MacbethWilliam Shakespeare

Anticipation Guide

1. Do you believe in prophecies?

2. Do you believe everyone is in a personal battle of good versus evil?

3. What is the difference between greed and ambition?

4. Do you believe one reaps what they sow?

5. Does fate alone determine the outcome of our lives?

6. Would you break your moral code for a stranger? For a loved one?

7. Do you listen to your conscience?

8. How does guilt make one feel?

Background

• first performed by Shakespeare's company around 1606

• written in 1605 or 1606• right after James I, the first Stuart king, took up the crown of

England in 1603

• the only of Shakespeare's plays set in Scotland

James I

• James I of England and VI Scotland• James was eager to assert any legitimacy he could over his right

to the English throne (sound familiar?)

• Hunted down witches – Daemonologie (1597)• Hmmm….

• Target of the Gunpowder Plot, where a group of rebel Catholics tried to blow up the King and Parliament• Allusion in Act II scene iii to the Catholic priest who encouraged

Catholics to be deceptive and treasonous – the same scene the king is found dead

Writing

• Nobel characters mostly speak in unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank verse• iamb = unaccented syllable followed by an accented one; penta =

five

• iambic pentameter = a line of five iambs

• ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM

• and WASH this FILthy WITness FROM your HAND – (Mac. 2.2)

Writing continued

• Witches speak in trochaic tetrameter with rhymed couplets• trochee = accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable,

opposite of an iamb; tetra = four

• trochaic tetrameter = four trochees per line

• DUM-da, DUM-da, DUM-da, DUM-da

• DOUble, DOUble, TOIL and TROUble.FIre BURN and CAULdron Bubble (Mac. 4.1)

• Commoners speak in prose – and the content is different (generally not classy i.e. hangovers, jokes, etc.)

Shakespeare’s Language

• Shakespeare’s sentence structure is not the same as ours (subject first, then predicate).

Our structure:

I ate the sandwich

Shakespearean structure:

Ate I the sandwich

The sandwich I ate

The sandwich ate I

And more…

You try…

• How could you write, “I walked the dog yesterday?” in Shakespeare language?

• Come up with your own sentence and write it in Shakespeare language.

Shakespeare English Modern English

• Banquo “What, sir, not yet at rest? The king’s a-bed.” (Mac. 2.1.11)• You’re not asleep yet, sir? The king’s in bed.

• Lady MacDuff “His flight was madness. When our actions do not, Our fears do make us traitors.” (Mac. 4.2.2-3)• He was crazy to run away. Even if you’re not a traitor, you’re going to

look like one if you run away.

• Macbeth (Mac. 5.3.21)• Get out of my sight. “Take thy face hence.”

What is Shakespeare saying in this longer text?

• LADY MACBETH:O, never

Shall sun that morrow see!

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men

May read strange matters. To beguile the time,

Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye,

Your hand, your tongue. Look like th' innocent flower,

But be the serpent under ’t. He that’s coming

Must be provided for; and you shall put

This night’s great business into my dispatch,

Which shall to all our nights and days to come

Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. (Act I, Scene iv)

Translate into Modern English with a partner

• MACBETH: She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. (Mac. 5.5)

Create your own Shakespearean Dictionary

• ‘tis - aby -new -against -an

• gi’ -afeard -square -o’er -neaf

• e’er -on -beteem -i’ -upon

• Coy -ope -eyne - a’ -to

• Prevailment -ne’er -wot -fair -anon

• Collied -oft -in -waxen• http://smago.coe.uga.edu/VirtualLibrary/Berry_Donovan_Hummel.pdf

Answer Key to Shakespearean Dictionary

• ‘tis- it is ope- open o’er- over

• gi’- give ne’er- never i’- in

• e’er- ever oft- often a’- he

• e’en- even new- newly fair- beauty

• coy- to caress square- to fight, quarrel waxen- to increase

• prevailment- power beteem- allow an- if

• collied- darkened eyne- eyes neaf- fist

• aby- to pay for wot- know upon- by

• afeard- afraid in- on to- in

• on- of against- in anticipation from anon- right away, soon

• http://smago.coe.uga.edu/VirtualLibrary/Berry_Donovan_Hummel.pdf