Shakespeare
Comic Book
Lesson 1
1
Starter
Use the internet to answer the
following questions:
1. Where and when was William
Shakespeare born?
2. On what date did he die?
3. Was he married?
4. What were his children called?
5. What is another name for his play
commonly called “The Scottish
Play”?
2
Objective of the lesson
Understand the story of Macbeth and start to
plan a comic book of the play.
• All of you will:
– Be able to pick out a couple of main events in Macbeth
• Most of you will:
– Work as part of a team to pick out all of the main events in
Macbeth
• Some of you will:
– Start to plan the scenes you want to use in your comic book
and decide who will be in each scene and the props needed.
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Homework
• Everybody should complete Task 1 on the sheet and create a 3
part comic strip about an event that happened to you this
week
• Some of you may also want
to get the extra marks by
completing the extension
activity.
• This homework is due in
next lesson.
• Make sure you have written
your homework clearly in your planner.
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Your Task
• You are going to be working in teams to create
a comic book to show the story of Macbeth.
• You are going to plan each image you want to
include in your comic book, then you are
going to use digital cameras to take
photographs of your team re-enacting the key
moments in the story of Macbeth. Finally you
will put those images together to make the
comic book.
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Macbeth
• Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare in
1605.
• It is set in Scotland in the eleventh century.
• You are going to hear the story of Macbeth and
must pick out the different parts of the play
which will form each scene in your comic book.
• Use the planning sheet to write down key points
you need to get across in your comic book.
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Planning your comic book
• You need to pick out the most relevant
parts of the story so that you can show
them in your comic.
• Use the planning sheet to write down
all the key points that you think are
most relevant as you listen to the story.
• There are 21 slides to tell you the story
so you may want to write down a key
point from each slide or you may want
to arrange them in a different way. It is
up to you.
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Macbeth
(also known as
“The Scottish Play”)
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The three witches waited at the edge of the
battlefield. They watched the Scottish army
beat Norway and they enjoyed listening to the
groans of the dying.
“He will be here soon”
said one.
“I hear the sound of
hooves” another cried
out.
“Let the spell begin”
screeched the third witch.
9
Two Scottish generals rode
away from the battlefield.
One was Macbeth, the bravest
soldier in King Duncan’s army.
The other was Banquo, his
companion. Both were tired
and upset by the day’s
slaughter.
“A hard fight to protect an old and feeble king, if I
ruled Scotland…” Macbeth started daydreaming
about being crowned King of Scotland.
10
The witches leapt out in front of the generals.
“What do you want?” demanded Macbeth.
“All hail Macbeth, who shall be king of Scotland!
All hail Banquo, your children shall also be
kings!” chanted the witches.
Macbeth was startled that
they had read his mind and
knew he secretly dreamed
of being the King of
Scotland.
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“Only King Duncan and his sons stand between me
and the crown! My wife must know about this I will
write to her tonight!” thought Macbeth.
When Lady Macbeth received
the letter informing her that
Macbeth had been told he will
one day become King of Scotland
a plot began to formed in her
wicked mind. “We can have it
all” she whispered, “if only
Macbeth was strong enough to
do what needs to be done in
order for him to become king”.
12
Suddenly, there was a knock at Lady Macbeth’s
door and a servant entered her room. “Lord
Macbeth has invited the King for a banquet
tomorrow night.” said the servant.
“What?” gasped Lady Macbeth “We must hurry and
get ready.”
When the servant had left to get
things ready Lady Macbeth
murmured “Come to me, Powers of
Darkness, fill me with cruelty so I
can teach my husband how to be
ruthless.”
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When Macbeth arrived
home Lady Macbeth
whispered to him “King
Duncan is old and weak. Kill
the King whilst he sleeps and
blame it on his sons, then
you can become King
yourself.”
“No, I can never commit murder” cried Macbeth.
“Yes you can, it’s easy. You will drug the guards so
they fall into a deep sleep and then you kill the old
King and take the throne.”
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After everybody else was asleep, Macbeth crept
along the corridors. “Tis the hour of the wolf and
the witch, when evil spirits roam the night” he
thought.
Just then he saw something ahead of him in the
corridor, glowing. It was a dagger floating in mid air
and shining with a green light. “This is a trick of the
mind” thought Macbeth, but as he tried to grab the
knife it floated away and pointed to the King’s
room.
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When Macbeth returned from killing the King he
was holding two daggers, dripping with the
King’s blood.
“You should not have brought the daggers here”
said Lady Macbeth
“I’ll put them on the guards as we
planned.”
After a while Lady Macbeth
returned, covered in blood and her
face was full of triumph and
cruelty.
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The next morning the alarm was raised: “Murder!
The King has been killed!”
Shocked guests ran from their rooms and people
started chatting about who could have done it.
Rumours flew around the castle and people started
to believed that the Kings sons had killed the king
as they were tired of waiting for him to die naturally
so they could take over the throne.
