Housekeeping: No blogging on Thursday, December 23, 2021
Aim: How is the tone, mood and theme in Macbeth illuminated by the symbols in Act II, scene ii, while contributing to the work as a whole?
*There was no DO NOW for today since it was done yesterday and today is a continuation of where we left off yesterday.
Link to the google slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ot5zBZiWaIhKC9hc_V-oz1cjwLaySXAMaoyhrXfwW8Q/edit#slide=id.p1
Right after attendance, we got right into business as we were warned that today was going to be a jam packed lesson. Roles were given out and we started to read Act II, Scene II [4 pages] as a class.
After reading, Ms. Peterson prompts us to work collaboratively as a group to answer the following questions to the best of our ability. She also hints to us that there will be further meanings to the constant knocking that is being mentioned in the scene.
Teamwork Questions and Answers:
(Contains multiple group answers, in red is my group’s answers, in blue is other group’s answers shared)
Why do you believe Shakespeare chose to have the murder committed off-stage?
To keep the details vague and allow for more suspense
Allow the reader to infer what happened
Get it done and over with since Macbeth was always so indecisive and committing it offstage could help quicken it
Fiona- the king was watching the play, did not want to kill right in front of him and piss him off.
Ms. Peterson continues to explain other examples as to how not showing the murder of royal/political figures was a common practice, for example, the stabbing of Julius Cesar and the murder of the king in Hamlet.
How has the theme of nature been revealed at the start of this scene by Lady Macbeth?
The owl making the sound shows how nature is oblivious to what humans are doing. It doesn’t care that the King was killed.
Owl represents death, the screeching, and its cries (Refer back to symbols chart 2 lessons ago in the lesson “7 Studs Mac Act II, i”)
In what way(s) does Lady Macbeth now appear to be weak, whereas she was strong, and why does this make her a hypocrite?
Incapable of killing Duncan because he looks so similar to her father, she’s pointing fingers, but she remains incapable of doing the deed she is making Macbeth commit
Also hypocritical because Duncan treated Macbeth so well, like a father, and she expects him to kill Duncan even though she couldn’t because of similar reasons
Describe how both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth behave upon his return from the murder.
Lady Macbeth is already planning the next move, telling Macbeth to place the bloody daggers by the body
Macbeth seems to be spooked, he does not want to revisit the bodies to put the dagger back
They are frantic which could be indicated in the fast paced dialogue
Why does Macbeth become “spooked” after he killed Duncan?
He realized that Donalbain and Malcolm had started hysterically laughing in his sleep and the other one had screamed “MURDER” randomly
When they were praying, he couldn’t even say “AMEN” because of the horrible act that he had done
Analyze lines 47-49: “Methought I heard..”
What does Macbeth think he hears and why do you think he “hears” this?
Macbeth is hearing a lot of knocking, and we think he hears this because he feels guilty and is paranoid that he will be caught
Holy retribution, cursed, the theme of heaven - Thomas
What literary device is being used and how is it applied here and how does it apply?
Repetition- for more tension, expresses how frequent he thinks of the knocking and his paranoia
Onomatopoeia - the sound of the knocking
Irony- murders someone innocently in their sleep and now he can’t sleep
Assess Macbeth’s actions since his return from the murder. What mistake has he made and why do you think it happened in the first place?
Macbeth brings the weapon of murder with him, which would incriminate his person if it was found, and we believe it probably happened because he was spooked by what he has actually done
He felt guilty, his first instinct was to get outta there, he did not think to leave it
What do you make of his refusal to rectify his mistake and Lady Macbeth’s insistence to fix it? How might she be feeling as she remedies the action “Infirm of purpose!”?
He did not want to go back and see the damage he has done to a good king
If he goes back to fix his mistake, he’ll see that he actually killed Duncan and would have to face reality. He also doesn’t want to get caught in action
Lady Macbeth may feel panicky since there’s a knocking and she still has evidence in her hands and has to see Duncan who looks like her father dead.
She starts to feel like how Macbeth is right after.
Interpret Macbeth’s line, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean…hand?” Explain the purpose for his comment. Literary device???
His hands are covered in so much blood, literally and physically meaning that it would take an ocean to wash it away because of how sinful the act he just committed was
Joey - the purpose was to illustrate the extent of the situation, and the literary device used was a hyperbole
The allusion to Roman mythology, Neptune was originally the god of fresh water and has a Greek counterpart famously known as Poseidon.
Lady Macbeth states, “My hands are of your colour; …white.” How do you explain her hands being the same colour?
She is shocked and cold
She is saying Macbeth's hands are stained with blood (metaphorically and literally) and she is saying that her hands are also stained because she participated in Duncans murder
Takes the daggers from Macbeth's hands who were stained with blood
Explain the dual meaning behind Lady Macbeth’s statement, “ A little water clears us of this deed:”.
Literal meaning - Washing away the evidence/blood and cleans themselves up
Figurative meaning - Washes away the sins, deeds, and cleanses their souls
We did not finish the entire lesson and are going to continue tomorrow in class.
Reflection:
What did I learn? Why did I learn it? How will I use what I learned?
In today’s lesson, I learned that the tone, mood, as well as theme expressed through symbols really, do contribute to the work of Macbeth as a whole and bring everything together. Though it was a denser scene with a lot of deciphering of some of the symbols, it makes everything that was going on in the scenes so much more clear. I believe that we learned this because the close examination and use of these symbols allow for the reader to get a better understanding of the theme, tone, and mood the author hopes to express to the audience. This would further allow for the audience to better piece together what is going on and possibly visualize what exactly is going on in the scene. An excellent example of this is the mentioning of owls in the reading. From a previous lesson, we learned that the symbolism of an owl and its cries are death. This helped reveal the theme of nature in the story as nature, the owl, is indicating to everyone that King Duncan is dead. The bloody dagger and hands are symbols of the sinful act that Macbeth had committed. They are a sign of Macbeth’s internal conflict with himself as he feels extremely guilty and so paranoid that he forgot to leave the daggers there. It also expresses the tone and mood of the scene as tense, cautious, and has a darker mood than any other scenes we have read. There was also a mix of allusion, hyperbole, irony, and other literary devices being used in this scene that also helps bring together the entire scene. The mentioning of Neptune, is an allusion, to further emphasize how sinful their acts were and how it requires the entire ocean to cleanse them. The irony is used to show how guilty Macbeth feels, as it was ironic that he had killed an innocent person (Duncan) in his sleep and now he is restless as well. All in all, the mixed usage of literary devices, figurative language, and symbols by the author helped clarify the scene for me. I could use what I learned in today’s lesson in future writing pieces or in future readings. As a writer, I would be reminded to use these similar devices, language, and symbols to help my audience grasp a better understanding of what I am trying to convey. As a reader, I could use this knowledge in future readings to search for these things which could help me understand that story better.
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