Macbeth Act 2 Assignment
Directions: Write one well-developed, focused, and polished analytical paragraph in response to the
question. Use quotations from the text to support your argument. You should have a thesis
statement as well.
Topic: Examine what you have learned about Lady Macbeth's character in Acts I and II. Look in
particular at Act I, scene 5 and Act II, scene 2. How would you describe Lady Macbeth's character
based on those two scenes?
Quoting Shakespeare:
1. Weave the quoted material into your prose, introducing it with a comma.
ex. Alone and in pain, Claudius declares that his crime, "smells to heaven" (3.3.36), but he
never admits his guilt to others, even to Gertrude.
Citation in parentheses, lists act, scene, and line numbers, in Arabic numerals, separated by
periods; no spaces between.
The open-quote comes after the introductory comma; the close-quote comes after
Shakespeare's last word; the next comma (or end mark) comes after the citation.
ex. Alone, Claudius admits his guilt, soliloquizing, "O my offense is rank, it smells to heaven;/
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,/ A brother's murder" (3.3.36-38). The king's pain, clear in his
solitary rant, never appears when he is with Gertrude or in public.
Slashes separate lines of verse; maintain Shakespeare's use of capital letters at the start of a
line.
2. For passages of more than three lines: Introduce the passage in a similar way, but follow with an
indented block, reproducing Shakespeare's work exactly as printed in your book.
ex.
The king's words, never uttered in the presence of another character, even that of Gertrude, indicate
the depth of his pain and grief:
O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't
A brother's murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will.
My stronger guilt defeats me strong intent,
And like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect.
(3.3.36-43)
The king, decisive and swift, here hesitates, mirroring the attitude of Hamlet.
Quoted block is indented 2 tabs
No quotation marks appear
Citation follows the block quotation, next line down.
Verse is quoted exactly as in the book, no slashes.
Double-space everything!
NOTE: In general, a short passage, carefully selected, is better than a longer passage. Don't ask
Shakespeare (or anybody else) to write your paper for you.