3. Lady Macbeth

• New lesson editor
• English
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• Lower Secondary (Key Stage 3)
• GCSE

Introduction

An interactive lesson on Lady Macbeth - it uses adjectives and an adjective starter as a hook activity to the main content.

Lady Macbeth

GCSE English Literature

Welcome I hope you find this lesson useful!

In groups, one of you will sit

with your back to the screen.

Your teacher will spin the spinner and display an adjective. DO NOT READ IT ALOUD!

The students who can see the screen must define that adjective without using the word or spelling it out (that's cheating!)

Then it's another group member's turn!

You have a minute to guess!

1

m

00

s

+30 s

 Adjective Articulate!

Starter

I've used this before and it works well. You can run it differently if you like - this is a fun way to introduce different aspects of Lady Macbeth's character.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Discuss Lady Macbeth and her role with confidence.

• Examine key scenes that reveal her personality.

• Express your ideas clearly in writing.

Lesson Aims

Feel free to modify these objectives

Lady Macbeth Character Summary

Each of the adjectives on the spinner can be used to describe Lady Macbeth... here are some with explanation...

Students should see the link between this and the starter activity!

Ambitious and determined: 

Strong desire for power, 

willing to do anything for 

Macbeth to become king.

Lady Macbeth Character Summary

Manipulative and ruthless:

Pushes Macbeth to commit murder, initially lacks moral hesitation.

Lady Macbeth Character Summary

Cold and calculating: 

Begins as the more dominant 

and fearless partner, prioritizing 

power over conscience.

Lady Macbeth Character Summary

Lady Macbeth Character Summary

Guilt-ridden and unstable:

Over time, guilt overwhelms her, leading to mental deterioration.

Tragic figure: 

Her ambition and actions 

ultimately lead to her psychological breakdown and death.

Lady Macbeth Character Summary

• You will be put into groups
   with a focus on a particular
   scene. Focus on the character
   of Lady Macbeth.

• Find suitable adjectives to
   describe her in this scene.

• As they appear on the board,
   they will need to be organised
   into their place in the grid

Group Activity

This sets up the activity

For information and context for each group/

A1 S5

A1 S7

A2 S2

A3 S4

A5 S1

Enter your adjectives for your scene

Each group will need to filter their responses into the word cloud with categories.

Write a PEEL sentence that explains how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in your scene

5

m

00

s

+30 s

Write a PEEL sentence that explains how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in your scene

Individual Activity

This could be either based on the original scene a student looked at in their group or it could be based on the feedback from the last activity about another of the scenes. I leave that to you!

To what extent does Shakespeare have Lady Macbeth conform or defy gender expectations of his time?

To what extent does Shakespeare have

Lady Macbeth conform or defy gender expectations of his time?

Any student can answer this as it is an opinion based question. No fixed answer.

1

Manipulative

2

A tragic figure

3

Dominant

4

Unstable

5

Ambitious

6

Something else

Which do you think is Lady Macbeth's most distinctive character trait?

A poll - the 'something elsers' can be asked what they think!

Which quality did you pick and why?

Which quality did you vote for and why?

Envouraging deeper thinking about the poll response.

Write down something new you learned about Lady Macbeth in this lesson.

Write down something new you learned

about Lady Macbeth in this lesson. 

Have students enter something new they learned in this lesson. With this they can indicate their own learning efficiency of this lesson.

Write down something new you learned about Lady Macbeth in this lesson.

Write down something you

want explained in more detail.

How confident do you feel writing about Lady Macbeth?