of King upon me, And bade them speak to him; then prophet-like They hail’d him father to a line of Kings. Upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown, And put a barren sceptre in my gripe, Thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand, No son of mine succeeding. If’t be so, For Banquo’s issue have I fil’d my mind, For them the gracious Duncan have I murder’d, Put rancors in the vessel of my peace Only for them, and mine eternal jewel Given to the common enemy of man, To make them Kings – the seeds of Banquo Kings! Rather than so, come fate into the list, And champion me to th’ utterance. Who's there?

STUDENTS may suggest: assonance: being, fear, Genius I, filed, mind, Gracious, issue chid the sisters personification: fears in Banquo / Stick deep fruitless crown barren sceptre come Fate, / and champion me

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Antithesis be thus vs. be safely thus Simile Prophet-like as it is said / Mark Antony’s was by Caesar alliteration: son… succeeding hyperbole: There is none but he, mine eternal jewel / Given to the common enemy of man

Let’s listen to the speech aloud and get a sense of what’s happening from not only what it says, but also how it sounds. Do you here the list at the end of the speech, (it’s called a parison, and an auxesis)? What is the cumulative effect of Macbeth’s of the list of all the things he has done, not for himself, but for Banquo’s children? What mood do you think he’s in by the end? STUDENTS suggest that Macbeth is working himself into a state over his fears about Banquo. The word “king” is repeated times during the speech – Macbeth is now King, but he fears that this will be taken away from him, so he’s obsessed with it. The overall theme of the speech goes back to the first lines: “To be thus is nothing,/But to be safely thus…” Repetition is a type of rhetorical device (also called a Figure of Speech). “The most audibly recognizable group of figures, Repetition uses the repeating sound of a word, phrase, or line to play upon the actor’s and audience’s sensibilities and expand their experience of the moment by clarifying the meaning, delighting the wit, or deepening the emotional resonance.”3

Activity 3: Soliloquies on Stage – The Porter (10 minutes) Take a look at the final soliloquy on the worksheet. What do you notice about it right away? Unlike almost everything else in Macbeth, this speech is in prose. This speech occurs right after the scene you went over yesterday, with the shared lines. Although Macbeth is a tragedy, Shakespeare often included comic elements in his tragedies, and this speech is famous as a comic contrast to all the suspense of the previous scene. Read the speech out loud. Like the speeches of Banquo and Macbeth, the Porter is working through an argument and asking the audience a question. What question is he asking? STUDENTS respond that he’s pretending he’s the devil who opens the gates of Hell, and wondering who is waiting to be let inside. He has several ideas – a farmer, an equivocator, and a tailor.

3 (c) Becky Kemper 2007, used by permission.

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Suggest to your volunteer that he or she read the soliloquy as if were a knock-knock joke. Get the whole class to respond with “who’s there?” Try getting volunteers to act out the three different characters the Porter mentions – the farmer, equivocator, and tailor. Now the whole class is part of the soliloquy! Would this be an entertaining way to see this speech performed? Are there any figures of speech that help to make this speech funny? How does the Porter use repetition here?

Activity 4: Using Language to make Acting Choices (20 minutes) Ask for three volunteers. Each volunteer will perform a soliloquy, using the rhetorical devices discussed. Stop after each speech to discuss how the actor used the figures of speech to further the argument. Now try the speeches choosing one of the Renaissance humours, if you’ve done that class. Try to layer in these choices over the use of rhetorical devices. Notice how attention to detail and pursuit of objectives can make a speech interesting to listen to. As a final step, notice how the actor uses his or her voice and body. Is he or she relaxed? Can you hear him or her, and can you understand what he or she is saying? Go through a quick, 2- or 3-minute vocal and physical warm-up – even running around the quad for 3 minutes can help the body to relax and the voice to drop in. Try the speeches again. How did the physical warm-up affect the performance?

Conclusion /Feedback (5 minutes):

Point out that the actor’s job is a challenging one – he or she has to use his or her mind and body in a very integrated way to help us truly engage with a character and understand what is happening in the story. Ask the students the names of some of their favorite actors, and why they like them. Do they use their whole body and mind in an integrated way?

Homework:

Improvise a very short soliloquy starting with a particular state of mind, based on one of the following scenarios:

1. You are very annoyed because you just lost your wallet. 2. You are very happy because you just won the lottery. 3. You are very angry because your brother just ate the last piece of cake. 4. You are very scared because you just heard a loud noise outside and you’re home alone.

During the speech, imagine that something happens that changes your state of mind

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Lesson 15 – Shakespeare’s Theater Then and Now

GRADES 9-12

TOPICS:

RENAISSANCE STAGE PRACTICES

MODERN THEATER ROLES

Goal: To explore staging possibilities in a scene of great theatricality. To learn about special effects in Shakespeare’s time.

Words of the Day:

stagecraft pit yard thrust groundlings

“Hell” “Heavens” tiring house thunder sheets


Grade 9-10: RL 6, 9, 7, SL 2 Grade 11-12: RL 7, SL 2



Slides or drawings of the Globe Theatre, information about Renaissance special effects available at http://www.globe-theatre.org.uk/globe-theatre-special-effects.html.

Activity 1: Special effects in Shakespeare’s time (15 minutes)

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most magical plays, and as a result, it has a lot of opportunities to use stagecraft and special effects. Stagecraft is defined as “skill in the techniques and devices of the theatre.” The Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare’s company performed, along with many other theatres of the time, was built to accommodate a surprising amount of technical stagecraft. If possible, show a model or slides of the Globe Theatre. The Globe in London was roughly circular in shape, with three levels of seats built around a central courtyard, called the pit or the yard. A platform stage, known as a thrust stage, protruded from one wall into the center of the yard, where those who stood to watch the play would stand on three sides of it. These people were called the groundlings. The seats also surrounded the stage on three sides. It cost a lot less to watch the show from the yard than it did from the seated areas. In the floor of the stage, there were several trapdoors allowing access from the basement beneath the stage, which was known as “Hell.” The area over the stage was painted with clouds and sky, and was known as the “Heavens.” There were also trapdoors leading down

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from the heavens, through which flying entrances could be made using a system of wires and pulleys. There was a balcony over the stage where musicians could provide live accompaniment to the performance, and where scenes were sometimes staged. Behind the stage was an area known as the tiring house, where the actors dressed, kept their props, and stayed when they weren’t on stage.

Knowing how the theatre was constructed, what do you think are some of the things Shakespeare’s company might have done to stage Macbeth? STUDENTS respond with ideas. The witches and their cauldron could have appeared from the trapdoors in the stage floor, and disappeared into the floor when they are supposed to vanish. How do you think Shakespeare’s company might have accomplished thunder and lightning? STUDENTS may have seen old-fashioned thunder sheets - sheets of metal used to create the sound of thunder when shaken. The Globe also had a cannon, which could be fired to make loud sounds. In 1613, the cannon actually set fire to the roof of the theatre and burned the place down - luckily no one was killed or seriously hurt! Drums, chimes, and other instruments could also be used to create thunder sounds. Since there was no way to light the stage at night, all performances at the Globe took place during the day. Lightning would have been hard to achieve. Today, we’re used to seeing very complex special effects in films and television. For the Globe audience, the effects used in a play like Macbeth would have been the height of technology. They would have felt like you do when you watch a film like Avatar!

Activity 2: A scene with special effects (20 minutes) In Act Four, scene 1 of the play, Macbeth returns to the three witches, and they conjure three apparitions. Divide students into groups of four or five. Pass out the text from the scene. Give students time to discuss how they would present this scene. How would they make the apparitions appear and disappear? How would they show a line of Kings that continues to the crack of doom? How would they make Banquo look dead? After 10 minutes discussion, allow each group to present their ideas to the class as if they were a design team pitching ideas for a full production.

Activity 3: Jobs in the modern theatre (15 minutes) In Shakespeare’s time, a company of actors was responsible for all the jobs in the theatre - acting, writing, directing, business management, and designing all the special effects we’ve just been talking about. Actors were expected to provide their own costumes. Scenery was pretty much the same from show to show - the audience was expected to use their imagination to transform the theatre space into wherever the play took place. Today, the theatre includes a lot of different jobs, and often theatre artists only do one job rather than all of them at once. Can you name any theatre jobs?

