WHAT WE DID IN CLASS TODAY:
We reread (dramatically, of course) Macbeth Act 1, Scene 4 and discussed Macbeth and Duncan's relationship. Then we reviewed connotation and denotation in preparation discussion of the word "blood" in Act I. Finally, we discussed the following assignment:
“Blood Will Have Blood”
Tracing a Word from the Play
Among the most important, frequently appearing words in Macbeth are blood (41 times), hand (33 times), night (35 times), and sleep (32 times). You will adopt one of these words and record its use in an assigned act. Concentrating on how the denotations and connotations of the words are related to the people who say them, students will come to conclusions about characters and ideas in Macbeth based on key words and their contexts. In addition to simply finding these words, analyze the text by identifying figurative language (similes, metaphors, antitheses, equivocation, etc.), uses of dialogue, lists, or storytelling.
For this language study of Macbeth you will keep a “word journal” in which you identify how the meaning of a specific word is shaped by the situation in which it is used and the character who uses it. Starting at the beginning of the act you were assigned, find the word every time it appears. Each time you find the word, make an entry in your journal. Use the following guidelines for each entry:
1. • Write out the passage that contains your word and give act, scene, and line numbers – for example, 2.3.3-5. • Record enough of the passage to make its meaning clear; avoid cutting it off in mid-thought. • Identify the speaker.
2. • Clarify the meaning of the passage by putting it into your own words. This is called paraphrasing. • Then briefly explain what is happening in the play at the time the words in this passage are spoken.
3. • Draw conclusions about how the word is used. For example, compare the passage to one you recorded earlier by explaining how the meaning of your word is affected by the character who uses it and the situation in which it is used.
4. • At the end of your act, use the journal to draw more conclusions:
a. Which character uses the word most often?
b. How does the denotation and connotation of the word change from
character to character?
c. Does the word’s meaning change as different characters use it?
d. What is happening in the play at the time the word is spoken? Is there
any connection between these events and others that precede them?
e. What emotions does the speaker feel as he/she uses the word? Why does
he/she feel as he/she does?
f. Is there an unusual use of the word?
g. How does this word affect the act you studied?
How you will be graded:
I will be looking at the following components when I grade your word journal:
• Did the student follow directions?
• Did the student focus on a single word and its messages?
• Did the student see how the messages accrue as different speakers use the word?
• Did the student see how the messages varied with the changing context?
• Was the student able to relate the word to character and situation?
Sample Word Journal: This is what an entry might look like for the word blood in Act I.
This is what an entry might look like for the word blood in Act 1.
1. a. Quotation
Duncan: What bloody man is that? He can report, / As seemeth by
and his plight, of the revolt / The newest state (1.2.1-3).
b. Paraphrase
Who is that bloody man? It looks like he has been fighting against
the revolt and can give us the latest news of the battle.
c. Clarification
King Duncan is on or near the battlefield and wants to know how the fight is going.
2. a. Quotation
Captain: For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name),
And Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, / Which smoked with
bloody execution, / Like valor's minion, carved out his passage / Till he faced the slave . . . (1.2.18-22).
b. Paraphrase
In spite of our troops' bad luck, brave Macbeth carved his way with his executioner's sword through the ranks of rebel soldiers until he clarification faced the traitor who led the revolt..
c. Clarification
The captain reports to King Duncan that Macbeth fought fiercely to spill the blood of the traitors who rebelled against Duncan and Scotland.
3. a. Quotation
Lady M.: Make thick my blood. / Stop up th' access and passage/To remorse… (1.5.50-51).
b. Paraphrase
Make my blood thick so I can be cold-hearted and feel no sorrow or guilt about and planning this murder.
c. Clarification
Lady Macbeth wants to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan. In order to do so, she hopes to become more mannish and heartless.
General Conclusions for Act 1:
In Act 1 it is a good thing to be bloody, especially for men to be bloody—the king trusts the bloody soldier, and people admire Macbeth because he has a bloody sword and has killed lots of soldiers. Lady Macbeth thinks it might be good for her and her husband to be bloody—she wants to slow down her blood and be like a man and make Duncan's blood flow.
Even before we meet him, Macbeth is bloody—he comes onstage with a bloody sword.
In the first passage, the loyal Scottish captain is bloody because of the rebels' uprising. Because of his bravery, fierceness, and loyalty, Macbeth makes the rebels bloody.
Early in the play, soldiers get bloody as they try to overthrow Scotland. Then Scottish soldiers get bloody overthrowing the rebels. Lady Macbeth wants to overthrow King Duncan, so she is going to have to get bloody too. But before she can make Duncan's blood flow, she is going to have to change her blood— slow it down, make it cold. She talks as if she can change her personality by changing her blood. This bold assertion contradicts typical female roles, showing the thirst Lady Macbeth contains for power (through blood).
Blood—taking blood, needing blood—seems to be a life-line for the characters. This alludes to religious concepts of the “blood of life”.
