Macbeth Interactive Journal Topics
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6.
Character List – keep the whole front side of a piece of binder paper open for this so you can add
to it as we read the play
Write the sentence “I’m sorry” at the top of your paper. How many different tones can this
statement be said in? Make a list of as many words as you can think of. Next, make two
columns: positive and negative. Categorize your list of words into positive words and negative
words. This will now be your word bank for tone words to use during our reading of Macbeth.
Act I Vocabulary: for each word, write the word and definition; then draw a picture or write a
sentence using the word.
Choose one THEME from Macbeth (fear, guilt, corruption, justice, power, ambition, honor) and
explain how the theme has shown up in the story so far. Tell what happened and which
characters were involved in the situation. Then, choose one quote from the story that supports
your response. Put the quote in quotation marks and cite correctly (Act, scene, lines).
Draw a picture of one of the characters we have met so far and label it with the 5 methods of
characterization – speech, appearance, actions, thoughts, and what other characters think of
them. Fill in each method of characterization with details from the play. Use at least one quote
in your work and cite correctly (Act, scene, lines).
Interactive Journal Entry #6: Complete a Soapstone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose,
Subject, and Tone) for the following lines from Act I of Macbeth:
a.
b.
c.
d.
“Fair is foul and foul is fair” (I.i.12).
“This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill; cannot be good: if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth?” (I.iii.143-146).
“Prithee peace:
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none” (I.vii.50-52).
“False face must hide what the false heart doth know” (I.vii.95-96).
7. Act II Vocabulary: for each word, write the word and definition; then draw a picture or write a
sentence using the word.
8. Choose one THEME from Macbeth (fear, guilt, corruption, justice, power, ambition, honor) and
explain how the theme has shown up in the story so far. Tell what happened and which
characters were involved in the situation. Then, choose one quote from the story that supports
your response. Put the quote in quotation marks and cite correctly (Act, scene, lines).
9. Complete a Soapstone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, and Tone) for the
following lines from Act II of Macbeth:
a.
b.
c.
d.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee” (II.i.44-46).
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red” (II.ii.78-81).
“Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time; for from this instant
There’s nothing serious in mortality.
All is but toys. Renown and grace is dead.
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of” (II.iii.107-112).
“Our separated fortune
Shall keep us both the safer. Where we are,
There’s daggers in men’s smiles. The near in blood,
The nearer bloody” (II.iii.163-166).
10. Macbeth Act III Vocabulary – for each word, write the word and definition, then write a
sentence or draw a picture that shows you understand what the word means
11. Using a paragraph, describe the changes we have seen in Macbeth’s character at this point in the
story. How has he changed from the beginning of the story? Use some specific examples from
the story to show how he has changed. Also, use one quote from the story to show the changes in
Macbeth’s character. Be sure to cite your quote correctly.
12. Complete a Soapstone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, and Tone) for the
following lines from Act III of Macbeth:
a.
b.
c.
d.
“To be thus is nothing,
But to be safely thus” (III.i.52-53).
“Things without all remedy
Should be without regard. What’s done is done” (III.ii.13-14).
“Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
Till thou applaud the deed” (III.ii.51-52).
But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears” (III.iv.26-27).
13. Macbeth Act IV Vocabulary – for each word, write the word and definition, then write a
sentence or draw a picture that shows you understand what the word means
14. Act V Vocabulary – for each word, write the word and definition, then write a sentence or draw a
picture that shows you understand what the word means
15. Choose one THEME from Macbeth (fear, guilt, corruption, justice, power, ambition, honor) and
explain how the theme was shown in Act V. Tell what happened and which characters were
involved in the situation. Then, choose one quote from Act V that supports your response. Put
the quote in quotation marks and cite correctly (Act, scene, lines).
16. “How to” poem, “Ways of Looking At” poem, or “Recipe Poem” – see directions sheet given in
class
BONUS ENTRIES:
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Draw a brief comic strip (3-5 boxes) showing a scene from the play that the audience does not
see (ex: Macbeth’s coronation, Macbeth killing the guards, Macbeth killing Duncan, etc.). Each
box should include pictures and words to represent the scene.
Complete ONE extra poem from Entry #16.