Lesson video

Hello, welcome back.

My name is Mrs. McGowan.

We have been learning all about William Shakespeare's "Macbeth".

This is the last lesson of the unit and we're going to find out whether Macbeth goes through with murder.

So, if we're all ready, then let's begin.

In this lesson, you'll need some space to work, making sure there's nothing in your way and the area's nice and safe.

You'll also need a pen and paper.

Let's have a look at what we're going to be doing in this lesson.

We'll start today with a recap on the story.

We'll then move on to an exciting mime activity.

After this, we'll look at performing as Macbeth.

We'll then go on to a conscience alley activity.

After this, it's creating rumours.

And finally, today, we'll be looking at still image and captioning.

Let's look at the key words we'll be using in the lesson.

Mime is performing with gestures, body movements, and expressions but no words.

Turmoil is a state or condition of extreme confusion, agitation and uncertainty.

Conscience is the thoughts and feelings you have that tell you whether something is right or wrong.

And captioning is a comment or title that goes with a picture.

"Macbeth" is a play by William Shakespeare.

Set in Scotland, Macbeth begins as a brave and loyal general to King Duncan.

After a victory in a battle, Macbeth meets three witches.

The three witches make prophecies that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland.

Macbeth soon realises the witch's first prophecy has come true when he is told the King just named him as the new Thane of Cawdor.

As King Duncan announces Malcolm, his eldest son, as heir the throne, Macbeth notes to himself that Malcolm now stands between him and the crown.

Macbeth writes to his wife, Lady Macbeth, and tells her all about his encounter with the witches and their prophecy that he will become King of Scotland.

Lady Macbeth is excited by the news.

She calls on the spirits to help rid her of her female traits so she can become more ruthless.

On hearing King Duncan is arriving at their castle that night, she starts to plan the murder.

Lady Macbeth will do whatever it takes to help her husband become king.

When Macbeth arrives home, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth all about her plan, that they should murder King Duncan that night.

She also tells him to hide his emotions and act normal once their guests arrive.

We're now going to look at performing mime.

This activity will help us later on in the lesson.

We are going to be miming objects.

Now, mime can involve pretending to use an object that isn't really there.

In this activity, we really want to imagine the object we are miming.

For it to be effective, we must pay attention to detail.

Now, this activity can help us develop our skills in mime, but it can also help us think about visualisation, really seeing that object.

Things to think about.

Imagine the size, shape, and weight of the object you are pretending to use.

Use precise, clear movements, use facial expression and pay attention to detail.

Here is the list of activities I want you to complete.

Pick up a heavy bucket of water.

Blow up a balloon and let it go.

Watch as it flies around quickly before hitting the ground.

Imagine it's started to rain and you're getting very wet.

Put up an umbrella to shield yourself from the rain.

Paint a picture of a landscape.

Keep checking the landscape as you paint.

I will demonstrate this first activity for you now and then it will be your turn.

And now it's your turn.

I know you're going to love this activity.

Pause the video and then come back to me when you've finished.

Fantastic.

Well done.

I wonder which one you enjoyed performing the most.

We'll use mime later on in the lesson, but now it's time to go back to the story.

And now it's time for a question.

A soliloquy is a speech that an actor gives while he or she is alone one stage, which lets the audience hear a character's innermost thoughts.

Is that true or false? That's right.

It's true.

Shakespeare uses the soliloquy technique a number of times in "Macbeth" to show a character's inner thoughts.

When King Duncan and his party arrive at Dunsinane Castle, they attend a banquet where Lady Macbeth welcomes them with open arms into their home.

They have no idea about her evil plan thanks to her convincing friendly manner.

Macbeth, however, is struggling with the idea of killing King Duncan, and he speaks aloud his inner thoughts and feelings in a soliloquy.

Let's take a look at that now.

Listen and read along to these lines taken from act two, scene one.

Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, 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? Pause the video now and read back through the lines again.

This soliloquy really demonstrates Macbeth's inner turmoil at the thought of killing the king.

He sees a dagger in front of him.

His mind's racing as he struggles with the idea of killing King Duncan.

I want you to perform now as Macbeth delivering this soliloquy.

Think about our previous mime activity when imagining the dagger I want you to really try and get across the inner turmoil Macbeth faces as he battles with the thought of killing the king.

Think about pace, volume, and any dramatic pauses.

Pause the video and come back when you've finished.

