Video: Anticipating the death of King Duncan

﻿Hello, and welcome to this lesson about anticipating the death of King Duncan. Miss Power here again, and I'm really looking forward to delivering another lesson to you. Firstly, for today's lesson, all you're going to need is a pen and paper or something that you can write on and with. Please take a moment now to clear away any distractions and if you can find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed. Okay, when you're ready, let's begin. Please have a look at the slide in front of you, this is the key question for today's lesson. How does Shakespeare present Macbeth's state of mind prior to the murder? So here is the overview for today's lesson, today's lesson will be in five parts. You will start with being given some key vocabulary, you will then move to a summary and recap task. You will then read a short extract and answer some questions, and you will then move on to applying your learning by completing a writing task. We will finish our lesson with a short review quiz. Part one, key vocabulary. So in today's lesson, you will be learning the words, conflicted and consequence. The word conflicted means to feel confused, unsure, and to be inconsistent. For example, he felt conflicted about moving to London. A second example is, Macbeth is conflicted about whether or not he should murder King Duncan. So let's apply our learning, can you remember the word conflicted and can you identify which sentence uses the word conflicted correctly? I'll read the sentences out to you and then you can pause the slide to complete your task. Sentence number one, Macbeth is utterly conflicted as to whether or not he should commit regicide. Sentence number two, conflicted Macbeth is as to whether or not he should commit regicide. Please pause the slide now to copy down the sentence which you think is correct. So how did you do? The answer was question number one, sorry, sentence number one. Macbeth is utterly conflicted as to whether or not he should commit regicide. The other sentence didn't make sense I'm afraid. And here is the second word of the day, consequence. Consequence means a result of actions which is usually negative. For example, the consequence for you not doing your homework is a detention, and Macbeth is a tale which focuses on the consequences of blindly following your ambitions. So let's apply our learning, here are two sentences, both containing the word, either consequence or consequences, and it's your job to find out which one's correct. Sentence one, Macbeth will face consequence for committing regicide. Sentence number two, Macbeth will face dire consequences for committing regicide. Which sentence is correct, which one makes complete sense? Please pause the slide and copy down the sentence that you think is the right one. So how did you do? The answer is, Macbeth will face dire consequences for committing regicide. If you got that one, correct, then well done to you. Now let's move on to part two, the summary section. On your screen, you will see that all four scenes of act two are there, but they are not in any order. It is your job to put them into order. So I will read them out to you and then you can pause the slide, and copy them out into the correct order. Banquo feels uneasy about the night. Macbeth makes his way to Duncan's room to kill him and sees a ghostly dagger floating in the air before him, uncertain if it is real or imagined. Ross and an old man describe unnatural disturbances in the night, the natural world is in chaos. Macduff explains that suspicion for the murder has fallen on the King's sons since they fled, Macbeth has travelled to Scone to be crowned. It is morning. Macduff discovers Duncan's corpse, Macbeth kills the servants in mock rage to avoid them being questioned. Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, flee. Macbeth has killed Duncan, but brought the daggers out with him. Lady Macbeth returns them and places them on the sleeping attendants. Both have blood on their hands. Wow, they sound in an incredible order, but they don't sound right to me. So please do this, do pause the slide and take your time, and put them in the correct order of events. So how did you do, how many did you get right out of four? I hope that you got four out of four, but if you didn't, don't worry. You can pause the slide if you want to and copy the events down in the correct order. So now I will provide you with a series of true or false statements. True or false, Macbeth sees a dagger before him, he is unsure if it is real or not. The answer is true, he does see a dagger before him and he is very unsure if it is real. Next statement, Duncan's corpse is found in the evening at Macbeth's castle. Is that true or false? The answer's false, his body is actually found in the morning at Macbeth's castle. True or false, Lady Macbeth finds Duncan's corpse. What do you think? It's false, she doesn't find his body. True or false, Duncan has four sons. Does he have four sons? The answer's false, he has only two sons. True or false after Duncan's body is found his sons become suspects. Is that true or is that false? That's true and that's why they flee for their own safety. Let's look at some key quotations that highlight Macbeth as conflicted. We will look at a number throughout act one and we'll look at the start of act two. So let's have a look at a quotation from act one, scene four. This is when Macbeth says the possibility of him being King, cannot be ill, cannot be good. Okay, so if you think about it, what he's saying here is, that it cannot be a terrible thing, but it also cannot have good consequences. So straight away, you've got that conflict there in his language. In act one, scene five, Macbeth says to Lady Macbeth, "We will speak further." He's not completely sold on the plan from her, the plot, he's not completely sold on committing regicide. So he just wants a little bit of time to think about what the best plan of action is for him. In act one, scene seven, he says to Lady Macbeth, "We will proceed no further in this business." He seems quite firm here, that actually my decision is no, I'm not going to take part in this. I'm not going to murder King Duncan, I will not become King of Scotland. In act one, scene seven, he says to Lady Macbeth, "If we should fail?" So he's saying to her, but what if we fail. So he's contemplating the idea of committing regicide, but he's afraid of the consequences if it goes wrong, if they don't manage to murder King Duncan, so that adds to his inner conflict. And in act one, scene seven, again, he says, "I am settled and brace up." So he's finally resolved to, yup, I'm going to kill King Duncan. So you can see how he moves from yes to no, to yes, to no. Now let's move to act two, scene one, which highlights that Macbeth is still conflicted. This is a really famous scene from the play Macbeth, I'm going to read it out to you. Is this a dagger I see before me, the hand toward my hand. Come let me clutch thee, I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not a fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight. Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain. Does this show that he's conflicted? Well, yes it does. The dagger has been argued to be a manifestation of Macbeth's guilt for what crime he's about to commit. At this particular point, he is verging on his downfall and turning into a tragic hero, so moving from hero to tragic hero. The moment he commits the ultimate sin and murders Duncan, that you know, the world is going to erupt into absolute chaos and he will fall from grace. It has been argued that the dagger is a vision or a part of a vision of the murder that is about to take place. But certainly what the lines do suggest is that Macbeth is a very tormented soul. The fact that he's hallucinating a dagger and he's unsure whether he can see it or touch it, or not is quite disturbing, and highlights he's still in turmoil about what is the right thing for him to do. And if you think about the timing of this dagger, it comes after his continual argument with himself throughout act one, scene seven, where he's like, he is moving, sorry, from yes, I will do this, to no, we can't proceed, to yes, I am ready now. Macbeth views the dagger as a sign that draws him onwards towards King Duncan's chamber. But one thing that makes this murder even more terrible, not just the fact that it's the King, is the fact that he is a great King, he is a good King that has treated Macbeth and his other subjects really well. So this makes the turmoil and the decision even more difficult for Macbeth to make. Let's move on to part four, applying our learning. And in this section, you'll be able to use some of the words from the key vocabulary section, from the start of the lesson. Let's return back to the main question, which was, how does Shakespeare present Macbeth's state of mind prior to the murder. You're advised to write a short response to the question above and spend about 15 minutes writing, but this does include your planning and your proofreading time. I've given you a list of things that you may wish to mention just to support you but remember you can add other information as well, so you may wish to mention the impression created of Macbeth in the lead up to the murder of King Duncan. You may wish to mention some of the methods that Shakespeare has used to present Macbeth's character as conflicted, and you may wish to include some quotations to support your ideas, and it will allow you to explain your ideas more fully. On the right hand side, you can see that there are five key words that I would like you to try and include in your response. And these are conflicted, consequences, sin, ambition, and regicide. If you feel ready to start independently, then good luck and your 15 minutes starts now. However, if you would like some extra support, please move to the next slide. So as you can see, I've given you some sentence starts to help you get started because I understand sometimes the getting started part is the hardest. As always, it's really important that you include at least one sentence that starts with Shakespeare, because this is all, this essays all about how Shakespeare does something. So please remember to do that. It's also important to consider the audience and what they learn about the character, or maybe the impression that is portrayed to them about the character. And if you wish, and if you can do so, because it would be really good, you can talk about some of the methods that Shakespeare uses to present his ideas. So your 15 minutes starts now, please pause the video to complete the task. Let's have a look at an example response. Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a conflicted character from the outset, as soon as he learns he could become King, because he is torn between staying loyal and good, and following his ambition to become King. The only way for Macbeth to become King is by committing the ultimate sin of regicide and if he does so there will be dire consequences for him. So how does that look in comparison to yours? Have you highlighted all the key words that you were asked to include, if you haven't, now would be a good time to do that. Let's move on to looking at a more developed response. Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a conflicted character from the outset, as soon as he learns that he could become King. because he is torn between staying loyal and noble, and following his ambition to become King. The only way for Macbeth to become King is by committing the ultimate sin of regicide and if he does so there will be dire consequences for him and Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare includes the famous dagger scene to highlight the final turmoil that Macbeth experiences, a sign of his fatal vision. He is unsure whether or not it is a sign to proceed or a sign of the unthinkable, disturbed thoughts of murder that he is contemplating. How does that compare to yours? Have you matched it? Are there things that you could do better? Are there some targets you'd like to set yourself, because if so, that's perfectly fine. Pause the slide now and make sure that you work on them next time. And we've come to the final part of the lesson, the review quiz. So all that's left to say to me, is a really big well done on all the fantastic learning you've achieved today. I want you to take care of yourself and enjoy the rest of your day.

Exit Quiz: Anticipating the death of King Duncan

Completed: Anticipating the death of King Duncan

In this lesson, we will explore how Shakespeare presents Macbeth's state of mind prior to the murder of King Duncan.

English

Anticipating the death of King Duncan

Video

Final Quiz

Lesson Complete