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

Session 5: Act V: guilt, sleepwalking and the end

Part 5. How does Shakespeare show the collapse of the Macbeths?

Objectives

Warm-up

Image analysis. Look at the painting for one minute in silence.
John Singer Sargent, Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, 1889, Tate, London
John Singer Sargent, Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, 1889, Tate, London. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
  1. Ellen Terry was a famous actress of the Victorian stage. How does Sargent present Lady Macbeth here: queen, victim, villain?
  2. Look at the colours and the crown. What does she seem to feel?
  3. Compare her with the Lady Macbeth of Fuseli.
John Martin, Macbeth, about 1820, National Galleries of Scotland
John Martin, Macbeth, about 1820, National Galleries of Scotland. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.

Documents

Out, damned spot! out, I say!
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 1, Lady Macbeth, sleepwalking
Glossary: damned: cursed · spot: a stain of blood
What's done cannot be undone.
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 1, Lady Macbeth
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5, Macbeth
Glossary: petty pace: small slow steps · syllable: part of a word
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.
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5, Macbeth
Glossary: brief: short · player: actor · struts and frets: walks proudly and worries · fury: anger
Lay on, Macduff, And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 8, Macbeth
Glossary: lay on: attack · hold: stop
this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 8, Malcolm
Glossary: butcher: a man who kills animals for meat · fiend-like: like a devil

Activities

  1. The sleepwalking scene is written in prose. Why might Shakespeare abandon verse for Lady Macbeth here?
  2. "What's done cannot be undone": compare with Act III, where she said the opposite. What has changed?
  3. "Tomorrow, and tomorrow": repetition, rhythm, the metaphors of the candle, the shadow, the actor. What is Macbeth's vision of life?
  4. Malcolm's final words: "dead butcher" and "fiend-like queen". Is this judgement fair?
  5. Intermediary task (oral): perform the "Tomorrow" soliloquy in groups of three, each one taking two lines.

Sentence starters

Role play

Pairs: the Doctor and the Gentlewoman after the sleepwalking scene. What should they tell, and to whom? Is it safe to speak?

Gap-fill worksheet

QR code to this worksheet
Word bank: sleepwalking, prose, nihilism, metaphor, remorse, tyrant, downfall, judgement
  1. Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep: ______.
  2. She speaks in ______, not in verse.
  3. Her ______ makes her see blood on her hands.
  4. "Life's but a walking shadow" is a ______.
  5. The idea that life means nothing is ______.
  6. Macbeth's ______ is complete at the end.
  7. Malcolm calls Macbeth a ______ and a butcher.
  8. Malcolm's final ______ is very harsh.
Answer key
  1. sleepwalking
  2. prose
  3. remorse
  4. metaphor
  5. nihilism
  6. downfall
  7. tyrant
  8. judgement

Homework

Write the plan of your final essay: introduction, three parts with quotations, conclusion.

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.

Assessment grid

CriteriaLevel 1Level 2Level 3Level 4
AnalysisParaphraseSome analysisClear analysisSubtle, well supported analysis
PerformanceFlatSome expressionExpressiveMoving and well paced
ArgumentUnclearSimpleOrganisedOrganised and personal
LanguageMany errorsSome errorsFew errorsAccurate and varied

Terminale LV1 · C1/C2 extension track

For strong or anglophone students. The end: nihilism or moral order?

Extended extract

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.
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, scene 5 (public domain)

Critical analysis

  1. How does the theatre metaphor turn back on the audience?
  2. Is this the play's message or Macbeth's despair?
  3. Does Malcolm's victory restore meaning?

Nuanced vocabulary

Word or phraseMeaning and use
nihilismthe belief that life has no meaning
metatheatretheatre that refers to itself
restoration of orderthe return to legitimate rule at the end
arguablyto present a view as defensible but open to debate
to hinge onto depend entirely on

Argued writing (C1: 300 words · C2: 400 words)

Essay: 'To what extent is Macbeth responsible for his own downfall?' (C2: include a critical reading).

Debate

Formal debate: Fate, not ambition, destroys Macbeth.

Links reminder