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Year 10
AQA

How does Lady Macbeth undermine Macbeth in Act 1 of 'Macbeth'?

I can describe how Lady Macbeth undermines Macbeth in Act 1 of ‘Macbeth’.

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Year 10
AQA

How does Lady Macbeth undermine Macbeth in Act 1 of 'Macbeth'?

I can describe how Lady Macbeth undermines Macbeth in Act 1 of ‘Macbeth’.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Macbeth has a powerful reputation as a brave and noble warrior
  2. Macbeth values the chivalric code
  3. Lady Macbeth weaponises the chivalric code to get what she wants
  4. Arguably, her emasculation leads to Macbeth committing regicide, perhaps to defend his courage and masculinity

Keywords

  • The chivalric code - The chivalric code was a set of standards for knights to follow. The chivalric code is explored in lots of old stories, poems and songs.

  • Weaponise - If you weaponise something, you exploit a value someone cares about in order to harm them.

  • Honour - If you have honour, you care about doing what is right. You are honest and have integrity.

  • Values - Your values are your beliefs, ideals that are important to you.

  • Undermine - If you undermine someone, you make them feel less confident.

Common misconception

Lady Macbeth doesn't value loyalty.

Lady Macbeth does value loyalty, but loyalty to herself and her ambitions, not the chivalric code.


To help you plan your year 10 english lesson on: How does Lady Macbeth undermine Macbeth in Act 1 of 'Macbeth'?, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Fully interrogate Lady Macbeth's 'thou wouldst be great...'. Shakespeare characterises her as someone who knows her husband utterly and completely, and she uses this intimacy against him.
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Equipment

You need access to a copy of William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'.

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Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of peer pressure or bullying
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
  • Depiction or discussion of sexual violence
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Supervision

Adult supervision required

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Why does 'Macbeth' begin with Macbeth being called 'valiant', 'brave', 'worthy' and 'noble'?
The witches call him this to inflate his ego.
Correct answer: His peers call him this in response to his military prowess.
Lady Macbeth calls him this to undermine him.
Macbeth becomes King and his subjects have to call him this.
Q2.
In Act 1 of 'Macbeth', why is Macbeth promoted?
The witches promote him.
Correct answer: He helped defeat the traitor, the Thane of Cawdor.
Because Duncan wants him to be next in line for the throne.
Correct answer: For his bravery on the battlefield.
He asks for a promotion following the battle.
Q3.
In 'Macbeth', why is Macbeth praised for murder on the battlefield but not for his murder of King Duncan?
Correct answer: He kills King Duncan whilst he is defenceless and asleep.
Correct answer: He kills Duncan to achieve the throne, not for noble reasons.
He wants to kill Duncan, he didn't want to kill on the battlefield.
Correct answer: He kills enemies on the battlefield, not his King.
King Duncan is not a good soldier, so it was not an equal match.
Q4.
After his soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 7 of 'Macbeth', what does Macbeth tell Lady Macbeth?
"Leave all the rest [the regicide] to me"
"I feel now The future in the instant"
"We will speak further"
"If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well If were done quickly"
Correct answer: "We shall proceed no further in this business"
Q5.
How does Lady Macbeth undermine Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 7 of 'Macbeth'?
She calls him "Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor!"
She worries that he is "too full o' the milk of human kindness".
She tells him to leave the plotting to her.
Correct answer: She suggests he is a coward because he doesn't want to kill King Duncan.
Q6.
Lady Macbeth knows Macbeth intimately. What does she see as his character flaws?
His masculinity.
His ambition.
Correct answer: His inability to act on his ambitions.
Correct answer: His kindness.
His drunkenness.

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
According to the chivalric code, knights should be loyal to which of the following?
themselves
Correct answer: their lady
Correct answer: their monarch
Correct answer: their country
Correct answer: God
Q2.
In Act 1, Scene 2 of 'Macbeth', the Sergeant says of Macbeth, 'Brave Macbeth, well he that name'.
Correct Answer: deserves
Q3.
In Act 1, Scene 7 of 'Macbeth', Lady Macbeth undermines Macbeth asking, 'Art thou To be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire?'
Correct Answer: afeard, afraid
Q4.
In 'Macbeth', the chivalric code is important to Macbeth so...
he knows becoming King will make him even more honourable.
he uses his soliloquy to tell Lady Macbeth why he won't commit regicide.
Correct answer: he initially doesn't want to kill King Duncan.
Correct answer: Lady Macbeth weaponises it to her own advantage.
Q5.
Which quotations from Act 1, Scene 7 of 'Macbeth' connects Macbeth's courage and bravery to the regicide?
Correct answer: "screw your courage to the sticking place"
"I am settled to this terrible feat"
"I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people"
"What beast was't, then, That made you break this enterprise to me?"
Correct answer: "Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and valour As...in desire?"
Q6.
By the end of Act 1, Scene 7, how has Lady Macbeth distorted Macbeth's values?
Correct answer: 1.7 ends with Macbeth showing a 'false face' to Duncan, not an honest one.
Correct answer: 1.7 ends with Macbeth loyal to Lady Macbeth's ignoble ambition.
Correct answer: 1.7 ends with Macbeth loyal to his own ambitions.
1.7 ends with Macbeth prepared to defend his King.
1.7 ends with Macbeth lying to Lady Macbeth to appease her.