Introductory Materials
Macbeth Introduction:
Why Read Shakespeare?
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Anticipation Guide:
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PDF with No Fear and Highlighted Key Passages:
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Topics in Macbeth
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Assignments:
Passage Analysis (each act):
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Themes and Essential Questions:
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1.3-1.4 Literature Circles
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1.5-1.7 Literature Circles
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2.1-2.3 Literature Circles
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2.4-3.2 Literature Circles
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3.3-3.6 Literature Circles
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4.1-4.2 Literature Circles
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4.3 Literature Circles
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5.1-5.2 Literature Circles
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5.3-5.8 Literature Circles
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Close Readings
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Activities
Discussion Questions:
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Syntax Walk:
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Literary Connections
Robert Frost: "Out, Out" (5.1)
The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood, Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it. And from there those that lifted eyes could count Five mountain ranges one behind the other Under the sunset far into Vermont. And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled, As it ran light, or had to bear a load. And nothing happened: day was all but done. Call it a day, I wish they might have said To please the boy by giving him the half hour That a boy counts so much when saved from work. His sister stood beside them in her apron To tell them "Supper." At that word, the saw, As if to prove saws knew what supper meant, Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap - He must have given the hand. However it was, Neither refused the meeting. But the hand! The boy's first outcry was a rueful laugh, As he swung toward them holding up the hand Half in appeal, but half as if to keep The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all - Since he was old enough to know, big boy Doing a man's work, though a child at heart - He saw all spoiled. "Don't let him cut my hand off - The doctor, when he comes. Don't let him, sister!" So. But the hand was gone already. The doctor put him in the dark of ether. He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath. And then - the watcher at his pulse took fright. No one believed. They listened at his heart. Little - less - nothing! - and that ended it. No more to build on there. And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs. |
William Shakespeare / William Davenant: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow"
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time: And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle; Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. (Macbeth, Act V, scene v) Sir William Davenant (1606-1668) Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Creeps in a stealing pace from day to day, To the last minute of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools To their eternal homes; out, out, that candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. The second version of this passage is a rewriting of the first. The intention of Sir William Davenant (a poet of a generation after Shakespeare) was to remove what he considered offenses against “correctness” and “reasonableness.” Consider: 1. the differences in diction between the two passages. 2. the differences in punctuation and their effects on meaning 3. the differences in tone and mood between the two 4. the literary devices employed by both writers 5. does Davenant correct the offenses he found in Shakespeare’s original? 6. which passage is more powerful and why? |
E. Nesbit - "Macbeth"
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E.B. White - "The Door"
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