Thursday, December 9, 2021

Blogger #33 - Celeste Zhang - Period 3 - 12/9/2021


Macbeth Act I, VI

Aim: How does an evaluation of Macbeth’s soliloquy validate his character as being both round and dynamic, and with many complexities?

Note: Before starting the class we were told to prepare to change our team names to ones that are more relevant to what we were learning in class the next day.


We left off with the questions we had begun to discuss together before running out of time the previous day. These questions surrounded the analysis of Act I, Scene V of Macbeth, what we had covered in class the day before. Being that we had already been given time to discuss with the people surrounding us we immediately jumped to a class discussion, the questions and answers we discussed are as follows:


  1. What is Lady Macbeth’s perception of her husband?

We came to the revelation that we had gotten to this last class and quickly moved on

  1. In her POV, what qualities/attributes does she feel he possesses?

According to Lady Macbeth’s, she thinks that her husband is tenderhearted and too caring to have the actual guts to act upon his ambitions and wants.

  1. According to her, what qualities/attributes does he still need to obtain?

Adding onto what was said in the previous question, in addition to becoming more harsh, Lady Macbeth thinks that Macbeth also needs to become more ruthless in order to be able to get what he wants, which in this case is to kill King Duncan in order to become the new king. 

  1. How does she plan to assist him in obtaining what he lacks?

It is revealed that Lady Macbeth plans to manipulate her husband, “whispering her own ideas into his ear” to get him to do her bidding. She is going to try and influence his actions in addition to supporting him and giving him advice. 



Upon completing the prior lesson we moved onto discussing the do now as a team before talking as a class 

Do Now: Interpret and Agree/Disagree

“The female of the species is more deadly than the male.” NOTE: "The Female of the Species" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling.

Margaret Thatcher once stated, “… If you want something done ask a woman.”


Team thoughts

  • Females are viewed as vulnerable and weak, thus non threatening which gives them an advantage, 

  • Women tend to have more awareness of themselves in addition to their settings, and oftentimes are better observers and sympathizers


Class thoughts 

  • Society standards and expectations have impacted women greatly, shaping them in such a way to make them more “deadly”

  • Women are always fighting for their rights and dealing with sexism in addition to being silenced and belittled this so they've had to learn how to fight back 

    • Seen as stupid and inferior 

  • Women have to be mentally and emotionally stronger due to the fcat men are stronger physically adaptation in a sense 

  • More methodical, thinking things through contrasts with impulsive male nature 

  • Women can do things just as well, if not better, than men 


What is the application of this, how can it be related to what is happening in Macbeth?

All the observations voiced applies to Lady Macbeth’s character, she is excited to “help” him due to the fact that she knows that if he becomes king, she becomes queen hence she is going to “poison” him to do what she wants. We as readers should not underestimate her character, she is clearly a significant aspect of the plot. 


After completing the do now, we know what to look for and pay attention to while reading the next scene:

Class Reading/Acting Macbeth act I, scene VI 

+ watching acts in Macbeth movie up to where we've read

Short Summary of the Scene:

King Duncan and his attendants arrive at Macbeth’s castle (Inverness) and Lady Macbeth welcomes them into her home. 


Teamwork, Act I Scene V

  1. According to Macbeth, when does King Duncan plan on visiting and departing Inverness (Macbeth’s estate—See Map)? 

Macbeth informs his wife that the King is coming mid-day tomorrow and plans to leave early the next morning.


  1. Explain Lady Macbeth’s true intentions and plan when she states about King Duncan: “O, never / Shall sun that morrow see!”

Lady Macbeth foreshadows that she will kill King Duncan during the night thus he will never see the morning sun.

  1. Explain Lady Macbeth’s figurative language when she explains: “Look like th’innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t.” What is the meaning? What is the biblical allusion (Previously Learned)?

This is part of the advice Lady Macbeth gives to her husband when she first learns that the King will be coming to their castle, telling him to appear innocent despite the dark deeds he is planning. This serves as an allusion- “an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.” 

  1. How does Lady Macbeth’s statement compare with King Duncan’s from scene IV: “There’s no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face”?

In Scene IV, King Duncan mentions you can tell what a person is thinking by looking at their face which correlates to what Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth, warning him to look innocent. Moreover this is rather ironic because they are doing the same thing the Thane of Cawdor had previously done to King Duncan and was executed for thus, if their scheming is found, both of them will be punished. 


This is where we end our discussion due to a lack of time. While we did begin to discuss the teamwork for Scene VI we were not able to talk about them as a class and will likely start off the next day with going over these questions. 


Reflection 

By connecting what we discussed in the do now with what is currently occurring in Macbeth we can get a better understanding of the plot in addition to the characters. Due to this we can now make more educated inferences of what will happen next and better read inbetween the lines to understand what is happening in the play better. Reading and analyzing scenes V and VI help the reader characterize and recognize Lady Macbeth’s character, seeing her significance to the plot. By adding to this onto the other things we’ve learnt so far in this unit I am able to better understand the overall storyline of Macbeth and be able to identify literary devices and connections to certain aspects of the story.

 


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