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STUDENTS respond with ideas, which may include (among others): actor director stage manager costume designer scenic designer lighting designer sound designer

composer music director dance choreographer fight choreographer understudy props master hair and make-up crew

dresser backstage crew business manager box office manager house manager usher playwright

Have you ever done any of these jobs? What jobs sound like the most fun to you? STUDENTS respond with ideas. Conclusion/Feedback (10 minutes)

Ask: Are all these jobs essential to the theatre? If you had to reduce theatre to its essence, which would be the most essential jobs? What makes theatre theatre? In the end, the two things you need to make theatre are performers and audience. It’s often said that the audience members are the most important people in the theatre, since without them, it’s not really theatre. What would it be like to see the scene we just worked on with no special effects, costumes, or any design at all? Could it still work?

Homework

Research Renaissance stagecraft in more detail. Think of ways the following stage directions, written by Shakespeare, could have been accomplished: • Exit pursued by a bear. (The Winter’s Tale) • Enter Lavinia, her hands cut off, and her tongue cut out. (Titus Andronicus) • The banquet disappearing and the Harpy descending on Prospero’s enemies (The Tempest) • Jupiter descends in thunder and lightning, sitting upon an eagle: he throws a thunderbolt. (Cymbeline)

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Lesson 16 – Critiquing the Performance

ALL AGES

TOPIC:

DRAMATIC CRITIQUE

Goal: To review the action of the play and the lessons that have led up to this performance. To prepare to see a live production of the play, and make judgments about the production based on supported opinions.

NOTE: Today’s class is about 90 minutes long to include the 60 minutes of performance. Words of the Day:

Criticism Review English Language Arts Content Standards: Grade K: RL 1, 2, 3, RI 1, 3, SL 2, 4 Grade 1: RL 1, 2, 3, 6, RI 1, 3, SL 2, 4 Grade 2: RL 1, 2, 3, 5, RI 1, SL 2, 4 Grade 3: RL 1, 2, 3, 5, W 1, SL 2 Grade 4: RL 1, 2, 3, 5, W 1, SL 2 Grade 5: RL 1, 2, 3, 5, W 1, SL 2 Grade 6: RL 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, W 1, 4, SL 2 Grade 7: RL 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, W 1, 4, SL 2 Grade 8: RL 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, W 1, 4, SL 2 Grade 9-10: RL 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, RI 7, W 1, 4 Grade 11-12: RL 1, 2, 3, 7, W 1, 4



None.

Activity 1: Get ready to watch the play! (15 minutes) Ideally, at this point students will be able to see the Shakespeare on Tour performance of Macbeth.

Tell the students that this will be an edited version of the play -- about an hour. The whole play would take two or three hours to perform. NOTE: IF you are seeing the play prior to using this curriculum, you can use this as your first day and start your study of the play by reviewing the production.

71

Explain that after the play, we will be processing our experience, and students will be required to evaluate the play’s production in a written critique. They should be on the lookout for the following things:

1. Which characters were cut from this version of the play? Why do you think the director decided to do this?

2. The Shakespeare on Tour production uses only five actors. Which actors doubled up in which roles? What effect did this have on the production?

3. Which scenes were removed or heavily cut? Did you miss certain scenes or do you think the most important parts were left in?

4. What did you think of the director’s concept -- where and when the production was set, the choices made in the final scene, the costumes, scenery, and music?

5. What did you think of the actors’ performances? Was it easy to understand the text?

6. Overall, how did you feel during the play? When was it funny and when was it serious? Did it make you think or arouse any emotions?

7. Would the play have been harder to understand without the last three weeks’ lessons? Why or why not?

Activity 2: Watching the Play! (60 minutes)

EVERYONE goes to watch the play! Stress appropriate audience behavior -- listening quietly, reacting appropriately with laughter and applause, etc. After the play, there will be a five-to-ten-minute question and answer session with the actors. STUDENTS should feel free to ask them anything about the production or the play, then return to the classroom and discuss these questions. Conclusion/Feedback (15 minutes)

Ask: Was Shakespeare harder or easier to understand than you expected? Will you read or watch more Shakespeare plays now? Was it easier to understand when you were reading it or watching it? Supported opinions about a live performance, like those about a book or movie, are called criticism. The people who write criticism for a living are called critics. No matter who you are, your opinion about the performance we saw is valuable.

Homework:

Pretend you are a critic writing for your local newspaper and write a review of the play using your answers to the questions in Step 3. Would you recommend the play to others? Alternatively, write a letter to your favorite actor in the Shakespeare on Tour production telling him or her why you enjoyed his/her performance. Younger students may want to include a drawing of their favorite scene! You can actually send your letter if you like -- the actors are always happy to read them! Send it to Shakespeare on Tour at P.O. Box 460937, San Francisco, CA 94146.

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Macbeth

Supplemental Materials

(Also Available to Download Online)

General Creating This Production .................................................................................... 73

General Suggested Reading List ..................................................................................... 74

General Websites & Online Resources............................................................................ 75

Lesson 1 Synopsis Game Character Cards ...................................................................... 76

Lesson 1 Plot Synopsis ..................................................................................................... 94

Lesson 2 Handout: Shakespeare’s Life ............................................................................ 96

Lesson 2 Handout: Shakespeare’s Theater ....................................................................... 97

Lesson 2 Worksheet: What Do You Know About Shakespeare, A Group Quiz.................. 98

Lesson 2 Worksheet: What Do You Know About Shakespeare – Teacher Key ................. 99

Lesson 3 Macbeth in “5” .................................................................................................. 100

Lesson 4 Building the World of the Play – Quote Strips ................................................... 101

Lesson 5 Classroom Script: Act 4, scene 1 .................................................................... 103

Lesson 7 Handout: Shakespeare’s Language ................................................................ 104

Lesson 7 Overhead Projection: Iambic Pentameter ......................................................... 105

Lesson 7 Worksheet: Iambic Pentameter ....................................................................... 106

Lesson 7 Worksheet: Iambic Pentameter – TEACHER KEY .......................................... 107

Lesson 8 Cliché Statue Strips ......................................................................................... 108

Lesson 8 Macbeth Statue Strips ...................................................................................... 109




Lesson 9 Worksheet: Character Traits 2-TEACHER KEY ............................................... 116

Lesson 10 Worksheet: Rhetorical Devices ........................................................................ 117

Lesson 10 Insult Cards ...................................................................................................... 118

Lesson 11 Worksheet: Objectives/Tactics ......................................................................... 119

Lesson 11 Worksheet: Objectives/Tactics – TEACHER KEY ............................................ 120






Lesson 14 Classroom Script Act 3, scene 1 (Banquo) ....................................................... 129

Lesson 14 Classroom Script Act 3, scene 1 (Macbeth) ..................................................... 130

Lesson 14 Classroom Script Act 2, scene 3 (Porter) ......................................................... 131

Lesson 15 Classroom Script Act Four, scene 1, 48-124 .................................................... 132

73

Macbeth

CREATING THIS PRODUCTION Step 1: Choosing the play

Macbeth is on the California State recommended reading list for grades 9-12. Because of its

simple plot and magical elements, we’ve had great success performing it for younger grades as

well. The last time Macbeth was performed by Shakespeare on Tour was in the 2011-2012, in a

five-actor version edited by the director, Rebecca J. Ennals. This year, Education Program

Manager, Anne Yumi Kobori, directs a brand new adaptation, again with five actors.

Step 2: The artistic team is assembled

Anne brought in a former tour actor, Ella Ruth Francis, as Production Manager, to keep the

rehearsals running smoothly, and to manage deadlines and communications between

departments. Resident Artist Sydney Schwindt, a tour actor herself and specialist in stage

combat, was brought in as Assistant Director and Fight Choreographer, to stage the fight

scenes. Nicole Anderburg, who designed the costumes for our 2018-19 tour of The Comedy of

Errors, returned to design the costumes (pulling most of them from our stock) that define the

characters and tell the story, while helping the audience keep track of who is playing which

parts.

