Aimed at 1st Bachillerato ´s students

2. Macbeth
The bad man?

3. Individual Activities
1. Who wrote Macbeth? Write a short biography
2. When was the play written? The Elizabethan timesand its historical background
3. Write the names of the most important characters. Describe them briefly.
4. Analyze these themes appearing in the play:
 a. The corruption of power;
 b. blind ambition;
 c. things are not what they seem;
 d. superstition and its effects on human behaviour.
1. Then you have to choose parts of the play where you can find each theme - name the
scene and the act where they appear. Explain why you have chosen it.
2. Search through newspapers and magazines to find examples of people with the same
conditions as Macbeth´s.

4. ACTIVITIES IN GROUP
► Team 1 will look for four
movies with the sames
themes as Macbeth
► Team 2 will search
through newspapers and
magazines to find
examples of people with
the same conditions as
Macbeth´s.

5. The writer
William Shakespeare(April 26, 1564 (baptism) - April 23, 1616) was an English poet and playwright
widely regarded as the greatest writer of the English language, as well as one of the greatest in Western
literature, and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He wrote about thirty-eight plays and 154 sonnets, as
well as a variety of other poems. Already a popular writer in his own lifetime, Shakespeare's reputation
became increasingly celebrated after his death and his work adulated by numerous prominent cultural
figures through the centuries. In addition, Shakespeare's works have been translated into every major
living language, and his plays are continually performed all around the world. In addition, many quotations
and neologisms from his plays have passed into everyday usage in English and other languages.
It is important to outstand the relation with the Globe Theatre , built in 1597 (it was destroyed by fire on
26 July 1611. The theatre was rebuilt by June 1617), but was officially closed by pressure of Puritan
opinion in 1642 and demolished in 1644 .

6. Shakespeare´s major works
A Lover's Complaint
A Midsummer Night's Dream
All's Well that Ends Well
Antony and Cleopatra
As You Like It
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
King Richard III
Macbeth
Measure for Measure
Much Ado About Nothing
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
The Comedy of Errors
The Merchant of Venice
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Taming of the Shrew
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Winter's Tale
Titus Andronicus
Twelfth Night

7. Historical BACKGROUND
 The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I´s reign (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden
The Elizabethan
age in English history. This "golden age" represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry, music and
literature. The era is most famous for theatre, as William Shakesperare and many others composed plays that broke free of England's
past style of theatre. It was an age of exploration and expansion abroad, while back at home, the Protestant Reformation became more
acceptable to the people, most certainly after the Spanish Armada was repulsed. It was also the end of the period when England was a
separate realm before its royal union with Scotland.
 The Elizabethan Age is viewed so highly because of the periods before and after. It was a brief period of largely internal peace between
the English Reformation and the battles between Protestants and Catholics and the battles between parliament and the monarchy that
engulfed the seventeenth century. The Protestant/Catholic divide was settled, for a time, by the Elizaaaaaabethan Religious Settlement,
and parliament was not yet strong enough to challenge royal absolutism.
 England was also well-off compared to the other nations of Europe. The Italian Renaissance had come to an end under the weight of
foreign domination of the peninsula. France was embroiled in its own religious battles that would only be settled in 1598 with theEdict of
Nantes. In part because of this, but also because the English had been expelled from their last outposts on the continent, the centuries
long conflict between France and England was largely suspended for most of Elizabeth's reign.
 The one great rival was Spain, with which England clashed both in Europe and the Americas in skirmishes that exploded Spanish
Armada in 1588 was famously defeated, but the tide of war turned against England with an unsuccessful expedition to Portugal and the
Azores, the Drake-Norris Expedition of 1589. Thereafter Spain provided some support for Irish Catholics in a debilitating rebellion against
English rule, and Spanish naval and land forces inflicted a series of reversals against English offensives. This drained both the English
Exchequer and economy that had been so carefully restored under Elizabeth's prudent guidance. English commercial and territorial
expansion would be limited until the signing of the Treaty of London the year following Elizabeth's death.
 England during this period had a centralised, well-organised, and effective government, largely a result of the reforms of Henry VII and
Henry VIII. Economically, the country began to benefit greatly from the new era of trans-Atlantic trade.

8. The Spanish and English
Sovereigns
 The Queen Elizabeth  The King Phillip II
I (1558-1603)
(1527-1598)

9. Characters
 The Witches: The witches are the instigators of the play because their prophecies prompt
Macbeth to action. They are three sisters who trick Macbeth into believing that he is invincible,
which leads to his downfall.
 Macbeth: Macbeth is a general of Duncan's army before he gets greedy and wants the crown
for himself. He murders the king and Banquo, the other general, as well as having Macduff's
entire family killed, all so that he can protect the crown. Despite his ruthlessness to keep his
position, he is plagued by guilt for his crimes and as a result sees ghosts of his victims. Macbeth
is killed by Macduff in battle.
 Duncan: Duncan is the king of Scotland who is betrayed in the beginning of the play by the
Thane of Cawdor. Duncan gives the traitor's title to Macbeth and foreshadows the general's
betrayal. Macbeth murders Duncan and frames Duncan's guards for the murder.
 Malcolm: Malcolm is Duncan's oldest son and heir to the Scottish throne. When his father is
murdered, Malcolm and his brother flee Macbeth's castle. Malcolm goes to England to seek
English help to regain the throne that is rightfully his. In the end, he is pronounced king, and order
is restored.
 Banquo: Banquo is a general of Duncan's army, and the witches prophesy that his descendants
will rule Scotland after Macbeth is king. This prophecy makes Banquo an enemy to Macbeth, so
Macbeth has Banquo murdered. Banquo's ghost haunts Macbeth at a banquet, and this vision
makes the Scottish lords suspicious of their new king.
 Lady Macbeth: Lady Macbeth is Macbeth's wife. She insists that he murder Duncan and take
the throne for himself. She is the driving force behind Macbeth's plays for power, but in the end
she drives herself mad because of her guilt over the murders. She kills herself.
 Macduff: Macduff is a Scottish noble who suspects that Macbeth has murdered Duncan from
the very beginning. When Macduff goes to England to support Malcolm, Macbeth has Macduff's
entire family killed at their home. Macduff is the man who finally kills Macbeth in battle.