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Lady Macbeth’s character development across Act 1 of ‘Macbeth’

I can explore the presentation of Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5 and Act 1, Scene 7 of ‘Macbeth’.

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Year 10
Eduqas

Lady Macbeth’s character development across Act 1 of ‘Macbeth’

I can explore the presentation of Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5 and Act 1, Scene 7 of ‘Macbeth’.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Lady Macbeth seems to become more desperate for power throughout Act 1
  2. Lady Macbeth's desperation could be interpreted as what leads to her manipulating her husband
  3. Lady Macbeth's language appears to get more aggressive and violent in Act 1, Scene 7
  4. Lady Macbeth uses persuasive rhetoric in Act 1, Scene 7

Keywords

  • Rhetoric - If you are skilled in the art of rhetoric, it means you speak persuasively and eloquently.

  • Desperation - Desperation is a state of being in distress or despair. Being in this state can make you act impulsively.

  • Emasculate - If you emasculate someone, you deprive them of their masculine role or identity.

  • Ruthless - If you are ruthless, you act without mercy.

  • Imagery - Imagery is language that creates a vivid mental image.

Common misconception

Lady Macbeth's presentation is the same in both Act 1, Scene 5 and Scene 7.

There is an increase in urgency, violence and strategy in Act 1, Scene 7.

Consider how you want to explore the quotations from LC1 so that discussion is rich enough to support the writing section of the lesson.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You need access to a copy of William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'.

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of peer pressure or bullying
  • Depiction or discussion of sexual violence
  • Depiction or discussion of sexual content

Supervision

Adult supervision required

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
In Act 1, Scene 7 of 'Macbeth', Macbeth has a soliloquy. What could be argued is its purpose?
To give Lady Macbeth time to kill King Duncan off stage.
To reveal the plot to commit regicide to the audience: Macbeth goes through it.
Correct answer: To reveal the depths of Macbeth's hesitancy.
To give King Duncan time to go to sleep so Macbeth can kill him.
To reveal Macbeth's feelings towards Lady Macbeth.
Q2.
In Act 1, Scene 7 of 'Macbeth', why is Lady Macbeth initially angry with Macbeth?
He's come up with his own plan for killing Duncan, rather than adhering to hers.
He didn't tell her he had been promoted to the Thane of Cawdor.
He didn't tell her that King Duncan was staying at their home for the night.
He accuses her of being drunk when she came up with the plan for killing Duncan.
Correct answer: He tells her he doesn't want to continue plotting against Duncan.
Q3.
What information does a single paragraph outline contain that can support extended writing?
Bullet points of all the evidence you will use in an essay.
Correct answer: A topic sentence written in full.
A chronological list of all your topic sentences in note form.
Correct answer: Bullets points of the supporting evidence for your topic sentence.
Correct answer: A summary sentence written in full.
Q4.
'Macbeth' is a story about regicide. For Shakespeare's Jacobean audience, why was regicide one of the most serious crimes you could commit?
Correct answer: God selected the monarch. Thus, to challenge the monarch was to challenge God.
James I made a law decreeing that it was the most serious crime.
Correct answer: Jacobeans adhered to a strict hierarchy with the monarch at the top.
Monarchs were thought to have supernatural powers.
Monarchs were compassionate to their subjects: killing them was deemed cruel.
Q5.
In 'Macbeth', Shakespeare uses Act 1 to show that Lady Macbeth knows Macbeth very well. Which lines of dialogue best show this intimacy?
'Hie thee hither'
Correct answer: 'art not without ambition'
Correct answer: 'too full o' the milk of human kindness'
'Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor!'
'dearest partner of greatness'
Q6.
When Lady Macbeth first sees Macbeth in Act 1, she greets him with, 'Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor! Greater than both by the all-hail hereafter!' What are valid inferences about this greeting?
Lady Macbeth knows Duncan is already dead, and greets her husband accordingly.
Lady Macbeth is most pleased about his being promoted to Thane of Cawdor.
Correct answer: Lady Macbeth is already manipulating her husband by targeting his ambition.
Correct answer: Lady Macbeth anticipates Macbeth's ascension to the throne.
Lady Macbeth is proud of his achievement in battle and hails his bravery.

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
In Act 1, Scene 7 of 'Macbeth', how could Lady Macbeth's dialogue be characterised?
ruthlessly rhetoric
ruthlessly emotional
ruthlessly blackmail
Correct answer: ruthlessly emasculating
Q2.
What could characterise Lady Macbeth's change from Act 1, Scene 5 of 'Macbeth' to Act 1, Scene 7?
increasingly goads
increasingly flattering
Correct answer: increasingly violent
Correct answer: increasingly desperate
increasingly blackmail
Q3.
In 'Macbeth', Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth, 'When you durst do it [regicide], then you were a '.
Correct Answer: man
Q4.
Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth, '[I] know How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from its boneless gums and its brains out.'
Correct Answer: dash'd, dashed
Q5.
Which quotation is the strongest example of the emotional blackmail Lady Macbeth uses to suggest she doubts Macbeth's constancy in Act 1 of 'Macbeth'?
'When you durst do it, then you were a man.'
'Leave all the rest to me.'
Correct answer: 'Was the hope drunk Wherein you dress'd yourself?'
'do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness'
Q6.
Starting at the beginning, place Act 1, Scene 7 of 'Macbeth' in the correct order.
1 - Macbeth's soliloquy, in which he determines he doesn't want to kill King Duncan.
2 - Lady Macbeth focuses on emasculating Macbeth.
3 - Lady Macbeth reveals her own violent capabilities, and her constancy to Macbeth.
4 - Lady Macbeth lays forth exactly how they will kill King Duncan.
5 - Macbeth resolves that he will commit regicide.

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