Resources:
Resource Sheet 11: Of snakes and men
Resource Sheet 12: Same speech, different speakers? / Outcomes:
· To explore the shifting relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
· To understand the contribution imagery makes to the dramatic and thematic effects
· To track the links between separate scenes within the play
► Initial work
One of the key points to consider about Act 3 is the manner in which power shifts towards Macbeth away from his wife, though Macbeth suffers torment for what he has done. Start by asking students to look back at the previous act. Was there any evidence then that Macbeth was beginning to take the lead in events?
You might point to Macbeth’s instant decision to kill the servants – had this been planned? Also, though Lady Macbeth plans Duncan’s murder, she does not actually kill anyone herself.
► Focused work
Students will need to have read Act 3 Scene 1, and be clear that Banquo has identified Macbeth as murderer of the king. Remind students that Banquo has refused to pledge allegiance to Macbeth, and is therefore a threat on two fronts: first, because he knows the truth; second, because the witches promised that his descendants would be future kings of Scotland.
▲ Activity 1: The previous unit looked at Shakespeare’s use of abbreviated sentences and punctuation to create dramatic effect. Now students will look at Act 3 Scene 2 to consider the contribution imagery makes to the tone and action of the play. They should first reread Act 3 Scene 2, then match up the images on Resource Sheet 11: Of snakes and men to the things being described. Elicit from them what these add to the drama: note how much more powerful the images are than the explanations. What does the language tell us about their respective states of mind? What effect do these images have on the tone and atmosphere of the scene? Do they make it light-hearted and silly?
▲ Activity 2: This scene is especially important in the way it starts to signal a shift between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The first line of Macbeth’s final speech indicates his intention not to tell her what he has planned.
Now compare this speech with Lady Macbeth’s ‘unsex me’ soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 5. Distribute Resource Sheet 12: Same speech, different speakers? and ask students to work in pairs to look at similarities between the two. The two missing rows could be filled in with references to ‘sinister’ birds (raven, crow) and, more challengingly, the use in both speeches of imperatives calling on dark forces to assist them (‘Come’, ‘stop‘/ ‘come’, ‘cancel’, ‘scarf up..’ etc).
More able students could also look at what differences there are. They might mention:
· the fact that Lady Macbeth’s speech is a soliloquy, and is almost like a spell or prayer to evil forces. Macbeth’s speech is in the presence of his wife, though it also sounds like a spell or incantation
· Lady Macbeth’s references to her needing to be ‘unsex’-ed – whilst Macbeth’s speech has no obvious reference to his gender, or manliness
é Aim High
▲ Activity 3: Events before Banquo’s murder and the banquet raise some key questions which students might wish to consider and make notes on:
· Why doesn’t Macbeth tell his wife what fate he has planned for Banquo?
· How are we supposed to view Banquo, following what he says at the start of the act in reference to what the witches promised him?
· Who might the third murderer be who appears to help with the murder of Banquo?
è Moving On
The ‘banquet scene’ (Act 3 Scene 4) can be approached in a number of ways. It is an active and dramatic scene, following on from the equally dramatic murder of Banquo. One way of approaching it is to set the classroom out as for a banquet, and allocate roles to students. Different approaches to the ‘problem’ of the ghost can be tried – is it more effective to have an actor playing the ghost, or to make the ghost invisible?
▲ Activity 4: Students can make notes on how key ideas and themes are revisited in this scene, for example: the supernatural; how Lady Macbeth ‘covers’ for Macbeth again; Macbeth’s disordered state of mind; how later events are hinted at in what Macbeth says (‘stones have been known to move, and trees to speak…’).
8 Check the web
Some productions have suggested that Banquo might be as ambitious as Macbeth. Visit www.theambassadors.com/macbeth/education/page8.htm for an actor’s view of how to play Banquo.
In Act 3 Scene 2 Macbeth uses a number of powerful images to describe situations and feelings. Match the images below to their meanings.
We have scorched the snake, not killed it;She’ll close, and be herself, whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth / Following a difficult, painful life death now brings him peace
…we
Must lave our honours in these flattering streams
And makes our faces vizards to our hearts / I’m torn apart by my thoughts
After life’s fitful fever, he sleeps well / We have wounded our enemies, but haven’t defeated them. If we’re not careful, they’ll recover and come back to attack us.
…full of scorpions is my mind…! / Let it get dark, so the sun’s rays are blocked and disappear
Let the frame of things disjoint / We’ll have to pretend to be pleasant and praise people, and mask what we’re really feeling.
Come, sealing night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day / The first sounds of the night-time
..night’s yawning peal / Let the world shatter into pieces
Task: look at Macbeth’s final speech in Act 3 Scene 2, and Lady Macbeth’s speech beginning ‘The raven himself is hoarse…’ in Act 1 Scene 5. Using the table below:
· provide examples of the similarities suggested.
· in the empty rows, add any other similarities you notice plus examples.
Similarities / Lady Macbeth speech:Act 1 Scene 5 / Macbeth speech:
Act 3 Scene 2
References to ‘night’ and its effects
References to evil/dark forces that they need to ‘help’ them
Similar or repeated words and phrases
References to blindness/seeing etc
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