Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

My name's Mrs. Riley, and today I'm here to do some learning with you.

In our lesson today, we will be focusing on the character of Macbeth.

We're going to be looking at the plot of the play, which is called Macbeth, and we're going to be looking at that main character, Macbeth, and describing what he's like using evidence from the play.

Let's get started.

The outcome of today's lesson is to make inferences and draw conclusions about the character, Macbeth.

These are our key words in our lesson today.

I'm going to say each one and I would like you to repeat it back to me.

Are you ready? Protagonist.

Conflict.

Theme.

Inference.

Let's go through what each of those words means.

"A protagonist is the leading character or one of the major characters in a narrative." So Macbeth is the protagonist in the play "Macbeth" because he is the leading character.

"A conflict is an ongoing disagreement or argument." So it's not just like a little argument that you just have with someone you've just met.

It's an argument that is ongoing.

"A theme is a central idea that the writer intends the audience to engage deeply with." A theme.

"An inference is a conclusion drawn from information and evidence in a text." Sometimes a text just gives us the answer.

For example, it might say, "Suzy skips to school on a sunny morning." What's the weather like? Well, we can tell it's a sunny morning because it says so in the text.

But if it said, "How is Suzy feeling?", we could use our inference to work that out.

We could look at information and evidence.

Now if she's skipping, then that makes me think that she's happy.

It doesn't explicitly tell me she felt happy, but I'm using my inference skills.

So today, we will be using our inference skills.

We've got two learning cycles.

First, we're going to look at understanding the plot because that's really important that we understand the key events that are happening in this play.

And then we're going to look at character traits of Macbeth who is the protagonist.

So Macbeth is the protagonist of the play, the leading figure.

You are going to pretend to be him in your next piece of writing.

So it's really important that we understand what he's like.

He is a brave warrior and he fights well.

He's ambitious and he wants to become king of Scotland, which is what the witch has prophesied.

He has a conscience and he spends a lot of time feeling guilty.

So he's not just pure evil, he does have a conscience and feel guilty about these thoughts he's having.

He is easily influenced by others, especially his wife, Lady Macbeth.

Because of this, he often has an internal conflict about what to do.

So in his head, he's got an internal conflict because on the one side, he is ambitious and he has this lust for power and he wants to become king and his wife's telling him that he should do that.

But on the other hand, he does have a conscience and he's not an unkind character.

So he has this internal conflict about what to do.

All right, let's check what we've just learned.

"Which are true of Macbeth?" A, he's ambitious, B, he is easily influenced by his wife, C, He is a coward, and D, he fights well.

Pause the video while you think about your answer.

Okay, well done.

Well, quite a lot of these are true.

He is ambitious, He's easily influenced by his wife, but he isn't a coward.

We know he fought very bravely in battle, which is why he was awarded Thane of Cawdor, and he fights well.

So after the opening scene where those three witches plan to meet Macbeth upon the heath, King Duncan hears reports of battle.

The king is told that the Thane of Cawdor is a traitor.

He is told that Macbeth fought well and was brave and valiant.

Now a Thane is a noble title, a bit like a Lord.

Thanes were given land granted to them by the king in exchange for military service.

So that's what a Thane is.

As Macbeth and Banquo tramp across a heath, they discover three witches.

We've met those witches before, haven't we? So let's read this scene where Banquo and Macbeth meet these witches.

So we can see in italics there, we've got a stage direction.

So, "One by one, the witches raise their skinny fingers to their lips.

They gaze at Macbeth." Macbeth says, "Speak if you can.

What are you?" The first witch says, "All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!" Banquo thumps in agreement.

Banquo's holding a drum.

The second witch says, "All hail, Macbeth, hail to the Thane of Cawdor!" "Banquo, drumsticks raised, hesitates." The third witch says, "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! "The drumsticks fall, Macbeth bends to pick them up." Banquo says, "If you can look into the seeds of time and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me." First witch says, "Lesser than Macbeth and greater." The second witch, "Not so happy, yet much happier." And the third witch says, "Thou shalt get kings though thou be none!" In the following scene, which is Act 1, Scene 4, Macbeth is made Thane of Cawdor.

"Immediately Macbeth sends a letter to his wife to tell her what has happened." "Macbeth rides back to his castle with King Duncan and his men." So now we are going to watch this part of the play in the animated version of it.

So we've read the script and now we're going to watch an animation of this part of the play.

As you are watching, I want you to think really carefully about what kind of character you think Macbeth is.

So let's watch the video now.

