MB Writer's methods

• Shakespearean tragedy


  A form that includes specific conventions
• It is important that the examiner knows from your essays that you understand the conventions of tragedy, as this is a valuable – and sophisticated – understanding of the writer's craft and methods
• Conventions of Shakespearean tragedy

  • Tragic hero
  • Fatal flaw (hamartia)
  • Foil
  • Fate
  • The supernatural
  • Catharsis
  • Conflict
  • Final restoration of the status quo
• Tragic hero


  A once-heroic figure (in this case Macbeth) who is destined to die
• Fatal flaw (hamartia)


  A character trait that leads to the tragic hero's downfall
• Foil


  A character who stands in contrast to the tragic hero, who conforms to the typical societal expectations of the era
• Fate


  All tragic heroes cannot escape their fate or destiny
• The supernatural


  Represents a threat to the natural order of things, as set out by God
• Catharsis


  A moment of shared expression for the audience, more than relief that the villain has died, it is sympathy for the once heroic figure
• Conflict


  External (assassinations; Macduff's ultimate revenge) and internal (the mental decline of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth)
• Final restoration of the status quo

  Things go back to normal after the death of the tragic hero, with the rightful heir to the throne installed as king
• Structure of a tragedy

  Five-part structure
• Exposition


  1. Introduction to the play for the audience

  2. Introduction to the themes and atmosphere

  3. In Macbeth, introduction to witches (the supernatural) in a storm, who claim that "fair is foul and foul is fair" (the natural order is about to be disrupted)

  4. Foreshadowing often occurs
• Rising action


  1. Tragic hero's tragic flaw is exposed

  2. Inevitable chain of events starts

  3. In Macbeth, Macbeth believing the witches' prophecies and sending the letter to Lady Macbeth
• Climax


  1. Turning point in the play where the tragic hero has come too far to go back

  2. In the language of tragedy, this is called peripeteia

  3. In Macbeth, Macbeth finally deciding to go ahead and kill King Duncan
• Falling action


  1. Tragic hero and avenging hero (Macduff) clash

  2. Tragic hero finally comes to the realisation that he is to be defeated (Macbeth realises that he is not, in fact, invincible)

  3. This moment of realisation is called the anagnorisis
• Denouement


  1. Normality and the natural order is restored

  2. Macbeth is killed and Malcolm becomes king, as rightful heir to Duncan
• Poetic language forms used by Shakespeare in his plays

  • Blank verse
  • Rhymed verse
  • Prose
• Each of the three forms are used throughout Macbeth
• Dramatic purposes of the different poetic language forms

  • To distinguish characters from one another
  • To reveal the psychology of characters
  • To show character development
• Blank verse


  Unrhymed lines of ten syllables, although it does not always exactly fit that pattern
• Blank verse in Shakespeare plays

  Represents human feelings in speeches and soliloquies, and the everyday ordinariness of life
• Blank verse in Macbeth

  • The famous soliloquies before the murder of Duncan from Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
• Rhymed verse


  Sets of rhymed couplets: two successive lines that rhyme with each other at the end of the line
• Shakespeare's use of rhymed verse


  • To reflect ritualistic and supernatural events in his plays
• Rhymed verse in Macbeth

  • The witches speak in rhyming couplets
• The witches speaking in rhyming couplets


  Separates them from the human characters and makes them seem unnatural
• Unusual for a human character, Shakespeare also has Macbeth speak in rhymed couplets
• Shakespeare has Macbeth echo the form of language of the witches

  To link them together in evil, and to suggest Macbeth has been enchanted by their prophecies
• Shakespeare typically finishes each of his scenes with a rhyming couplet


  The words that Macbeth rhymes at the end of Act II, Scene I, ("knell" and "Hell") put the audience immediately in mind of the witches
• After he sees Banquo's ghost in Act III, Scene IV


  Shakespeare has Macbeth speak the final 10 lines of the scene in rhyming couplets, perhaps showing that he has been corrupted by the supernatural
• Prose


  Unrhymed lines with no pattern or rhythm
• Prose


  • Shakespeare used it for serious episodes, letters or when characters appear to be losing their minds (when it would be unrealistic for them to speak poetically)
• Prose in Macbeth


  • Shakespeare uses it when presenting the letter to Lady Macbeth from Macbeth concerning the witches' prophecies
• Prose in Macbeth


  • Shakespeare expresses Lady Macbeth's madness in Act V, Scene I using prose
• Prose used for Lady Macbeth's madness

  She no longer has the ability to speak in the ordinary speech of blank verse
• Prose used for Lady Macbeth's madness

  It is a reflection of her disordered mind
• Prose used for Lady Macbeth's madness


  It may also be Shakespeare suggesting that she has lost touch with reality
• Symbolism


  Shakespeare uses many symbols throughout the play, with the following being used multiple times as motifs
• Sleep


  • Represents peace or calm in the play
  • Macbeth hears a voice saying he has "murdered sleep"
  • Macbeth has ended the possibility of a peaceful life due to guilt
  • Disruption of the Great Chain of Being