Hello.

My name is Ms. Grant.

I'm so glad that you've decided to learn with me today.

We're gonna be looking at "Macbeth" in the unit, Lady Macbeth as a Machiavellian Villain.

Specifically, today we're gonna look at Act 2, Scene 2, and the idea of guilt.

I am gonna be your support and guide as we go through this lesson.

I'm so looking forward to hearing all of your fantastic ideas.

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you're going to be able to explain how guilt is explored in Act 2, Scene 2.

It's an emotion which Macbeth is feeling very strongly.

Lady Macbeth also talks about guilt, and we're going to think, what are they actually saying about it? What is Shakespeare saying about this very powerful emotion at this point in the play? Here are our key words for today's lesson.

They're gonna be referenced throughout and will help us achieve our objective.

They are diminishes, demise, guilt, foreshadowing, and vulnerability.

Their definitions are gonna come up on the next slide one at a time.

If you'd like to spend some more time with our keywords and their definitions, pause the video at the end of the next slide.

So our lesson outline for today, in our first learning cycle, we're going to look at Lady Macbeth's developing characterization, and in our second learning cycle, we're going to look at feelings of guilt.

Let's start off with Lady Macbeth's developing characterization.

Here are all the scenes from "Macbeth" which include Lady Macbeth.

In Act 1, Scene 5, we meet her for the first time, and she asks spirits to unsex her.

In Act 1, Scene 7, she tells Macbeth, "When you durst do it," the regicide, "then you were a man." In Act 2, Scene 2, after the regicide, she tells an anxious Macbeth to "consider it not so deeply." In Act 2, Scene 3, she pretends to be shocked and angered by Duncan's death.

She says, "Woe, alas!" In Act 3, Scene 1, she's queen, and she prepares for "our great feast." In Act 3, Scene 2, she asks Macbeth, "Why do you keep alone?" And without her, he arranges Banquo's murder.

In Act 3, Scene 4, she asks, "Are you a man?" when Macbeth Hallucinates Banquo's ghost.

And her final appearance in Act 5, Scene 1, she sleepwalks and talks.

She says, "Here's the smell of blood still." She dies soon after this appearance.

I'd like you to discuss this question.

How does Lady Macbeth diminish between Act 2, Scene 2, and Act 5, Scene 1? Use the appearances from Act 1, Act 2, and Act 5, which are on the slide, to support your discussion.

Pause the video now.

Lovely to hear people using that key word diminish already.

And absolutely, she does seem to diminish in dominance and power between Act 1 and Act 5.

So in Act 1, she seems very powerful.

She is determined to commit the regicide.

She in fact goads Macbeth into committing regicide, saying, "When you durst do it, then you were a man." And even after the regicide, when Macbeth is pretty anxious, she says, "Consider it not so deeply." It doesn't matter.

But by Act 5, Scene 1, she is consumed by guilt.

Well done for looking at Lady Macbeth across the whole play.

I'd like you to discuss the second question.

Were you surprised by this development? And I'd like you to consider Lady Macbeth's early characterization and how the play's first Jacobian audiences might have responded to her.

Pause the video and discuss this question using the bullet points to help you now.

Some beautiful discussions there.

I especially like hearing people tying the text with their contextual knowledge.

Here are some ideas that you might have had.

Perhaps some of you were surprised.

And I know a lot of you said, "Yes, I was pretty surprised given her initial characterization." Her early confidence and ambition means her demise is quite shocking.

Her dominance in Act 1 soon diminishes, and she no longer holds power over Macbeth's actions.

And her relationship with Macbeth is initially presented as strong, but it completely breaks down as soon as he is crowned.

But some of you said, "Look, I wasn't surprised.

Looking at the text, I was not surprised that Lady Macbeth's character diminished by Act 5." You said she's presented as a subversive character, according to Jacobian norms, and she rejects the hierarchy and God, so her demise is expected.

She must be punished for it.

And it was really nice to hear you bringing in contextual ideas to support your idea that it's not surprising that her character diminishes by Act 5, Scene 1.

And some of you thought about her soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5.

You remembered that she asked spirits to fill her with cruelty.

So she's not intrinsically evil, and her guilt is therefore perhaps not unexpected.

No right answers here, just a range of interpretations which you can support with evidence from the text.

A quick check for understanding.

In Act 5, Scene 1, why might we be surprised by Lady Macbeth's worry, "Here's the smell of blood still"? Is it a, she's foreshadowing her own death and doesn't have blood on her hands yet, b, her feelings of guilt are a marked change from the confidence we saw in Act 1, c, she didn't have anything to do with Banquo's death, so she shouldn't feel vulnerable, or d, her desire for blood has diminished as so many people have already been murdered? Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected b, her feelings of guilt are a marked change from the confidence we saw in Act 1.

Now, let's look at some actions and dialogue from Act 1, Scene 5.

Here, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, relies on spirits to unsex her and make her feel powerful.

Lady Macbeth's exclamations in Act 1 are expressions of power.

