Lesson video

Hello, I'm Ms. Chu.

And in today's lesson, we are going to be exploring the characters and setting of the opening scene of "Macbeth" which is a little bit spooky.

So when you're ready, let's go.

Today's lesson outcome is, I can use the authentic play script to understand what is taking place in the opening scene of "Macbeth".

The key words for today's lesson are here, get ready to say them.

Scene, play script, stage direction and early modern English.

Well done.

A scene is a sequence of continuous action in a play, film, opera, or book.

A play script is the written version of a play.

A stage direction is an instruction in a play script indicating the movement, position or tone of an actor, or the sound effects and lighting.

And early modern English refers the stage of English language used from approximately the late 15th century to the late 17th century.

Today's lesson outline looks like this, reading and responding to the opening scene.

And then we're going to be analysing the opening scene.

So let's start reading and responding.

"Macbeth" is a play written by William Shakespeare and has themes of ambition, your turn, power, and fate, your turn.

Brilliant.

The opening scene of "Macbeth" is a powerful introduction that sets the tone and mood for the entire play.

I would like you now to watch the opening scene of "Macbeth." (dramatic music) <v ->When shall we three meet again?</v> In thunder, lighting, or in rain? <v ->When the hurly-burly's done,</v> when the battle's lost and won.

<v ->Where's the place?</v> <v ->Upon the heath.

</v> <v ->There to meet with Macbeth.

</v> <v All>Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

</v> Hover through the fog and filthy air.

(witches laughing) (dramatic music continues) <v ->Now that you've watched the scene,</v> I want you to think about the atmosphere and mood What was the atmosphere or mood of the opening scene? What tone did the opening scene set for the play? And does it remind you of any stories that you know? Pause the video and have a think about these three questions.

Okay.

So I heard some people saying that the scene creates a mood of suspense and unease.

The witch is a frightening and unfamiliar.

I also heard people saying that the tone is mysterious and ominous, like there's a sense of darkness impending doom.

It's like something bad's going to happen.

And does it remind me of any stories? Yes.

The witches actually remind me of the evil stepmother in the fairy tale "Snow White." Do you know that story? Earlier I said that "Macbeth" is written in early modern English.

Now, what is early modern English though? Well, it's a type of English language that was used from approximately the late 15th century to the late 17th century.

This period of time came before the modern form of English language that we now use today.

During this time, there were significant changes in the English language, including the standardisation of spelling and grammar.

True or false? Early modern English is the form of English language we use today.

Do we use early modern English now? True or false? Pause the video and have a think.

So the answer is false.

Early modern English was only ever used in Shakespeare's play scripts or early modern English proceeded, that means came before, the modern form of English language that we use today.

I wonder if you remember the answer.

Yes.

So early modern English was the language that was used before the language, the English language that we use today.

A play script is a written text that serves as a guide for theatrical performance.

It includes all of these things, dialogue, so things that the characters would say to each other, stage directions, where they might be moving to, maybe the sound effects or the lighting, character descriptions, what they look like.

Instructions for props and sound effects.

Play scripts are written by playwrights.

Can you say playwrights? Playwrights.

Well done.

And are the foundation for bringing a play to life on stage.

Now let's read Act 1, Scene 1.

It begins like this.

"The curtain rises on a wild heath under a dark, ragged sky.

Thunder and lightning.

Three hideous old women huddled together screaming with malignant laughter." The first witch says, "When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning or in rain?" The second witch says, "When the hurley-burly's done, when the battles lost and won." Back to the first witch, "Where the place?" Second witch, "Upon the heath." Then the third witch comes in and says, "There, to meet with Macbeth." "They stare at one another and nod." All together they say, "'Fair is foul and foul is fair.

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

' Thunder and lightning.

The witches vanish." Now I'm going to respond to that opening scene.

What did I like about it? Was there anything I disliked about it? Do I have any questions? And how did it make me feel? What did I like about it? Well, I liked the language that Shakespeare used in the opening scene.

'cause it's different to the language that we would speak in now.

I liked that it was different.

What did I dislike about it? I think I disliked how ominous it felt when I was reading it.

And what questions do I have? Well, I would want to ask the witches why they want to meet Macbeth.

For what reason did they want to meet Macbeth upon the heath? And how did it make me feel? Well, I said before that I didn't like how ominous it was.

So it made me feel nervous and quite tense.

I wanted to know what happened next.

Now it's your turn to respond to the opening scene.

You are going to have a think about these questions.

What did you like about it? What did you dislike about it? Do you have any questions? And how did it make you feel? Pause the video and have a go at thinking about the answers to these questions.

Okay? I heard some people saying that, they like that the scene introduces the three mysterious and eerie witches.

And also the idea that they were going to prophecy something.

And I heard someone asking this question, what is a hurley-burly? Well, we're going to find out soon.

Now let's look at the structure of the opening scene.

We have, "The curtain rises," and then we have the different lines of what the characters say.

So the first part sets the scene of the whole play.

It tells us where it's happening.

Then we have the characters names down the side, first witch, second witch and the third witch, so we know there are three characters there.

And then we've got what they say.

So next to each of the characters, there's a line of what they are saying, the dialogue that's taking place.

And you will notice that the difference between a play script and a narrative is that there's no inverted commas used for speech.

Then we have the second part of the opening scene.

"They stare at one another and nod." "Thunder and lightning." This is called the stage directions.

It's normally written in present tense, and it's written in italic.

So that means that the words area little bit slanted.

Now it's your turn to read Act 1, Scene 1.

Remember to read with expression because this will help bring the scene to life.

There are some key things to remember about reading aloud.

You have to use an expressive voice.

You need to think about your volume.

You need to change your voice for different characters, and you need to place some emphasis on key words.