(thrilling music) (swords clanking) (knight screaming) (swords clanking) (horse neighs) (swords clanking) (horse neighs) (thrilling music) (horse neighs) (thrilling music) (triumphant music) <v Narrator>The news of Macbeth and Banquo's victory</v> came swiftly to the royal camp, but it did not cheer the king.

For among the captured traitors was the Lord who had once been Duncan's friend.

<v ->He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust.

</v> No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive our bosom interest.

Go pronounce his present death.

And with his former title greet Macbeth.

What he has lost, noble Macbeth has won.

(eerie music) <v ->What are these?</v> So withered and so wild in their attire.

Live you? Or are you aught that man may question? <v ->Speak if you can.

</v> What are you? <v ->All hail, Macbeth.

</v> Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis.

<v ->All hail, Macbeth.

</v> Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor.

<v ->All hail, Macbeth.

</v> Thou shalt be king hereafter! <v ->If you can look into the seeds of time</v> and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me.

<v ->Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

</v> <v ->Not so happy, yet much happier.

</v> <v ->Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.

</v> (witches laughing) <v ->Your children shall be kings.

</v> <v ->You shall be king.

</v> <v ->And Thane of Cawdor too.

</v> Went it not so? (hooves thumping) (horse neighs) <v ->The king hath happily received Macbeth,</v> the news of thy success.

He paid me from him called the Thane of Cawdor.

<v ->What?</v> Can the devil speak true? <v ->Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor.

</v> The greatest is behind.

<v ->Okay, I hope you enjoyed watching that.

</v> So let's check what we've just learned.

"Which of the following do the witches prophesy?" A, Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor, B, Macbeth will become king, C, Banquo will become king, D, Banquo's sons will be kings.

Pause the video now.

Okay, let's go through the answers.

So the witches prophesy that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor, that Macbeth will become king, and that Banquo's sons will be kings.

They don't predict that Banquo will become king, but they do say that his sons will be kings.

So let's just try, 'cause this is all quite abstract for us to imagine because we aren't fighting in battles and we aren't meeting witches upon a heath who are giving us prophecies.

So let's try and this into a context that we can understand.

So imagine you are in a football team and someone told you this, "You're gonna score five goals in this match and then next week, you are going to become the captain." If you then went off to play that match and you did score five goals in the match, just like that person had told you, how do you think you would feel? Can you pause the video and have a discussion with someone next to you about how you would feel? Okay, well done.

<v ->I think I would probably start to think,</v> well, does this person, can they predict the future? Because they told me I was going to score five goals, which is quite unusual, and I did, and now, they've told me I'm going to be captain.

So maybe I'm gonna be captain next week.

Maybe they're right.

So now I want you to put yourself back in Macbeth's shoes and have a think about how Macbeth feels after the witches' prophecy.

He's been told these things by the witches.

How do you think he's feeling? Pause the video now.

Okay.

Here are some ideas that you might have thought.

Maybe you think Macbeth feels intrigued to hear what may happen to him.

Perhaps you might have said, "I wonder if Macbeth thinks that what the witches say will happen will really happen because it is quite far-fetched." It's not like they've just said, oh, king Duncan's going to come and stay with you next week.

They've said, you are going to be king.

That's quite a far-fetched idea.

Perhaps you said, "I can imagine that Macbeth feels a sudden pang of excitement and happiness at the idea of being in charge.

We know he's a determined and courageous fighter after all." So they were some thoughts that you might have had.

So it's time for your first task now.

In this task, you have got seven images.

I would like you to first order the images from 1 to 7.

So order them in chronological order of when they happen.

Then you are going to work with a partner.

Partner A should orally describe what's happening in the first picture.

Partner B will orally describe what's happening in the second picture or the second image, and then you just will repeat.

So you are going to be not writing anything.

You are first going to be putting the pictures in the chronological order of when they happen, and then you are going to take turns describing what that picture is showing.

There's a word bank to help you.

Let me read the words in the word bank.

Thane of Cawdor, Banquo, Macbeth, King Duncan, prophecy, prediction, heath, betrayed.

Could you pause the video while you complete this first task? Okay, excellent.

Well done.

So here is the correct order.

Let me read what's happening in each picture.

So in the first one, "Macbeth fought bravely in battle, ruthlessly killing many men." In the second picture, "Macbeth raises the flag in victory." Then, "The Thane of Cawdor is stripped of his title by Duncan, having been named as a traitor." "The three witches appear to Banquo and Macbeth on the heath." "The witches that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and then the king." "The witches predict that Banquo's sons will be kings." "A messenger arrives, telling Macbeth he is to be Thane of Cawdor." Okay, so well done.

