English 10 - Larsen
Name:
Macbeth Notebook—Act 1
For Each Scene:
Summary: Use the large box at the top of each page for a summary of the main events in the
scene. Use both words and pictures in your summary (like a cartoon strip or picture book).
The summaries of each scene in your book will be the most helpful tool—though you can access
SparkNotes or CliffNotes if you’d prefer. For full credit, make sure your summary includes
each main action/ event in the scene. (1 point each scene)
Performance Notes: Jot down at least two notes about the way the scene was performed:
choices or changes the actors or director made from Shakespeare’s original play; interesting
details you noticed; interpretations you agreed or disagreed with; favorite moments; ideas
about how you would have staged the scene, etc. Please include notes for each version of the
scene that we watch. (1 points each scene)
Theme Notes: List any specific lines or passages that relate to one of the themes of the play
(appearance and reality, ambition, loyalty and betrayal, masculinity, fortune). List the line
number(s) and a very brief description of what the line(s) tell us about the theme. For full
credit, include at least two passages for each scene…though, obviously, the more passages you
can list, the more helpful your notes will be when you sit down to write your paper. (2 points
each scene)
Motif Notes: List any specific lines or passages that relate to one of the motifs of the play
(blood, sleep, supernatural, darkness). List the line number(s) and a very brief description of
what the line(s) tell us about the motif. For full credit, include at least two passages for each
scene…though, obviously, the more passages you can list, the more helpful your notes will be
when you sit down to write your paper. (2 points each scene)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For the Selected Scenes You Need to Read: (scenes 3, 5, and 7)
Comprehension: Answer the questions as correctly as possible. (1 point each scene)
Translate a Passage: Macbeth was written over four hundred years ago and the English language
has changed a lot. Your task is to translate Shakespeare’s poetic language into modern-day prose.
Translate each line of the selected speech, keeping Shakespeare’s original meaning and tone but
putting the lines into your own words. This is very much an exercise in close reading so pay
attention to detail! (3 points each scene)
Identify the Quote: You will be given an important quote from the scene. You need to (a) identify
the speaker, (b) identify to whom he or she is speaking, (c) explain what is happening in the play
when the words are spoken, and (d) explain why this is such an important line—what does it tell us
that we really need to know? Why would Larsen choose it as an important quote? (2 points each
scene)
Going Deeper: Directions will vary for each scene. Whatever the task, you want to demonstrate
deep thinking and attention to detail. When in doubt, go into more detail and explanation in your
answer. (5 points each scene)
(7 scenes in the act x 6 pts ea.= 42 pts) + (3 scenes to read x 11 pts ea.= 33 pts) = 75 pts
Act 1, Scene 1
Performance Notes:
Theme Notes (appearance and reality,
Motif Notes (blood, sleep, supernatural,
ambition, loyalty and betrayal, masculinity,
fortune):
darkness):
Act 1, Scene 2
Performance Notes:
Theme Notes (appearance and reality,
Motif Notes (blood, sleep, supernatural,
ambition, loyalty and betrayal, masculinity,
fortune):
darkness):
Act 1, Scene 3
Performance Notes:
Theme Notes (appearance and reality,
Motif Notes (blood, sleep, supernatural,
ambition, loyalty and betrayal, masculinity,
fortune):
darkness):
Act 1, Scene 3
Comprehension:
List the prophesies the witches make for Macbeth:
List the prophesies the witches make for Banquo:
Compare and contrast how Macbeth and Banquo react to the prophesies:
Translate a Passage:
“Two truths are told
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.—I thank you gentlemen.
(Aside) This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success
Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man
That function is smothered in surmise,
And nothing is but what is not.”
(1.3.140-155)
Identify the Quote: “My noble partner/ You greet with present grace and great prediction/ Of
noble having and of royal hope, / That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not./ If you can look
into the seeds of time/ And say which grain will grow and which will not,/ Speak, then, to me, who
neither beg nor fear / Your favors nor your hate.” (1.3.57-64)
ABCD-
Going Deeper in Act 1, Scene 3:
Close-read Macbeth and Banquo's reactions to the witches to learn about how supernatural beings
fit into Macbeth's world. Are sightings like this common? Are the witches treated with fear? With
reverence? With disrespect? Explain.
