In Act 2, Scene 1 Macbeth is deciding whether to kill Duncan or not. Read Macbeth’s soliloquy to students from ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me?’
Ask students to listen carefully as you read aloud to them – try to be quite dramatic and theatrical!
Instruct students to jot down any words or phrases that they think are especially important.
Ask students to feedback. Also, ask them about their first impressions of the speech.
Issue Lesson 5 – Macbeth’s Soliloquy (High Ability Students) or Lesson 5 – Macbeth’s Soliloquy (Low Ability Students). Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pusU90ov8pQ This will aid understanding.
With Lesson 5 – Macbeth’s Soliloquy, give pairs three highlighters to share. They must identify how Macbeth is feeling at the prospect of murdering King Duncan, exploring three possible choices:
1) Macbeth is intent on the murder.
2) Macbeth is undecided.
3) Macbeth is horrified by the prospect of murder.
They’re to use 3 different colours to represent each of the three choices. They should try to highlight each line in a colour.
Issue Lesson 5 – Macbeth Chart to students. They’re to create a line graph which illustrates Macbeth’s decision making.
(20 mins)
Students are to answer the following question:
Why does Macbeth decide to kill King Duncan?
Students should refer to the soliloquy, but also what’s happened in other scenes from the play. They should use the PEE format in their response. You may decide to make this form the basis for an extended piece of writing.
Select quotations for low ability students to work with, rather than them trying to find their own.
(Macbeth's Soliloquy - with helpful definitions - was taken from The RSC Shakespeare Toolkit for Teachers.)
Ask students to listen carefully as you read aloud to them – try to be quite dramatic and theatrical!
Instruct students to jot down any words or phrases that they think are especially important.
Ask students to feedback. Also, ask them about their first impressions of the speech.
Issue Lesson 5 – Macbeth’s Soliloquy (High Ability Students) or Lesson 5 – Macbeth’s Soliloquy (Low Ability Students). Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pusU90ov8pQ This will aid understanding.
With Lesson 5 – Macbeth’s Soliloquy, give pairs three highlighters to share. They must identify how Macbeth is feeling at the prospect of murdering King Duncan, exploring three possible choices:
1) Macbeth is intent on the murder.
2) Macbeth is undecided.
3) Macbeth is horrified by the prospect of murder.
They’re to use 3 different colours to represent each of the three choices. They should try to highlight each line in a colour.
Issue Lesson 5 – Macbeth Chart to students. They’re to create a line graph which illustrates Macbeth’s decision making.
(20 mins)
Students are to answer the following question:
Why does Macbeth decide to kill King Duncan?
Students should refer to the soliloquy, but also what’s happened in other scenes from the play. They should use the PEE format in their response. You may decide to make this form the basis for an extended piece of writing.
Select quotations for low ability students to work with, rather than them trying to find their own.
(Macbeth's Soliloquy - with helpful definitions - was taken from The RSC Shakespeare Toolkit for Teachers.)
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