Step 3: Casting the show

Anne held auditions in the spring of 2019, with the help of Ella and Rebecca, and cast 5 full-time

and 5 alternate actors. One is an experienced tour actor with our Shakespeare on Tour

program, and another is a veteran of our summer program, Free Shakespeare in the Park.

Step 4: The design process

After conversations and meetings with Anne, Nicole had costume fittings and worked to make

existing costumes fit the actors. Anne and Ella pulled props from our stock, ordered one new

backdrop.

Step 5: Rehearsals begin

In late September, the actors began rehearsing with Anne, Ella and Sydney four days a week,

six hours a day. During the first week, they worked with the text, learned some Butoh and Laban

movement styles (supporting Anne’s chosen aesthetic), and decided on stage movement

(blocking). The second week brought more in-depth work on the characters and language and

the incorporation of some props, costumes, and set elements. During week three, the cast

worked on the set and incorporated all the music cues and costume changes. The alternate

actors also had a chance to learn the blocking and practice with the full-time cast.

Step 6: On the road!

Finally, the cast previewed the show before an audience. Anne gave them their final rehearsal

notes and they were off in the van to locations all over the state.

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Macbeth

SUGGESTED READING LIST

Editions of Macbeth

William Shakespeare, ed. Paul Werstine and Barbara A. Mowat, Macbeth, Folger Shakespeare Library Series, Pocket Classics, 2013.

William Shakespeare, adapted by Richard Appignanesi, Robert Deas, Manga

Shakespeare Series: Macbeth, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2008.

For Younger Students

Tales From Shakespeare by Tina Packer

Macbeth: For Kids (Shakespeare Can Be Fun Series) by Lois Burdett

On Shakespeare, the man

Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt

Small Latin, Lesse Greek by T.W. Baldwin

Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare, by Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema

Shakespeare A Life by Park Honan

S. Schoenbaum, William Shakespeare, A Compact Documentary Life, Oxford University

Press, 1977.

On Shakespeare’s Theater

Shakespeare Alive! by Joseph Papp and Elizabeth Kirkland

The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642 by Andrew Gurr

Playgoing in Shakespeare’s London by Andrew Gurr

Staging in Shakespeare’s Theatres by Andrew Gurr and Mariko Ichikawa

On Shakespeare’s Verse

Shakespeare’s Metrical Art by George T. Wright

Coined by Shakespeare by Stanley Malless

Shakespeare’s Use of the Arts of Language by Sister Miriam Joseph

Shakespeare and the Arts of Language by Russ McDonald

On Shakespeare’s Plays

The Riverside Shakespeare

The First Folio of Shakespeare 1623 edited by Doug Moston

Shakespeare’s Early Texts by Neil Freeman

Shakespeare Set Free by Peggy O’Brien

On Acting Shakespeare’s Plays

Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach by Patrick Tucker

Shakespeare’s First Texts: Folio Scripts By Neil Freeman

Playing Shakespeare, by John Barton and The Royal Shakespeare Company

Other Resources

Shaking Hands With Shakespeare: A Teenager’s Guide by Allison Wedell

Shakespeare’s Insults by Wayne F. Hill, Cynthia J. Ottchen

The Shakespeare Wars: Clashing Scholars, Public Fiascoes, Palace Coups by Ron

Rosenbaum

Teaching Shakespeare: A Handbook for Teachers by Rex Gibson

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Macbeth

ONLINE RESOURCES

Open Source Shakespeare: http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org Open Source Shakespeare attempts to be the best free Web site containing Shakespeare's complete works. It is intended for scholars, thespians, and Shakespeare lovers of every kind.

Shakespeare Online: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/ This is a great site, with lots of fun and lighthearted Shakespeare Information and a quiz!

The Folger Library: https://www.folger.edu/shakespeare/ The Folger Library is a rich resource with links to all the plays and poems, and very useful articles on Shakespeare’s life and times, and the First Folio.

Folger Digital Texts: https://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/. Good synopses, and online editions to all the plays, plus links to download the files or purchase hard copies.

Internet Shakespeare Editions: https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/ First folio Texts with good publishing histories and all the original spellings etc., great resources for cutting plays and more advanced study.

The Shakespeare Resource Center: http://www.bardweb.net/ Nicely concise History and interesting information pages. Lots of very good links.

Rhyme Zone Shakespeare Search: http://www.rhymezone.com/shakespeare/

This is a handy search engine for words and phrases in the Shakespearean canon, and fun activities. Want to know if Shakespeare ever used the word “responsibility”? Find out the surprising answer here!

The Global Electronic Shakespeare Conference: http://www.shaksper.net/ A discussion board where everyone from the biggest names in Shakespeare scholarship to those with just a passing interest in the Bard converge to chat and debate all kinds of issues in modern Shakespeare Studies

Silva Rhetorica: The Forest of Rhetoric: http://rhetoric.byu.edu/ For more advanced students who are interested in rhetoric, this site provides Latin terms and definitions for a myriad of rhetorical devices.

The Shakespearean Insulter: http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/index.html A great deal of fun, be insulted again and again from the plays or use an insult kit to create your own.

Good Tickle Brain: https://goodticklebrain.com/shakespeare-index Very clever stick figure cartoons of Shakespeare’s works, by Mia Gosling, with modern attitude and commentary. Great for middle-schoolers.

Please Help Us…

Do you find these sights useful? Do you have favorites of your own? Or, because of the fluid nature of the web, are any no longer working?

Let us know, so we can pass along the word. Email us at [email protected].

https://www.folger.edu/shakespeare

https://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/

https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/

http://rhetoric.byu.edu/

https://goodticklebrain.com/shakespeare-index

mailto:[email protected]

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The Synopsis Game

CHARACTER CARDS

Print following pages.

Then copy them front to back and cut in half

( or cut and past them onto Card Stock).

NOTE: Make 3 of the “Witch” cards, 3 of the

“Murderer” cards, and as many “Scottish

Thane” cards as you need for your class.

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Lady

Macbeth

Front of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

Macbeth

78

Back of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

Lady Macbeth

Macbeth’s wife,

intelligent, ambitious, and without scruples

Macbeth

Thane of Glamis,

an ambitious Scottish warrior

79

King

Duncan

Malcolm

Front of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

80

Back of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

Malcolm

The King’s oldest son,

young and inexperienced

King Duncan

The popular and generous King of Scotland

81

Banquo

Fleance

Front of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

82

Back of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

Fleance

Banquo’s son, loves his father

Banquo

A Thane, a loyal friend of Macbeth

83

Macduff

Witch

Front of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

84

Back of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

Witch

(Also called Weird Sister)

A woman who practices dark magic

and predicts the future

Macduff

A Thane, brave and morally upstanding

85

Lady

Macduff

Ross

Front of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

86

Back of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

Ross

Lady Macduff’s cousin,

a Thane who loves his country

Lady Macduff

Macduff’s wife and mother of his children

87

Murderer

Servant

88

Back of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

Servant

A young man who serves Macbeth and his wife

Murderer

Criminal hired by Macbeth to carry out his dirty work

89

Doctor

Gentlewoman

90

Back of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

Gentlewoman

A servant of Lady Macbeth

Doctor

An older man who is brought in

to care for Lady Macbeth

91

Seyton

Scottish

Thane

92

Back of Card

"Thy

father was

the Duke

of Milan

and a

prince of

power."

Scottish Thane

A Lord of Scotland

Seyton

A personal servant to Macbeth

93

Macbeth

PLOT SYNOPSIS

Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, is one of King Duncan's greatest war captains. Upon returning from a battle with the rebellious Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth and Banquo encounter three witches on THE HEATH. A prophecy is given to them: Macbeth is hailed as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King; Banquo is hailed as the father of kings to come. With that, the witches evaporate into the mists. Both men nervously laugh off the prophecies until messengers arrive to inform Macbeth that he is to assume Cawdor's title as a reward for his service to the king. When Lady Macbeth is informed of the events, she determines to push her husband's resolve in the matter—she wants him to take his fate into his own hands and make himself king. If Duncan happens to be inconveniently in the way....

