Teaching Macbeth is hard. Teaching Shakespeare is hard. That’s why I have started a new blog series in which I share themes, essential questions and supplemental texts to help you plan your Macbeth unit plan.
This blog series includes Frankenstein, Hamlet and Of Mice and Men. If there is a text you would like be to highlight, be sure to let me know by completing this form.
Grab your FREE Macbeth Unit Plan PDF which includes additional essential questions and supplemental texts.
Teaching Macbeth with Essential Questions and Theme
My favorite way to plan a unit is through themes and backward design. In backward design, you determine the final outcome of a unit and the skills you need to get there. Using essential questions and supplemental texts really brings a unit together.
In my state, students are required to write an argument essay on the state exam. And that argument (based on non-fiction texts provided) is worth 40% of the exam. So I like to develop authentic argument tasks that allow students to practice an argument without the artificiality of the exam which is why using essential questions along with theme is the perfect frame to develop a unit.
Themes for Teaching Macbeth
I teach my students that theme are truths about humanity and that themes should be in the form of a short sentence. So themes in Macbeth include:
- Ambition can be both good and bad.
- Perceived gender roles influence how people behave.
- Life is the intersection between fate and free will.
- Evil is fueled by power.
- Guilt weighs heavily on the mental health.
Introducing Macbeth
No matter what theme(s) and essential questions you decided to focus your attention, either of these videos are great introductions:
TED Ed has a 6ish minute video called “Why you Should Read Macbeth.” It gives a brief historical and plot overview. It also highlights the themes of guilt, abuse of power, and betrayal.
The PBS video series Shakespeare Uncovered: Macbeth is another way to introduce the play. It is hosted by Ethan Hawke as he studies and prepares to play the role of Macbeth. It also addresses several of the above themes. I like to actually split this video in (unequal) thirds. As the first part addresses Macbeth’s ambitions and rise to power, the second part focuses more on Lady Macbeth and guilt and the then last part brings Macduff into the mix.
Another great way to get kids interested in the play is to have them watch three different director’s versions of the opening. Grab this lesson for free. Follow the free lesson up with a close reading of Macbeth Act 1 scene 1 to examine setting and diction.
Macbeth Essential Questions and Supplemental Texts
Use one or two of these essential questions for Macbeth to plan your next unit plan. For more essential question and even more supplemental text suggestions, be sure to grab your Free Macbeth Unit Planner.
Macbeth Theme: Ambition can be both good and bad.
Essential Question: To what extent does ambition lead to one’s downfall?
Ambition is kind of a big deal in The Tragedy of Macbeth. At one point in Act 1, Macbeth even talks about his “vaulting ambition.” His ambition leads him to take a lot of actions. This is the perfect place for an argument essay. There are several options: Who has the most ambition: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth or Macduff? Or Does ambition lead to Macbeth’s downfall? Either way, giving your students a foundation of non-fiction texts on ambition will help them to support their arguments.
I love to just start with a definition of ambition. Then as we move through the unit, we use the following articles:
“The Psychology of Ambition” by Nassir Ghaemi. This article is pretty accessible (lexile 1000) and gives students background on how ambition can impact a person. Another great article from Psychology Today is the article “Is Ambition Good or Bad” by Neal Burton which considers the difference between ambition and aspiration.
As I mentioned in my Teaching Hamlet Post, I love to pair Francis Bacon texts with Shakespeare since both Bacon and Shakespeare lived at the same time. Bacon’s essay “Of Ambition” is a great way to see how Shakespeare’s contemporaries may have viewed ambition.
“Ego and Ambition” by Steve Forbes and John Prevas from forbes.com is another article that explores the dangers of ambition.
Looking for a poem to pair with Macbeth on the theme of ambition, try “If—” by Rudyard Kipling. Or to pair with Lady Macbeth’s ambitions, you could use “The Wild Ride” by Louise Imogen Guiney.
Theme in Macbeth: Perceived gender roles influence how people behave.
Essential Question: How does gender influence behavior?
Early in the play, Lady Macbeth takes an influential role in Macbeth’s decisions to act, however, later in the play, it is Macbeth’s masculinity that take center stage. A great supplemental text to address the the theme of masculinity in Macbeth is “If—” by Rudyard Kipling. You can use this pairing to examine the characterization of Macbeth through the lens of the poem. To look at the more feminine side, use, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem “I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed.”
In Shakespeare Uncovered on Macbeth, one of the Macbeth experts refers to an article that appeared in the American Spectator in the early ‘90s called “The Lady Macbeth of Little Rock.” The article makes the comparison between Lady Macbeth and Hillary Clinton. I have never used this article in class because I worried that it might be too controversial. However, now that some time has passed, I might give it a go to examine those gender roles. This might also pair well with theme of power.
