Macbeth

Learning goals:1. Try strategies for reading

Shakespearean language2. Get familiar with the characters

and themes in Macbeth

Macbeth

Homework: Read the

intro material

Have you ever heard

the saying…Without rhyme or reasonIn a pickleSalad days

Vanished into thin air

Have you ever heard

the saying…HoodwinkedPlaying fast and looseHaven’t slept a wink

Cold comfort

Have you ever heard

the saying…Point your fingerSend me packingLaughing-stock

The devil incarnate

Have you ever heard

the saying…A sorry sightBloody-minded

Heart of goldFlesh and blood

Have you ever heard

the saying…Full circleBudge an inch

Fair playBrevity is the soul of wit

Those sayings all come from Shakespeare

Why is Shakespeare’s

English different from

ours?Languages are alive.• New words appear (e.g. website)• Old words disappear (e.g. trousers)• Existing words change meaning (e.g.

several, retarded, twitter, epic, sick)

• The English language contains about 300,000 words.• Shakespeare’s vocabulary was about

15,000 words. • The average person’s vocabulary is

about 3,000 words.• You can get by day-to-day with about

150.

Wisny Bronger

Wisny Bronger

By Donald Laing• Let’s read this story together, and see

if, as a group, we can figure out the story…

Vocabularyrumpter

zorkwisny loola

woodlegorgaklubelstorb(ed)

Wisny Bronger woodled a klubel. Mang the wisny wangs he snad had klubels, and Bronger clarred that he should nord wahm chu.

He franged to his loola, but she rutued, “Ro, and zork your gorga.”

He zorked his gorga, but he sulu wunkled his zono and rutued, “Fla. You’re chu simli.”

Roo wisny Bronger! He rumtered to his labo, slarred on his tid, and storbed and storbed and storbed until pledly he fang owaw.

Little Bobby wanted a puppy. Many of the little boys he knew had puppies, and Bobby thought that he should have one too.

He asked his mother, but she replied, “Go and ask your father.”

He asked his father, but he simply shook his head and said, “No. You’re too young.”

Poor little Bobby! He returned to his room, lumped on his bed, and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed until finally he fell asleep.

How were we able to read that story?

If you can decipher complete nonsense,

then something written in English

should be no problem.

Let’s take

notes!

How to read difficult texts• Use the words you do know• Picture the action• Make guesses and predictions• Use what you know about language• Use what you know about people and the world• Use context• Think of similar words or words in other

languages as clues• Keep your mind open to possibilities

Common Shakespearean

TermsAnon – Right now “I come anon.”Art – are, or skill “Thou art dead; no physician’s art can save thee.”Dost or doth – does or do “Dost thou know the time?”Ere – Before “We must leave ere daybreak”Fain – Gladly “I would fain bake cookies for Mr. Loncke.”

O proud left foot, that ventures quick withinThen soon upon a backward journey lithe.Anon, once more the gesture, then begin:Command sinistral pedestal to writhe.Commence thou then the fervid Hokey-Poke,A mad gyration, hips in wanton swirl.To spin! A wilde release from Heavens yoke.Blessed dervish! Surely canst go, girl.The Hoke, the poke -- banish now thy doubtVerily, I say, 'tis what it's all about.

Macbeth

What do you know about Macbeth?

Macbeth• Tragedy

• Five acts• Setting: 11th century Scotland

MacbethSubjects:

murder, ambition, madness, corruption, power, guilt, loyalty

MacbethProbably written: 1606

First folio: 1623

Macbeth• Written for King

James of England• Descendent of

Banquo• King James hated the

play had it banned.

The curse of the Scottish playIs there an evil spell on this ill-starred play?

By DINA TRITSCH, Showbill, April 1984In 1604 Will Shakespeare in his zeal to please King

James I, an authority on demonology, cast caution and imagination aside and for the opening scene of Macbeth's Act IV he reproduced a 17th century black-magic ritual, a sort of how-to to budding witches. Without changing an ingredient, Old Will provided his audience with step-by-step instructions in the furtive art of spell casting:

The curse of the Scottish play"Round around the cauldron go;In the poison'd entrails throw.Toad, that under cold stoneDays and nights has thirty-oneSwelter'd venum sleeping got.Boil thou first i' the charmed pot"...And so on.