Macbeth at first is reluctant to do harm to Duncan. However, when Duncan makes arrangements to visit his castle, the opportunity presents itself too boldly to ignore. Pressed on by his wife, they plot Duncan's death. Lady Macbeth gets Duncan's attendants drunk; Macbeth will slip in with his dagger, kill King Duncan, and plant the dagger on the drunken guards. Macbeth, in a quiet moment alone, imagines he sees a bloody dagger appear in the air; upon hearing the tolling bells, he sets to work. Immediately he feels the guilt and shame of his act, as does Lady Macbeth, who nonetheless finds the inner strength to return to Duncan's chamber to plant the dagger on the attendants when her husband refuses to go back in there. When the body is discovered, Macbeth immediately slays the attendants—he says out of rage and grief—in order to silence them. The young crown prince Malcolm flees Scotland (fearful for his own life). To everyone else, it appears that Malcolm and his brother have been the chief conspirators, and Macbeth is crowned King of Scotland and takes his place at the castle DUNSINANE, thus fulfilling the witches' prophecy. Banquo, however, has suspicions of his own based on their encounter with the witches.

Macbeth knows of Banquo's suspicions and the reasons for them; he is also wary of the second prophecy concerning Banquo's offspring. As he prepares for a celebratory banquet on his coronation, Macbeth hires Murderers to get rid of Banquo and Fleance, his son. The Murderers murder Banquo that night, but Fleance escapes into the darkness. As Macbeth sits down to the feast with the Scottish Thanes, the bloody ghost of Banquo silently torments him, which causes him great despair.

Meanwhile, the good Thane Macduff has fled to ENGLAND because he too suspects Macbeth of foul play. Macbeth, once a man of greatness, transforms into a man whose conscience has fled him. Upon learning of Macduff's flight, Macbeth exacts revenge by having Lady Macduff and her children butchered.

Macduff is visiting the hidden Malcolm in ENGLAND when Ross arrives and gives Macduff the terrible news of his family’s death. Macduff grieves, but decides with Malcolm to raise an army against Macbeth.

94

Macbeth goes back to THE HEATH to visit the witches again. He is given another prophecy: 1 - His throne is safe until BIRNAM WOOD comes to DUNSINANE, and 2 - He will not die by the hand of any man born of a woman.

Macbeth feels confident in his chances for victory at this pronouncement. Unfortunately the witches also show him a line of many kings all that look like Banquo’s children. But Macbeth vows to fight.

Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, has been slowly driven mad by her dreams in the wake of killing Duncan. She sleepwalks, wringing her hands together, and inadvertently reveals her part in the murder to a Gentlewoman and a Doctor. As Malcolm’s army approaches, a Servant tells Macbeth that many of the Scottish Thanes are deserting him, and that Lady Macbeth has died. On top of this, his faithful servant Seyton brings news that the army is approaching under the cover of tree branches that make it look like BIRNAM WOOD has begun to move. Resigned now to his fate, Macbeth grimly sets to battle.

None, however, can bring Macbeth down. Finally, Macduff meets him on the field of battle. Macbeth laughs hollowly, telling him of the witches' prophecy: no man born of a woman may slay him. As Macduff retorts, he was "from my mother's womb untimely ripp'd," meaning he was delivered by a Caesarian section (and hence, not technically born of a woman). Grimly, Macbeth presses on and Macduff chops of his head! Malcolm is crowned King of Scotland, restoring his father's bloodline to the throne, and gives all the loyal Scottish Thanes the higher title of “Earl.”

95

Shakespeare’s Life

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

William Shakespeare was born to John and Mary Shakespeare, in Stratford-upon-Avon in

England on April 23, 1564. No one knows very much about Shakespeare’s life. His dad made

fancy gloves and held public office in the small town. We believe William went to school until he

was sixteen, at a local grammar school, but we know that he never went on to the University.

Shakespeare’s school was much different than our school today. From age 6 – 16 William

would have been in class from 5 am until 6 at night, six days a week with no summer vacation!

Students studied only three subjects. They studied Latin Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric. The

students memorized everything and at the end of each week, recited what they had learned for

the past six days. Students learned by copying great speeches and stories and then mix and

matching the great writers’ styles. Shakespeare’s education influenced a lot of his writing. In

fact, in a very funny scene in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Act IV Scene i) the headmaster

(same thing as your teacher) decides to test his student’s knowledge. The student’s name?

William. Coincidence? Doubtful.

When Shakespeare was 18 he married Anne Hathaway. They had three children: Susanna,

Hamnet, and Judith. Little else is known about Shakespeare’s personal life. His only son,

Hamnet, died at age eleven in 1596. Some people think Shakespeare is writing about his

feelings for his lost son in plays like King John, The Winter’s Tale, and even Macbeth (he wrote

these and the other big tragedies about the same time).

Shakespeare wrote a total of 37 plays and 157 sonnets before his death in 1616. He wrote

plays for the company where he was an actor. He also helped run the theater. He was such a

good businessman and successful artist that by the end of his life he had bought the 2nd largest

house in Stratford and became a member of the landed gentry (accomplishing a life long goal of

his father)! Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616 exactly 52 years after his birth. He is buried in

Stratford on Avon, and his grave stone has a curse for anyone who disturbs his bones! His

fellow actors published all of his plays in one book, now called the First Folio, in 1623.

Shakespeare’s daughters married and had children, their children did not marry so there aren’t

any direct decedents of Shakespeare alive today. However, Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets

live on.

Written by Dee Dolan © MD Shakespeare Festival 2005

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Shakespeare’s Theater

WHAT WAS HIS THEATER LIKE? In 1564, when Shakespeare was born, there were no theaters in England; there were plays, but they were performed in taverns, banqueting halls of the nobility, makeshift stages assembled for special occasions, etc. We do have records of various theatrical entertainments, but there was no established place for them, and accordingly the business of plays was very different. The first theater, remarkably named “The Theater,” was built in 1576. By 1610, however, there were almost a dozen playhouses in the areas around London. The first theaters were built to the north of the city, while the subsequent theaters, including The Globe (where much of Shakespeare’s works were performed), were built across the river Thames to the south—a sketchy neighborhood known for many illicit entertainments as well as other boisterous legal pastimes such as bear baiting, dog fights and public fencing matches. When we think of a theater, we expect to be in a darkened auditorium, with a lighted stage attracting our interest; the audience is isolated in the dark and having private emotions. Shakespeare’s theater was open air, using the natural afternoon sunlight. The stage jutted out into the crowded floor, where people stood for hours in all kinds of weather. People sold snacks, and the atmosphere was boisterous -- more like a baseball game today. Actors worked hard to capture the audience’s attention. They talked directly to and played with the audience. This may explain why parts of the story are often repeated several times, allowing the distracted audiences to catch up! Audiences also talked back. We know, from diaries, that certain actors gained celebrity for their witty comebacks to hecklers, and in Hamlet Shakespeare comments that clowns should stick to the script (which means they didn’t!) There were no extravagant sets or props. All the information about the scene -- the time of day, atmosphere, situation -- came from what the actors said. This was a theater of the imagination, with great music and dancing ~ but not a lot of what we think of as spectacle today . It was the playground of the actors and playwright. The costumes, however, were spectacular ~ and dangerous! Sumptuary Laws forbid non-nobles to wear certain fabrics or colors. Actors, who were vagabonds and servants offstage, wore outfits worth the equivalent of $30,000 today, outfits that would cause their arrest if the actors wore them off the stage! Theaters could seat about 2,000 people and purposefully catered to many different classes: For a penny or two, you could stand in front of the stage (these people were called the Groundlings); for the equivalent of $25-$35 today, you could sit in the balconies, If you were very special you could sit onstage! The mixing of classes, the opportunity for poor apprentices to drown out the gentlemen, and the idea that an actor—a person of no status—could dress up as a king for the King shows how the society was both ruled by the concepts of class and hierarchy (known as the great chain of being) and was starting to question them. These ideas and the immediate and constantly changing state of the English language made Shakespeare’s theater an exciting, fun, but also necessary place to be in Renaissance England. Written by Becky Kemper with thanks to Vernon Dickson , University of Arizona. © MD Shakespeare Festival 2005

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What Do You Know About Shakespeare?

