Consequences
In order to help students prepare for HSC English and improve your
formal writing skills this Conceptual Unit will focus on the idea:
Consequence as a concept similar to the Area of Study in Stage 6.
We will use one main text: (Macbeth- Polanski Film Study) with
supporting texts.
We will explore how consequence relates to being human, to have
experiences, how these experiences impact on us and are rationalised or
expressed.
The unit will also explore how humanity is portrayed and explored in
texts and its impact on the audience.
Assessment & Outcomes
Bookwork
In your digital package for
this unit there are a number
of worksheets.
Work through the unit as well
as sheets and keep work in
your English book.
Two formal tasks which will be
used at the end of the year to
report on the following
outcomes:
Outcome 1: A student responds to and
composes increasingly sophisticated and
sustained texts for understanding,
interpretation, critical analysis and pleasure.
Outcome 4: A student selects and uses
language forms and features, and structures
of texts according to different purposes,
audience and contexts, and describes and
explains their effects on meaning.
Outcome 5: A student transfers
understanding of language concepts into
new and different contexts.
Outcome 6: A student experiments with
different ways of imaginatively and
interpretively transforming experience,
information and ideas into texts.
Outcome 9: A student demonstrates
understanding of the ways texts reflect
personal and public worlds.
ASSESSMENT TASK
Week 6 – Macbeth - Essay
How does Polanski’ Macbeth explore the statement “Every action has a consequence”?
. Remember you must refer to specific scenes and or events/themes and how the
director/author has used specific techniques to convey meaning. You can refer to
audiences own experiences and how they relate to these texts.
Students will be assessed on their ability to demonstrate an understanding of what are
the consequences of the human behaviour outlined in Macbeth. As the composer,
Polanski has used a range of techniques in the medium of film to portray
consequences. You need to identify these techniques, but also consider their role in
creating meaning for the audience and it’s relationship to conseqence.
CONSEQUENCE
• con·se·quence/ˈkɒnsɪˌkwɛns, -kwəns/ Show Spelled [kon-sikwens, -kwuhns] noun
1. the effect, result, or outcome of something occurring
earlier: The accident was the consequence of reckless driving.
2. an act or instance of following something as an effect,
result, or outcome.
3. the conclusion reached by a line of reasoning; inference.
4. importance or significance: a matter of no consequence.
5. importance in rank or position; distinction: a man of great
consequence in art.
http://youtu.be/gzpZZVE9KQU
Being Human and Consequences
The human condition encompasses the unique and believed to be inescapable
features of being human in a social, cultural, and personal context. It can be
described as the irreducible part of humanity that is inherent and not connected
to factors such as gender, race or class. It includes concerns such as the meaning of
life, search for gratification, sense of curiosity, the inevitability of isolation, or
Thanatophobia (the fear of death) and the consequences.
Advertisements highlighting
Consequence of Action
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http://youtu.be/otR8V7rlnjA
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After watching these advertisements you have discovered that choices results
in a consequence. In these cases, the consequences are negative.
1. List 5 other actions that result in negative consequence
2. Write a paragraph on how the consequence effected the life of another
person. Think about friendships, life choices etc.
What would you do???????
Moral Dilemmas
A moral dilemma is one of those situations where you have to choose
between two competing options, both of which have difficult consequences
for you personally.
We have a saying for this in the English language:
“Caught between a rock and a hard place.”
Check out this website…it has some interesting moral dilemmas.
Top 10 Moral Dilemmas
Have a look through these, we will discuss them as a class. What would you
choose and why? Have you ever been caught between a rock and a hard
place? What was it? Can you add any other moral dilemmas to the list we
looked at on the internet? What are they?
Looking at
Ourselves
The Divine Image
To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.
For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is God, our father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is Man, his child and care.
For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.
Then every man, of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine,
Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.
And all must love the human form,
In heathen, Turk, or Jew;
Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.
The Divine Image Worksheet.pdf
What does it mean to be human?
What makes us human? The
creator of a Youtube video on this
question wrote this to introduce his
video:
“For a class project, I went into the
street and asked 100 people what it
means to be human. About 40 of
them responded and were willing
to be interviewed. Here are their
answers.”
Watch it:
What does it mean to be human__mpeg1video.mpg
After watching the video, discuss
your thoughts with the class
William Shakespeare
Macbeth
Roman Polanski (1971)
Introduction to Macbeth
Macbeth is one of
Shakespeare’s
great tragedies.