True or false, a reader should use the same voice for different characters? Did you remember when I used my voice for different characters? Did I change it or did I keep it the same? Pause the video and have a go.

Well, the answer is false, isn't it? The reader should change their voice to represent different characters, or the reader should change their voice just to confuse everyone.

Well, obviously it's to represent different characters.

So now we are onto task A.

You are going to reread the opening scene, Act 1, Scene 1 with expression.

Remember to use the following tips for reading aloud, expressive voice, your turn, volume, your turn, change your voice for different characters and emphasis, your turn, on key words.

Well done.

Pause the video and have a go at rereading the opening scene.

Well done.

You reread the opening scene so well.

I want you to pause now and check that you are using the reading aloud tips.

Did you use an expressive voice? Did you vary your volume? Did you change your voice for different characters? Did you emphasise any key words? Well done.

Let's move on now to the second part of our lesson, analysing the opening scene.

Let's read the setting of the scene again, and let's look at the language that Shakespeare uses.

"The curtain rises on a wild heath under a dark, ragged sky.

Thunder and lightning." Point to a word that you are not sure of.

I've pointed to heath because I'm not sure what that means.

But by looking at the picture, I'm going to guess that heath is an area of open land that has a few bushes and trees.

It's got coarse grass, and you wouldn't typically by the looks of it, grow crops on it.

Another word I'm not sure of is ragged.

Ragged means rough or irregular or uneven.

Let's just do a quick check for understanding.

How is the sky if it is described as ragged? Is it uneven and rough? Is it smooth and calm, or is it clear and blue? What do you think? Pause the video and have a go.

Yes, it is uneven and rough.

What is a heath? Is it an area of land in a rain forest, an area of land with a lot of bushes and trees, or an area of land with hardly any bushes and trees? Think back to the picture.

Pause the video.

Yes, it is an area of land with hardly any bushes and trees.

Let's read the setting of the scene again.

This is a different part of the opening.

"Three hideous old women huddled together, screaming with malignant laughter." Shakespeare uses the word hideous, meaning that the witches were extremely ugly.

He also said that they were huddled together, meaning they were nestled really closely together plotting something.

And he chose the word malignant to describe that their laughter was evil in nature.

Is this true or false? Huddled is in a adjective and means extremely ugly.

They were huddled.

Think about that.

What word type is that? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, so the answer is false.

Huddled means crowded together or nestled closely.

Or huddled means widely dispersed, to spread apart.

Yes.

It means nestled closely.

I remember that the witches were crowding together.

What malignant mean? Does it mean loud and brash, evil in nature, or pleasant in nature? Pause the video and have a think about what malignant means.

Okay, so the answer is, get ready to point with me, b, well done.

Evil in nature.

Now let's look at the language in the second part of the opening scene.

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning or in rain?" "When the hurley-burly is done, when the battle's lost and won." "Where the place?" "Upon the heath." "There to meet with Macbeth?" I wonder what the word hurley-burly means in this context? When the hurley-burly's done, the hurley-burly, that would mean the action or the commotion or the chaos that happens on the battlefield.

And there's a picture there to show you a very, very chaotic scene.

"They stare at one another and nod.

'Fair is foul and foul is fair.

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

' Thunder and lightning.

The witches vanish." I wonder what fair is foul and foul is fair means.

I think it means good becoming evil and evil then becoming good.

No wonder why Shakespeare's chosen to use the word hover.

Maybe he wanted to imply that the witch has had a supernatural element to them.

So what does hurley-burly mean? Does it mean organised and quiet, peaceful and calm, or disordered and chaotic? Pause the video and have a think of the answer.

Okay, so it means disordered and chaotic.

Well done.

Now I will respond to the following questions.

Where is the scene set? What atmosphere or mood is created? Who are the characters introduced? What do the witch's words and interactions reveal about the play? Now I know that the scene is set upon a heath, and the three witches are the characters that are introduced and the atmosphere is a little bit eerie, suspenseful because it's set under a ragged sky, meaning it's a bit stormy, it's a bit grey, it's a bit gloomy, it's a bit foggy, mysterious.

And the witch's words and interactions reveal that something bad is going to happen with Macbeth.

He's the other character that's going to come in to the scene soon.

Now it's your turn to respond to the following questions.

Where is the scene set? What atmosphere or mood is created? Who are the characters introduced? And what do the witches words and the way they interact with each other tell us about the play? Pause the video and have a go.

I heard some people saying that the witches speak in a cryptic language and they make prophecies that sort of hint at Macbeth's future and how he's going to rise to power.

And essentially, this opening scene sets the stage for the whole play and introduces themes of ambition and of fate.

Task B, you are going to create a visual representation that captures the opening scene of "Macbeth" with the three witches.

I would like you to annotate your drawing with the vocabulary in the box from the opening scene so we have dark, your turn, ragged, huddled, heath, hideous, and malignant.

Well done.

I would like you now to have a go at drawing the scene of the three witches on the heath and then annotating your picture with those key words.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay.

I could see everyone working really hard on trying to create that visual representation of the opening scene.

I just want us to pause now and have a think about this.

Did you remember to annotate your drawing with the vocabulary in the box? Did you use dark for the sky, ragged? The witches huddled together on the heath, describing how hideous they looked or their malignant laughter.

If you did, thumbs up.

Well done.

To summarise, the opening scene of "Macbeth" is a powerful introduction that sets the tone and mood for the entire play.

It sets a tone of darkness and uncertainty, foreshadowing the tragic events that unfold as the play progresses.

"Macbeth" is written in early modern English, which was used from approximately the late 15th century to the late 17th century.

A play script includes dialogue, stage directions, character descriptions, instructions for props and sound effects.

I really hope you liked exploring the characters and setting in this opening scene of "Macbeth" with me.

Goodbye.