She says, "Great Glamis!" when she greets Macbeth when he returns from the battlefield.

Lady Macbeth is not afraid of the regicide in Act 1.

She says, "We'll not fail" to Macbeth.

And finally, Lady Macbeth says she will do everything.

She says, "Leave all the rest to me." She wants the regicide to be in her hands.

I'd like you now to read Act 2, Scene 2, just lines 1 to 13, and use the questions to explain how Lady Macbeth's characterization has developed.

Here are the questions.

What does she rely on to make her bold, and how could we interpret this? Why does Lady Macbeth exclaim, and what might it suggest about her feelings at this point in the play? What is Lady Macbeth fearful of and why? What reason does she give for not killing King Duncan herself? Pause the video and answer the questions to help you understand Lady Macbeth's developing characterization, starting off by rereading Act 2, Scene 2, lines 1 to 13.

Pause the video now.

Always a pleasure to hear people reading the text and hearing fantastic intonation and interpretation.

It's also really nice to see people at ease with moving around Act 1 and Act 2, so connecting different moments of the play together.

Here are some ideas that you might have had.

So in Act 2, Scene 2, she relies on alcohol, which arguably suggests some nervousness.

She says she's had a little bit of the alcohol that the guards drank, and it has made her bold, but she did have to rely on it.

She exclaims in Act 2, Scene 2, because she hears an owl screeching and potentially it frightens her.

She says, "Hark!" and "Peace!" So quite different from her exclamations where she met Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5.

She is afraid in Act 2, Scene 2.

She's afraid that the regicide is not done and that they will be found out.

So previously, she wasn't scared at all, but now she does seem to have a little bit of fear within her.

And finally, she says that Duncan resembled her father, and if he hadn't resembled her father, that potentially she would've committed the regicide.

But because he did, she couldn't do it.

And it does suggest that she's capable of some loving tie.

She does have some humanity within her.

Well done for looking at this scene in such detail, those first 13 lines, and starting to understand how Lady Macbeth's characterization is developed from Act 1 to Act 2.

We're now gonna move on to our second learning cycle.

We're gonna look at feelings of guilt.

Here are some moments from Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the run-up to the regicide.

Macbeth contemplates the prophecies from Act 1, Scene 3, all the way up to Act 1, Scene 7.

He actually decides against the regicide in Act 1, Scene 7, and he hallucinates a dagger in Act 2, Scene 1, just before he kills Duncan.

Lady Macbeth, contrasting, she's excited about the prophecy.

She's not contemplating them.

She's merely excited.

Act 1, Scene 5.

She then manipulates Macbeth into regicide in Act 1, Scene 7, after he's decided against it.

And she drugs Duncan's guards in Act 2, Scene 1, so that Macbeth can commit the regicide.

I'd like you to discuss, given these actions in the run-up to the regicide, what might you predict about their differing behaviour and feelings after committing the murder, after committing the regicide? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Fantastic to look at these earlier moments in the play and make some predictions about these characters.

And I completely agree that you could really think, well, Macbeth seems quite nervous.

He's quite hesitant.

He's unsure.

So perhaps after the regicide, he will be filled with regret.

Lady Macbeth, by contrast, is so focused on the regicide that afterwards, it's unlikely that she will dwell on regret.

She will just be excited about the fact that they are going to be monarchs.

Now, foreshadowing is a literary device, and it gives the reader or audience a hint or indication of what might happen later in the story.

In Act 2, Scene 2, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth not to think of the regicide.

So they murder Duncan, Macbeth is feeling very anxious, and Lady Macbeth says, "You mustn't think of it." She says, "These deeds must not be thought after these ways, so, it will make us mad." I'd like you to discuss, what might Lady Macbeth's dialogue foreshadow? Pause the video, look at the short section of dialogue from Lady Macbeth, and discuss the question now.

Lovely to hear people exploring these two lines of dialogue and already showing their ease with this idea of the literary device foreshadowing.

Here are some ideas that you might have had.

This could foreshadow Lady Macbeth's demise as in Act 5 when she's clearly thinking of the regicide.

She does seem to go mad.

And it could indicate Lady Macbeth's vulnerability.

She knows the regicide is a significant act and can't bear to think about it.

She's not dismissing the idea of guilt.

She understands that contemplating the regicide is very, very difficult, and she's saying, "We mustn't think about it.

It will make us go mad if we think about it." We know that Lady Macbeth struggles with guilt in Act 5, Scene 1.

She sleepwalks and talks, and she says, "Here's the smell of blood still." And it's her final appearance because she dies soon after.

Let's reread the section of dialogue from Act 2, Scene 2.

Macbeth says he's anxious after the regicide.

"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" And Lady Macbeth comes in, and she says, "My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white." She has just put the daggers onto Duncan's guards to frame them for the murder.

So she also has blood on her hands, but she says, "I shame to wear a heart so white." I'm not anxious about it.

I'd like you to discuss this question.

