Planning an analytical essay about Lady Macbeth in ‘Macbeth’
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can plan a well-structured and convincing analytical essay about how far Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a Machiavellian villain.
Key learning points
- Machiavellian is an adjective. It describes someone who gets what they want in cunning, ruthless and immoral ways.
- A thesis statement is a clear, overarching argument
- Topic sentences give focus to individual paragraphs
- Topic sentences should support the overarching thesis
- Identifying judicious supporting detail to include in each paragraph supports planning
Keywords
Machiavellian - Machiavellian is an adjective. It describes someone who gets what they want in cunning, ruthless and immoral ways.
Thesis - A thesis is an argument, a powerful idea that you state at the beginning of an essay and prove throughout your essay.
Topic sentence - A topic sentence is the first sentence of a paragraph. It states the paragraph’s main idea.
Overarching - Your thesis should be overarching: it should be an idea that is supported by the whole text, not just one moment from the text.
Judicious - Judicious is a synonym for wise, well-chosen, sensible.
Common misconception
Thesis and topic sentences are the same thing.
A thesis must be overarching. A topic sentence can be much more specific.
Teacher tip
Consider how long your students might need to plan their response. Once you have identified this, plan the rest of the lesson's timings accordingly.
Equipment
You will need access to a copy of William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Depiction or discussion of serious crime
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
Loading...
Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.In 'Macbeth', which characters are presented as having villainous qualities?
Q2.In 1.6 of 'Macbeth', in what ways is Lady Macbeth duplicitous?
Q3.When Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost in 3.4 of 'Macbeth', how does Lady Macbeth try and control his terrified reaction to it?
Q4.Which of the following are true of the purpose and role of topic sentences?
Q5.In 1.5 of 'Macbeth', Lady Macbeth asks spirits to "Make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to "..
Q6.Once she hears about the witches' prophecies in 1.5 of 'Macbeth' via letter from Macbeth, the first thing Lady Macbeth says is, "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art ".
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.You have been given this question: 'To what extent does Shakespeare present Lady Macbeth presented as a dutiful wife?'. Match the question fragment to its purpose.
What is your overall thesis?
What were the writer's intentions?
What ideas are there around this concept in the play?
Q2.Match the essay terms to their definitions.
a powerful idea you prove throughout your essay
the first sentence of a paragraph which states its main idea
well-chosen evidence which supports the topic sentence
summary of paragraph with a focus on writer's purpose
Q3.In his book 'The Prince' (1513), Machiavelli argues that to get and maintain power, you might have to resort to certain tactics. What are they?
Q4.Why might some argue that Lady Macbeth is not a Machiavellian villain?
Q5.Here is a thesis: Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth is presented as a Machiavellian villain when she uses duplicity; later she is not so Machiavellian because she feels guilty'. What feedback would you give?
Q6.Which topic sentence best supports this thesis: 'Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth embodies the qualities of a great Machiavellian ruler, only prevented from realising her ambition due to the patriarchy'?
To help you plan your 10 English lesson on: Planning an analytical essay about Lady Macbeth in ‘Macbeth’, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 English lesson on: Planning an analytical essay about Lady Macbeth in ‘Macbeth’, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 English lessons from the Macbeth: Lady Macbeth as a Machiavellian villain unit, dive into the full secondary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.