Now begin to consider the witches’ purpose and motivation in the play. Do you think the witches
stand to gain anything from giving Macbeth and Banquo these prophecies? Are the witches bound to
report something they've foreseen? Are they manipulating Macbeth? Are they angry because of some
slight? Based on what you know from the text (including 1.1), what is the withes’ motivation for the
way they are interacting with Macbeth? Explain.
Also consider the contradictions within the text. For example, the weather is both “fair and foul”
(line 39) and the witches look like women, but they have beards so they also look like men (lines
47-49). What other examples of contradictions can you find in this scene? (include line numbers!)
Why does Shakespeare include so many contradictory lines and images within the text? How do
these contradictions impact the tone of the play and/or our understanding of the characters (and
the characters’ understanding of themselves)? Explain.
Act 1, Scene 4
Performance Notes:
Theme Notes (appearance and reality,
Motif Notes (blood, sleep, supernatural,
ambition, loyalty and betrayal, masculinity,
fortune):
darkness):
Act 1, Scene 5
Performance Notes:
Theme Notes (appearance and reality,
Motif Notes (blood, sleep, supernatural,
ambition, loyalty and betrayal, masculinity,
fortune):
darkness):
Act 1, Scene 5
Comprehension:
What news does Macbeth send Lady Macbeth in the letter?
Reread the lines in which Lady Macbeth calls upon the spirits of darkness. What is she asking them
to eliminate from her character? What, specifically, does she ask them to help her do?
Translate a Passage:
“Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way. Thou woulds’t be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false
And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou’d’st have, great Glamis,
That which cries “Thus thou must do,” if thou have it,
And that which rather thou dost fear to do,
Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear
And chastise with the valor of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crowned withal.”
(1.5.15-33)
Identify the Quote: “To beguile the time,/ Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye,/ Your
hand, your tongue. Look like th’ innocent flower,/ But be the serpent under ‘t.” (1.5.74-78)
ABCD-
Going Deeper in Act 1, Scene 5:
This scene is our introduction to Lady Macbeth. What have we learned about her so far?
Fill in the following poem to help describe Lady Macbeth and to help clarify your
understanding of her character. Try to avoid boring or basic descriptions—use a thesaurus
or dictionary if you’d like in order to find the best words to describe this complex
character.
BioPoem
Line 1: Your character's name
Line 2: Four traits that describe your character
Line 3: Relative (parent, husband, child, etc) of ______
Line 4: Lover of ___, ___, and ___ (3 things or people)
Line 5: Who feels ____, ___, and ____ (3 emotions)
Line 6: Who needs ____, ____, and ____ (3 items)
Line 7: Who fears _____, _____, and _____ (3 items)
Line 8: Who gives _____, _____, and _____ (3 items)
Line 9: Who would like to see _____, ____, and _____ (3 items)
Line 10: Resident of _______
Line 11: Your character's name
Act 1, Scene 6
Performance Notes:
Theme Notes (appearance and reality,
Motif Notes (blood, sleep, supernatural,
ambition, loyalty and betrayal, masculinity,
fortune):
darkness):
Act 1, Scene 7
Performance Notes:
Theme Notes (appearance and reality,
Motif Notes (blood, sleep, supernatural,
ambition, loyalty and betrayal, masculinity,
fortune):
darkness):
Act 1, Scene 7
Comprehension:
Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons Macbeth has for killing Duncan?
Macbeth really, really wants to be king
Duncan is a horrible person and a horrible king
Macbeth’s wife is demanding that he kill Duncan if he really loves her
It will be easy to frame the guards for the murder
Translate a Passage:
“We fail?
But screw your courage to the sticking place
And we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep
(Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey
Soundly invite him), his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassail so convince
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only. When in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lies as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
Th’ unguarded Duncan? What not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?”
(1.7.69-82)
Identify the Quote: “Bring forth men-children only./ For thy undaunted mettle
should compose/ Nothing but males.” (1.7.83-85)
ABC-
D-
Going Deeper in Act 1, Scene 7:
Macbeth struggles with whether or not to go through with the murder of Duncan. List out all
of the pros and cons he mentions as he works his ways through his doubts (including line
numbers).
Reasons TO Kill Duncan
Reasons NOT to Kill Duncan
Now, list out the reasons that Lady Macbeth uses to convince him to follow her plan (including
line numbers).
Looking through all the arguments put forth by these two characters, which course of action
would you take if you were Macbeth? Explain.