The curse of the Scottish playThe ritual's practitioners were not amused by this

detailed public exposure of their witchcraft, and it is said that as punishment they cast an everlasting spell on the play, turning it into the most ill-starred of all theatrical productions. It is so unlucky that by comparison to Macbeth's nearly 400-year history of unmitigated disaster, Murphy's Law appears exceedingly optimistic.

Here are some of the gory particulars:

The curse of the Scottish play• Beginning with its first performance, in 1606, Will himself was

forced to play Lady Macbeth when Hal Berridge, the boy designated to play the lady, became inexplicably feverish and died.

• Moreover, the bloody play so displeased King James I that he banned it for five years.

• When performed in Amsterdam in 1672, the actor playing Macbeth substituted a real dagger for the blunted stage one and with it killed Duncan in full view of the entranced audience.

• As Lady Macbeth, Sarah Siddons was nearly ravaged by a disapproving audience in 1775; Sybil Thorndike was almost strangled by a burly actor in 1926; Diana Wynyard sleepwalked off the rostrum in 1948, falling down 15 feet.

The curse of the Scottish play• During its 1849 performance at New York's Astor Place, a riot broke

out in which 31 people were trampled to death. • In 1937, when Laurence Olivier took on the role of Macbeth, a 25

pound stage weight crashed within an inch of him, and his sword which broke onstage flew into the audience and hit a man who later suffered a heart attack.

• 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.

• 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 curse of the Scottish play• 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.

• An actor's strike felled Rip Torn's 1970 production in New York City; two fires and seven robberies plagued the 1971 version starring David Leary; in the 1981 production at Lincoln Center, J. Kenneth Campbell, who played Macduff, was mugged soon after the play's opening.

The curse of the Scottish playOf course, no explanations have been given for

the seemingly inevitable toil and trouble that is part and parcel of this unlucky play. You don't, in fact, ever refer to Macbeth or quote from it unless rehearsing or performing it. You also don't, as explained to me by countless brave and talented actors from Glenda Jackson to Ian McKellen, refer to this haunted play by name, but instead you call it “The Scottish Play” or simply “That Play”; everyone, it seems, will get the message, in a flash.

The curse of the Scottish playIf you happen to say the name of the play in a

theatre by accident, there is a way to redeem yourself and dispel the bad ju-ju.1. Leave the theatre2. Turn around three times3. Spit4. Say the worst swear word you can think of5. Ask for permission to re-enter

Dramatis Personae

Latin: "persons or characters of the drama"

MacbethThane of Glamis, General

Lady Macbet

hWife of Macbeth

DuncanKing of Scotland

Malcolm Prince of

Scotland

DonalbainPrince of Scotland

BanquoFriend of

Macbeth, General of the

King’s army

MacduffThane of Fife

Lady Macdu

ff Wife of Macduff

RossThane

LennoxThane

SiwardGeneral of the

English Army

Young SiwardSon of Siward

Doctor

GentlewomanAttending Lady Macbeth

PorterDoor man

SeytonServant to Macbeth

HecatePagan goddess

of farming, but also of

witchcraft, ghosts and

tombs

Three Witche

s

Macdonwal

dTraitor to Scotland

Bloody Soldier

Macbeth thought-startersWrite answers to the following questions:

1. What is a traitor? When is it justifiable to turn against the leaders of your country?

2. If you had a chance to steal $100 million, and were 99% sure you’d get away with it, would you try?

3. How can you tell when someone is being dishonest with you? How can a person lie effectively?

Tell your elbow

partner a story

using the following words:

Macbeth Reading

Questions•Read these questions before reading each scene.•Answer them as you read.• These are not meant as extra

work for you to do. The questions will help you.

Macbeth Reading

Questions• They tell you what happens in the scene, and give you an idea about what might be important. •Questions will be collected at the

end of the unit and marked for completion.

Macbeth Reading

Questions•Your answers must be written out by hand.• To prevent cheating, I will not

accept typed answers.