DAY 5 - CYCLE 4 - SEMESTER 2

Today, we met the inimitable Lady Macbeth, whose personal ambitions make her husband's look like child's play. In Act I, scene v, the three characters involved are Lady Macbeth, a messenger, and Macbeth himself. As you read through the scene aloud, I checked your homework (the literary terms sheet).

Then we parsed out the scene, looking at the progression of Lady Macbeth's emotions. She reads aloud the letter Macbeth sent in which he calls her "partner." In her first monologue, she criticizes her husband for his shortcomings (stupid virtues!), and wishes he were there so she could scold him for being virtuous. Then, she learns that Duncan will stay the night at her castle. After that, she seeks specific changes in herself, calling upon the agents of darkness to bring them about. Then, Macbeth enters, and she says "Leave everything to me!" In this short scene, Lady Macbeth has willfully placed herself above her husband (with his help!) in the Great Chain. What might this lead to? As we figured out exactly what she says, I asked you to keep two questions in mind:

1. What changes is she asking for in herself? In Macbeth? For what purpose?
2. On both pages 27 and 31, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth make a specific appeal to the heavens. What is that appeal, and how does it relate to our understanding of the Great Chain of Being?

Afterwards, I asked you if you thought whether or not Macbeth and Lady Macbeth had any control over their actions. Do they have any say in what plays out? Is there a difference between the two?

YOUR HOMEWORK:

This scene contains a number of examples of the literary terms you looked up for today. Now, I want you to apply that knowledge by identifying FIVE (5) examples of literary terms in action within the scene. You should write out the example and an explanation of HOW it shows the term in action.

Also, next week, we will begin Lord of the Flies as an out-of-class reading experience. That's about a group of boys whose plane crash lands on an uninhabited island and what happens to them in this Eden of no adult supervision.