A GROUP QUIZ

1. What is the difference between a comedy and a tragedy?

2. Which of the following were written by Shakespeare (circle them)?

Twelfth Night Treasure Island

King Richard III Much Ado About Nothing

Othello Great Expectations

Tartuffe King Lear

3. True or False: Queen Elizabeth ruled England throughout Shakespeare’s life.

4. True or False: Shakespeare never went to college.

5. True or False: Shakespeare’s plays were never published in his lifetime.

6. Which of the following famous expressions come from The Tempest?

“Brave new world” We are such stuff as dreams are made on”

“Full fathom five thy father lies.” “The play’s the thing.”

“Live and let live.” “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”

7. Which of the following things were invented during the Renaissance?

Submarine Eye glasses

Microscope Steam engine

Wallpaper Measles vaccine

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What Do You Know About Shakespeare?

TEACHER’S KEY 1. What is the difference between a comedy and a tragedy?

Comedies end happily, usually with marriage. Tragedies end unhappily, with the death of

the main character.

2. Circle the following that were written by Shakespeare?

Twelfth Night Treasure Island

King Richard III Much Ado About Nothing

Othello Great Expectations

Tartuffe King Lear

3. True or False: Queen Elizabeth ruled England throughout Shakespeare’s life.

FALSE. King James took the throne while Shakespeare was at the height of his success.

4. True or False: Shakespeare never went to college.

TRUE. Shakespeare had a good country grammar-school education, but never attended a

University.

5. True or False: Shakespeare’s plays were never published in his lifetime.

TRICK QUESTION…. FALSE! Although Shakespeare did not publish his plays himself,

some “quartos” of his most popular plays, including Hamlet, were published by the theater

and others in his lifetime. The first collected edition of all his plays, the “First Folio,” was

published by fellow actors after his death.

6. Which of the following famous expressions come from The Tempest?

“Brave new world” “We are such stuff as dreams are made on”

“Full fathom five thy father lies.” “The play’s the thing.”

“Live and let live.” “Misery acquaints a man with strange

bedfellows.”

7. Which of the following things were invented during the Renaissance?

Submarine Eye glasses

Microscope Steam engine

Wallpaper Measles vaccine

99

Macbeth in “5” You find yourself now in a group of about 5 people with approximately 15 minutes on your hands…

YOUR ASSIGNMENT: prepare a performance based on the entire plot of William Shakespeare’s

The Tragedy of Macbeth that will not exceed five minutes.

The “5” Official RULES: :

Everyone must be participate physically and speak.

There must be a clear start and a clear finish with a curtain call or bow.

The entire plot must be presented in some way (extra points awarded for including extremely minor characters)

The entire duration of the presentation must not exceed 5 min. .

The 5 official quotes must appear at some point.

The “5” Official QUOTES: :

All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!

I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on't again I dare not.

Avaunt! and quit my sight! let the earth hide thee!

Let grief convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it.

I have no words, my voice is in my sword!

The “5” Official SUGGESTIONS: :

Be creative, there are many options other than traditional linear storytelling.

Have fun! No, really it’s ok.

Remember there is a fine but definite line between irreverent fun (a good thing) and just plain old dumb stupidity (not always such a good thing).

Remember this is an exercise to help us see you at your best – the better the group as a whole looks, the better you will look. (i.e. giving focus can be a rare talent)

Did we say have fun? Have fun.

Plot Summary Cheat Sheet

3 Witches meet on the heath and plan

Macbeth & Banquo lead successful battle

Witches prophesy that MacB will be Thane of Cawdor & King but B’s kids will be King

Angus & Ross bring word that Macbeth has been promoted to Cawdor

Duncan honors MacB & says son will be heir

Lady Macbeth calls on spirits to help her support her husband’s ambition

The MacB’s quarrel over whether to kill King

They kill King

Macduff & Lennox discover murder

MacB’s blame Malcolm & Donalbain

Malcom flees to England

MacB employs 2 murders to kill Banquo because he suspects

Murderers kill Banquo, son Fleance escapes

Ghost of Banquo torments MacB at party

Hecate calls witches together and scolds them

Witches tempt MacB with confusion prophesy

Lennox reports - Macduff has fled to England

Lady Macduff & son worry

MacB’s murderers kill Lady Macduff & son

Macduff visits Malcolm in England

Ross brings sad news of Macduff’s Family

Macduff vows revenge

Lady & Dr. watch crazy Lady M sleepwalk

English army disguises itself w/ tree branches

Seyton tells MacB the forest is marching!

Dr. brings news of Lady M’s death and MacB mourns

Macduff fights Macbeth

Macduff reveals he was not born of woman

Macduff beheads Macbeth

Peace is restored & Malcolm becomes King

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Building the World of the Play – Print & Cut These Quotes into Strips

Fair is foul, and foul is fair: World of play

The earth has bubbles as the water has, and these are of them.

World of play

thy nature: It is too full of the milk of human kindness, World of play

Golden opinions from all sorts of people. World of play

Was the hope drunk wherein you dress’d yourself? And wakes it now, to look so green and pale At what it did so freely?

World of play

False face must hide what the false heart doth know. World of play

Light thickens; and the crow makes wing to the rooky wood:

World of play

The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures: World of play

My hands are of your colour; but I shame to wear a heart so white. World of play

101

Building the World of the Play – Print & Cut These Quotes into Strips

A hideous trumpet calls to parley the sleepers of the house

World of play

The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day: World of play

Fire, burn; and, cauldron bubble. World of play

Infected be the air whereon they ride; World of play

Hell is murky! World of play

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.

World of play

Life’s but a walking shadow. World of play

Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death. World of play

They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, But, bear-like, I must fight the course- World of play

102

Macbeth

(Act Four, Scene 1) [A cavern. In the middle a boiling cauldron. Thunder. Enter the three Witches.]

First Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

Second Witch. Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.

Third Witch. Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.

First Witch. Round about the cauldron go; In the poison'd entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter'd venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.

All. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Second Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

All. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Third Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches' mummy, maw and gulf Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark, Finger of birth-strangled babe Ditch-deliver'd by a drab, Make the gruel thick and slab: Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, For the ingredients of our cauldron.

All. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Second Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood, Then the charm is firm and good.

First Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. Open, locks, Whoever knocks!

http://opensourceshakespeare.com/views/plays/characters/charlines.php?CharID=1witch-mac&WorkID=macbeth




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103

Shakespeare’s Language

WHY DID HE WRITE LIKE THAT?

Shakespeare played with language. He wrote in prose, doggerel, blank verse, rhyming

couplets, sonnets and song. He chose how formal (how structured) his language should be

depending on the emotional and theatrical needs of his characters.

Shakespeare most often writes in iambic pentameter (a line of five poetic feet, each foot made up of two beats, soft and a hard: dum DUM-dum DUM-dum DUM-dum DUM-dum DUM ). This rhythm corresponds with our heartbeat and the natural rhythms of English. He is writing in the rhythm or our lives. More accurately stated however, Shakespeare writes with iambic pentameter as a backdrop, against which the rhythms of his characters play, like Jazz, to affect our hearts and our minds. The witches in Macbeth speak directly counter to this rhythm: (DUM, dum) (DUM, dum) (DUM, dum), their language plays against our heart and we recognize it as evil. Romeo when he sees Juliet for the first time spills out in sixteen beats (not ten), which gives us the experience of his heart racing in love. Magic and true-love find their way to formalized Sonnets (14 lines of rhyming quatrains). Fairies and witches speak in doggerel (an eight beat rhyming line) that gives a sing-songy non-mortal feel. Verse lines are shared or shortened to create dramatic tension. Shakespeare plays with rhythm and patterns and sounds.

We can recognize these rhythms and know what is happening kinetically as well as intellectually. Do words repeat? Why? Is there a long list? Why? Does the rhythm disintegrate into chaos at a critical moment? Why? The verse is a key, to the doorway of the play’s soul.

Some thoughts About Verse:

When I’m connected to who I truly am, I speak poetry. When I am in touch with the rhythm of my body and the universe, I speak poetry. When I speak to resonate truthfully with my world, I speak poetry. When I speak on many levels with many meanings all of which are true, I speak poetry. When I speak from my deepest heart, I speak poetry. When I speak from the nobility of my spirit, I speak poetry. When I speak lies in order to deceive, it is difficult to speak poetry. When I speak in order to believe the truth, it is difficult to speak poetry

Some Thoughts About Prose

When I speak of simple things and speak without resonance, I speak prose When I am obsessed with my petty self or my daily tasks, I speak prose. When I would not reveal myself, I speak, perhaps, in prose. When my thought is not clear, I almost certainly speak in something, which resembles prose. When I want to joust, and banter, but must protect my soul, I might choose the poetic riposte. When I skim the glittering surface of myself and will not dive within, I surf in prose.

