Aim: How does Shakespeare’s perspective expose the gender roles of Medieval and Elizabethan times through an examination of Lady Macbeth?
Today, we started off the class with finishing off watching Macbeth—Act I, scenes i-iv [0:40-18:45] that we barely started last time.
From the movie, we could tell how much differently we saw things. For example, you would’ve expected the scenery to have much more in the beginning, and I didn’t expect Macbeth to look so much like a normal soldier. However, there’s a lot of detail put into the movie itself, such as the wording being pretty much the same and things in the background like crows cawing. The background music fit into certain scenes, and you could somewhat tell what was happening in certain scenes. Scenes that weren’t mentioned were included as well, such as the execution of the Thane of Cawdor. There are many points of symbolism, such as bells ringing in the background to represent death. We stopped at the scene where a woman appeared and we could see her back.
In addition, during the scene of the Thane of Cawdor’s execution, Mrs. Peterson asked “What did the Thane of Cawdor mean when the Thane of Cawdor asked ‘Long live the King’”. There was a quick answer where someone said that the king would die or eventually be killed.
Do Now:
PAIR/SHARE
“Stars hide your fires let not light see my dark and deep desires”
Review the quote.
What does it reveal about Macbeth’s character?
How is his character compared to Banquo’s?
In the class discussion for the first question, someone had said that the quote reveals about Macbeth’s character that Macbeth’s character is one related to gaining power. However, with Banquo’s character, Banquo is different and wanted to actually help the crown. Another person related this to the Bible, where Adam and Eve had the desire to eat the forbidden apple, and then they hid from the god, just hiding away from the light.
The answer that Mrs. Peterson had is that Macbeth doesn’t want anyone to know exactly what he is planning and thinking, while Banquo is humble. Although Banquo isn’t as strong, he is a better person since he doesn’t keep secrets.
TEAMWORK
The Roles of Women in the Medieval Times
Work collaboratively to create a list of roles you believe
were prevalent during this time period.
NO RESEARCHING!!! DISCUSS based on what you
think you know.
Within my group, Owen had said that women’s roles in Medieval Times was a housewife. They stay home, clean the house, take care of children, and don’t really have a role in the society of that time.
In the class discussion, the first person said that women’s roles were to be a housewife. The discussion continued, and there were other roles said such as mothers, nurses, hostesses, maids, seamstresses, and maybe waitresses.
After the discussion, we received answers that Mrs. Peterson had. They stayed in the household, weren’t equal to men, had to obey the men in their lives (such as their father and husband), had their own opinions but weren’t given the rights to share their ideas, and could only voice their thoughts through using their husbands.
READING/ACTING!!!
Choose a character and prepare to read/act
aloud!
Macbeth—Act I, v [3 pages]
After the class discussion of a woman’s role back in the medieval times, we went onto reading. Macbeth - Act I, v. We stopped midway in the reading, and Mrs. Peterson explained what the word “pall” meant, which was a covering for a coffin or something like that. Then we started the Teamwork questions.
TEAMWORK NOW
CLASS DISCUSSION LATER
Consider the role of women…
What do you perceive “milk” symbolizes?
When thinking about milk, conjure up the
image of a mother feeding her innocent child.
What kind of imagery does that evoke?
In the class discussion, someone said that “milk” symbolizes hospitality. Someone else said how they thought how Macbeth is too nice to kill King Duncan. For the second question, Mrs. Peterson explained how moms are kind, caring, and all of that for their children, and made a connection of how Lady Macbeth sees that in Macbeth.
After the Class discussion, we went back to reading. The class finished the reading quickly, and got started on new teamwork questions.
TEAMWORK NOW
CLASS DISCUSSION LATER
What is Lady Macbeth’s perception of her
husband?
In her POV, what qualities/attributes does she
feel he possesses?
According to her what qualities/attributes
does he still need to obtain?
How does she plan to assist him in obtaining
what he lacks?
In my group, we talked about how Lady Macbeth’s perception Lady Macbeth feels Macbeth possesses is welcoming and that the murder will come out. However, she believes that he is too obvious and could be read like a book. She plans to assist
In the class discussion, someone said that Lady Macbeth’s perception of her husband is kind hearted. For the second question, it was said that he is kind on the outside but on the inside he has his deepest desires.
We were not able to answer all of the questions in class, due to the period ending before we could get up to the rest of them.
Reflection
This lesson was quite short, and we didn’t even get to finish it, due to watching part of the Macbeth 1971 movie at the beginning of the class. However, I was able to learn quite a few things from it. It helped me understand the views of women back then, as well as how a person may be way different than what they are thinking about, as shown where Macbeth is kind, but wants to kill King Duncan to become the king. I also learned how women were subjected to many different roles, but were unimportant and unable to play a major role during the medieval times. Overall, a pretty short lesson but you are able to learn a lot from.
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