TERMINALE LV1 · UPPER SECONDARY · B2 to C1 · C1/C2 extension track in every session

Macbeth: Ambition, Darkness and Guilt

Key question: Is Macbeth destroyed by fate, by others, or by his own ambition? How does Shakespeare make darkness, blood and sleep speak?

Axes: Art et pouvoir · Fictions et réalités · Espace privé et espace public.

The play: William Shakespeare's Macbeth was probably written around 1606, under King James I, and first printed in the First Folio of 1623. It is the shortest of his tragedies and one of the darkest.

Final task (written expression): an argued literary essay (400 to 500 words): "To what extent is Macbeth responsible for his own downfall?"

Intermediary tasks: a context presentation, a close reading in pairs, a performance of a soliloquy, a mock trial of Macbeth, a formal debate.

Method: every session opens with a painting. We read Shakespeare's original verse, always with a glossary.

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.

Sessions

Session 1: A king, witches and a plot: the world of Macbeth
Why would a play about witches and the murder of a king fascinate and frighten audiences in 1606?Session 2: Act I: prophecy and ambition
How do the witches' words awaken Macbeth's 'black and deep desires', and what role does Lady Macbeth play?Session 3: Act II: the dagger, the murder and the knocking
How does Shakespeare make the murder of Duncan terrifying without showing it?Session 4: Acts III and IV: ghosts, tyranny and prophecies
Why does Macbeth's power bring him no peace, and how do the witches deceive him?Session 5: Act V: guilt, sleepwalking and the end
How does Shakespeare show the collapse of the Macbeths?Session 6: Witches, ghosts and Halloween: why Macbeth still frightens us
Why do witches, ghosts and guilt still fascinate us, four centuries later?Final task: an argued literary essay

Extra resources

Film analysisSpeed debatingWritten assessmentsEscape from DunsinaneText studyOral questioningFigures of speechPunctuationSummative testC1/C2 essay out of 20

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