Hi there, I'm Mr. Barnsley.

Thank you for joining me for today's lesson, "Macbeth's Noble Death." Okay, so the outcome of today's lesson then.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to use different parts of the play to justify your opinions on Macbeth.

Five key words then that we are gonna encounter during today's lesson, they are noble, chivalric code, remorseful, defiant, and futility.

The definitions of each of these five words are about to appear on screen.

Read them very carefully, pausing the video if you need to so you understand the definitions and will recognise them when they appear in today's lesson.

Okay, let's look at the outline of today's lesson.

So the first learning cycle is all about, does Macbeth die a noble death? We'll be having a discussion about that.

And then in the second learning cycle, we'll be looking about how we track themes across a text.

So let's dive straight in with our first learning cycle, which is, does Macbeth die a noble death? So let's start with a discussion then.

What is the difference between dying a hero and dying a tragic hero? Pause the video, have a quick discussion, or if you're by yourself, you can make a couple of notes, and press play when you are ready to continue.

I heard some really interesting discussions then, people going back and forth, it's agreeing, disagreeing.

I'm gonna try and summarise some of the things that I thought I heard there.

So for hero, people were saying, well, dying a hero could mean dying to protect your country or someone you love.

A hero would die nobly.

And if we're thinking about Jacobean era or Mediaeval Scotland, we might have said they'd have followed their life following the chivalric code.

That might be someone who dies a hero.

A tragic hero, I heard someone saying, well, it might be due to consequences of their own actions.

And some of you were pulling back and remembering some conventions of a tragedy and conventions of a tragic hero and saying, well, actually lessons might be learnt, but sometimes the learning of those lessons, well, if they've died, might come too late to save them from their tragic death.

Well done if you said some of those similar things to what you can see on the screen.

So let's do a very quick recap of what happens in Act 5 of "Macbeth" before we dive into a discussion.

So at the beginning of Act 5, we see Lady Macbeth and she's sleepwalking and she confesses her guilt.

She's clearly very, very guilty now and it's driving this inner torment that leads to her sleepwalking.

We know preparations are being made by Macduff and Malcolm for an impending battle against Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth dies.

We assume she dies by suicide and Macbeth hears of her death.

He also hears this revelation that Macduff had been untimely ripped from his mother's womb.

And you might remember in Act 4, when Macbeth revisits the witches, they tell him he cannot be killed by anyone born of woman.

And that gives Macbeth this real sense that he is unbeatable.

He cannot be defeated in battle and it makes him unafraid of Macduff.

But he does hear then, actually, Macduff was not born in the conventional way.

He was untimely ripped, born by Caesarean from his mother's womb.

However, regardless of hearing this, Macbeth still heads into battle with Macduff.

And we know that Macduff defeats Macbeth in battle and Macbeth is beheaded offstage.

This results in the victory for Malcolm's army and he has restored the restoration of order.

He is put on the throne.

The natural order is restored in Scotland.

Okay, another time for another discussion now.

The pupils below were all asked to describe Macbeth's behaviour in Act 5 of the play.

I want you to think about why they have chosen the adjectives that they did.

So Jacob used the word "aggressive," Sam used the adjective "isolated," Lucas used the adjective "remorseful," and Sofia used the adjective "defiant." A couple of them are keywords.

Pause the video then and have a discussion.

Why might each of these pupils selected that adjective to describe Macbeth's behaviour in Act 5 of the play? Press play when you are ready to continue.

Some wonderful discussions there.

I want to just pull out and spotlight some of the things that you had said.

So we know Jacob said "aggressive" and we know that Macbeth ruthlessly kills young Siward at the end of the play.

So even though we are led to believe that he's learnt from some of his errors, we're still seeing these ruthless and acts of violence all the way through Act 5.

Sam said "isolated" and they said, well, Macbeth dies, he loses all of his allies, he dies alone.

It's really an example of an isolated death.

Lucas talked about how Macbeth recognised the futility of his power after his wife's death.

He realised that the throne, the crown, didn't get him anything that he wanted.

And actually, all of this relentless drive for power was futile.

Sofia had mentioned that Macbeth was defiant and she says, well, he refuses to surrender to the army.

He refuses, when he realises that the witches' prophecies were true, and Birnam Wood does move towards the castle, he still refuses to give up, he fights to the end.

So Sofia arguing that shows Macbeth's defiance.

Check for understanding now.

In Act 5, Scene 5, Macbeth describes his life as a "tail told by an idiot, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." We can use that quote to justify which pupil's interpretation of Macbeth's behaviour? Is it A, when Jacob said this shows that Macbeth is aggressive? Is it B, what Lucas said, that this shows Macbeth is remorseful? Or is it C, what Sofia said, this shows Macbeth is defiant? Which do you think is the correct response? Pause the video, make your guess, and then press play when you want to know the answer.

Yes, congratulations if you said B.

Lucas can use this to justify his response, it shows a sense of remorse here.

He's saying his life is a "tail told by an idiot." It's led to nothing.

He's remorseful for some of the actions that he has taken throughout the course of the play.

