ADAPTED VERSION · dyslexia and neurodiverse students · B1

Session 3: Act II: the dagger

Question: What does Macbeth see before the murder?
Step 1

Goals

Step 2

Warm-up

Image analysis. Look at the painting for one minute in silence.
Henry Fuseli, Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers, exhibited 1812, Tate, London
Henry Fuseli, Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers, exhibited 1812, Tate, London. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
  1. What does Lady Macbeth hold?
  2. How does Macbeth look?
  3. What colours do you see?
Step 3

Read

The story. At night, Macbeth sees a dagger in the air. He kills King Duncan in his sleep. He feels terrible. His hands are covered in blood.
Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act II, Scene 1, Macbeth
Glossary: clutch: hold tightly · thee: you
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas in incarnadine, Making the green one red.
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act II, Scene 2, Macbeth
Glossary: Neptune: Roman god of the sea · multitudinous: countless · incarnadine: turn red
A little water clears us of this deed: How easy is it, then!
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act II, Scene 2, Lady Macbeth
Glossary: deed: act, here the murder
Step 4

Tasks

Task a. Is the dagger real? Yes or no, and why?
Task b. Compare: Macbeth (all the ocean) and Lady Macbeth (a little water).
Task c. Small task: read the dagger lines with a scary voice.
Step 5

Sentence starters

  • Macbeth sees...
  • I think the dagger is real / not real because...
  • Macbeth feels...
  • Lady Macbeth thinks that...
Step 6

Role play

Pairs: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth just after the murder. He is afraid; she is calm.

Step 7

Gap-fill worksheet

QR code to this worksheet
Word bank: dagger · blood · sleep · water · guilty · night
  1. Macbeth sees a .
  2. He kills Duncan at .
  3. Duncan is in his .
  4. His hands are covered in .
  5. Lady Macbeth says a little is enough.
  6. Macbeth feels .
Answer key
  1. dagger
  2. night
  3. sleep
  4. blood
  5. water
  6. guilty
Step 8

Homework

Learn the first line of the dagger speech by heart and record it.

Watch the film at home

  1. The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), directed by Joel Coen, with Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, in black and white. Where to watch: JustWatch France.
  2. Macbeth (2015), directed by Justin Kurzel, with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. Where to watch: JustWatch France.
  3. DVD: ask at your local library or médiathèque.
  4. Scenes to watch: the witches on the heath (Act I), the dagger and the murder of Duncan (Act II), the banquet and Banquo's ghost (Act III), the sleepwalking scene (Act V).

Watch with English subtitles if you can. The films contain violence.

Step 9

Assessment grid

CriteriaLevel 1Level 2Level 3Level 4
Reading aloudFlatSome expressionExpressiveVery expressive
UnderstandingNoA littleGoodVery good

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