EA 190 WEEK 3: DISCUSSION NOTEBOOK QUESTIONS AND PRESENTATION 2

In answering the following question, to get full credit: 1) the answers are typed 2) they answer the questions 3) they provide lines/page numbers for quotations that support your points.

NOTEBOOK QUESTION #1 Major characters in Macbeth: choose ONE of the following (Macbeth or Lady Macbeth) to answer.

1. Trace the development of Macbeth’s character over the course of the play, listing page numbers and lines.  

How does Macbeth understand himself as a man? How is gender (masculinity) related to ruthless ambition in his mind? What are the key moments for his decision-making process? When do things change for him? How is he influenced by the witches? Does he have a choice or is he fated?

2. Trace the development of Lady Macbeth’s character over the course of the play, listing page numbers and lines.

How does Lady Macbeth understand herself as a woman? How is gender (masculinity) related to ruthless ambition in her mind? What are the key moments for her decision-making process? When do things start changing for her? How is she related to the witches? Does she have a choice or is she fated?

C. CLASS PRESENTATION #2 (3-4 minutes) Imagery in Macbeth: Choose ONE of the following kinds of imagery to analyze. How does the imagery function in the play to support the development of theme, mood, and/or character? For imagery involving nature (especially weather) you should consider the pathetic fallacy: the attribution of human emotions to natural phenomena (eg. when you are sad, the day is sad and gloomy in sympathy). Also, the question of whether natural phenomena may be controlled by supernatural forces (for good or for evil). How does the natural order being out of order = the social order being out of order?

Be prepared to present your ideas in class with examples (page and line numbers). You will turn in your presentation notes (typed) at the end of class.

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1. Animal imagery (ravens, owls, horses, serpents etc.). How are animals used to represent human character/personality? Which animals are positive, which negative? When are they linked to the current situation or foreshadowing of what is to come?

2. Blood imagery. Blood plays a major role in the play -- a fact emphasized in the Posner and Teller stage production. How is it linked to themes of guilt? How else is it used?

3. Clothing. Clothing, and whether it fits or not, is an important indicator of new rank or status, mental state, moral character, etc.

4. Weather imagery. Especially as a sign that social relations have been disturbed, or the mental state of a character. Thunder and lightening, tempests, rain, fog, and sunlight. How do descriptions of the weather represent the internal mental state of Macbeth, as well as external the state of Scotland and England? Who controls the weather?

5. Light and Dark/Visible and Concealed: how does imagery involving light versus dark (or visible versus concealed) relate to themes of doubleness, deception, and equivocation in the play?