Fantastic.

Well done.

Did the mime activity help you imagine the dagger? Okay, let's move on now.

We are going to use this activity to become Macbeth's conscience.

This activity will help us explore Macbeth's dilemma of whether to kill King Duncan or not.

We can present arguments for and against to help him solve this dilemma.

The important thing to remember is that the thoughts are coming from Macbeth's conscience.

For this activity, I want you to choose three arguments in favour of killing King Duncan and three arguments against killing him.

Write them down.

Remember that the conflicting thoughts are coming from Macbeth's conscience.

Think of the positive outcomes and the consequences of killing King Duncan.

When we come to expressing our ideas, we must be convincing in our arguments.

Let's look at an example of this.

Should I, Macbeth, murder King Duncan? Don't do it.

You'll live your life to regret it.

Do it, and you could be the next King of Scotland.

Pause the video now and complete part one of this exercise.

Come back to me when you've finished.

Now it's your turn to have a go at this activity.

The video will run again and I want you to pause it after my examples and add in your arguments for and against the murder.

Remember to be convincing in your arguments.

Should I, Macbeth, murder King Duncan? Don't do it.

You'll live your life to regret it.

Do it, and you could be the next King of Scotland.

Fantastic, well done.

Did you enjoy that activity? I wonder what Macbeth is going to do now that he's battled it out through his conscience.

Well, let's find out.

Macbeth carried out his plan and murdered King Duncan that very night in his sleep.

To cover their tracks, Lady Macbeth lay the murder weapon next to the guards outside King Duncan's room, who had also been murdered by Macbeth.

They did this to cover their tracks and make it look like the guards had committed the crime.

Panic as well as suspicion set in, and King Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, fled the country for their own safety.

Macbeth was crowned as the new King of Scotland.

Let's imagine now the feeling amongst the people living under Macbeth's reign.

Rumours are going around that Macbeth and his wife are involved.

There's even talk of witches.

Now people will be frightened and scared.

In this activity, we are going to create our own rumours and we can exaggerate them to make them more interesting.

Let's see what some exaggerated rumours might look like.

Don't tell anyone, but I think Macbeth was involved.

What happens if he kills the lot of us? Right, don't tell anyone what I've heard, but Lady Macbeth apparently planned the whole thing.

Sh, you've not heard this from me.

Banquo's involved, too.

His kids are going to be king.

Won't believe what I've just heard.

Macbeth has been visiting witches.

Now it's your turn.

To do this activity think about what's happened in the story so far that you can create rumours and gossip about.

Try to think of as many rumours as you can.

Exaggerate the rumours and perform them convincingly.

Pause the video now while you complete this activity.

Fantastic.

Well done.

Did you enjoy the activity? Which was your favourite rumour? And did you remember to perform them convincingly? Good.

Let's move on.

In this activity, we're going to look at the change in Macbeth's character from the beginning of the play right to where we are now.

Let's cast our mind back to when he was that brave warrior at the beginning.

Let's think about when he met the witches for the first time.

Let's think about that famous moment of when he was battling with his conscience, whether to kill King Duncan or not.

And finally, let's think about him as the King of Scotland.

In this activity, we're going to represent these changes in four still images.

We're also going to add a caption to each one.

Here are some pictures to remind you of the key moments and help you with your still images.

When you've decided on your still images, add a caption to represent it.

We will eventually put these together and travel between each still image in sequence.

I'll show you an example now and then it'll be your turn.

The brave and loyal warrior.

Intrigued by news.

In turmoil over a decision.

King, but for how long? Now it's your turn.

Pause the video now while you practise your freeze frames and captions.

Remember to think about Macbeth's facial expressions and body language to show how he is feeling at that time.

Now you've practised them, it's time to perform them to some music I've created, so get yourself ready and start when you hear the music.

Fantastic.

Well done.

I think that activity really highlights how much Macbeth's character has changed from the beginning of the play up until now.

Sadly, that's the end of the lesson now, and we've come to the end of the unit.

I hope you've enjoyed it.

You've worked so incredibly hard.

If you'd like to share anything on Twitter, I would love to see it, but remember to ask a parent or a guardian to help you with this.

Now, before I go, if you're wondering what happened to Macbeth, well, I can reveal his greed and hunger for power eventually led to his downfall, and things didn't end well for him.

Perhaps you could read more about it and find out some more information about the story.

It really is a fantastic play.