It is based on Holinshed’s
Chronicles of England,
Scotland, and Ireland and was
written around 1605.
However, it was not published
until 1623.
MACBETH EXCERPT
VIDEO – FUN CARTOONS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZQOyiHDptU&list=PLDAB0839ECFB565FB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZQOyiHDptU&list=PLDAB0839ECFB565FB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8riYRDFp7A&list=PLDAB0839ECFB565FB
It tells about the fall of the ambitious couple, Macbeth and
Lady Macbeth.
Macbeth is the tragic hero, a character who has a fatal
(tragic) flaw within himself that he cannot change. He is not
a bad person; he is just too ambitious.
Macbeth is a story about the murder of a king, the
revenge of a son and loyal subject, three witches who
plot against Macbeth and the rise and fall of Macbeth’s
reign.
Macbeth is an interesting character to
follow. As you read, you can see how he
has changed.
We first meet Macbeth as a brave soldier
and later find him as a murderer who kills
everyone who is in his way to the throne.
Lady Macbeth is also a well-developed
character. She is conniving and ruthless,
though she does seem to have some
humane qualities.
The play opens in Scotland.
Macbeth and Banquo have
defeated their enemies in
battle, leading King Duncan
to give the title of Thane of
Cawdor to Macbeth (who
doesn’t
know this yet).
While Macbeth and Banquo are
walking, they encounter
three chanting witches.
The witches speak to Macbeth as
Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor
and King hereafter.
They also tell Banquo that though
he will not be king, he will beget
kings (i.e., his sons will be kings).
Macbeth wonders about this prediction as the king’s
messenger arrives. He tells him that he has been
appointed Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is momentarily
tempted to kill the King in order to fulfill the prophesy,
but decides not to.
Lady Macbeth, however, urges her husband to kill the
King. Since the King is staying at their castle overnight,
that must be when they kill him. She plans the whole
thing, making the king’s guards drunk.
By using their daggers to kill the King and putting the
King’s blood on them, Lady Macbeth will frame the
guards.
It is now time for Macbeth to stab the
King.
Though he has bad visions and feelings,
Macbeth kills the King.
Afterwards, he is troubled.
"I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on‘t again I dare not."
The next morning, the murder is blamed on the guards.
Macbeth kills them before they can protest, explaining that he
killed them out of rage. The King’s sons, however, are still
fearful for their lives and run away.
Macbeth is crowned King.
Macbeth knows that Banquo is suspicious of him. When
Macbeth learns that Banquo and his son are riding out, he
sends men out to kill them. They are only half successful in
their job, and Banquo’s son escapes.
Meanwhile, at Macbeth’s banquet, the seat for Banquo is
empty (because he’s dead). In the empty seat, the ghost of
Banquo appears, frightening Macbeth to madness.
Macbeth also learns that King Duncan’s son Malcolm and Lord Macduff are
attempting to kill him.
Unsure of what to do, Macbeth visits the three witches again. The witches have
planned what they will tell Macbeth in order to destroy him. They prepare a
brew, singing "Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron
bubble." When Macbeth arrives, they give him a false hope, telling him three
things:
First, beware of Macduff.
Second, "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth."
Third, Macbeth will not be conquered until Birnam wood comes to the hill of
Dunsinane.”
They also reinforce that Banquo’s descendants will become Kings.
First, beware of Macduff.
Second, "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth."
Third, Macbeth will not be conquered until Birnam wood comes to the hill
of Dunsinane.”
They also reinforce that Banquo’s descendants will become Kings.
Macduff has left for England, so Macbeth
sends people to kill his wife and children.
Lady Macbeth has begun sleepwalking
because her conscience weighs too heavily on
herself. She tells about her crimes and the
murder of the king, unaware that her doctor
and waiting woman are watching her. She
later dies, possibly from suicide.
The invaders from England come to defeat Macbeth.
The soldiers carry branches from Birnam Wood in
order to camouflage themselves. So, the witch’s
prophesy of defeat when "Birnam forest comes to
Dunsinane" starts to come true.
Macbeth faces Macduff, but isn’t really scared. He believes that he will not die from
anyone woman born.
Macduff tells him that he was not woman born; he was "from his mother’s womb
untimely ripp’d."
