MYPNA_TE_G12_U3_web.pdf

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essential question: How do our attitudes toward the past and future shape our actions?

Analyze Craft and Structure

Shakespearean Tragedy Shakespeare’s tragedies usually contain

these elements:

•   A tragic character—a central character who is of high rank and

possesses great personal qualities, yet who also has a tragic flaw, or

weakness.

•   Causally related events that lead this character to disaster, at least partly

through his or her flaw.

•   Dialogue    and events  that    provoke a   mixture of  reactions   from    the 

audience, including pity, fear, and awe.

•   Powerful    action  that    creates a   spectacle,  and the use of  comic   scenes  to  

offset  the mood    of  sadness.

Consider how Shakespeare introduces Macbeth as a war hero. The playwright

then    develops    Macbeth’s   character,  adding  complexity  and depth   through

his words   and actions,    ultimately  revealing   a   tragic  flaw.   Note,   too,    how 

Shakespeare includes plot events that lead to Macbeth’s downfall and that

make    his tragic  flaw    evident.    Shakespeare builds  interest    in  Macbeth’s   actions

by  employing   dramatic    irony.  Dramatic irony is present when audiences know

more    about   a   character’s situation   than    the character   does.   For example,    in  Act 

III,    Scene   i,  the audience    knows   that    Macbeth murdered    Duncan. Banquo  comes   

to  the same    conclusion:

Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,

As the weird women promised, and I fear

Thou play’dst most foully for’t.... (lines 1–3)

However,    Banquo  does    not know    that    Macbeth plans   to  have    him killed. The 

audience    knows   more    about   Banquo’s    peril   than    he  does.

CITE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

Practice to support your answers.

1. Review the notes in your Evidence Log that relate to Macbeth’s character and
   motivations. Then, answer the questions in the chart to explore this aspect of his
   character.

What are Macbeth’s tragic flaw(s)?

Which actions reveal Macbeth’s tragic flaw(s)?

2. Notebook In Act V, Scene iii, Macbeth rails against the reports of Malcolm’s
   
   upcoming attack. Reread this scene, and analyze the elements of dramatic irony
   
   that it contains.

The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act V 349

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FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Analyze Craft and Structure

•   If students are unable to identify Macbeth’s

tragic flaw, then ask what his first mistake—or

evil deed—was and what motivated him to do

so.

•   If students fail to find dramatic irony in Act V,

Scene iii, then provide an example from a fairy

tale or other well-known story.

For more Reteach and Practice, see Analyze

Craft and Structure: Shakespearean

Tragedy (RP).

Analyze Craft and Structure

If necessary, review the following with students:

•   A tragedy is a work of literature, especially

a play, that shows the downfall or death of

the main character, or tragic hero. In ancient

Greek tragedy, the hero is always a noble or

outstanding person—a king or a hero—whose

downfall is caused by a tragic flaw.

•   Although the term tragic flaw can mean

an inherent character weakness or defect,

the term may also refer to a flawed

action—a mistake, error, or bad decision—

that contributes to the hero’s destruction.

Sometimes this mistake is the result of an

innate character weakness, such as extreme

ambition (as in Macbeth).

For more support, see Analyze Craft and

Structure: Shakespearean Tragedy.

Practice

1. See possible responses in the chart on the
   student page.


2. Macbeth tells his servants not to bring any more
   reports until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane
   (which is impossible, he believes). Then he says
   he isn’t afraid of Malcolm, who is “born of
   woman.” When a servant does come in with
   a report, Macbeth makes fun of the man for
   looking scared. However, when he finds out
   that ten thousand English soldiers are on their
   way, Macbeth calls immediately for his armor.
   This shows that he, Macbeth, takes the threat
   seriously, and may even be frightened himself.

His tragic flaw is ambition—he wants to be king.

After Macbeth hears the witches’ first set of predictions, he realizes that his ambition to become king

can come true. At first, however, he is reluctant to do what it takes (killing King Duncan) to reach

his goal. After Lady Macbeth pressures him into it, however, he seems to find it easier and easier to

eliminate people who seem to be in his way (such as Banquo and Macduff’s wife and children).

Whole-Class Learning 349

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