Download Day 035-036_doc_ November 4-5_ Introduction to Macbeth_

Mr. Sudol
11/4/15 – 11/5/15 (Days 35 - 36)
LESSON PLAN (JR): INTRODUCTION TO MACBETH: LEADERSHIP & THE VILLIAN HERO
OBJECTIVE: To explore the concepts of “leadership” and “the anti-hero” such that students may apply those
concepts in their examination of Macbeth.
COMMON CORE STANDARDS ADDRESSED: W.11-12.1(All), 2(All), 4, 5, 10; SL.11-12.1(A, C, D, E), 4, 6; L.11-12.2, 6
PRAYER
COLLEECTION/DISTRIBUTION OF PREVIOUS ASSIGNMENTS
DISCUSSION/ACTIVITY
The story we will be studying this quarter – Shakespeare’s Macbeth – is an excellent fit for a course themed
“Heroism and Tragedy.” Essentially, Macbeth is the story of a Scottish nobleman who kills his opponents so
that he can become king and is eventually killed in turn by another noble on behalf of the rightful heir of the
Scottish throne.
Since this course is focused on the concepts of heroism and tragedy, I wanted to look at a particular quality
inherent in heroism: leadership. What makes a leader a leader? What are his/her qualities? [Give students a
chance to respond]
I want to give you a chance to explore the concept of leadership. Each group will get an “essential question” to
discuss, these are questions that will not only help you explore the nature of “leadership” per se, but questions
that will give you a better understanding of Macbeth when you read it and answer them for that play. Right
now, I’d like each group to send up a representative to my desk. Take one of the six facedown sheets on my
desk to your group and read it aloud. Once the question on the sheet has been read, discuss it as a group: the
person who took the sheet from my desk is responsible for recording the group’s discussion. I will come around
to each group in turn; you will report your group’s answers to the discussion question tomorrow during class.
Discussion Questions:
1. It has been said that “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Explain the meaning of this
quote, then say why this statement is both valid and invalid. Make sure you give examples from real life to
support your argument.
2. Does a leader owe the people he/she leads or do those people owe their leader? Explain how a leader both
serves those he/she leads and how the individuals a leader leads serve him/her. Make sure you give
examples from real life to support your argument.
3. Is a “bad” leader one who doesn’t have the ability to lead others or one who lead others to do bad things (or
both)? Give an answer than satisfies both of these conditions; make sure you give examples from real life to
support your argument.
4. Is it acceptable for a leader to sacrifice those he/she leads for a “greater good”? When is putting the
individuals the leader leads in harm’s way justified and unjustifiable? Give an answer than satisfies both of
these conditions; make sure you give examples from real life to support your argument.
5. Give three qualities or attributes that define a “good” leader and three qualities or attributes that define a
“bad” one. Make sure you give examples from real life that fulfill both sets of qualities.
6. Does a leader have to be someone who physically draws others toward promoting a cause or can he/she be a
person who simply takes a stand on an issue and “leads by example” (or both)? Give an answer than
satisfies both of these conditions; make sure you give examples from real life to support your argument.
I was especially interested in what you all said about bad leaders, since it can be argued that the character
Macbeth in the play is both incapable of true leadership and incites others toward evil acts as well. As such, I
would like to introduce you to the literary concepts of the Anti-Hero, Villain, and Anti-Villain:

The Anti-Hero is a protagonist who gains or wields power through nontraditional, imperfect, or undesirable
means. An anti-hero may have imperfections (physical, emotional, mental, etc), a lack of “positive”
qualities or an abundance of “negative” ones, or may simply justify his “bad” action by saying that he had
good intentions for taking them. There is no one perfect archetypal anti-hero; it might be a typical “badguy” antagonist who gets a lot of face time in a story or a protagonist who can’t seem to “get it right.”
Some recognizable anti-heroes include:
o Batman
o 50 Cent
o Willy Loman from Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
o Mark Antony from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
o Severus Snape from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series

The Anti-Villain (or villain hero) is a villain with heroic goals, personality traits, and/or virtues. Their
desired ends are mostly good, but their means of getting there are evil. Alternatively, their desired ends are
evil, but they are far more ethical or moral than most villains and they thus use fairly benign means to
achieve it, and can be downright heroic on occasion. Some recognizable anti-heroes include:
o Dr. Octopus (from Spider-Man 2)
o Megamind
o Gru (from Dispicable Me)
o Hannibal Lechter from Hannibal

A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The
villain usually is the antagonist (though can be the protagonist), the character who tends to have a negative
effect on other characters. Villain comes from the Anglo-French and Old French vilain, which itself
descends from the Late Latin word villanus, meaning "farmhand", in the sense of someone who is bound to
the soil of a villa, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation. True villains commonly
function in the dual role of adversary and foil to the story's heroes. In their role as adversary, the villain
serves as an obstacle the hero must struggle to overcome. In their role as foil, the villain exemplifies
characteristics that are diametrically opposed to those of the hero, creating a contrast distinguishing heroic
traits from villainous ones.
o On a side note, I find the etymology of the word “villain” fascinating, given the subject material we
will soon engage with Macbeth; that the idea of being “bad” or “evil” was originally associated with
those who were simply “common” or “powerless” in terms of the social structure of their time,
people who probably wanted to be more than what they were or to have a better deal in life than
what they had. Consider this when observing Macbeth’s actions and motives for taking them in the
play.
HOMEWORK
 11/4-11/5: Essay: In your notebooks, give an example of an anti-hero (do not use any of the examples
given in class), then give three reasons why this individual fits the definition of the “anti-hero.” Make sure
you use those qualities of the anti-hero discussed in class (imperfection, lack of “good” attributes, etc.) to
explain why the individual you have chosen fits the definition of the anti-hero. We will discuss these with
regard to the portrayal of Macbeth by Sir Ian McKellan at the end of our Macbeth movie viewing.