Intro Quiz: Banquo and Macduff (Part 1/2)

Video: Banquo and Macduff (Part 1/2)

﻿Hello and welcome to Miss Power's next Macbeth lesson. Today's lesson is going to be about Macbeth and Banquo. For today's lesson you will need paper or a book to write in, a pen, and your memory. Ideally, if you can find somewhere quiet to work, that would be fantastic, because it means you won't be disturbed and you can concentrate fully. Also, it would be worthwhile turning off any distractions, such as mobile phones, if possible. So, ready to start? Here we go. Here is today's key question. How does Shakespeare present Banquo, Macduff and King Duncan as contrasts to Macbeth? Today's lesson will be in five parts. Part one, I will share with you some key vocabulary. In part two, I will remind you of Act Two summary. In part three, I will share with you some key moments and you'll answer some questions. In part four, you will apply your learning by completing a short writing task. And we'll finish the lesson as always in part five with a very short quiz. Part one, key vocabulary and terminology. In this lesson, we will be revisiting the words, supernatural and visions. Supernatural means forces believed not to be human and beyond all logic. Often associated with ghosts and paranormal activity. It was the ghost hunters' job to investigate any supernatural activity. Here's another example, witches are believed to have supernatural powers such as being able to predict into the future. Visions, visions mean being able to witness or see something which does not exist in a physical form. For example, there was a vision in the distance. Another example, Macbeth suffers from ghostly visions. So let's apply some of that key vocabulary. We're going to look at vision. One of the sentences has vision used correctly and the other incorrectly, and it's your job to find the correct answer. So let me read them out to you now. Macbeth sees a vision of Banquo at the banquet. The banquet is the vision of Banquo. Which one sounds right to you? Please pause the video now to complete the task. I hope you got this one right, because obviously this one sounds in a much better order than the second sentence. Macbeth sees a vision of Banquo at the banquet. Part two, act summary. I will now read out Act Two summary to you. And it's entirely up to you if you wish to pause the slide and copy the summary down into your notes. 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. 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. 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. 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. True or false. Macbeth sees a ghostly dagger floating in the air and is unsure if it's real or not. Three, two, one. It's true. True or false. Macbeth brings the daggers from the crime scene. Three, two, one. That's true. True or false. Macbeth takes the daggers back to the crime scene. Three, two, one. That's false. That was Lady Macbeth. True or false. Ross and an old man describe unnatural disturbances in the night - the natural world is in chaos. Three, two, one. That's true. Okay. Let's move on to part three. Let's look at Act One, Scene Three, to start off with, where Banquo's, we see Banquo's reaction towards the witches, because it's in contrast to Macbeth's. "That, trusted home, Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange, And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray's In deepest consequence. Cousins, a word, I pray you." So Banquo immediately is suspicious by the witches. He knows that they are supernatural. He knows that they cannot be trusted, even though they have revealed a truth. But he just knows that it would be the massively incorrect, immoral thing to have anything to do with them. In Act Two, Scene One, Banquo tries to speak to Macbeth about the witches. Now this is really important, because it shows Banquo's honesty, and it then shows Macbeth's deception to his friend at the time. Banquo says, "All's well. I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters. To you they have showed some truth." Macbeth says, "I think not of them." So already he's been deceitful, already he is deceiving his closest friend and arguably starting to betray him. In Act Three, Scene One, Banquo now is very suspicious of Macbeth. "Thou hast it now, King Cawdor, Glamis, all, As the weird women promised, and, I fear, Thou play'dst most foully for't." And isn't it interesting that that word foul has appeared again? The witches said it at the start of the play. It was part of, well, it was the first line that Macbeth said. So again, this idea of foulness surrounds, engulfs Macbeth. I think what we can tell from this is that Banquo is a very clever and wise and intelligent man. And although he is ambitious, he cannot be enticed into behaving in an immoral way to achieve his ambitions. The key moment then in Act Three, Scene Four, and we have seen this lots of times if you've watched my lessons, but it is so significant, is the part where Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost. Macbeth, "Which one of you has done this? What? My good Lord. Thou canst not say that I did it: never shake Thy gory locks at me!" Now this shows the contrast in their characters because Macbeth has behaved in an inhumane immoral way and ruined the natural order. He's deteriorated, whereas Banquo stayed good, wholly good, until