Macbeth: Controlled Assessment Plan

Macbeth: Controlled Assessment Plan

1. Introduction

   • Overall Idea -- Macbeth is not a villain but obtains villainous qualities that are brought out by many factors; mainly Lady Macbeths manipulation.
     • Briefly mention how Banquo/Macduff is a hero, Lady Macbeth is the most villainous character
     • Briefly mention which poems I am using as links; Education for Leisure, Medusa, Stealing, Laboratory, Porphyria's Lover...
     • Brief context incorporated; Jacobean Era, C.1605, William Shakespeare, high focus on kingship and the qualities of a good kind (portrayed through Macbeths mistakes). This was done to impress King James I, witnessed Macbeth in 1603.

2. Paragraph 1 -- Hero

   • First few scenes, he is portrayed as a courageous, loyal hero. --e.g "Well he deserves that name" and "Carved out his passage"-analysis of this quote
     • The fact that he 'carves' his own passage shows how he is relentless and foreshadows how he manipulates aspects of his life in order to alter it to suit him. "Carved"- related to Christmas turkey which connotes happiness, excitement - he gets joy out of killing.
     • " with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution"-- execution -- hierarchy, worthy cause, it has been commanded and Macbeth is not only a soldier, he is the best-most regarded. Brandished -- Fearless, courageous, proud, sounds like branding which implies putting your mark on something, making it unique, he is special. "Smoked"-- (metaphor) perfectly cooked, satisfying, he can even kill in a perfect manner
   • Links to Education for Leisure, the whole taking control over their own lives and doing whatever they please despite whatever morals or laws it breaches. The persona in Ed. for Leisure states that he or she is "going to play God"

3. Paragraph 2 -- Reaction to Prophecies

   • "Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more." - He knows that who they are and the fact that he is communicating with them is wrong, but because they're telling him what he wants to hear, he lets his selfishness take over and asks for more. Did he know that this was to go wrong all along? - This shows a villainous/careless/negative side of him.
     • The audience would have immediately identified them as witches as well as the characters, they would have instantly known that they were a sign of danger and bad things to come
   • At first he is not that interested in the witches' appearance and in fact states that "so foul and fair a day I have not seen" . However, he suddenly askes them to stay once they have planted the seed in his mind of wonderous things to come
     • He begins to have scary murderous thoughts that make him uncomfortable, he does not know why he's getting them and is becoming frightened at the image he has in his mind
       • Paragraph 3 -- Banquos Suspition
         • Banquo and his actions can be linked to Those Bastards In Their Mansions. the persona fights for thei country, against the authority who are discriminating and treating their citizens in a terrible manner. Macbeth is doing the same, notice that Banquo does not confront Macbeth but simply thinks these thoughts and discusses them with others without telling Macbeth his suspitions, despite their friendship, because he knows that he will either get punished or nothing will change.
     • King Duncan is highly thought of by everyone and Macbeth is fully aware of this. After his death, Macduff states "The wine of life is drawn". He thought so highly of the king that he feels as if there's nothing else to live for without his King.

4. Paragraph 4 -- Macbeths Suspition of Banquo

   • Act 3, Scene 1, "To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus." This shows his initial worries that he had before Lady Macbeths input arising again and also shows his anxieties about how he is unsafe due to the enemies he is making through the bad choices he's been making throughout his short reign.
     • This quote in particular relates to the whole story line of the poem "Porphyrias Lover" by Robert Browining. The persona in the poem realises his partners love for him. At first, appears happy when he states that the "surprise made my heart swell" but the next sentence contrasts this and sets the eerie tone for what's to come "and still it grew whilst I decided what to do" It implies that of course he is still extremely happy but has doubts and queries about it still - these prove to be fatal. The persona decides to kil his lover by strangling her with her own hair in order to keep her. She cannot leave or sto loving him anymore and therefore him and his relationship is safe. It links to Macbeth and Banquo because he decides to kil his closest friend off before his suspicions are passed on as it could hinder Macbeths position and therefore life.

5. Paragraph 5 -- Macduffs family murdered

   • Links to Medusa. At first, he has no confidence anybody in his own kingdom and is in fact scared of that prospect. After his wife pushes him over the edge and he commits the high treason, his anxieties act as a substitute for confidence to kill and he has his closest friend murdered. At this point, the ball is already rolling and Macbeth cannot help himself, it is this part in the play in which he is his most villainous and allows himself to have Macduffs family as a method of revenge on Macduff. Medusa is almost exactly the same, she realises her power and is scared of it and doesnt like what she has become - a monster. As she kills more, the things that she kills grow in importance and size allowing her confidence to grow with her power. At the end of the poem she has enough confidence to kill her ex lover for revenge by turning to stone and telling him to "Look at me now." The only differences are that Medusa is angry and evil enough to look him in the eye and seems like she has
     • pre-meditated the murder and is happy with herself and her new-found power to kill. I believe that she will continue to seek her revenge and new found list to kill on others whereas i feel that Macbeth has only killed to save himself from what he has already done because of Lady Macbeths manipulation.
   • "give to th' edge o' th' sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls That trace him in his line."