Unit 14: Coursework assignment 2 –
a significant character
Assessment focus: A01, A02, A04
Suggested number of lessons: 4-5
Resources:
Outcomes:
Resource Sheet 33: Macbeth’s bloody acts
Resource Sheet 34: Group factors
Resource Sheet 35: Macbeth – finding evidence
Resource Sheet 36: Macbeth modelled
Resource Sheet 37: Essay plan – key character
Resource Sheet 38: Aim high – key character
 To complete a coursework assignment
focusing on a key character
►Preparation
This unit will be focused around the following title:
Analyse to what extent is Shakespeare’s Macbeth a straightforward villain.
As for all essays or assignments, a first task will be to ask students to draw out the key
words from the title, and what this means for them:
Analyse
=
look at the subject in question in detail, and with
objectivity considering various possibilities
extent
=
how much (you don’t have to agree with the statement)
Macbeth
=
focus on him, not other characters
straightforward villain
=
a villain is someone who is evil; ‘straightforward’ suggests
someone who is simple to understand
Suggest that the two key phrases are ‘extent’ and ‘straightforward villain’ and that these
should form the basis of the essay. However, as elsewhere, point out that students must
ensure A04 is addressed. This means having an awareness of how the character of
Macbeth might have been viewed by contemporary audiences, but also what the idea of a
‘villain’ is, and what constituted evil acts in Jacobean England.
▲ Activity 1: Ask students, in pairs, to note down all the evil acts that Macbeth commits
and why. Point out that if this is the only way we view him, simply as a fairly cold-blooded
killer, then we are likely to conclude he is a ‘straightforward villain’ – that he has no
redeeming features and is easy to comprehend.
Give out Resource Sheet 33: Macbeth’s bloody acts and ask students to complete it.
During feedback highlight any of these that might be viewed as not straightforward (for
example, we don’t really know why he doesn’t seem to do anything about Lady Macbeth
on a personal level; we also can’t blame him for killing Macdonald, if that’s what he is
doing on behalf of the king.)
*****Please supply text for copyright and footer notes*****
▲ Activity 2: If we look at his actions alone, they are pretty compelling if we choose to
condemn him as a straightforward villain, but there are also possible reasons why we
might not view him this way. Now ask students to look at the various points which might
offer some mitigation of his acts. For this activity, divide the class into groups and give
each group one of the areas on Resource Sheet 34: Group factors to consider. Each
one might be viewed as a mitigating factor. (It might be best to make Group Five and Six
more able or confident groups of students as these are more difficult assertions to
support.)
For each of the above, the groups should be given Resource Sheet 35: Macbeth –
finding evidence and can use it for compiling evidence for their focused area. Once they
have done so, groups should send one member from each of their groups to other tables
and report on findings. Alternatively, this can be done as whole class feedback.
▲ Activity 3: Model an opening paragraph for the assignment with students in which you
touch briefly on the following questions: What makes a villain compelling? Why might a
Jacobean audience’s view of Macbeth be different from ours? If you wish, use Resource
Sheet 36: Macbeth modelled. The two fragments of paragraphs lead students into the
essay proper.
Drafts & developments
The following optional plan starts with a section from which the modelled paragraph on
Resource Sheet 36 might come.

Essay Section One: Start with an explanation of the real Macbeth, and why an
audience would have been expecting a straightforward villain. How would this have
served the needs of contemporary society and the king himself?

Essay Section Two: Lead into an account of the actual things Macbeth does in the
play that could be considered violent and/or villainous. Be aware of those points that
might be seen not as especially evil (for example, the killing of Macdonald) and
whether these could be added after the obvious villainy.

Essay Section Three: Move on to the mitigating factors – evidence that he might
not be as wholly villainous as he first appears.

