Macbeth Literary Analysis Topics English IV Mrs. Sharp Rough Draft (Quiz) Due: Tuesday, 11/4 Final Draft (Test) Due: Thursday, 11/6 The final draft must be submitted in paper and on Turnitin.com (with a less than 10% originality score) on the due date. Choose one of the following prompts to respond to in a 500 word essay (excluding the MLA heading) with quotes from the play. Include correct parenthetical citations for your quotes. Even though your response is your opinion, use the third person pronoun (not “I”). 1. Analyze Macbeth’s character. Do you think he was influenced by outside forces to commit murder, or do you think he is inherently evil and would have killed on his own? Take a position on his moral character and support your ideas with proof from the play. 2. Sleep is a motif in the play. Analyze the significance of sleep in terms of its literal and figurative meaning in the play. Consider who lacks sleep or has fitful sleep patterns and what this suggests about their conscience? You can organize your ideas around the characters who are affected by abnormal sleep patterns or sleeplessness. 3. There are not many female roles in this play, yet their presence makes a strong impact on Macbeth. Analyze how the witches and Lady Macbeth are depicted as less than feminine (by 1600 standards) and how this powerful paradox relates to the play overall. 4 . Nobody except Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost in Act III. In some productions of the play, though, the ghost does not appear onstage. Consider Banquo’s ghost’s appearance at the banquet versus having it appear as though no person motivates Macbeth’s terrifying behavior. Which is a more effective presentation of fear? I. Introduction Write a general statement about the topic you have chosen (influences or moral character/motifs in literature/Banquo’s ghost). Connect this general statement to the play by writing a sentence about the topic’s importance in the play. Then, include a general summary (3­4 sentences) about the play, when it was written, and by whom. For your thesis statement, write a one sentence response to the prompt that you are trying to prove. II. Body Paragraphs A. Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that asserts what you are going to prove in that paragraph through text evidence and explanation. The topic sentence and paragraph must connect back to the thesis statement. Do not start a new paragraph with a fact or summary of the play­­it should be something you set out to prove. The murder of Macduff’s son onstage effectively shows the lowpoint that Macbeth has reached in that he has an innocent child killed. B. Lead into each quote you use. Don’t let a quote stand alone. Set it up with who said it and the context, followed by the quote and then the parenthetical citation. The following is an example of a correct setup for a quote with citation: Because Macbeth learns that Macduff has fled to England, presumably as a traitor, Macbeth orders Macduff’s family and servants killed. The murderer kills the son first, and the son, fully aware of the deed, exclaims right before he dies: “He has killed me, Mother. / Run­away, I pray you!” (IV.ii.80­81) C. The most important part of the body paragraphs is the explanation or commentary about how the evidence supports the topic sentence (assertion). Not only does the audience see this murder, but Shakespeare gives the son an engaging part at the beginning of the scene to show the boy’s spiritedness and loyalty to his father, Macduff, which only leads the audience to appreciate his character. In an interesting parallel, it is the son in this murder scene who is killed first and warns his parent to run away whereas the scene in which Banquo is murdered, he tells his son to flee. Although Fleance, Banquo’s son is able to escape death, Macduff’s son does not. This explicit scene adds to the outrage the audience feels toward Macbeth because now he has stooped to his lowest point in successfully killing an innocent child. Having the scene only reported instead of part of the script would not have the same graphic effect. IV.
Conclusion Restate the thesis effectively using fresh language (not just repeating verbatim what you wrote in the introduction). The conclusion should relate back to the prompt and not lose focus on the play and writer. The important part is not to let the momentum of the analysis fade at this point but keep the reader interested all the way through the end of your paper. FORMAT OF ESSAY: MLA heading on the left side at the top of paper 12 pt. Times New Roman or Arial font double space lines without extra space between paragraphs indent five spaces for new paragraphs