ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCESMACBETH UNIT
Description
This unit is designed to actively engage students in the dramatic world of William Shakespeare, helping students grapple with the many challenging themes and concepts presented in Shakespearean literature. As a by product to this unit, I want students to realize that this play-its character types, motifs, themes, etc-is just as relevant and real today as they were in the early 1600s. Before, during, and after the engagement with the text, I want my students to do the following:
- Respond through informal (journal writing, groups discussions, and whole group discussion) and formal assessment (essay and projects-in and out of class) to the presentation of character (character motivation, character outcomes, etc.) and theme and respond in various forms (personal and analytical).
- Read and understand the work.
- Recognize and understand its connection to the historical and literary context of the Renaissance.
- Appreciate the themes and motifs in the play, especially ambition and leadership, and their connection to modern life.
This unit is adapted to the 4 x 4 block scheduling but can be modified for other types of scheduling, simply increasing or decreasing the time spent on each activity. Also, the times indicated in the following chart are approximate and should not be rigidly adhered to.
This unit normally comes in the middle of a chronological unit on Renaissance literature. It follows a discussion on Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" and Raleigh's "A Nymphs Reply to the Sheperd" and precedes a discussion on Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" and the metaphysical poets, John Donne and George Herbert. However, it could also be included in a thematic approach using any of the following themes: "Critical Times, Critical Decisions," "Ambition," "Social Responsibility," or "Heroes and Anti-heroes." In either approach, this unit lends for the use of a variety of print and non-print text.
Even though Shakespeare's language is rich in rhyme, meter, verse, and figurative language, I do not assign parts and read the play aloud in class; for the most part, students have not quite mastered the different nuances of dramatic reading and thus the effect I would desire is not achieved. Instead, I use a dramatic production of the play and have my students listen to a recording while they follow along in the text, stopping periodically to clarify the language and discuss the important ingredients of Shakespeare's themes, motifs, characters, dramatic structure, etc.
Don Lourcey, Iredell-Statesville Schools
| Activity Description | Approx. Time | Strands | Exp | Info | Arg |
Crit | Lit | G/L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introductory | ||||||||
Background of Elizabethan theater and the world of Macbeth. Have students read introduction to Renaissance literature. Then assign groups a topic ( such as Politics/ Government, Religion, Language, Global Affairs, Theater, Poetry/Prose) and have students list ideas that represent the above categories. Compile group responses into a class chart. |
2 days (1st to research and read) |
W | 4.02 | 5.01 5.02 |
||||
Distribute reading guide questions for all five Acts and then present possible culminating projects to be completed by the end of the play: the activities should provide possibilities that tap into student talents - visual, essay, poetry, singing, construction, or drawing (see below). |
10 min. | O W M/T |
1.01 1.02 |
5.01 | ||||
Find a copy of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust and locate the passage that begins "Fate has given this man a spirit" and ends with "he would be equally accursed." Place the 12 lines on a transparency or on the board, and then have the students do a journal write, in which they first offer their impressions of what Goethe attempts to show and then have them discuss their feelings to the notion that mankind is essentially "accursed" because we are always tempted to have what is beyond our reach. |
20 min (10 to write, 10 to discuss) | O W |
1.01 1.02 |
2.02 | 4.01 4.02 |
5.01 5.02 |
||
Have students read excerpts from Machiavelli's The Prince and discuss the writer's views of political and social responsibility from people in positions of power and their relationships with those they lead. Then lead a discussion where the focus is on ambition and its effect: When is ambition a negative trait? When is it positive? Does the world need people with more - or less ambition? Explain. What are the effects as a result of ambition - individual, collective, family, society? Cite examples of modern ambition, from current events, movies, television, songs. |
1 day | O W |
1.02 | 2.01 2.02 |
4.02 | 5.01 5.02 |
||
| During | ||||||||
Each Act should be listened to, read and discussed before moving on to the next Act. Use starter activities each day to review and lead students into the discussion for the day. (Questions should relate primarily to content, but some questions ask students to respond expressively or reflectively). |
3-4 weeks | O M/T |
1.01 1.02 |
5.01 5.02 |
||||
Distribute to the class a graphic organizer that helps students follow the dramatic structure of the play, beginning with the exposition and exiting force in Act I, moving to the climax in Act III, and the falling action and catastrophe in Act V. This will be traced through the reading and listening of the play. Have students identify events in each scene that contribute to each of the stages in dramatic structure. |
40 min. | W
|
5.01 5.02 |
|||||
Throughout the reading and listening to the play, have students engage in close reading activities and thematic discussions such as the ones below: After listening to the scene 1, Act I, have students list the words from the witches' dialogue that create atmosphere and mood. Complete a similar activity with scene 3 and other scenes throughout the play. |
On-going | O W |
1.02 | 4.01 | 5.01 5.02 |
|||
Create a table that has the categories of "General",
"Husband", and "King." Use chart throughout
the play to help students recognize change in character - from
the honorable to the irrational and impulsive - shown by change
in language. |
||||||||
Throughout play, have students keep a Double Entry Reading Log. For each Act, students should list 2-3 passages that impacted them the most on the left side of the page. Then on the right side, have them write a personal reaction to the passage - the emotion it evoked from them regarding the content of the passage, the character speaking, etc. More advanced students may also have to analyze the passages. |
On going through the play - 2-3 times a week. | W | 1.01 1.02 | 4.01 | 5.01 5.02 |
|||
Share Shakespeare's Sonnet 60 and ask students
to draw a connection to Macbeth. |
25 min | O W |
2.01 2.02 |
4.01 | 5.01 5.02 |
|||
Divide students into 5 groups. After each Act, have
one of the groups present a letter/ dramatic monologue from Machiavelli
evaluating Macbeth's leadership to this point. |
15- 20 min. each Act | O W |
1.01 | 3.02 |
4.01 4.02 |
5.01 5.02 |
6.01 6.02 |
|
| Culminating | ||||||||
Divide class into groups and assignment each group a topic: Shakespeare's use of the supernatural, the motif of disorder and chaos to the restoration of order, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, the motif of sleep and sleeplessness, image patterns - blood, night/dark, clothing. Give each group markers and a large piece of bulletin board paper. Each group is to locate examples from the text that support and develop the assigned topic. Then, they are to show what significance those ideas hold in the play. Finally, each group has to provide a symbolic representation of their topic that reflects the meaning and idea they are presenting in their displays. |
1 -3 days | O W |
4.02 | 5.01 5.02 |
||||
Creative Project: Spend class time developing and conferencing with each student about ideas. Some possibilities include illustrating 5 pivotal scenes including memorable quotes from that scene, composing a narrative poem detailing the rise and fall of a great man, a collage representing modern examples of ambition, or writing and illustrating a children's book based on Macbeth, teaching the lesson of uncontrolled ambition. |
1-2 days | O W M/T |
1.01 1.02 |
2.03 | 3.01 3.02 |
5.01 5.02 |
6.01 6.02 |
|
|
Essay completed out of class or in class workshop guiding them through the writing process and the revision strategies. Possible topics: Choose a modern Macbeth - a current political figure, business-man - and show how he embodies the characteristics of Macbeth. Did Macbeth fall because of his own ability to decide or was he fatefully influenced by outside forces? Discuss whether ambition is healthy or destructive, using modern examples
as proof connecting to the play as well. |
varies | W | 1.01 1.02 |
2.01 2.03 |
3.02 | 4.01 4.02 |
5.01 5.02 |
6.01 6.02 |
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