Macbeth 6 - The Text I See Before Me and Reading Day 2
"I see thee yet, in form as palpable / As this which now I draw."
Macbeth 6 - The Text I See Before Me - Living Illuminated Text Activity and Act 1, 2 reading continues: We begin the day by going back to the reading aloud of the play (with Act I, scene 7) and then we read (without a quiz) the first scene in Act 2. When we get to the right spot in Scene 2 - the students are put into groups (3 or 4 of them) to perform - to act out, the "Is this a dagger that I see before me?" soliloquy from Act 2, scene 2. There performances are a living Illuminated Text - making Shakespeare's words as clear for the rest of us in the class as possible. They might be one living dagger - or an evil and good Macbeth - torn between what to do - all the while, saying the words from the soliloquy. After the performances we talk about what the words mean - and when all groups are done - we finish reading aloud and discussing Act 2, scene 2.
Macbeth 6 - Is this the Text I See Before Me - Activity, finish Act 1 and begin Act 2 :
Lesson Overview - Is This a Dagger - Living Illuminated Text and Macbeth Act I,II in-class reading 2
No Quiz today - the students are quizzed all the way through Act I - We will begin to read Act 2 - and this is actually great - it gives the students (and the teacher) a chance to see how students do in class with a "cold reading". It is also interesting because the next lesson will have an Act 2 test - will the students at least get right the questions about the part that we do in class today? If they don't - that is very telling, and helpful to the teacher. See my page on Reading Quizzes.
The reading the play in class today will be divided into two sections. At the beginning of class (remember no quiz), you will read Scene 7 of Act I - finishing the Act. Then you will begin Act II - scene 1 - the scene with first Macbeth and Fleance (his son) then Macbeth and Banquo. Some really important lines and actions happen here - and really lead up to today's activity. I have put all my takeaways from the scenes that will be read today after the activity - of course, many more can be found in my play notes (also found below).
After the class reads (and discusses) line 43, you will do the activity below - Is this the Text that I See Before Me. When they are done performing you will go back to the class reading and cover the rest of Act 2, scene 1.
Is this the Text that I See Before Me - A Living Illuminated Text
In this exercise, the students will be split into groups - 3 or 4 groups for the entire class is ideal. The complete handout for this activity can be found below. But here is the beginning part: You are to get in a group of 6 to 8 people. You will take the following lines and act them out in a way that you (your group) believe best shows what is happening in the text. Think of this as a moving living ILLUMINATED TEXT. You don’t have to bring in knowledge of any other part of the play – and you haven’t yet read the Act (II) that the lines are from.
Everyone in the group must take an active part and you must be as imaginative and thoughtful as possible. Don’t be afraid to be creative: for instance, you could have different people playing the two sides of Macbeth (should he or shouldn’t he murder Duncan), or as parts of the dagger or whatever, as long as what you do directly illustrates the text. Over the top is great – as long as it helps the rest of us make sense of the soliloquy (speech).
I usually gave students about 10 minutes to rehearse. Remember - they have not read these lines before (they are from Act II). As the students rehearse (usually one or two of them in the class and one outside the classroom) move among them encouraging them to "push themselves". Every student should be involved - they should each at least say one line - they the can do the whole things or strategic parts as a choral reading. I've had students carrying above their heads a student (be careful!) as a dagger - students forming two groups - the Angel Macbeth and the Devil Macbeth. Whatever they end up doing - it needs to be creative and it needs to explicate the text. It is a living Illuminated Text. I've included below an actual Illuminated Text of this soliloquy that a student did for extra credit.
Remember - when students perform in class, the other students need to pay attention. I usually remind them of this before each performance - they will want to keep rehearsing or coming up with ideas - but they need to watch! (I probably need a whole page on in class performances).
Between Performances
Between each student performance, we usually go through a part of the soliloquy. If there are 3 groups - I would go through about 5 lines. See my play notes below for more but here are a few take aways that I'd go over between performances:
1-5: Do you show the dagger if you are putting this on? What are the implications if you don't? (It's all in his mind). "Fatal Vision" - a title of a famous book about a murder - so many book titles come from Shakespeare.
5-10: Did the group "draw" a real dagger (a pencil for instance) - did they figure out what "draw" means here? What is the dagger (imaginary or real) doing?
11-15: What happens to the dagger? (gets covered with blood). What direction is it leading him to? (to Duncan's chamber) What has he decided to do?
Make sure you praise each group - and point out the brilliant insights that they've just shown the class!
Reading through the play in class. See my page on Reading Plays Aloud in Class for more on this. Every student will read - and as they do their reading - you will stop them (hopefully at the completion of a line) and ask questions or point things out (questions are better). You also need to announce (probably every day) that they may also raise a hand if they are confused, have a question, or want to point something out. This last one may be especially true given that they read it on their own and taken notes on the reading. ADVISE (AGAIN PROBABLY EVERY DAY) THE STUDENTS TO USE A DIFFERENT COLOR PEN (OR PENCIL) TO TAKE NOTES IN CLASS - SO THEY CAN SEE WHAT THEY CAME UP WITH VERSUS WHAT THE CLASS CAME UP WITH (this is an invaluable idea - that actually came from a student a long time ago in my class).
Today's Play-Reading Agenda (this is for a 50 minute period):
Continue Act I - begin scene 7 - page 39.
Important Takeaways (there are SO many more important things to point out - mainly through asking - see my Notes on today's reading for more). REMEMBER: Have students see these points for themselves by asking questions to get at these.