The sons however suspected Macbeth but couldn’t
prove it so instead they ran for their lives.
Macbeth was crowned King of Scotland as there
was nobody else in line for the throne once the
sons had run away.
17
Macbeth’s dream had come true and the three
witches were right, but he wondered if they were
also correct about predicting that Banquo’s children
will also become king
one day.
“I must find a way to rid
myself of him and his son”
thought Macbeth and dark
thoughts started to form in
his mind but this time he
kept them secret – even
from Lady Macbeth.
18
Macbeth decided to hold
a huge feast to celebrate
becoming King of
Scotland and he invited
everybody – even
Banquo. His plan was to
hire two murderers to
ambush Banquo and his
son when they were on
the way to the
celebrations.
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Whilst the feast was taking place a servant told
Macbeth that two men wanted to see him.
Macbeth realised that this must be the two thugs
that he had hired to kill Banquo and so hurried to
meet them in a private room.
The murderers told Macbeth that they had done as
he had asked: “We cut his throat and threw his
body in a ditch.”
“What about his son?” asked Macbeth anxiously.
“He escaped my lord. Banquo’s son still lives.”
replied the murderers.
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Macbeth returned to the feast, troubled by this
news and was surprised to see a hooded figure
seated in his chair.
“Who dares sit in my place?”
he roared across the hall at
the figure.
The guests fell silent and
looked confused as the King’s
chair was empty and they
could not see anybody sitting there.
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“Why … no one is in your chair” said Lady Macbeth. She
could tell that Macbeth was not feeling well but to cover
up for this she announced to the guests “The King is
joking.”
Macbeth ignored her and walked
towards the figure seated in his chair
he could still see in his chair then drew
back the hood.
He saw Banquo, with weed from the
ditch tangled in his hair and a deep cut
across his neck.
“Get back to your grave!” screamed
Macbeth and then Banquo smiled and
faded into the shadows.
22
The witches were dancing
around a cauldron when they
felt Macbeth approaching.
He rode out of the moonlight
towards them and called out
“I want to know the future”.
“Beware Macduff… no man born of a woman can
harm you and you will rule until Birnam Wood
walks towards you.” was the witches' cryptic reply.
“Every man is born from a woman and trees cannot
walk, so I am safe” thought Macbeth.
23
Macbeth was still worried that the witches had
told him to beware of Macduff so he ordered
Macduff be arrested. Macduff fled to England
to join the old king’s sons who had hid there
after Macbeth killed their father.
Macbeth was furious and
so had Macduff’s castle
burnt to the ground and his
wife and children killed.
24
From then on, anyone who questioned the
King’s commands was executed. Everybody was
terrified of him.
Lady Macbeth felt more and more guilty about
her part in the killing of King Duncan and kept
having terrible dreams where she was covered
in the King’s blood – “Out damn spot”. She grew
weaker and weaker every day.
Meanwhile, Macduff and King Duncan’s sons
raised an army in England to fight Macbeth and
they marched to Scotland.
25
Macbeth’s own army advised him to go to battle
against Macduff and Duncan’s sons but Macbeth
remembered the witches’ words and thought he
was indestructible “I have nothing to fear until
the day Birnam Wood walks here”.
Later that day, Macbeth received the news that
Lady Macbeth had died. He did not sleep that
night and instead drank wine.
The only thing that gave him hope was that his
enemies could not defeat him as no woods
could walk.
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The next day one of Macbeth’s captains brought
the King strange news. “The enemy is
approaching. To try to hide
themselves they are hiding behind
the branches of trees. It looks like
Birnam Wood is on the march and
walking towards us”.
“My curse upon you, witches!” howled
Macbeth. “I have lost everything but at least I
can die like a soldier. Bring me my armour!”
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Macbeth started fighting like a mad man, slashing
his sword at everybody near him shouting “You
were born from a woman so you cannot harm me!”
Suddenly somebody called his name. It was
Macduff. “I have come to avenge the death of my
wife and children”
“Stand back” ordered Macbeth “I cannot be
harmed by a man born of a woman.”
“My mother died before I was born” replied
Macduff. “To save my life the doctors had to cut me
out of her body.”
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Macbeth realised that the witches had deceived
him and by trusting their prophecy he had lost
everything. He was a broken man and knew that
this was the end for him.
“Come on then Macduff, make an
end of me.” said Macbeth.
Macduff swung his sword and cut off
Macbeth’s head which was then put
on a spike as the crowds cheered.
Three ravens flew around
Macbeth’s head. “All hail
Macbeth” they cawed.
The End.
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Team planning
• You need to work in teams.
• Look at the points that everybody has noted
down.
• Decide as a team which images you are going
to show in your comic book to tell the story of
Macbeth.
• Think about the whole play and decide which
areas are most important.
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Team planning
• Use the team planning sheets to make your final
decision.
• Write down what is happening in each picture, who will
be in the scene and the props that you will need to
bring with you.
• Read through the Macbeth sheet again if
you need help in remembering the plot.
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