I’ve been teaching Macbeth to seniors for the last few weeks, using the Folger Institute’s Shakespeare Set Free materials, with mixed success. However, my mediocre results have, I believe, more to do with my students’ general reticence, discomfort with Shakespearean language and fear of vulnerability than the quality of this text’s lessons. I value the variety of focus and how the lessons get the students involved in both the text and the theatrical aspects of the plays, without requiring a great deal of either proficiency or performance. Like most teenagers, my students have little experience with plays, let alone the Bard. Many of them, but not all, are reluctant readers as a rule. Macbeth has been challenging, to say the least, but we have not been without our little victories.
The choice few who have rallied to the cause, volunteered to read parts and attempted emotional interpretation have greatly contributed to general morale boosting. They have been indispensable to me.
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I hope that my students gain some feeling for the elasticity and expressiveness of our English language, that they grow in confidence in their own intelligence and capacity to deal with difficulties, and that they gain some new insight into the human spirit through our Shakespeare studies. They have each, in a unique way, shaped me into a more resilient, creative individual. I hope I never forget them and the lessons they have taught me.
How old are your class? I had some activities which the students used to really like with Macbeth. One was reading the captain’s report in the style of a modern day sports commentary (usually works even better if you can trust them to act out the disembowlment with plastic swords) or translating some of the longer monologues into a particular style of speech, for example, I used to find Chav was especially popular, but you could try gangsta, mad scientist etc.
For language analysis breaking a scene up into sentences (Lady Macbeth’s attempt to emasculate Macbeth works well here) and getting groups to get to the root of what she’s saying and why it would persuade him is great. For example, when she says I have sucked babes and known how tender it is to love… (I paraphrase) not only is she saying that she would have killed the child she loved if she’d promised to (he has broken a promise to her and is there fore dishonourable) but she is highlighting that she has had a child with another man (Macbeth is childless) and perhaps underlining his lack of masculinity in this respect.
It’s interesting what they come up with. If you have group of bright 14 year olds they love this task.
Thanks for the tips. Macbeth is a bloody play, but I think my seniors are able to get into because it is a serious. It’s about manhood, about ambition and deceit. To some extent, my students–mostly young men–seem to be able to empathize with Macbeth’s desires. Today’s discussion and analysis of the banquet scene (Act III, scene IV) went particularly well. We contrasted the Roman Polanski version with the Royal Shakespeare version.
You and your class (and Siobhan above) make me want to read Macbeth!