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Macbeth Assignment
This assignment does not need to be typed and double spaced. However, it must be
neatly handwritten in order for me to evaluate your responses.
Resources you will need:
Macbeth, the play. Remember the scene summaries and the notes in the book.
Your introduction to Macbeth notes
your questions (hopefully, your answers)
Each other
Part One: The Moral of the tale….. Pre-reading, we completed the chart about criminals
(which sparked a class discussion). Complete the second version of the chart (well, it is
really the original with some new directions written on it).
1. Select the worst three crimes that Macbeth commits and explain WHY they are
the worst. (6 points)
2. What is the least serious crime he comments? Why? (2 points)
3. Did your choices change from the pre-reading activity? How did the details of
the crime, the specifics, change the impact of the crime? (5 points)
Your answers should be in well-developed paragraphs.
Value: 13 points total
Part Two: Key Questions.
In well-developed sentences, answer the following questions that were included in your
introductory notes. (Value: 3 points per questions, 18 points)
1. What are Macbeth’s good points and why is he a tragic hero?
2. What does Macbeth want from life?
3. Is he evil or a victim of evil?
4. Why does he murder Duncan after deciding not to? What does this tell us about
Macbeth, as an individual?
5. What is his relationship with Lady Macbeth like?
6. How does Macbeth change?
Part Three: Figurative Language. One of the biggest obstacles to understanding
Shakespeare is the fact that he often speaks in figurative terms. Rather than saying what
he means directly, he uses metaphors, similes and other figures of speech to
communicate to his audience. Below, are examples of figurative devices found in
Macbeth. For each figurative device, find a DIFFERENT example in the play (the notes in
the book will be a huge help here). List the example and explain, in your own words,
what Shakespeare is trying to say AND whether or not it is effective. (3 points per
example; 12 points total)
1. Allusion: Shakespeare used both mythological and Biblical allusions.
a. The sergeant compares a bloody scene of death on the battlefield to Golgotha
which is the place of Christ's death in the New Testament (I,ii.).
b. One of the mythological allusions is Macduff's comparing the dead Duncan to a
Gorgon of Greek mythology which could turn a person to stone because of the
terror evoked (II,iii).
2. Metaphor: Comparison of two distinct things. (Planting imagery) “I have begun
to plant thee, and will labor/To make thee full of growing.” (I,iv). Duncan is
explaining how he has started to help Macbeth reach his potential as Thane (potential in
terms of rewards and position)
3. Simile: Comparison of two distinct things, using like or as. (Flower imagery):
“Look like the innocent flower,/But be the serpent under it.” (I,v). Lady Macbeth is
warning her husband to not betray their plans to kill Duncan by advising him to play
innocent but scheme all the while.
4. Personification: Giving human like characteristics to things that are not human:
“If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me,/Without my stir”
(I,iii). Macbeth is hoping that if fate does want him to be King, then he may become king
without having to do anything himself.
Part Four: Themes and Making Connections. Pick two of the following themes to write
about:
► “fair is foul and foul is fair.” (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 10)/The nature of good and evil
► Appearance vs Reality
► Honour and Loyalty
► Fate and Destiny
► Ambition
► The concept of masculinity (what does it mean to “be a man”)/the concept of
femininity
For each theme, in a well developed paragraph, explain what the play says about that
theme. What, for example, does Macbeth suggest that it means to be a “man”? In
Macbeth, what does it mean to be honourable or loyal?
In a second paragraph, explain how Macbeth’s version of that theme is or isn’t relevant
to modern day life. Do fate and destiny play the same role in your lives that it played in
Macbeth’s? Would people be as willing to accept a ‘prophecy’ today as Macbeth was?
Value: 20 points; 10 points per theme, 5 points per paragraph.