ADAPTED VERSION · dyslexia and neurodiverse students · B1

Session 4: Acts III and IV: the ghost

Question: Why does Macbeth see a ghost?
Step 1

Goals

Step 2

Warm-up

Shakespeare's dark side. Hamlet, all in black, holds a skull in a graveyard. Another play by Shakespeare full of ghosts and death.
Eugène Delacroix, Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard, 1839, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Eugène Delacroix, Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard, 1839, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Eugène Delacroix, Hamlet Tries to Follow His Father's Ghost, lithograph, 1835, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Eugène Delacroix, Hamlet Tries to Follow His Father's Ghost, lithograph, 1835, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
  1. What colour are Hamlet's clothes? Why?
  2. What is in the graveyard?
  3. What is the ghost doing in the second picture?
Step 3

Read

The story. Macbeth is king, but he is afraid of his friend Banquo. He pays men to kill him. At a big dinner, Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost. Then the witches tell him: nobody born from a woman can hurt him.
O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act III, Scene 2, Macbeth
Glossary: scorpions: poisonous creatures
Thou canst not say I did it: never shake Thy gory locks at me.
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act III, Scene 4, Macbeth to Banquo's ghost
Glossary: canst: can · gory locks: hair covered in blood
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1, the witches
Glossary: toil: hard work · cauldron: a big pot
for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth.
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1, Second Apparition
Glossary: none of woman born: nobody born from a woman
Step 4

Tasks

Task a. Order the events.
Task b. Is the ghost real or in his mind?
Task c. The trick: the prophecy sounds good, but it has a second meaning.
Step 5

Sentence starters

  • Macbeth is afraid of...
  • At the dinner, he sees...
  • The witches say...
  • I think the ghost is...
Step 6

Role play

Pairs: two guests after the dinner. "Did you see the king? He was talking to an empty chair!"

Step 7

Gap-fill worksheet

QR code to this worksheet
Word bank: ghost · dinner · afraid · chair · witches · trick
  1. Banquo's appears.
  2. It happens at a big .
  3. Macbeth is .
  4. He talks to an empty .
  5. The make a new prophecy.
  6. The prophecy is a .
Answer key
  1. ghost
  2. dinner
  3. afraid
  4. chair
  5. witches
  6. trick
Step 8

Homework

Write the diary of a guest (80 words).

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
ComparisonNoneOne ideaTwo ideasClear comparison
LanguageMany errorsSome errorsFew errorsCorrect

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