Written by Becky Kemper © MD Shakespeare Festival 2005, thanks to Lisa Volpe.

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IAMBIC PENTAMETER

Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more

Stay you / im•per / fect spea / kers tell / me more

u / u / u / u / u /

Stay you • im•per • fect spea • kers tell • me more

FEMININE OR ‘WEAK’ ENDINGS

I have begun to plant thee, and will labor I have • be•gun • to plant • thee and • will la • bor

u / u / u / u / u / ?

I have • be•gun • to plant • thee and• will la• bor

105

Macbeth

IAMBIC PENTAMETER WORKSHEET

Lady Macbeth, Act One, Scene 5:

Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be

What thou art promis’d: yet do I fear thy Nature,

It is too full o' th’ Milk of human kindness,

To catch the nearest way. Thou would’st be great,

Art not without Ambition, but without

The illness should attend it. What thou would’st highly,

That would’st thou holily: would’st not play false,

And yet would’st wrongly win.

Macbeth, Act One, Scene 7:

If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well,

It were done quickly: if th’ Assassination

Could trammel up the Consequence, and catch

With his surcease, Success: that but this blow

Might be the be-all, and the end-all. Here,

But here, upon this Bank and Shoal of time,

We'ld jump the life to come. But in these Cases,

We still have judgment here; that we but teach

Bloody Instructions, which being taught, return

To plague th’ Inventor.

106

Macbeth

IAMBIC PENTAMETER WORKSHEET

TEACHERS KEY Lady Macbeth, Act One, Scene 5:

/ u u / u / u / u / Glam•is /thou art, /and Caw/dor, and /shalt be (trochee) u / u / u / u u / u / u What thou /art prom/is’d: yet/ do I fear/ thy Na/ture, (anapest and weak ending) u / u / u / u / u / u It is /too full/ o' th’ Milk/ of hu/man kind/ness, (weak ending) u / u / u / u / u / To catch /the near/est way./ Thou would’st /be great, u / u / u / u / u / Art not /with•out /Am•bi/tion, but /with•out u / u / u / u u / u / u The ill/ness should/ at•tend /it. What thou /would’st high/ly, (anapest and weak ending) u / u / u / u / u / That would’st /thou ho/li•ly: /would’st not /play false, u / u / u / And yet /would’st wrong/ly win… Macbeth, Act One, Scene 7:

u / u / / u / u u / If it /were done, /when 'tis /done, then /'twere well, (trochees) u / u / u / u / u / u It were /done quick/ly: if/ th’ Ass•ass/in•a/tion (weak ending) u / u / u / u / u / Could tram/mel up /the Con/se•quence, /and catch u / u / u / u / u / With his /sur•cease, /Suc•cess: /that but /this blow u / u / u / u / u / Might be/ the be-/all, and /the end-/all. Here, u / u / u / u / u / But here, /u•pon/ this Bank /and Shoal /of time, u / u / u / u / u / u We'ld jump /the life/ to come. /But in /these Cas/es, (weak ending) u / u / u / u / u / We still /have judg/ment here; /that we /but teach / u u / u / u / u / Bloo•dy/ In•struc/tions, which /being taught,/ re•turn u / u / u To plague/ th’ In•ven/tor.

107

Cliché – Print & Cut These Quotes into Strips

Show me the money

Keeping a Secret

Jumping for Joy

Love at first sight

Marked for death

Mortal Enemy

The Champions

Reaching for the Stars

The Proposal

108

Macbeth – Print & Cut These Quotes into Strips

Bear-like, I must fight the course Macbeth Statue

Infected minds to their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets

Macbeth Statue

O, I could play the woman with mine eyes Macbeth Statue

Hell is murky Macbeth Statue

Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there Weep our sad bosoms empty

Macbeth Statue

O, I could play the braggart with my tongue!-

Macbeth Statue

Be bloody, bold, and resolute; Macbeth Statue

Be lion-mettled, proud

Macbeth Statue

Bear-like, I must fight the course Macbeth Statue

109

Macbeth Statues – Print & Cut These Quotes into Strips

Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit,

Macbeth

Statue

The fatal bellman, which gives the stern’st good-night

Macbeth

Statue

What hath quench’d them hath given me fire.

Macbeth

Statue

‘Tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil. Macbet

h Statue

the sleeping and the dead are but as pictures: Macbeth

Statue

We shall make our griefs and clamour roar Macbeth

Statue

I have begun to plant thee, and will labour to make thee full of growing.

Macbeth

Statue

110

Macbeth – Print & Cut These Quotes into Strips

I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people.

Macbeth

Statue

I dare do all that becomes a man Macbet

h Statue

Too full of the milk of human kindness Macbet

h Statue

mock the time with fairest show: Macbet

h Statue

False face must hide what the false heart doth know

Macbeth

Statue

To show an unfelt sorrow is an office Which the false man does easy

Macbeth

Statue

Thou hast no speculation in those eyes Which thou dost glare with

Macbeth

Statue

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Macbeth ACT ONE, SCENE 3 LINES 30-88

Third Witch A Drum, a Drum!

Macbeth doth come.

ALL The weyward Sisters, hand in hand,

Posters of the Sea and Land,

Thus do go, about, about:

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,

And thrice again, to make up nine.

Peace, the Charm's wound up. Enter MACBETH and

BANQUO

MACBETH So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

BANQUO How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these,

So wither'd, and so wild in their attire,

That look not like the Inhabitants o' th’ Earth,

And yet are on't? Live you, or are you aught

That man may question?

MACBETH Speak, if you can: what are you?

First Witch All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis.

Second Witch All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor.

Third Witch All hail Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter.

BANQUO Good Sir, why do you start, and seem to fear

Things that do sound so fair? I’ th’ name of truth,

Are ye fantastical, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show? My Noble Partner

You greet with present Grace, and great prediction

Of Noble having, and of Royal hope,

That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not.

First Witch Hail.

Second Witch Hail.

Third Witch Hail.

112

First Witch Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

Second Witch Not so happy, yet much happier.

Third Witch Thou shalt get Kings, though thou be none:

So all hail Macbeth, and Banquo.

First Witch Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail.

MACBETH Stay, you imperfect Speakers, tell me more:

By Sinel's death, I know I am Thane of Glamis,

But how, of Cawdor? the Thane of Cawdor lives

A prosperous Gentleman: and to be King,

Stands not within the prospect of belief,

No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence

You owe this strange Intelligence, or why

Upon this blasted Heath you stop our way

With such Prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.

Witches vanish

BANQUO The Earth hath bubbles, as the Water has,

And these are of them: whither are they vanish'd?

MACBETH Into the air. Would they had stay'd.

BANQUO Were such things here, as we do speak about?

Or have we eaten on the insane Root

That takes the Reason Prisoner?

MACBETH Your Children shall be Kings.

BANQUO You shall be King.

MACBETH And Thane of Cawdor too: went it not so?

BANQUO To th’ self-same tune, and words: who's here?

113

Discovering Character Through Language

CHARACTER TRAITS - WORKSHEET 1

Act One, Scene 2

Duncan O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman! Act One, Scene 4

Duncan Let’s after him, Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome: It is a peerless kinsman. Act One, Scene 5

Lady Macbeth ‘This have I thought good to deliver thee (my dearest Partner of Greatness) that thou might’st not lose the dues of rejoicing by being ignorant of what Greatness is promis’d thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.' Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be What thou art promis’d: yet do I fear thy Nature, It is too full o' th’ Milk of human kindness, To catch the nearest way. Thou would’st be great, Art not without Ambition, but without The illness should attend it. Act One, Scene 6

Duncan See, see, our honor’d hostess! Act One, Scene 7

Macbeth Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongu’d, against The deep damnation of his taking-off. Macbeth Bring forth men-children only; For thy undaunted mettle should compose Nothing but males. Act Two, Scene 2

Lady Macbeth

114



Draw a line connecting each description to the correct character.