How might this section of dialogue from Act 2, Scene 2, foreshadow Lady Macbeth's demise? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Again, lovely to see people thinking about the idea of foreshadowing and using that keyword demise in their discussion as well.

Let's share and collect some ideas.

So the metaphor that Macbeth uses, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" It shows the devastating power of regicide and guilt, even if Lady Macbeth is yet to feel it.

So Macbeth is exploring guilt.

He's saying it's an overwhelming feeling.

I cannot get rid of it.

And even if Lady Macbeth doesn't feel it yet, it is perhaps foreshadowing the idea that guilt is this overwhelming force that will get you in the end.

And Lady Macbeth's hands are covered in blood.

She is holding the daggers.

She has Duncan's blood on her hands, and it is an image we know will come back to haunt her.

In Act 5, Scene 1, she says, "Here is the smell of blood still." So a quick check for understanding.

How does Shakespeare explore guilt in Act 2, Scene 2? Select all that apply.

Is it a, by foreshadowing the powerful effect it will have on Lady Macbeth, b, by exploring how Lady Macbeth diminishes a feeling that will come back to haunt her, c, by exploring how Macbeth diminishes his responsibility by feeling guilty, or d, through the differing reactions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to the regicide? Pause the video and select your responses now.

Well done if you selected a, b, and d.

I would like you to reread Act 2, Scene 2, from line 14 to the end.

We've already read Act 2, Scene 2, lines 1 to 13, in our first learning cycle.

We're now gonna read the rest of that scene.

As you read, I'd like you to discuss which student you agree with most and why.

These students have already read the scene, and they've formalised their thoughts about it.

So the first student says, "This scene doesn't just foreshadow Lady Macbeth's later feelings of guilt.

It also foreshadows the breakdown of the Macbeth's relationship." The second student says, "This scene foreshadows Lady Macbeth's demise because she fully understands the power of guilt.

That's why she tries to ignore it and prevent Macbeth from feeling it." I'd like you to pause the video, reread Act 2, Scene 2, from line 14 to the end, and once you finish reading, discuss which student you agree with most and why.

Pause the video now.

As ever, lovely to hear people reading through the text with such clear interpretations, fantastic intonation, and even some acting.

Lots of you said that you agreed with the first student.

This scene doesn't just foreshadow Lady Macbeth's later feelings of guilt.

It also foreshadows the breakdown of the Macbeth's relationship.

And here's some ideas that you might've had.

Every time Macbeth conveys his feelings, Lady Macbeth diminishes them.

Macbeth says, "This is a sorry sight." And Lady Macbeth says, "A foolish thought to say a sorry sight." Lots of you picked out those two quotations to look at side by side and used that key word, which was fantastic to hear.

And lots of you noted that Lady Macbeth tries to emasculate him again, just as she did in Act 1, Scene 7, but his reaction is different.

Rather than deciding on the regicide, like he did in Act 1, Scene 7, in response to her emasculation, he actually continues to dwell on his feelings of guilt.

Lady Macbeth says, "Be not lost so poorly in your thoughts." Stop thinking about the regicide.

But Macbeth says, "To know my deed, 'twere best not to know myself." He cannot help but focus on the regicide.

And Macbeth worries he will never sleep.

It foreshadows his issues with sleep and Lady Macbeth disrupted sleepwalking and talking.

He says, "I thought I heard somebody cry, 'Macbeth does murder sleep.

'" And really nice to use that word foreshadowing in your analysis of Act 2, Scene 2.

Many of you agreed with the second student though.

This scene foreshadows Lady Macbeth's demise because she fully understands the power of guilt.

That's why she tries to ignore it and prevent Macbeth from feeling it.

Here are some ideas that I heard.

Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth, "You do unbend your noble strength, to think so brainsickly of things." She knows that guilt can destroy you mentally and physically.

So his strength will go, but also his mind will go.

Lady Macbeth gives Macbeth lots of commands, "Give me the daggers," "Smear the sleepy grooms with blood," showing she knows how important it is to maintain the pretence and not give in to guilt.

They must maintain the idea that the guards committed the crime, not them.

And Macbeth tries to draw parallels between them.

Sorry, Lady Macbeth tries to draw parallels between them.

Macbeth is very worried about the blood on his hands.

Lady Macbeth says, "Well, my hands are also of your colour." "But," She adds.

"I shame to wear a heart so white." I shame to be such a coward about it.

And in this way, she tries to diminish his feelings of guilt.

Lovely to see you looking at a full scene from this play and exploring the idea of guilt, especially looking at that literary device foreshadowing and trying to see, can we see how this moment in the play foreshadows what is to come? In summary, in Act 2, Scene 2, the audience might interpret some aspects of Lady Macbeth's characterization as vulnerable.

The exploration of guilt in this scene foreshadows her demise in Act 5.

And Act 5, Scene 1 is her final appearance in the play, and in it, she is consumed by guilt.

Thank you so much for joining me for today's lesson.

I've loved hearing all of your ideas and particularly loved hearing your reading of the play.

I look forward to seeing you next time.