Well done if you got that correct.

Okay, now our pupils have started to flesh out their responses.

But the pupils are quite divided.

They've been having this discussion about whether they think Macbeth dies a noble death.

And they're very, very divided.

So Sam and Lucas said this response.

They said Macbeth dies nobly due to his courageous attitude and his refusal to back down from a duel.

"Lay on Macduff," he says in Act 5, Scene 8.

He violently battles to the end.

Also, his "Out, out, brief candle," Act 5, Scene 5 soliloquy indicates a deep sense of remorse and realisation, suggesting he learns from his actions before his death.

So they're arguing that because he fights to the death and because he shows remorse, actually, we can argue that Macbeth dies a noble death.

Do you agree with Lucas and Sam? Pause the video and have a discussion and press play when you are ready to continue.

So, heard some really interesting discussions there.

Some of you were leaning on the same side as Sam and Lucas.

Some of you were very, very vocally disagreeing with their argument.

Let's look at the other side of the argument.

So Jacob and Sofia said the following: Macbeth's death lacks nobility due to his unrelenting bloodlust, such as when he declares, "I'll fight till my bones, my flesh be hack'd." Act 5, Scene 3.

His stubborn hubris refusing to "beware Macduff," Act 4, Scene 1, leads to his downfall, implying he learns very little from his deeds.

So what do you think, do you agree more with Jacob and Sofia than Lucas and Sam? Pause the video, have a discussion.

To what extent do you agree with these two pupils on the screen? Press play when you are ready to continue.

Again, I heard a bit of disagreement there.

Some of you can see Jacob and Sofia's point of view.

Some of you are definitely siding with Lucas and Sam.

And some of you were a little bit in between.

Okay, another check for understanding.

Which pupils will find the following quotation most useful in justifying their opinion? So the quotation we're looking at is, "I bear a charmed life "which must not yield to one of woman born." This is from Act 5, Scene 8.

Do you think this supports Sam and Lucas's argument that Macbeth dies nobly due to his courageous attitudes and deep sense of remorse and realisation? Or do you think this supports Jacob and Sofia's argument that Macbeth death lacks nobility due to his unrelenting bloodless and his stubborn hubris? Pause the video, make a suggestion, and press play when you are ready to continue.

Well done if you said B.

Yes, this quotation really does show Macbeth's hubris here that he's beared a charmed life and he's not going to yield, he's not gonna be killed by some born by woman.

So again, suggesting this excessive pride.

So much more useful for Jacob and Sofia to use to justify their argument.

Okay, we're now going to take everything we've discussed so far and turn this into a formal discussion.

But as always, or when we practise formal discussions, it's really helpful just to get some quick thoughts out.

So do you think Macbeth dies a noble death? Pause your video, have a quick discussion, get all of your ideas out there and press play when you are ready to formalise your ideas.

Ah, some great discussions there.

I can hear some really, really nice ideas and I'm looking forward to seeing how we can flesh these out.

Okay, we are now gonna formalise our discussion using the grid below.

Remember, this is really, really helpful technique to practise speaking in a more formal way 'cause it will definitely help our analytical writing as well.

So two things I wanna ask you to do.

The first is use conjunctions to justify.

So conjunction such as "because," "as," "since," "but," "yet," or "so," "therefore." An example of this is, "Macbeth ignores the prophecies, "choosing to battle Macduff regardless.

"Therefore, it can be argued "that Macbeth's hubris leads to his death." But I also want you to use comparative conjunction to try and look at both sides to this argument.

So comparative conjunctions are "contrastingly," "however," "on the other hand." So an example of this, "On the other hand, Macbeth's soliloquy "from Act 5, Scene 5 implies "he has learned from his mistakes, "which is a quality of a tragic hero." Okay, pause the video, have this more formal discussion, and press play when you are ready to continue.

Okay, there was some fantastic discussion going on there.

Well done, everybody.

Let's have a look at some of the things you may have said.

So for those of you who are arguing that yes, Macbeth does die a noble death, some things that you may have said, well, you may have said his last moments are filled with courage and defiance, as he exclaimed, "I will not yield," in Act 5, Scene 8.

He expresses his determination to fight to the end.

You could also say that despite the witches' prophecies and his growing despair, Macbeth confronts his adversaries head-on.

He does not hide.

And finally, you could say, well, in Act 5, Scene 5, Macbeth's delivers the famous soliloquy where he says, "Out, out, brief candle!" And in this speech, he's very reflective upon the futility of his life and his own misdeeds.

It shows that he's learnt a lesson and that's arguably suggests that he ends the play in a much more noble position than he spent most of the play in, in certainly his kind of murderous and treacherous behaviour.

However, I know there'll be many of you who've been arguing that Macbeth definitely does not die a noble death.

And some things that you might have said to help kind of support that might be that Macbeth's final moments on the battlefield are marked by his determinations to fight for the death.

Basically, he just cares about bloodlust, he's aggressive.

These are really not great qualities and suggest he's does not die a noble death.

You also could argue that the fact that he really believes in his invincibility shows that he's very hubristic.