Theme: Guilt weighs heavily on mental health.
Essential Question: What role does guilt play in mental health?
Poem: “Lady Macbeth’s Confession” by Natasha Tweed: In this poem, Lady Macbeth is the speaker. She begins confident in the consequences of her actions but ends in almost a rant.
To continue with the idea of helping to students to read through psychological criticism, you could use the article from Psychology Today called “Guilt” which examines what guilt is and whether everyone feels it.
In “Guilt Can Do Good,” the author explores the difference between public guilt and private guilt and between shame and guilt. For a quick write, you could pose the question: Does Lady Macbeth feel shame or guilt?
To truly address the question of the role of guilt on mental health, try this article from WedMD, “Signs of Guilt,” which suggests the potential health issues related to guilt.
Pair any of these with Close Reading of Act 2 scene 2 by examining the characterization of both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth as they react to what they have done.
Macbeth Themes: Life is the intersection between fate and free will.
Essential Question: To what extent is life controlled by fate?
NPR addresses this question in the article called “The Choice is Yours: The Fate of Free Will.” Which states that “the question of free will is essentially a question of agency.” This article would work really well paired with Macbeth’s soliloquy after he has encountered the witches in Act 1.
“Lines” by Ina Coolbrith is a poem that could be paired with Macbeth to examine guilt as well as fate vs. freewill. This poem examines the opening scene of the play and concludes “And the one fateful note, that throughout all / Leads, follows, calls, compels, and holds in thrall.”
Looking to define fate? This quick little poem by Durlene Westfall called “Fate” defines it in three lines. You could have students read this poem several times throughout the course of your study to determine if it holds true for Macbeth. It would be a great warm up!
Teaching Macbeth Theme: Evil is fueled by power.
Essential Question: Are people born evil or is evil created?
I love this question for teaching Macbeth and after the question of ambition, this is my favorite theme to address in the Tragedy of Macbeth. I have one poem and two articles for this one.
The article, “The Degrees of Evil” from The Atlantic is challenging (it has a 1490 lexile, so I generally reserve it for more advanced students). It considers historical figures like Hitler and bin Laden and then examines what drives them to their “wickedness.”
Just like with the other themes, it might be worth addressing, what evil is. Stanford University’s Encyclopedia of Philosophy provides a thorough overview in the article, “The Concept of Evil.” (This one is also challenging, I didn’t check the lexile on this particular passage, but a different one comes from the same source in at 1600.)
Another way to examine Macbeth’s characterization as it relates to evil is through Kahlil Gibran’s poem “On Good and Evil.” You could ask students whether Macbeth is evil based on Gibran’s definition.
For additional articles related to the theme of evil in Macbeth, be sure to grab your FREE Macbeth Unit Plan PDF.
Teaching Macbeth with Supplemental Texts
I hope that you have found some great new ideas about how to approach teaching Macbeth. I would love to know what your favorite supplemental texts are, so leave those in the comments below and if you are interested in even more about how to incorporate supplemental texts in your Macbeth lesson plans, be sure to grab your FREE copy of the Macbeth Unit Plan PDF with even more essential questions and supplemental text ideas.
Related Resources
Hamlet Themes: 11 Supplemental Texts to Include in Your Hamlet Lesson Plans
Frankenstein Lesson Plans: 11Amazing Paired Text
Of Mice and Men Themes: 21 Text Pairings
Introducing Shakespeare With Poetry Pairings (Smith Teaches 9 to 12)
POETRY PAIRINGS: William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (Smith Teaches 9 to 12)
Shop this Post
Close Reading Guilt in Act 2 scene 2
“Of Ambition” by Francis Bacon
2 Responses
Heya.
I love to teach Macbeth. I find that it makes a great unit study in order to teach high school children who are aged twelve and over. I like that I can focus on the four key skills at the same time in addition here. Every term I teach a few high school kids Macbeth with a textbook as a aid. Great play Macbeth. Seriously. Five out of five stars. What a man.
They have written essays on the characters and central themes of the play in question. We have used the mind map and colour coding technique in preparation. Flip charts are my best friend really. I’m considering asking them to craft out their own advice letters to Macbeth. We can do this all in a lesson early on Thursday afternoon. Good luck to you.
We do practice exam questions from time to time. It makes a lot of sense to me. I love to discuss personal motives. And have done so recently in a another precious lesson as well. Over the past two terms we have spent a lot of time working on Macbeth in my weekly English classes. My tenth grade sets have literally spent the last few months on Macbeth. We cover a lot of stuff. But it is time to do other things now.
What great ideas! I have had student write love letters from characters in other Shakespeare plays. That might be an interesting idea too as in the Shakespeare Uncovered documentary they talk about how the Macbeths are in fact one of Shakespeare’s only happily married couples.