MACBETH
FACHDIDAKTIK ENGLSICH II
MAY 11TH 2017
DOLLY TSCHANZ, FLAVIA SCHNEIDER, IZABELLA KRAUS
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
1
ACTIVITY
HOMEWORK
Introduction to Shakespearian language and the subject of Read Act 1,
monologue/soliloquy. A questionnaire in preparation for the scene 1-4
story.
Lesson aims: students understand the most commonly used
words and familiarize themselves with the pronunciation.
They understand the term and concept soliloquy. Students
consider their attitude towards the main themes of the play
prior to reading.
Handling: Handout with a glossary containing the most
common words in Shakespeare's language + translations and
a questionnaire
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
2
ACTIVITY
HWK
Read Act
1, scene
Lesson aims: Students can describe the influence of the 5-7
Analysis of the prophecy
prophecy on Macbeth's ambition and the connection between
the supernatural activity (witches, prophecy) and Macbeth's
moral.
Handling: a horoscope as a starter followed by a short
discussion about superstitions. The psychological background
of self-fulfilling prophecy.
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
3
ACTIVITY
HWK
Write an
argumentati
Lesson aims: Students recognize the implicit meaning of ve essay:
Macbeth's speech, are able to describe the moral aspects "Killing is
justified in
and relate them to contemporary politics.
certain
political
Handling:
situations"
Moral and loyalty to the king
Dramatic activity in group work: Macbeth rarely speaks
directly of killing Duncan. Instead, he uses less brutal
language, or euphemisms.
Read speech in 1.7.1-28 and underline all words that refer
to the murder of Duncan (at least 12!) Then, 1st group:
Read speech as written; 2nd group: Every time one of the
underlined words is said, whisper “MURDER“
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
3
ACTIVITY
Discussion - group work: arguments pro/con for internal fight of
Macbeth's conscience à to kill or not to kill the king?
Find one example from modern history to illustrate your point.
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
4
ACTIVITY
HWK
Lady Macbeth's manipulation of Macbeth, gender R e a d
stereotypes.
Act 2,
scene
Lesson aims: Students are able to recognise the different
1-4
persuasive techniques which Lady Macbeth uses to convince
her husband to kill the king. They have analysed all
occurring gender stereotypes in the play and related them to
their own life and modern times.They understand and realize
how the women in the play influence the storyline.
Handling:
Activity sheet done in pairs followed by a roleplay.
Discussion of the gender issues in plenum.
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
4
ACTIVITY
Handout with extracts 1–4: Which persuasive techniques (a-d) is
she using here?
1. “I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe
that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, have
plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains
out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.”
2. “Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept
since? And wakes it now to look so green and pale on what it did so
freely?”
3. “When you durst do it then you were a man.”
4. “But screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail.”
a. Flattery
b. Reassurance
c. Putting someone down
d. Emphasizing determination
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
4
ACTIVITY
Handout with roleplay prompts. Teacher gives students a role play
card. It will be students’ duty to persuade someone to do something
they want them to do, using the persuasive techniques they have
identified above.
How successful are they?
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
5
ACTIVITY
The theme of blood
Lesson aims: Students are able to explain the symbolism of blood
(cannot be cleaned as it is connected to guilt and bad conscience,
Lady Macbeth thinks it is enough to wash the king's blood
away (à later connected to act 3 and act 5: no closure and no
cleaning)
Handling:
Dramatic activity: Student(s) reads the porter scene aloud. Other
students incorporate the sound effects as they are called in the
Porter‘s speech. How does this help to the meaning of the Porter‘s
lines?
Pair work: Analyze knocking scene act 2, scene 3: How does it
show Macbeth's declining morals?
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
6
ACTIVITY
HWK
Characters and historical background of the play: Who is Act 3,
who? What is their respective title? What are their goals? s c e n e
How do they react to Duncan's death?
1-3
Lesson aims: Students are able to name the characters of
the play. They know their names, titles, goals, reactions to
Duncan's death and can compare their role in the play to
the role they had played in the real history (if they existed).
Handling:
In small groups students choose (or get assigned) one of
the characters and gather information about him/her.
Task: “Biopoem” à Link to the handout. Link to the
documents "The Real Macbeth and His Times" and
"Tartans".
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
7
ACTIVITY
Analysis of Banquo's Role in the play
HWK
Act 3,
scene
Lesson aims: Students are aware that Banquo would also 4-6
profit from Duncan's death but that in Shakespeare's play, he
is the moral pillar of the story à different in Holinshed‘s
Chronicles:
http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/macbeth/Holinshed/welcome.html
Handling:
Individual work – reading the original text of the
Holinshed's Chronicles, discussing the role of Banquo in the
play.