We've looked at the plot of this first part of the play in Act 1.

We are now going to think about character traits of Macbeth.

So Banquo and Macbeth react differently to the witches' prophecies.

Banquo is suspicious and questions his sanity, asking, "Have we eaten on the insane root?" So Banquo almost thinks that they're going mad, that these witches can't really be there, so they must be going mad.

Macbeth is spellbound by the predictions, but he is scared by the ambition they have awakened in him.

What does this tell us about Macbeth's character? Pause the video and either have some thinking time or perhaps a short discussion with the person next to you.

Okay, well done.

Yeah, this tells us that Macbeth has a lust for power, which has been ignited, that means it's like being lit like a fire, by the witches.

"He immediately thinks about killing Duncan, but he also feels guilty for thinking about it." That backs that idea of he has that internal conflict and he's torn between his own ambition and his loyalty to his king.

So is it true or false? "Banquo and Macbeth feel the same about the witches' prophecies." Pause the video now.

Well done.

It's false.

Now how would you justify your answer? A, Banquo is more suspicious of the witches.

He does not believe what they have to say, or B, Banquo and Macbeth have different prophecies so they feel differently.

Which would be a better justification for your answer? Pause the video now.

Well done.

It would be A.

Okay, so now we're gonna look at themes.

Themes are recurring ideas or concepts that are explored throughout a play.

Let's remind ourselves of key themes in "Macbeth".

So we've got ambition and power.

You can see there that ambition of Macbeth wanting to be king.

Loyalty and betrayal.

There's a picture of King Duncan who Macbeth doesn't know should he be loyal or betray him.

The supernatural.

There we have our witches.

The supernatural is as anything that's kind of magical.

Guilt and conscience.

So we can see there Macbeth looking at those bloody daggers and feeling very guilty.

Manipulation and ruthlessness.

And there we can see Lady Macbeth kind of grabbing Macbeth and it looks like she is being very manipulative there to him.

So these are all key themes in this play.

Okay, so which of the following is not a theme in Macbeth? Manipulation and ruthlessness, ambition and power, mistaken identity? or the supernatural? Pause the video now.

Well done.

So the only one here that is not a theme is mistaken identity.

Quite often in Shakespeare's comedies, we have mistaken identity because that's something that's quite funny when a character thinks somebody is one person when actually they're another.

But we don't have mistaken identity as a theme in "Macbeth".

In a narrative text, the author describes characters and their actions.

So we learn about their character traits.

Character traits are features of a person's personality, not things they do just once, but things which affect their behaviour long-term.

Here are some character traits.

Empathetic.

So somebody who can kind of understand how other people are feeling.

Creative, curious, ambitious, humble, ruthless, determined.

So these are all character traits.

Now we wouldn't just say someone has this character trait because of something they do once.

For example, if somebody does something creative one time, that doesn't necessarily mean we would describe them as a creative person.

But if they often do creative things, we might describe them as being creative.

So which of these character traits do you associate or link with Macbeth? Pause the video maybe while you have a quick think or a quick discussion about which of those character traits you associate with Macbeth.

Okay, let's see if you've got the same answers as me.

I was thinking ambitious, ruthless, and determined.

Now in a play, we have to make inferences about a character to work out their character traits.

The reason that is, is because in a narrative text, the author describes the characters in lots of detail, but in a play, we don't have that description.

We have the odd stage direction, for example, where Banquo dropped his drumsticks, that was a stage direction.

But other than that, we just have the words that they say to one another.

So we have to either watch or read a play script and work out using our inference skills what a character is like, what their character traits are.

When Duncan makes Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, he also states that Malcolm will become the prince of Cumberland.

So using our inference skills, what do we learn about Macbeth's character traits in this passage where he reacts to this news? So let's just think about that again.

So in the same part of the play where the king tells Macbeth he's going to be made Thane of Cawdor, he also tells that Malcolm, he's going to become the prince of Cumberland.

Now this passage is how Macbeth reacts to that news.

We are thinking about how could we use our inference skills to think about what can we learn about Macbeth's character traits from this passage? So listening as I read it.

So he says this aside, so he's not saying it to anyone, so no one can hear him saying this.

"The Prince of Cumberland.

That is a step on which I must fall down or else o'erleap.

For in my way it lies.

Stars, hide your fires.

Let not light see my black and deep desires." Okay.

So could you pause the video and think from that passage, what do we discover about Macbeth's character traits? Pause the video now.

Okay, well done.

Well, in this passage, he's heard that Malcolm's going to be made the Prince of Cumberland, and he's almost saying, well, that's gonna be a problem for me.