A peerless kinsman

The life of the building

LADY MACBETH Infirm of purpose

His virtues plead like angels

Valiant cousin

Bold

MACBETH Full of the milk of human kindness

Undaunted mettle

Clear in his great office

Not without ambition

Born his faculties so meek

DUNCAN

Dearest partner of greatness

Worthy gentleman

Honored hostess

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TEACHER KEY

LADY MACBETH MACBETH DUNCAN

Bold A peerless kinsman The life of the building

Undaunted mettle Infirm of purpose His virtues plead like angels

Dearest partner of greatness Valiant cousin Clear in his great office

Honored hostess Not without ambition Born his faculties so meek

Full of the milk of human kindness

Worthy gentleman

116

Macbeth

Rhetorical Devices Worksheet

Act Two, Scene 2, Lines 1-8 That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold;

What hath quench’d them hath given me fire. Hark! Peace!

It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman,

Which gives the sterns’t good-night. He is about it;

The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms

Do mock their charge with snores. I have drugg’d their possets,

That death and nature do contend about them,

Whether they live or die.

Act 5, Scene 5, Lines 19-28 She should have died hereafter;

There would have been a time for such a word.

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time,

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

117

Macbeth

INSULT CARDS

Copy and Cut in half.

TEAM ONE

1. Infected 2. Shag-eared 3. Thou shag-ear’d villain! 4. Young fry of treachery! 5. What, you egg! TEAM TWO

1. Abhorred 2. Cream-faced 3. Thou cream-faced loon! 4. Thou lily-livered boy!

5. Thou bloodier villain than terms can give thee out!

118

Identifying Objectives, Tactics & Obstacles

Super-Objective Tactics Obstacles

Macbeth

Duncan

Lady Macbeth

Banquo

Malcolm

Witches

119

Identifying Objectives, Tactics & Obstacles (TEACHER KEY)

Super-Objective Tactics Obstacles

Macbeth To become King, and once he is, to stay King.

Murder Duncan Murder Banquo Murder anyone in his way

Thanes begin to mistrust him. His own fear, guilt, and remorse.

Duncan To be a good, fair King to his subjects.

Reward his loyal Thanes Behave honorably Be grateful to his hosts

Macbeths planning to murder him

Lady Macbeth

To be Queen

Make her husband commit murder by shaming him, flirting with him, praising him

Macbeth’s fear and decency Her own guilt

Banquo To serve his King Figure out what Macbeth is up to. Behave honorably.

Temptation of being King

Malcolm To stay alive and save Scotland

Run away to England Hide Raise an army

Suspected of his father’s murder. Young and inexperienced

Witches To interfere in human affairs? Seems uncertain.

Predict the future Practice magic Tempt Macbeth and Banquo

Human sense of right and wrong

120

Macbeth

Objectives/Tactics/Obstacles – Act One, Scene Five

LADY MACBETH

Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor,

Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter,

Thy Letters have transported me beyond

This ignorant present, and I feel now

The future in the instant.

MACBETH

My dearest Love,

Duncan comes here to-Night.

LADY MACBETH

And when goes hence?

MACBETH

To-morrow, as he purposes.

LADY MACBETH

O, never

Shall Sun that Morrow see.

Your Face, my Thane, is as a Book, where men

May read strange matters. He that's coming,

Must be provided for: and you shall put

This Night's great Business into my dispatch;

Which shall to all our Nights, and Days to come,

Give solely sovereign sway, and Masterdom.

MACBETH

We will speak further.

LADY MACBETH

Only look up clear;

To alter favor, ever is to fear:

Leave all the rest to me.

Exeunt

121

Macbeth

Objectives/Tactics/Obstacles – Act One, Scene 7

MACBETH

We will proceed no further in this Business:

He hath Honour'd me of late, and I have bought

Golden Opinions from all sorts of people,

Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,

Not cast aside so soon.

LADY MACBETH

Was the hope drunk,

Wherein you dress'd yourself? Hath it slept since?

And wakes it now to look so green, and pale,

At what it did so freely? From this time,

Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard

To be the same in thine own Act and Valour

As thou art in desire?

MACBETH

Prithee peace:

I dare do all that may become a man,

Who dares do more, is none.

LADY MACBETH

What Beast was't then,

That made you break this enterprise to me?

When you durst do it, then you were a man:

And to be more than what you were, you would

Be so much more the man. Nor time, nor place

Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:

They have made themselves, and that their fitness now

Does unmake you.

MACBETH

If we should fail?

LADY MACBETH

We fail?

But screw your courage to the sticking place,

And we'll not fail: when Duncan is asleep,

(Whereto the rather shall his day's hard Journey

Soundly invite him) his two chamberlains

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Will I with Wine, and Wassail, so convince,

That Memory, the Warder of the Brain,

Shall be a Fume, and the Receipt of Reason

A Limbeck only: when in Swinish sleep

Their drenched Natures lie as in a Death,

What cannot you and I perform upon

Th’ unguarded Duncan? What not put upon

His spongy Officers? who shall bear the guilt

Of our great quell.

MACBETH

Bring forth Men-Children only:

For thy undaunted Mettle should compose

Nothing but Males. Will it not be receiv’d,

When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two

Of his own Chamber, and us’d their very Daggers,

That they have done't?

LADY MACBETH

Who dares receive it other,

As we shall make our Griefs and Clamor roar,

Upon his Death?

MACBETH

I am settled, and bend up

Each corporal Agent to this terrible Feat.

Away, and mock the time with fairest show,

False Face must hide what the false Heart doth know.

Exeunt

123

Macbeth

Objectives/Tactics/Obstacles – Act Three, Scene 2

LADY MACBETH

How now, my Lord, why do you keep alone?

Of sorriest Fancies your Companions making,

Using those Thoughts, which should indeed have died

With them they think on: things without all remedy

Should be without regard: what's done, is done.

MACBETH

We have scorch'd the Snake, not kill'd it:

She'll close, and be herself, whilst our poor Malice

Remains in danger of her former Tooth.

LADY MACBETH

Come on:

Gentle my Lord, sleek o'er your rugged Looks;

Be bright and jovial among your Guests to-Night.

MACBETH

So shall I, Love, and so I pray be you:

Let your remembrance apply to Banquo,

And make our Faces Vizards to our Hearts,

Disguising what they are.

LADY MACBETH

You must leave this.

MACBETH

O, full of Scorpions is my Mind, dear Wife!

Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.

LADY MACBETH

What's to be done?

MACBETH

Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest Chuck,

Till thou applaud the deed.

124

Macbeth

Act Two, Scene 2, lines 8-71 MACBETH [Within] Who's there? what ho?

LADY Alack, I am afraid they have awak’d,

And 'tis not done: th’ attempt, and not the deed,

Confounds us: hark: I laid their Daggers ready,

He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled

My Father as he slept, I had done't. Enter MACBETH

My Husband?

MACBETH I have done the deed: Didst thou not hear a noise?

LADY I heard the Owl scream, and the Crickets cry.

Did not you speak?

MACBETH When?

LADY Now.

MACBETH As I descended?

LADY Ay.

MACBETH Hark! Who lies i ’the’ second chamber?

LADY Donalbain.

MACBETH This is a sorry sight.

LADY A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.

MACBETH There's one did laugh in's sleep, And one cried Murder,

That they did wake each other: I stood, and heard them:

But they did say their Prayers, and address'd them

Again to sleep.

LADY There are two lodg’d together.

MACBETH One cried God bless us, and Amen the other,

As they had seen me with these Hangman's hands:

125

Listening their fear, I could not say Amen,

When they did say God bless us.

LADY Consider it not so deeply.

MACBETH But wherefore could not I pronounce Amen?

I had most need of Blessing, and Amen

Stuck in my throat.

LADY These deeds must not be thought

After these ways: so, it will make us mad.

MACBETH Methought I heard a voice cry Sleep no more:

Macbeth does murder Sleep, the innocent Sleep,

Sleep that knits up the ravell'd Sleeve of Care,

The Death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,

Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,

Chief nourisher in Life’s feast.

