Title: Shakespeare’s Macbeth SOW: AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 1 Section A Date: Summer Y10/Autumn Y11

Key Themes:

How does Shakespeare present these themes? How do these

Loyalty Deception Supernatural Guilt

Religion Fear Violence Destiny

Gender Fate Kingship Honour

Ambition Motifs: Blood, Light/Dark and Sleep

Key Characters:
How does Shakespeare present these characters?
How do they change throughout the play?
Duncan: Honourable, ‘sainted’, righteous, trusting,
gullible, divine
Macbeth: Ambitious, weak-willed, ’Brave’,
superstitious, aggressive, foolish, violent, paranoid,
usurper, arrogant, unstable, victim?
Lady Macbeth: Ambitious, powerful, manipulative,
controversial, isolated, masculine, controlling,
deceptive
Macduff: Loyal, courageous, vengeful, brave, wise,
leader
Banquo: Wary, honest, loyal, brave
Malcolm: righteous, leader?, afraid,
The Witches: Equivocators, catalysts for events,
manipulative, powerful, cunning
 Title: Shakespeare’s Macbeth SOW: AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 1 Section A Date: Summer Y10/Autumn Y11

Term Definition
Dramatic Irony When the audience has awareness of a situation which the
characters do not.
Soliloquy passage in a drama in which a character expresses his
thoughts or feelings aloud while either alone upon the stage
Aside An aside is a dramatic device in which a character speaks to
the audience or a character on stage. The other characters
are unaware of this conversation.
Rhyming A rhyming pair of successive lines of verse, typically of the
Couplets same length
Context Referring to events and ideas surrounding when the play or
text was written
Tragedy These types of plays end on a tragic note and most likely a
character’s death. Consider the context.
Hamartia A fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine. Setting: King James I of England was King James VI of Scotland.
Consider how Shakespeare may be flattering the new King of England
Climax the point at which the highest level of interest and emotional by setting the play in Scotland.
response is achieved
Witchcraft: Many people at the time were superstitious and belief in
Resolution It is the unfolding or the solution to a complex issue in a story. witches were common. King James I even wrote a book on the topic.
Women accused of witchcraft would be punished by death. Natural
Tragic Hero A character in a dramatic tragedy who has virtuous and disasters and sickness were often blamed on the supernatural.
sympathetic traits but ultimately meets with suffering or
defeat Gender: Men and Women did not have equal rights. Men were
Motif A recurring element in a literary work, meaning the idea or expected to be the protectors of their family and being brave and
image occurs again and again. aggressive was a sign of masculinity. Meanwhile, women were
Equivocation A figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but expected to be maternal and nurturing. Women who did have children
which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of were seen as strange and dangerous.
truth or reason.
Political Tensions: The Gunpowder plot was an attempt to blow up
Divine Right of Kings derived their authority from God and were chosen by parliament and an assassination attempt on the life of King James.
Kings God Consider how Shakespeare shows the consequences of regicide in the
Regicide the action of killing a king. play.