Download Macbeth

Agenda 1/19
• Vocab 13
• Quarter 3 Overview
• Intro to Macbeth
Respect the Decor
The Macbeth décor is the result of
hours of work by both teachers and
students. Please brag about it. Please
enjoy it. Please respect it.
***Any action that is destructive or an attempt to be
destructive of this décor will result in a referral. ***
Vocabulary 13
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Winnie the Pooh tried to climb through Rabbit’s
door, but he was too stout from the honey he
ate and got stuck.
Rabbit tried to make light of this misfortune, so
she placed a tablecloth and a vase over Winnie
the Pooh’s stuck rump.
Since he was obstructing Rabbit’s way in and
out of her house, she was very mad.
This is one of Winnie the Pooh’s zanier
adventures.
Once Pooh was free, his friends were all happy,
and no one made him the object of scorn.
Definitions
1. Stout- adj. thick and strong (or fat,solid, and
round)
2. Misfortune- noun an unlucky condition or
event; an unhappy situation
3. Obstruct- verb to block or to slow down
4. Zany- adj. very strange and silly
5. Scorn- noun a feeling that someone or
something is not worthy of any respect or
approval
Or verb to express a feeling that someone or
something isn’t worth respect or approval
Literary Term of the Week
Paradox:
A paradox is a statement that
contradicts itself and still seems true
somehow.
Example: This sentence is false.
Example from Macbeth
“Fair is foul and foul is fair.”
No, this quote doesn’t have anything
to do with baseball. But it IS a line
from the first pages of Macbeth.
1.What do you think it means?
2. If you were to translate it so that you and
your friends understand—what would it say?
1/2 page MINIMUM
Use complete sentences
Quarter 3 Overview
• Macbeth
• FSA prep
• Literary Analysis VLT #3 (LAST
ONE!)
January 20, 2016
•Review Paradox
•Foldable Notes
Paradox
Below is another paradox from Shakespeare
(from the play Hamlet).
1. Explain what the statement means.
2. Explain why it is a paradox.
3. Give some real world examples.
<Write a stout paragraph.>
Hamlet: I must be cruel to be kind.
Take Foldable Notes
• Fold the right side of your paper almost to
the left margin.
• Left side heading: use for topics being
discussed.
• Right side heading: use for notes.
Macbeth
Macbeth: An Introduction
Macbeth
• among the best-known of William
Shakespeare’s plays.
• His shortest tragedy.
•Written between 1603 and 1606.
Macbeth: Theme
•The dangers of the lust for power
and the betrayal of friends.
Who Was the Real Macbeth
He succeeded his
father as governor
of the province of
Moray c.1031
And was a military
commander for
Duncan I.
(Right: portrait of Macbeth)
How Did Macbeth Become King
In 1040, Macbeth killed
Duncan in battle and seized
the throne.
Connected to throne through
his wife
(Right: portrait of Duncan I)
The Real Macbeth
Macbeth was defeated in 1054 and lost
the north section of Scotland.
Malcolm regained the rest of the
kingdom after defeating and killing
Macbeth in 1057.
He then succeeded to the throne as
Malcolm III.
Holinshed’s Chronicles
•Raphael Holinshed was
an English historian.
•Chronicled British
history
•Shakespeare used him as
a source for the play
Macbeth
Hector Boece
•A Scottish philosopher
•Wrote Historia Gentis
Scotorum (Scottish
Nation’s History)
•Shakespeare used this text
as a basis for the character
of Macbeth
“The Scottish Play”
•Superstitions say that the play is “cursed.”
•King James, who was king of England
when Macbeth was first produced, firmly
believed in witches…
“The Scottish Play”
Explanation #1
Shakespeare is said to have used the
spells of real witches in his text,
purportedly angering the witches
and causing them to curse the play.
“The Scottish Play”
Explanation #2
Struggling theaters would put on this popular
'blockbuster' trying to save their dying
businesses.
