Macbeth exam tips

LIT PAPER 1

50 mins Macbeth (34marks)

50 mins Jekyll + Hyde (30 marks)

Typical questions

explain how far you think Shakespeare presents:

• Macbeth as a strong man

• Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman

• Macbeth as a guilty man

• The supernatural

• Macbeth as a man who changes

• Macbeth as a man who feels fear

How to structure an essay?

1. Introduction → sum up what and why (BP + Context)

2. BP (what), PETAZL (how),Context (why)

3. BP (what), PETAZL (how),Context (why)

4. BP (what), PETAZL (how),Context (why)

5. Conclusion → summarise your BP

CONTEXT

supernatural

• Supernatural threatens the natural world

• Witches could control and abuse nature (creating storms, plagues etc)

• James I in 1604 passed the Act Against Witchcraft

• Jacobean England was superstitious, witchcraft was a threat

Shakespeare presents the dangers of trusting the supernatural - this idea would’ve strongly resonated with King James and Jacobean England, as witchcraft was perceived as a genuine threat. The supernatural elements of the play are presented as evil and powerful, with the witched being linked to the devil.

divine right of kings

• doctrine that the power of monarchs were given by God

• any attack on the king was an attack on God as well

James I heavily supported the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, and Shakespeare conveys how dangerous a crime regicide was by presenting it as a betrayal of God, heaven and the whole natural world

gunpowder plot

• 1605 there was a plot to blow up King James I (year before Macbeth)

• the plot involved secrecy, deception and betrayal

• After this attempted assassination, James I made a commemorative medal that features flowers with a serpent hiding (like the quote from Lady Macbeth)

great chain of being

• Religious idea that God has a designed order for nature and humankind

• God rules the King, King rules the people, Man rules his wife etc

• If someone altered their position it would be seen as going against God

Shakespeare shows Lady Macbeth’s masculinity, control and ambition as unnatural, along with Macbeth’s desire to take the king’s place unrightfully

gender

• Men were supposed to rule over their wives

• Cruelty, aggression and strength were connected to masculinity

• Emotional and nurturing were connected to femininity

The image of Lady Macbeth destroying her baby violently is the epitome of cruelty to all audiences, and starkly demonstrates the lengths Lady Macbeth would go to gain power and reach her ambitions

Shakespeare subverts traditional portrayals of gender by presenting Lady Macbeth as in control and more powerful than her husband. Her behaviour is dangerous as it defies the hierarchical system established by the Great Chain of Being

example introduction on Macbeth as a man who feels fear:

In the 1606 Tragedy ‘Macbeth’. Shakespeare presents Macbeth as progressingly fearful of his thoughts and actions about regicide, through this change in fear Shakespeare explores the ideas of unchecked ambition and it’s danger and the consequences of regicide .In this way Shakespeare could be perhaps portraying him this way in order to discourage Jacobean England from trying to replicate Guy Fawkes and his gunpowder plot.

Big picture and useful phrases

Shakespeare conveys/exposes/reminds us/promotes/shows/questions the idea…

• how terrible a crime regicide was, not only an act of murder and treason, but also as a crime against God

  (theme: guilty context: divine right of kings)

• how power corrupts and how over-ambition can have terrible consequences

  (theme: growing ambition context: gunpowder plot)

• the dangers of disrupting society and god’s natural order and the Great Chain of being

  (theme: guilty context: great chain of being)

• the importance of loyalty to a king

  (theme: deception/duplicity context: gunpowder plot)

• the dangers of the supernatural world and trusting those “instruments of darkness” that could be sent to test us

  (theme: supernatural context: supernatural)

• how guilt can never truly be escaped from

  (theme: guilt/paranoia context: great chain of being)

• the inner conflict between good and evil

  (theme: good vs evil context: supernatural)

• how even the strongest of men can be tricked by the powers of the supernatural

  (theme: supernatural context: supernatural)