Friday, September 28, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Curse
Looking for gender reversal in ACT Four? What does Macbeth call down upon the witches when he first speaks to them? Who does this make him like?
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Demonstration of Knowledge
Demonstration of Knowledge
Track Macbeth's relationship to gender identification (in the Elizabethan sense of spheres of masculinity and/or femininity) by referring to several lines from each act...
Argue that, ironically, Macbeth is most masculine in the last act.
Discuss, by three references to lines in the play, how Lady Macbeth is clearly an archetypal witch character.
Discuss how Lady Macbeth returns to a feminine sphere of behavior at the end of the play.
Discuss one example of comic relief found in the play.
Compare Lady Macbeth to Nurse Ratched.
Be ready to respond to at least one other prompt from the shmoop website.
What are three moments in the play that Shakespeare uses to make us sympathize with Macbeth--despite his tyrannical ways.
How do two of the three final prophecies unravel and lead Macbeth on "to his confusion"?
Discuss several of the more evil ingredients used to make the witch's final charms.
Old Siward's definition of manhood is eerily similar to Macbeth's. Explain.
How does Malcolm test Macduff's loyalty?
List two moments in the play where it is clear that Shakespeare has his mind on his money and his money on his mind.
Discuss the recurring references to "blood" throughout the play--literal and figurative. Why are they so important?
List three examples of the clothing trope.
List three examples of direct references to the "false faces" trope used in "Macbeth." Stepping back from the play a bit, what does Shakespeare seem to be saying about humanity in general with this trope?
Discuss three examples of dramatic irony found in the play. What do we know that the characters don't?
Obviously, I am not asking you to answer all of these questions. But I reserve the right to choose any five of these for your test. It should be fairly obvious which question will be on every class's test...but each class will have a different test.
Track Macbeth's relationship to gender identification (in the Elizabethan sense of spheres of masculinity and/or femininity) by referring to several lines from each act...
Argue that, ironically, Macbeth is most masculine in the last act.
Discuss, by three references to lines in the play, how Lady Macbeth is clearly an archetypal witch character.
Discuss how Lady Macbeth returns to a feminine sphere of behavior at the end of the play.
Discuss one example of comic relief found in the play.
Compare Lady Macbeth to Nurse Ratched.
Be ready to respond to at least one other prompt from the shmoop website.
What are three moments in the play that Shakespeare uses to make us sympathize with Macbeth--despite his tyrannical ways.
How do two of the three final prophecies unravel and lead Macbeth on "to his confusion"?
Discuss several of the more evil ingredients used to make the witch's final charms.
Old Siward's definition of manhood is eerily similar to Macbeth's. Explain.
How does Malcolm test Macduff's loyalty?
List two moments in the play where it is clear that Shakespeare has his mind on his money and his money on his mind.
Discuss the recurring references to "blood" throughout the play--literal and figurative. Why are they so important?
List three examples of the clothing trope.
List three examples of direct references to the "false faces" trope used in "Macbeth." Stepping back from the play a bit, what does Shakespeare seem to be saying about humanity in general with this trope?
Discuss three examples of dramatic irony found in the play. What do we know that the characters don't?
Obviously, I am not asking you to answer all of these questions. But I reserve the right to choose any five of these for your test. It should be fairly obvious which question will be on every class's test...but each class will have a different test.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Themes in Macbeth
Here is a link to a site which lists (college student generated) themes which may be found in Shakespeare's Macbeth. You might want to be able to discuss a theme listed on this site that we HAVE NOT discussed in class--for an extra credit opportunity on the next demonstration of knowledge. Just saying...
http://www.shmoop.com/macbeth/themes.html
http://www.shmoop.com/macbeth/themes.html
Macbeth e-text
Here is a link to an e-text of Shakespeae's Macbeth.
In the future, if you are looking for e-texts of literature on line, just Google the title plus the word etext plus the word virginia...the University of Virginia has about everything you could possibly want to read (of literary value--especially plays) on-line...
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MobMacb.html
In the future, if you are looking for e-texts of literature on line, just Google the title plus the word etext plus the word virginia...the University of Virginia has about everything you could possibly want to read (of literary value--especially plays) on-line...
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MobMacb.html
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