his death. Macbeth has not, did not. Part four, applying our learning. Look at the question. What is Banquo's role in the play? I'd like you to spend 15 minutes writing, but that does include your proofreading and your planning time as well. You've probably noticed that there were a number of quotations throughout the last couple of slides that were either pink or blue. And I've picked those out for you to try and help you, because I'd really like you to include the quotations. Now you must include all the pink quotations, but if you can include them all, that would be absolutely brilliant. And obviously you still have your words to include, which are supernatural and vision. If you are ready to start answering the question, then please do pause the video now and give yourself 15 minutes. However, as always, there are some sentence starts on the next slide if you need a little bit of extra support getting started. Good luck, and start your time now. So, here are some sentence frames to help you. Shakespeare presents Banquo as... The audience learns that Banquo... Shakespeare creates the impression... Shakespeare includes... Now you've seen these sentence starts a million times before, I know. So remember to always include one sentence at least, that starts with Shakespeare, because remember, this is a question about what Shakespeare created Banquo's role to be. Tell us what the audience learns. Include lots of quotations, ideally four, but minimum two. So all that's left for me to say is, your 15 minutes starts now. Please pause the video and give it your best shot. So let's look at an example answer. Shakespeare presents Banquo as an example of a good man. He is ambitious, but not tempted to engage with the supernatural, as he understands that the "instruments of darkness" bring nothing but danger. Even though Macbeth is "rapt" by their "truths", Banquo refuses to be lured into acting upon their predictions. Banquo's character remains honourable, honest, and incorruptible throughout the play, unlike Macbeth. This is demonstrated when Banquo tells Macbeth that he dreamt of the witches, but Macbeth lies to his friend and claims, "I think not of them." The audience learns that Macbeth's morals have deteriorated, as has his honesty. Macbeth's fatal flaw has been triggered by the witches and he is spurred on by them, whereas Banquo is troubled by them. Here is a more developed response. Banquo is a construct designed to highlight to an audience that temptation does not need to be acted on. And it is possible to stay honourable and with morals, even when faced with horror. Shakespeare presents Banquo as an example of a good man. He is ambitious, but not tempted to engage with the supernatural as he understands that the "instruments of darkness" bring nothing but danger. Even though Macbeth is "rapt" by their "truths", Banquo refuses to be lured into acting upon their predictions. Banquo's character remains honourable, honest and incorruptible throughout the play, unlike Macbeth. This is demonstrated when Banquo tells Macbeth that he dreamt of the witches, but Macbeth lies to his friend and claims, "I think not of them." The audience learns that Macbeth's morals have deteriorated, as has his honesty. Macbeth's fatal flaw has been triggered by the witches and he is spurred on by them, whereas Banquo is troubled by them. Shakespeare presents Banquo as a wise character who suspects Macbeth of committing regicide, and he feels that he behaved "foully" for it, mimicking the paradoxical phase of the witches. Sorry, the paradoxical phrase of the witches. This suggests that Banquo can see the real Macbeth, not the false gracious king that he tries to present himself as. Interestingly, Shakespeare uses Banquo to haunt Macbeth at the banquet and not the King or the servants Macbeth has also killed, or even the family of Macduff who he later kills. Perhaps this is because Macbeth's betrayal towards his closest friend and loyal warrior is the biggest betrayal of them all. It is possible that the vision of Banquo is there to remind him of the guilt he should feel, or to torment him into admitting his heinous acts. However, it could be argued that the main reason Macbeth fears Banquo's ghost is because of his fear of being exposed, "thou canst not say that I did it", rather than any deeply felt sense of remorse. So how did you do? What I really like about this developed answer is that the keywords are included, the four quotations are included, and there are actually some extra quotations embedded as well, just to really help with the explanation. It is a very detailed, developed example response. And I'm really hopeful that you are either matching it or you're getting there. So we've made it to part five, the final review quiz. Please take the time to do it. It's only five questions, and as always you get your score when you're finished. All that's left to say for me is, goodbye from Miss Power. It has been a pleasure to teach you today, and I look forward to seeing you in our next lesson.

Exit Quiz: Banquo and Macduff (Part 1/2)

Completed: Banquo and Macduff (Part 1/2)

Over two lessons, we will explore how Shakespeare presents Banquo, Macduff and King Duncan as contrasts to Macbeth. In the first lesson we will examine Banquo and his role in the play.

English

Banquo and Macduff (Part 1/2)

Introductory Quiz

Video

Final Quiz

Lesson Complete