Saturday, October 6, 2018

For Monday: Shakespeare, Macbeth, Acts 1-2



The “Austen” group will answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Though most of the play is in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter), characters often end scenes with rhymed couplets, such as the following: “Away, and mock the time with fairest show./False face must hide what the false heart doth/know” (1.7). Why does Shakespeare do this? What does the flash of rhyme do for the play or the speech? How would we hear and experience this?

Q2: We mentioned in class that Lady Macbeth looks older than Macbeth, which prompted the suggestion that she might be like the Wife of Bath, an older, more experienced woman mastering a younger man. Where else might we see this in her scenes? How do we know she has the upper hand in the relationship?

Q3: One of the most famous speeches in the play is Macbeth’s “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” in Act 2.1. Read this speech carefully and discuss the syntax of a particular line that would be difficult to translate into modern English. Why is this? What is Shakespeare trying to show us through this difficult line?

Q4: The Porter is the only character who speaks prose (other than Lady Macbeth’s letter), which makes sense, since he is merely a servant. Why does he get so much stage time when all he does is open a door? What does his speech—silly as it is—do for the play, or the scene?

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