Act I Scene 7 lines 1-27 - This soliloquy ("If it were done") is so important. Go over it thoroughly. See my notes on the play (if you can read them) for a lot more - but here are some of the biggies...
line 5 - Have the students count how many times (including implied and contracted) the word "it" appears. Rule #3 of understanding poetry (and this is verse after all) is know the meaning of every antecedent. What is the antecedent of "it" in all 5 of these: Answer: "The murder". So WHY do it that many times? Answer: How much it is weighing on Macbeth.
line 6-7 -WOW! "Here on this bank of time" - This is what SO MANY STUDENTS can identify with. Anxiety! If only we didn't think about what was to come - but like Macbeth our students (and everyone) worries about the future. This is a GIANT "to know we're not alone" moment.
line 11-19 - Macbeth says Duncan is in "double trust" than gives THREE reasons not to kill him! This is Shakespeare. This is what makes him great and why you never want to use a dumbed-down version.
Line 34 - Macbeth is trying to back out - his wife will not let him - but does he really want to? Can we blame her? Too easy!
Line 39 - A GREAT SELF-TEST for the students - have them explain about the "hope being drunk". Why did he start all this if he didn't mean it? Is he just trying to rationalize his way out of it - or put the blame on her?
Line 51-52 - What is she trying to do? Answer: Shame him into action. Emasculate him (be careful and thoughtful here).
Act II Scene 1 up to Macbeth's soliloquy: Talk about Fleance - who is he? What does this have to do with the witches's prophecy? What about Macbeth and Banquo? What is Banquo concerned about? What is Macbeth concerned about with Banquo (see how your asking about the prophecy previously fits into this?)
AFTER the Activity - Lines 59-77: talk about the rest of the soliloquy - read it aloud (students) - ask what the rest of it shows.
Remind students of what the next reading is (Act II next meeting) - and to follow their bookmarks.
Is This the Text I See Before Me - Student Handout
See the Lesson Notes for the complete instructions on how to use this handout - and/or of course, the actual handout - where the students are given the soliloquy (from Act II, scene 1) and the instructions on how to do it. In my experience, the teacher needs to give a lot of embellishment to the handout - getting students moving quickly - being bold and unembarrassed - and being over-the-top dramatic in order to explicate Shakespeare's words.
As a side note - this is the first - since I began publishing this website - handout that I had to recreate. The original is lost somewhere - and it would have been impossible to modify a scanned version.
The Folger Script for today's reading.
Please note that the Folger Online Edition of Macbeth will have the same corresponding page & line numbers that I reference. Also, the script is available to download from them as a PDF, Microsoft Doc, and with or without line numbers. My students had their own copies (which I strongly recommend) that they could take notes directly in - and which have so many valuable footnotes on the left side of the page. See my handout on Reading Shakespeare in my opening Macbeth Lesson.
This is my script - my "promptbook" if you will - that I follow while we do our in class reading. Please see the page on Reading Plays Aloud in Class. The page numbering, pagination, and line number align with the Folger Edition above. There are notes that should prompt discussion (of course you will have your own as well) - but very often it doesn't go much beyond an underline or a word or two. I have included in the Lesson Overview above Important points in that day's reading. The takeaways, important ideas, etc. that I include in the lesson notes are only a small part of what are in my notes.
MacbethA1S5toA2S1_withisthisadagger_20151207.mp4Class Recordings
Audio - a recording of today's reading and discussion of the play.
As a bonus - today's recording includes the students practiciing - their performances - as well as the reading aloud of the play that was covered in today's lesson: A recording of the students reading the play and the questions, answers, and discussion that ensues.
MacbethisthisadaggerbyMartinJastrzebski.mp4An Illuminated Text of Macbeth's Soliloquy by Martin Jastrzebski
This was made by a wonderful student as an extra credit project. If the "up-on-your-feet" activity is about taking the "Is this a dagger" speech and making it a living "Iluminated Text" - here we have an incredibly well done - actual Illuminated Text.
Remote Teaching
This lesson was my first big success during remote teaching - as far as getting students up on their feet. I had to modify the lesson - rather than working in groups - each student had a very small part or line in Macbeth's soliloquy. But - they had to be creative and were encouraged to use props that were laying around their house. See the special remote handout for more. See my page on Reading Aloud in Class.
Here is the description from Amazon: "This volume of the Shakespeare Set Free series is written by institute faculty and participants, and includes the latest developments in recent scholarship. It bristles with the energy created by teaching and learning Shakespeare from the text and through active performance, and reflects the experience, wisdom, and wit of real classroom teachers in schools and colleges throughout the United States. "
The Folger Library has an online edition of the play without the annotations - Shakespeare words (what appears on the right hand page in the paperback edition. It also includes in this online edition the very useful synopses that appear before each scene.
Macbeth Day 7 - Macbeth Doth Murder Sleep - Finishing Act 2: Today we have only reading the play aloud and discussing - no "up on your feet" activities. But the play - this section - holds so much, that there is more than enough to keep everyone's interest. Macbeth does the deed - murders Duncan - and his wife tries to calm him down - and there are some very important lines - that like the murder will come back to haunt and show their import later.
IF YOU CAN'T BE IN CLASS (and you have a sub)
Macbeth Day 7 - Act 2 (scene 3) thru Act 3 (scene 1) - Small Group Reading with Group Leaders: There were times when I couldn't be in class and I didn't want our progress on the play to stop. This lesson is designed to cover Act 2 when the teacher is not present - or even if he is and you want the students to have total control and remove yourself from the reading. In groups of about 5-6, students will read the play aloud just as we do as a class. There is a Group Leader for each set of students - and they will keep everyone on track as well as asking essential questions when they get to them.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
The students never cease to amaze me - every single year - every single period - every single group would come up with a new and exciting way to see this soliloquy. As with creating Illuminated Texts - these living versions teach twice - in the creating and again, in the watching of other groups' performances.