Macbeth Essay Options
All final drafts should be typed using TNR, 12 point font, double spacing, underlining
thesis statement (last sentence of intro paragraph) and at least 3 past or current
vocabulary words. Keep in mind that you are NOT writing a plot summary.
Choose one of the following options:
1. Write a well-organized essay in which you compare Macbeth’s and Lady
Macbeth’s characters and explain how the contrast established early in the play
foreshadows later events. Also, defend (through evidence from the text) Macbeth
and Lady Macbeth as either dynamic or static characters.
2. Write a well-organized essay in which you analyze the two sides of Macbeth’s
inner conflict and explain how this conflict contributes to the overall meaning of
the play.
3. Using Macbeth’s famous, “Is this a dagger which I see before me,” soliloquy,
write a well-organized essay in which you explain how Shakespeare uses
language and imagery to establish Macbeth’s frame of mind.
4. Of the several themes in Macbeth, write a well-organized essay in which you
identify one main theme and explain how Shakespeare reveals that theme in the
play. (Remember…theme can be revealed through elements such as plot,
characters (their thoughts, actions, etc.), use of the language, imagery, symbolism,
irony…just to name a few.)