LADY What do you mean?

MACBETH Still it cried, Sleep no more to all the House:

Glamis hath murder'd Sleep, and therefore Cawdor

Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more.

LADY Who was it, that thus cried? why worthy Thane,

You do unbend your Noble strength, to think

So brain-sickly of things: Go get some Water,

And wash this filthy Witness from your Hand.

Why did you bring these Daggers from the place?

They must lie there: go carry them, and smear

The sleepy Grooms with blood.

MACBETH I'll go no more:

I am afraid, to think what I have done:

Look on't again, I dare not.

LADY Infirm of purpose:

Give me the Daggers: the sleeping, and the dead,

Are but as Pictures: 'tis the Eye of Child-hood,

That fears a painted Devil. If he do bleed,

I'll gild the Faces of the Grooms withal,

For it must seem their Guilt. Exit. Knock within.

126

MACBETH Whence is that knocking?

How is't with me, when every noise appalls me?

What Hands are here? ha: they pluck out mine Eyes.

Will all great Neptune's Ocean wash this blood

Clean from my Hand? No: this my Hand will rather

The multitudinous Seas incarnadine,

Making the Green one, Red. Re-enter LADY

LADY My Hands are of your colour: but I shame

To wear a Heart so white. Knock within

I hear a knocking

At the South entry. Retire we to our Chamber:

A little Water clears us of this deed.

How easy is it then? Your constancy

Hath left you unattended. Knock within

Hark, more knocking.

Get on your Night-Gown, lest occasion call us,

And show us to be Watchers: be not lost

So poorly in your thoughts.

MACBETH To know my deed,

'Twere best not know myself. Knock within

Wake Duncan with thy knocking: I would thou could’st.

Exeunt

127

Macbeth

Act One, scene 4 Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSS, and ANGUS DUNCAN O worthiest cousin!

The sin of my ingratitude even now Was heavy on me: only I have left to say, More is thy due than more than all can pay.

MACBETH The service and the loyalty I owe, In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part Is to receive our duties; and our duties Are to your throne and state children and servants, Which do but what they should, by doing every thing Safe toward your love and honour.

DUNCAN Welcome hither: I have begun to plant thee, and will labour To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo, That hast no less deserved, nor must be known No less to have done so, let me enfold thee And hold thee to my heart.

BANQUO There if I grow, The harvest is your own.

DUNCAN My plenteous joys, Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes, And you whose places are the nearest, know We will establish our estate upon Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter The Prince of Cumberland; which honour must Not unaccompanied invest him only, But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine On all deservers. From hence to Inverness, And bind us further to you.

MACBETH The rest is labour, which is not used for you: I'll be myself the harbinger and make joyful The hearing of my wife with your approach; So humbly take my leave.

DUNCAN My worthy Cawdor!

MACBETH [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step On 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:

128

Macbeth

Act Three, scene 1, lines 1-10

BANQUO

Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,

As the weyward Women promis’d, and, I fear,

Thou playd’st most foully for't: yet it was said

It should not stand in thy Posterity,

But that myself should be the Root, and Father

Of many Kings. If there come truth from them,

As upon thee, Macbeth, their Speeches shine,

Why, by the verities on thee made good,

May they not be my Oracles as well,

And set me up in hope. But hush, no more.

129

Macbeth

Act Three, scene 1, lines 46-71

MACBETH To be thus, is nothing,

But to be safely thus: our fears in Banquo

Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature

Reigns that which would be fear’d. 'Tis much he dares;

And, to that dauntless temper of his Mind,

He hath a Wisdom, that doth guide his Valour

To act in safety. There is none but he,

Whose being I do fear; and under him

My Genius is rebuk’d, as it is said

Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the sisters

When first they put the name of King upon me,

And bade them speak to him; then prophet-like

They hail’d him father to a line of Kings.

Upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown,

And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,

Thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand,

No son of mine succeeding. If’t be so,

For Banquo’s issue have I fil’d my mind,

For them the gracious Duncan have I murder’d,

Put rancors in the vessel of my peace

Only for them, and mine eternal jewel

Given to the common enemy of man,

To make them Kings – the seeds of Banquo Kings!

Rather than so, come fate into the list,

And champion me to th’ utterance. Who's there?

130

Macbeth

Act Two, Scene 3, lines 1-21

PORTER

Here’s a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of Hell Gate, he

should have old turning the key. [Knocking within] Knock, knock,

knock! Who's there, i' the name of Beelzebub? Here's a farmer,

that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty: Come in time;

have napkins enow about you; here you'll sweat for't. [Knocking

within] Knock, knock! Who's there, in the other devil's name?

Faith, here's an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales

against either scale; who committed treason enough for God's

sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven: O, come in,

equivocator. [Knocking within] Knock, knock, knock! Who's there?

Faith, here's an English tailor come hither, for stealing out of a

French hose: come in, tailor; here you may roast your goose.

[Knocking within] Knock, knock; never at quiet! What are you? But

this place is too cold for hell. I'll devil-porter it no further: I had

thought to have let in some of all professions that go the primrose

way to the everlasting bonfire. [Knocking within] Anon, anon! I

pray you, remember the porter.

131

Macbeth

Act Four, Scene 1, Lines 48-124 MACBETH How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!

What is't you do?

ALL A deed without a name.

MACBETH I conjure you, by that which you profess,

Howe'er you come to know it, answer me:

Though you untie the winds and let them fight

Against the churches; though the yesty waves

Confound and swallow navigation up;

Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down;

Though castles topple on their warders' heads;

Though palaces and pyramids do slope

Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure

Of nature's germens tumble all together,

Even till destruction sicken; answer me

To what I ask you.

WITCH 1 Speak.

WITCH 2 Demand.

WITCH 3 We'll answer.

WITCH 1 Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our mouths,

Or from our masters?

MACBETH Call 'em; let me see 'em.

WITCH 1 Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten

Her nine farrow; grease that's sweaten

From the murderer's gibbet throw

Into the flame.

ALL Come, high or low;

Thyself and office deftly show!

[Thunder. First Apparition: an armed Head]

MACBETH Tell me, thou unknown power,—

WITCH 1 He knows thy thought:

Hear his speech, but say thou nought.

132

APPARITION 1 Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff;

Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.

[Descends]

MACBETH Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks;

Thou hast harp'd my fear aright: but one

word more,—

WITCH 1 He will not be commanded: here's another,

More potent than the first.

[Thunder. Second Apparition: A bloody Child]

APPARITION 2 Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!

MACBETH Had I three ears, I'ld hear thee.

APPARITION 2 Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn

The power of man, for none of woman born

Shall harm Macbeth.

[Descends]

MACBETH Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee?

But yet I'll make assurance double sure,

And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live;

That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies,

And sleep in spite of thunder.

[Thunder. Third Apparition: a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand]

What is this

That rises like the issue of a king,

And wears upon his baby-brow the round

And top of sovereignty?

ALL Listen, but speak not to't.

APPARITION 3 Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care

Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:

Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until

Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill

Shall come against him.

[Descends]

133

MACBETH That will never be

Who can impress the forest, bid the tree

Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements! good!

Rebellion's head, rise never till the wood

Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth

Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath

To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart

Throbs to know one thing: tell me, if your art

Can tell so much: shall Banquo's issue ever

Reign in this kingdom?

ALL Seek to know no more.

MACBETH I will be satisfied: deny me this,

And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know.

Why sinks that cauldron? and what noise is this?

[Hautboys]

WITCH 1 Show!

WITCH 2 Show!

WITCH 3 Show!

ALL Show his eyes, and grieve his heart;

Come like shadows, so depart!

[A show of Eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand; GHOST OF BANQUO following]

MACBETH Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down!

Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls. And thy hair,

Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.

A third is like the former. Filthy hags!

Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes!

What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?

Another yet! A seventh! I'll see no more:

And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass

Which shows me many more; and some I see

That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry:

Horrible sight! Now, I see, 'tis true;

For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me,

And points at them for his.

Documents

SHAKESPEARE ON TOUR S HANDBOOK GUIDE Macbeth · 4 Macbeth Curriculum Guide PREFACE (CONT.) Rebecca J. Ennals has been on the staff of San Francisco Shakespeare Festival since 2002