When Macbeth realises that he has been tricked, he gives up and is killed.
Macduff decapitates him and King Duncan’s son becomes the new king of Scotland.
You can read the play in modern English here: No Fear Shakespeare: Macbeth
CHARACTERS
Macbeth: a brave general under Duncan who becomes too ambitious after three
witches give him a prophesy that he will be King of Scotland. He turns evil, killing
the King, the guards, Banquo and others. Macbeth dies at the hands of Macduff.
Lady Macbeth: vicious wife of Macbeth who is even more ambitious than Macbeth.
She convinces Macbeth to murder the King. Later, she becomes insane from her
wrong doings and sleepwalks and dies.
Macduff: general, believes that Macbeth killed the King. His family is murdered by
Macbeth; he kills Macbeth.
Banquo: Macbeth’s friend and general, suspected Macbeth of killing the King. He is
killed by murderers sent by Macbeth, though his son escapes.
King Duncan: King of Scotland, murdered by Macbeth who was one of his generals
whom he had just promoted.
Malcolm: Duncan’s eldest son, runs away to England after he learns of his father’s
murder in order to escape the same fate. Becomes King of Scotland at the end of
the play.
Donalbain: Duncan’s youngest son, runs away to Ireland after he learns of
his father’s murder in order to escape the same fate
Ross: Macduff’s cousin, messenger who carries news to people like
Macbeth and Macduff throughout the play.
The Three Witches: tell Macbeth he is to become King, leading him to
evil. They tell him that he will be defeated, but they disguise it in a way as
to give him false confidence.
WORK THROUGH THE MACBETH PDF
Go to the mrsrobbo blog and download the pdf on the English page. You will
find it here:
http://mrsrobbosblog.edublogs.org/year-10-english
There will be some helpful information regarding Macbeth and some resources
to help you write you essay.
Witchcraft in Shakespeare’s Times
Go to:
Macbeth unit year 10 2010
optimised.pdf
Find the section on King James
and witchcraft (about page 7).
Read through it.
Why do you think Shakespeare
wrote Macbeth?
You can find out more here:
Elizabethan Witchcraft and Witches
The Director: Roman Polanski
Read a short biography of
director Roman Polanski’s
life on p12 PDF of this
document:
Go to the PDF file
Was Polanski a good
choice as director? Why?
ROMAN POLANSKI INTERVIEW
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjaYB2KXRuQ
Film Techniques used in Macbeth
Camera Angles
Camera Movement
Go to p 25 of this document:
Macbeth unit year 10 2010 optimised.pdf
Now go to p 26 of the same
document.
Discuss what different camera angles
would be chosen by the director.
for the following effects:
 Comparing characters
 To show a landscape
 To make something look big or
small
 To understand what a character is
thinking/feeling
What sort of camera movements or
positioning would you choose to:
 Create the impression that the
viewer is in the scene?
 Make something appear closer or
further away
 Stay close to a moving subject?
 Show as much detail of a large
scene or landscape
Watching the Movie
Make notes on:
plot, narrative structure, themes,
actors, setting, camera angles and
shots, lighting, dialogue, music and
sound effects. Pause and discuss.
7. Macbeth Viewing Worksheet.pdf
NOTE: You can watch it through once
and then the second time watching
pause and instruct.
Make specific references to greed,
ambition and the corruption of
Macbeth.
Film techniques are to be explored.
Camera shots, angles and movement,
lighting, cinematography and mise en
scene (the arrangement of everything on
the screen in each scene).
Think about the use of setting, costume,
props, music, special effects and sound
effects in relation to the creation of
meaning.
THE WITCHES AND CONSEQUENCE OF
THEIR PROPHECIES
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNg2XWMxktM
Besides interesting the king, what other reason do you think Shakespeare had for
including the witches in the play?
Why do you think the witches in the play interfered with
Macbeth?
Do you think Macbeth would have murdered Duncan without their
Prophecies?
In Polanski’s version of Macbeth, what kinds of feelings and reactions does he want the
audience to have towards the witches. Use examples from the movie to back up your
response?
Look video on this. Discuss lighting, sound effects, atmosphere and camera
Angles.
Assessment Task
You have three lessons to prepare
and plan an essay which you will
then have to write in class:
Here’s the task:
Assessment Task 5[1].docx
Now look at planning your essay
using this documents here:
The Human Condition Essay Planner.pdf