Gr. 10 Unit: The Price of Ambition

Macbeth is the last of the four great tragedies written by William Shakespeare between 1601 and 1606; it is preceded by Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. “Macbeth is very much shorter than the other three tragedies, but our experience in traversing it is so crowded and intense that it leaves an impression not of brevity but of speed.”(Bradley, 278) The subject matter of Macbeth reflects Shakespeare’s exploration of the psychological mindset of a villain. In Hamlet, the protagonist reveals his inner thoughts, but in Macbeth, the same principle is assigned to the villains on stage. This unit begins with an analysis of Walt Whitman’s poem “Ambition,” the tenants of Greek and Shakespearean Tragedy, and Joseph Campbell’s tragic archetype. The study of Act 1 includes analysis of paradox, mood, tone, allusion, and characterization. Students write a narrative essay, and read informational text about the traditional role of Elizabethan women to compose an argumentative essay about whether Lady Macbeth adheres to, or contradicts the stereotype. After reading Act 2, Scenes 1-2, students analyze an artistic representation of Lady Macbeth seizing the daggers by Henry Fuseli, and write an explanatory essay. In the latter scenes, students are introduced to the Elizabethan view and implications of the natural world order: The Golden Chain of Being. They trace Macbeth’s disruption of this harmonious relationship after Duncan’s murder. For Act 3, students evaluate theatrical representations of Banquo’s Ghost and conduct a comparative text analysis of style, characterization, tone, rhyme, pentameter to formulate an argument as to whether Shakespeare wrote Act 3, Scene 5. For Act 4, students read informational text in order to identify the source of Shakespeare’s witches and conduct short focused research on the historical Macbeth. Additionally, students read Sonnet 20 to analyze the role of women in Shakespeare’s writings. For Act 5, students engage in a close reading of Macbeth and Hamlet’s soliloquies for a comparative analysis. Through a close study of the text, students identify and delineate the dominant imagery, symbolism, and themes throughout the play, and evaluate how Macbeth fits the tragic archetype. The unit concludes with a Mock Trial of Macbeth.

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