Can be followed by designing a chart of "good guys" and
"bad guys" in the play and in real life.
•  Is the real life choice as clear and black-and-white as in
the play?
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
8
ACTIVITY
Analysis of Macbeth's new behavior
HWK
Act 3,
scene
Lesson aims: Students are aware of Macbeth's change 4-6
in behavior: he is now the one who manipulates and pushes
other people into killing by questioning their manhood (act
3, scene 1)
Handling:
Dramatic activity in group work (2): Macbeth is questioning
Banquo about his agenda, knowing that he himself has
ordered Banquo and his son to be killed.
Underline every word or phrase where Macbeth is being
insecure or lying (e.g. “Fail not our feast” etc.).
Group 1 reads lines one-to-one slowly.
Group 2 allocates each of the underlined sections to
different speakers
à Group 1 reads and speakers of group 2 say what they
think is really on Macbeth’s mind.
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
9
ACTIVITY
Analysis of the absence of closure
HWK
Act 4,
scene
Lesson aims: Students are aware that there will be no 1-3
closure until Macbeth is dead. Despite being a king and
getting what he wants, he has to keep on killing whereas in
the 1st act, scene 7, the readers might think that he just has to
kill Duncan and then everything is done.
Handling: Compare Macbeth's conversation with Lady
Macbeth in act 1,scene 7 with their conversation in act
3, scene 2.
ANALYZE AND DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING GRAPH
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
10
ACTIVITY
New prophecies act 4, scene 1
HWK
A c t
5
,
Lesson aims: Students are able to describe how the scene
prophecies influence Macbeth's moral decline and see 1-5
how prophecies influence the whole plot and lead to
the end of the play.
Handling: Analyse command to murder Macduff's
family in order to see that it is the first senseless
killing. Analyse historical connection the play creates
by the use of a mirror.
Activity: make predictions about how prophecies will
manipulate the following events.
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
11
ACTIVITY
Loyalty theme (king/country)
HWK
A c t
5
,
Lesson aims: Students have analyzed Macduff's and scene
Malcolm's discussion of good kingship (act 4, scene 3) and
1-5
compared it to Macbeth's kingship. Students can relate the
elaborated values to the modern ideal of leadership.
Handling:
Group work: Examples from current politics – what makes a
good state leader / President?
à each group chooses one current politician / leader who
fulfills the criteria and describe which ones or one who
doesn‘t and justify their choice.
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
12
ACTIVITY
Lady Macbeth's decline into madness and her suicide.
Symbolism of blood and sleep
Lesson aims: Students can describe how/why Lady
Macbeth's role/attitude changed and understand the
symbolism of blood and sleep in the play.
Handling:
Suggestion: one group looks for the relevant text
passages in act 5, the other one in act 2 – then the
results are brought together on the board/ whiteboard /
poster.
HWK
Act 5,
scene
6-11
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
12
ACTIVITY
Macbeth's speech after Lady Macbeth's death (act 5, scene 5)
Lesson aims: Students are able to describe Macbeths state of
mind and feelings (hopelessness) in his famous soliloquy and the
symbolism of the candle
Handling: Performance group work (2):
Each group chooses the actor who will be performing the
speech. The other students are „directors“, helping the actor
interpret the speech. Each group will be assigned with an
expression (angry / sad/ defeated) that their actor will try to
convey when performing in front of the class.
Afterwards discuss: which performance was the most effective
one? What is Macbeth‘s state of mind? Who is he talking to:
himself? the audience? Sayton?), what is the symbolism of the
candle?
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
13
ACTIVITY
The resolution of the play.
HWK
Act 5,
scene
Lesson aims: Students can describe how the 6-11
prophecy came true + how the acceleration of tempo
in the last act influences the action of the play. They
understand how it shows the unstoppable decline of
Macbeth.
Handling:
Group work: Design a graphical representation of the
suspense and speed in the play. If you were a film
director, how would you handle the last act? Write a
screenplay. Which scenes would you explicitely show,
and what length would they have? (Can be later
compared with the film).
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
14+15
ACTIVITY
Aftermaths: watch the movie and compare it to the book: what
are the differences? Which scenes are included/not
included? Why are there any differences?
Look at the theme of elisions in play à deaths not shown,
crowning of Macbeth not shown à why are such important
events not shown? à antiquity, acceleration of tempo
MACBETH: LESSON PLAN
LESSON
ACTIVITY
Book recommendations:
Shakespeare Set Free: Teaching Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth &
Midsummer Night (Folger Shakespeare Library)
Longman School Shakespeare (New edition for GCSE)
"Macbeth". For a list of other Shakespeare's plays available
in this format see www. pearsonschools.co.uk
Also see link to a shortened script for a ca. 45 min. long
performance which can be done with the class.