Essay Section Four: Conclude by suggesting to what extent he is a straightforward
villain (use words/phrases such as ‘entirely’, ‘partly’, ‘elements of…’, ‘completely’,
etc.)
All the above is summed up on the simplified Resource Sheet 37: Essay plan – key
character with key headings only. It has been left like this in case students wish to write
ideas, quotations etc. around the structure.
 Aim high
Two extracts are provided on Resource Sheet 38: Aim high – key character. They focus
on two fragments from assignments, one at Grade C and one at Grade A. In this case, the
issue is one of layers of meaning – a key pointer for top grades. Cover up the lower half of
the OHT and ask students to suggest what could be improved about the extract. Then
display the lower half, and explore the differences.
*****Please supply text for copyright and footer notes*****
Summary of key learning
 Use the key words of the assignment title as a broad guide to the response.
 Where references are made to the context, ensure they are linked back to the play by
reference to the effect on the audience, or the circumstances that led to the ideas being
included.
 Even in a question that is about the character and what he or she does, make sure relevant
quotations are used to support what you say.
 Don’t slip into merely retelling what characters do; keep on using the words from the title
such as ‘extent’ and ‘straightforward villain’ to explain what your evidence is telling you in
answer to the key question.
*****Please supply text for copyright and footer notes*****
Resource Sheet 33:
Macbeth’s bloody acts
Complete the table below by adding reasons why Macbeth acts as he does.
Macbeth’s bloody acts
Reasons
Kills Macdonald, a rebel, by slashing
him with his sword, from the navel to
his jaws
As part of a battle in which he is
fighting rebel forces of Scots and
Norwegians
Murders Duncan, the king
In order to seize the crown himself
Kills Duncan’s servants
To stop them from protesting their
innocence; to place blame on them
Orders murder of Banquo & Fleance
(his son); Banquo is killed, Fleance
escapes
Banquo’s descendants have been
mentioned by the witches as future
kings of Scotland
Banquo had not committed himself to
supporting Macbeth
Macduff has not supported Macbeth’s
claim to the throne
Plans killing of Macduff
Macbeth has been warned about
Macduff by the witches
Orders murder of Macduff’s wife and
children
Kills Siward’s son in battle
Various references to Macbeth’s
treatment of people in his kingdom
His wife seems to go mad; he doesn’t
appear to react or do anything about it
*****Please supply text for copyright and footer notes*****
Resource Sheet 34:
Group factors
Group One
Macbeth wasn’t always villainous
and was once respected
Group Two
Macbeth is driven to the murder
of Duncan by his wife
Group Three
Macbeth feels guilt and regret
for some of his actions
Group Four
Macbeth is a brave
and courageous fighter
Group Five
Macbeth is tricked by Fate
and possessed by supernatural forces
Group Six
The real Macbeth was a decent and reforming king
– are there slight suggestions in the play
that Duncan is weak?
*****Please supply text for copyright and footer notes*****
Resource Sheet 35:
Macbeth – mitigating factors
Use this sheet as a way of compiling evidence for your group to demonstrate why he isn’t
a ‘straightforward villain’.
Our Focus:…………………………………………………………………………..
Point:
Supporting quotation:
Point:
Supporting quotation:
Point:
Supporting quotation:
Point:
Supporting quotation:
Point:
Supporting quotation:
Point:
Supporting quotation:
*****Please supply text for copyright and footer notes*****
Resource Sheet 36:
Macbeth modelled
Key points to be made:
 Jacobean audiences would have viewed the character of Macbeth
perhaps differently from today because they would have been aware of
the history of civil war and threats to the monarchy.
 They would have been used to ‘stock villains’ such as ‘Vice’ who were
not really rounded characters but more like knockabout pantomime
villains.
 Educated audiences would have been aware of the real-life Macbeth,
and the extent to which he was like the stage Macbeth.
 Audiences would have believed it possible that a man could be
possessed by devilish forces, believing as they did in a literal Heaven
and Hell.

Shakespeare created characters in other plays who might be considered
more villainous.
For all sorts of reasons, making Macbeth a straightforward villain
whom audiences – and his king (James) – could dislike, would have
been an obvious thing to do. After all, it was rumoured that James
was a distant descendant of Banquo, and showing a saintly king
who is wrongly removed by an evil man, would have looked good to
a king who had just suffered the Gunpowder Plot, and whose own
mother had met her death as a ‘traitor’. Educated people would
have been aware that the real Macbeth was… etc.
So, what evidence is there that Macbeth is this ‘straightforward
villain’ in the play? Let us look first of all at what he actually does…
*****Please supply text for copyright and footer notes*****
Resource Sheet 37:
Key character essay
Section One
An explanation of the real Macbeth & how
society would have viewed
this character on stage
Section Two
An account of the actual villainous
or violent things Macbeth does
Section Three
The mitigating factors – evidence that he
might not be wholly villainous
Section Four
A conclusion, summing up to what extent
he is a straightforward villain
*****Please supply text for copyright and footer notes*****
Resource Sheet 38:
Aim high – key character
Focus: layers of meaning
Grade C
Macbeth shows that he is not just a
simple villain as at the end of the play he
shows bravery and courage as he cries
out, ‘Blow wind, come wrack
At least we’ll die with harness on our
back..’
He has already said that he has
‘almost forgot the taste of fears’ just
before he is told Lady Macbeth is dead.
Grade A
The candidate’s use of his/her own
metaphor to describe Macbeth shows a
depth of understanding and interpretation
The Macbeth we see at the end of the play is
a complex character. On the one hand, he is
reduced to a cornered animal, who is willing
to die with ‘harness on his back’. On the
other, the very fact that he has ‘almost forgot
the taste of fears’ suggests that there is still a
tiny part of him that remembers what he once
was. His words, ‘I have supped full of
horrors..’ suggest he knows what he has
become, and is not even concerned to hide it
any more.
Picking up on the
layers of meaning
in ‘almost forgot’
is high level
interpretation
A further
exploration of the
language, with
explanation
.
*****Please supply text for copyright and footer notes*****