He's got an excessive pride, which are not particularly noble features.

And finally, you could argue that his defiance and his determination to maintain power at all costs reveal that actually he did, he lacked personal growth.

He didn't really learn lessons.

He might have felt guilty, but he didn't really learn lessons from his guilt.

Well done if you said any of those things in your discussion.

Okay, moving on to our second learning cycle for today, tracking ideas across the text.

Let's dive straight into this.

So when we are reading and analysing text, tracking ideas from different parts of the text can really demonstrate that we've got a really detailed understanding of the story and the plot as a whole.

So following the murder of King Duncan, Shakespeare depicts Macbeth as a man consumed with guilt, arguably demonstrating that this is a man who learnt harsh lessons in the buildup to his death.

That's a really nice argument that someone has made.

They're probably trying to argue here that Macbeth does learn his lessons.

They're trying to argue more on the side that he does die a noble death.

But they've pinned this all the way back to the guilt he feels from Duncan's death.

What we're gonna do now is try and track this idea, this theme, this idea of Macbeth's guilt throughout the text.

So you might remember early on we have this quotation, "All great Neptune's oceans," when he's talking about how nothing will ever wash the blood off his hands, the guilt he feels from Macbeth.

We can talk about that quote, "O' full of scorpions is my mind." You know, the confusion, the conflict he feels when he's deciding whether he should betray Banquo as well.

But he's already betrayed someone and he's now like, "I don't know what to do.

"I feel really guilty.

"But if Banquo doesn't die, I am gonna be found out." And so we've got this guilt, this confusion, internal conflict here.

And then the quotation from Act 5, Scene 5 when he talks about his life being, "a tail told by an idiot," and then it signified nothing.

Here we can see the idea of guilt from Act 2 all the way through to Act 5.

We can track it and trace it all the way through the play.

Now, discourse markers are really useful when trying to track those ideas.

They can elevate our analytical responses because what we do is we sign post to our reader where in the text they appear.

So discourse markers might look like this.

"Initially, the audience sees Macbeth's "immediate guilt in Act 2.

"Furthermore, Macbeth's internal "conflict intensifies in Act 3.

"Consequently, Macbeth's soliloquy in Act 5 illustrates.

So these discourse markers of "initially," "furthermore," and "consequently" allow us to not only track when an idea occurs, but we can track the impact of that idea and how it might alter how we view a character.

Okay, I would like you to match the discourse marker to the pupil's response to create a really well-structured answer.

So you can see on the left, I've got my discourse markers in a logical order, "initially," "yet," "later," "consequently." Okay, match them to the pupil's response.

Pause the video to do this and press play when you are ready to continue.

Really well done, well done for having a good go at that.

Let's have a look at what you should have, the answers that you should have got.

So, "Initially, Macbeth's immediate guilt manifests "through his inability to sleep.

"Yet, his inner turmoil does not stop him "committing more terrible deeds.

"In fact, it results in him plotting Banquo's death.

"Later, in his soliloquy in Act 5, Scene 5, "Macbeth realises the futility "of his relentless pursuit for power.

"Consequently, Macbeth dies isolated and alone, "defiant in battle with nothing to lose." Well done if you've got all of those correct.

Okay, over to you now and you are going to complete the idea tracking line.

So you can see the idea tracking line on the screen.

Firstly, you're gonna add quotations from different parts of the play.

Then you're gonna select appropriate discourse markers to connect them.

And finally, you're gonna write up your sentences to create a clear argument.

Now, you might be saying to me, "Mr. Barnsley, what quotations? "What, where am I picking from?" Well, what you're going to do is you are gonna try and find quotations which support this topic sentence.

"By the end of the play, arguably, "Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a tragic hero.

"He is a man characterised by his defiance, "bloodlust, and hubris, "and this leads to his bitter yet cathartic death." So I really want you to think about which quotes throughout the play show that Macbeth is a defiant, aggressive, hubristic man, all qualities of a tragic hero.

All right, so remember, you're gonna need three quotations and you're gonna need to use discourse markers and write those sentences up so we've got a really nice, well-connected, cohesive response.

Pause the video, give this a go and press play when you are ready to continue.

Okay, great effort there, everybody.

Let's take some time now before we finish the lesson to reflect, reread, and look back at our tracking line and the response that that's helped us create.

So the topic sentence we were aiming to prove was, "By the end of the play, arguably, "Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a tragic hero.

"He is a man characterised by his defiance, "his bloodlust, and his hubris, "and this leads to a bitter yet cathartic death." So I want you to reread your tracking line and identify where you've done the following.

Where have you used quotations from different parts of the play? Where have you used appropriate discourse markers? And where have you created clear arguments which support the topic sentence above? Pause the video, reread your work, and identify where you've done all three of those things.

Okay, we are at the end of today's lesson.

Congratulations for all of your hard work today.

On the screen you can see a summary of everything that we have covered.

Do pause the video if you need to.

Reread those things and make sure that you feel really confident that you understand all of those bullet points there.

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

I hope to see you in some of the other lessons in this unit.

Thank you, goodbye.