I'm gonna have to deal with that because he's going to get in my way for my own ambition.

And then he's sort of saying, ah, no.

"Stars, hide your fears.

Let not like see my black and deep desires." So he's again torn between this ambition and this loyalty to the king.

So the character traits are that he's ruthless 'cause he's straight away thinking he's got to get rid of Malcolm if he's gonna be a problem.

He's ambitious and he's also torn, and he's also quite ashamed of these thoughts that he's having because he says, "Stars, hide your fires." He's almost doesn't want to be thinking these things, but he is, so he's ashamed.

Okay, so we've learned quite a lot about the plot and Macbeth now.

So I'd like you now to think about what adjectives you would use to describe Macbeth.

Pause the video now.

Perhaps you could think of five adjectives.

Off you go.

Okay, here are some that I came up with.

Let's see if these are the same as yours.

He's determined.

He's gullible.

That means that he believes things easily.

When the witches give him these prophecies, he doesn't think they can't be true.

He believes them quite easily, so he's gullible.

He's ambitious, he's got high hopes for what he wants to become.

He's strong.

But this is strange because he's strong, but he's also weak.

Now you might say, well, Mrs. Riley, how can that be so? But he's strong in some ways.

For instance, we know that he's a strong character because he's determined and he's ambitious, but he's also a weak character because he lets Lady Macbeth manipulate him.

He's not very good at saying, no, I know my own mind.

He is gullible and he lets other people influence his decisions.

So he's strong and he's weak.

He's brave.

We know he fought bravely in battle.

He's ruthless.

He's impressionable.

A bit like what we were saying why he's weak.

He lets other people influence him.

So he's impressionable.

They can make an impression on him because he is a bit weak.

And he's gallant, which is another word for being brave or heroic.

So these are all adjectives we might use to describe Macbeth.

So now, I'm going to do something, and then you are going to do the same activity.

So first of all, I am going to think of an adjective to describe Macbeth's character.

Then, number two, I'm going to back up the opinion with evidence from the play.

So I'm not just saying any old adjective, I'm using my inference skills and I'm choosing my adjective because of some evidence from the play.

Once I've done this, you are going to then do the same thing.

So try and just hold on just while I have a go first.

Okay.

"Think of an adjective to describe Macbeth's character." I'm gonna go with, I think Macbeth is gullible.

Now I need to back it up with some evidence from the play.

So in the play, he believes the witches' prophecies, unlike Banquo.

Banquo starts to think he's gone mad and that they can't be real, but Macbeth believes them straight away.

So I think he is gullible.

So now it's your turn.

Think of an adjective to describe Macbeth's character, and back up the opinion with evidence from the play.

Pause the video now.

Okay, amazing.

Well done.

Here's an example of what you might have said.

"I think Macbeth is ruthless in the play.

He immediately starts thinking about how he can become king by killing other people such as Malcolm." So it's time for your second task in today's lesson.

We are going to be doing something similar to what we just did.

You have got a table, and in the first column on the left, you have gotta put in an adjective to describe Macbeth's character traits.

You can see in the first example I've given you, I've chosen the adjective aggressive.

And then the second thing I'd like you to do is think of evidence from the play to support your choice.

So the evidence from the play that he's aggressive is that he fought many men in battle.

So you are now going to pause the video, try to think of adjectives to describe Macbeth's character traits, and then think of evidence to support your choice.

Good luck with this task.

Pause the video now.

Okay, brilliant.

Well done.

Here are some examples of what you might have written.

You might have chosen the adjective determined.

The evidence being that he's always thinking of how he can get what he desires.

You might have said he's brave because he's not afraid of the witches.

You might have said he's proud because he raised the flag in victory.

You might have described him as guilty because he tries to stop himself having evil thoughts.

Well done for completing that task.

Okay, we're going to summarise what we've learned in our lesson today.

So some key themes in Macbeth are ambition, power, manipulation, betrayal, guilt, and the supernatural.

The plot tells of the protagonist Macbeth, who's a Scottish general, and his determination to kill others in order to become the king of Scotland.

We can make inferences about a character to work out their character traits using evidence from the play.

Macbeth is in conflict with himself as to whether he should pursue his ambitions or remain loyal and good.

So we've had a think today about the plot in part of the play "Macbeth", and had a really deep think about the kind of character Macbeth is, which is going to be very important because later in this unit, we are going to pretend to be Macbeth, so we have to understand what he's like.

I hope you enjoyed learning with me today.

I think you've done really well and should feel really proud of yourselves.

Hopefully I'll see you for some more learning another time.