Big Decisions: Appearance or Reality, Destiny or Choice, Power and Macbeth
Essential Questions:
 What determines your future?
o Is it destiny? (Is your path in life guided by some omnipotent force?)
o Is it social pressure? (Are you reacting to social expectations and circumstances? Are you born into a
future? Are others to blame for the negative outcomes of our lives?)
o Is it personal ambition? (Do you make your own luck through hard work and drive?)
 How important are appearances to the perception of reality?
o Are things what they seem?
 How does power corrupt?
o Where do we draw the line between ambition and greed?
o What is the price you pay for compromising your values?
Objectives: In this unit, we will read Shakespeare’s Macbeth and related texts in order to accomplish the following:
□ Become familiar with the language and style of Shakespeare.
□ Identify words and phrases that originated in Shakespearean texts.
□ To better understand the human condition by examining the subjects of
o Destiny vs.
o Ambition and
o Appearance vs.
o Power and
Choice
Power
Reality
Corruption
□ Analyze the major events and characters in Macbeth to examine how people change.
□ Organize and support written explanation with examples and quotes from the text.
□ Identify the major themes in Macbeth and relate them to personal experience, current societal events, other
texts, and to the text itself.
□ Make connections between the play and other media (film, stories, poetry, etc.)
□ Apply the lessons of Macbeth to our lives through personal and analytical writing and discussion
□ Edit and revise written work and suggest changes according to peer and teacher review.
□ Apply knowledge of the themes and characters of the play to modern times in a project of choice
While reading the play, students will work independently and in assigned groups to read, discuss, and write
about the play using:
1) Dramatic Reading/Rewriting
2) Journals/ Quote Analysis
3) Reading Questions
Class participation and assignments will be an important part of assessing progress and grades, so diligent and
efficient work will be important for success.
Some important assignment dates are as follows:
Vocabulary Lists
Practice Due
Quiz On
 List 1: Act I, Scenes 1-4
Wed 5/5
Thur 5/6
 List 2: Act I, Scenes 5-7; Act II Scenes 1-2
Wed 5/12
Thur 5/13
 List 3: Act II, Scenes 3-4; Act III Scene 1
Wed 5/19
Thur 5/14
 List 4: Act III, Scenes 2-6; Act IV Scene 1
Wed 5/26
Thur 5/27
A Vocabulary Review (and Test?) Will Be Conducted Before the Final Exam

Personal Essay (Due Friday 5/28; a full rough draft will be due 5/18 the prior week for conferencing)

Macbeth Project (Due Monday 6/14 or ____________, based on effective use of class time)
Test Questions: At the conclusion of some readings, you may be asked to come up with questions (with answers) for
the class to help students recall and apply what they have read. These questions should include the following types:
 2 Quote/Recall questions (Who said this? To whom? Why is it important? What does it mean?)
 2 Motive Questions (Why did this happen? What was the motivation?)
 1 Big, Fat, Question about theme/applications (How does this show something about a theme? How does this
situation parallel a recent event? Who does this character remind you of? How have you seen this theme in your
own life?)
Macbeth Character Map (from Cliff’s Notes)