However, it is a tall order for any single
production to reverse a long-running trend of
poor business.
Therefore, the last play performed before a
theater shut down was often Macbeth, and thus
the growth of the idea that it was an 'unlucky'
play.
“The Scottish Play”
Explanation #3
Theater companies may have used Macbeth as a back-up play if
they were to lose an actor and were not able to perform the
production originally planned for the performance.
Macbeth requires fewer actors (when doubling of characters for
actors occurs) and has the least amount of text for the actors to
memorize.
Macbeth may have been the play kept in theatre companies'
back pockets, just in case some bad luck were to occur prior to
any planning of a performance.
“The Scottish Play”
A large mythology has built up
surrounding this superstition, with
countless stories of accidents,
misfortunes and even deaths, all
mysteriously taking place during runs
of Macbeth (or by actors who had
uttered the name).
Many actors will not mention the
name of the play aloud, referring to it
instead as "The Scottish play".
“The Scottish Play”:
A Chronology of Misfortunes
Here are some of the gory particulars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LKMktAN4hc
“The Scottish Play”:
A Chronology of Misfortunes
During its 1849 performance at New York's
Astor Place, a riot broke out in which 31 people
were trampled to death.
“The Scottish Play”:
A Chronology of Misfortunes
In 1934, British actor Malcolm Keen turned
mute onstage, and his replacement, Alister Sim,
like Hal Berridge before him, developed a high
fever and had to be hospitalized.
“The Scottish Play”:
A Chronology of Misfortunes
In the 1942 Macbeth production headed
by John Gielgud, three actors -- Duncan and two
witches -- died, and the costume and set
designer committed suicide amidst his devilish
Macbeth creations.
“The Scottish Play”:
A Chronology of Misfortunes
The indestructible Charlton Heston, in an
outdoor production in Bermuda in 1953,
suffered severe burns in his groin and leg area
from tights that were accidentally soaked in
kerosene.
“The Scottish Play”
Several methods exist to dispel the curse, depending on the
actor.
One is to immediately leave the building the stage is in with
the person who uttered the name, walk around it three
times, spit over their left shoulders, say an obscenity then
wait to be invited back into the building.
Another popular "ritual" is to leave the room, knock three
times, be invited in, and then quote a line from Hamlet.
Yet another is to recite one of Shylock's monologues from
The Merchant of Venice.
“The Scottish Play”
Superstition of Characters’ Names
MacBee
Macker’s
Mr. and Mrs. M.
The Scottish King
MacWhat’s-his-face
The Witches
AKA the Weird
Sisters
Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches
(Act I, scene iii) by Johann Heinrich
Fussli
Portrayal in the 2006 film version
of Macbeth
Painting by William
Rimmer depicting the
witches’ conjuration of
an apparition
(Act IV, scene i)
The Witches
They tell Macbeth that he is destined to be king,
and urge him to do bloody things.
The Witches
Their character is modeled
after Norse mythology- the
Norns (three Fates)
the name Urðr (Wyrd,
Weird) means "fate" or
simply "future",
The norns- by Arthur Rackham
The Witches
The witches were also modeled after the
Three Fates of Greek and Roman mythology
They controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal and immortal from
birth to death .
The names of the three Parcae (Roman Fates) were:
Nona - spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle. Her Greek
equivalent was Clotho;
Decima - measured the thread of life with her rod. Her Greek equivalent was
Lachesis;
Morta - was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of a person's
death. When she cut the thread with "her abhorrèd shears", someone on Earth
died. Her Greek equivalent was Atropos.
The Witches
Represent darkness, chaos and confusion.
“Fair is foul and foul is fair”- a contradiction.
Evil is good, while good is evil.
The Witches
“Double, double toil and trouble” – they
cause more grief for the mortals around
them.
The witches never actually tell Macbeth
to kill Duncan, but merely tempt him
with the idea of becoming king.
What theme of temptation might
Shakespeare be representing here?