Essay WritingIt’s really not that bad...

The Essentials

• an English essay is an argument - you decide what you think the answer is then show why you’re right

• you need to quote and reference the text for EVERY POINT YOU MAKE!!! Never say anything unless you can back it up with evidence

• you need to EXPLAIN your quotes and examples. It’s not enough to just slap them in there - why do they prove your argument is correct?

• A good essay has a clear introduction, body paragraphs that explore one key point each and a conclusion

Breaking down a question

1. Identify the Key Words(What do you have to discuss? What is the argument

about?)

2. Connect the Key Words with the Text(Eg. “Themes” - what are the themes of Macbeth?)

3. Decide on your Thesis Statement(What do you think the answer is? What’s your

opinion?)

Let’s have a go...How does Shakespeare use symbolism to

create characterisation in Macbeth?

How does Shakespeare characterise the witches in Macbeth? What is their thematic

significance?

What effect does pathetic fallacy have on thematic concerns and characterisation in

Macbeth?

Discuss the role that blood plays in Macbeth. What does it symbolise for Macbeth and his wife?

Blood is by far the most prevalent symbol in the play Macbeth. It appears early in Act 1 and is referenced repeatedly by

Macbeth and his wife. While, in the opening scenes, blood and murder is condoned as a necessary part of war, Macbeth

and Lady Macbeth’s unchecked personal ambition drives them to spill blood which will haunt them throughout the play. By

late in the play they have both realised that blood, as a stain of guilt, cannot be washed away.

In Act 1, Scene 2, Duncan and Malcolm meet a bleeding soldier who reports on the state of the battle. His bloody condition

is celebrated as a symbol of his loyalty and honour. Duncan sends him away saying, “So well thy words become thee as thy

wounds;

They smack of honour both.” The soldier’s description of Macbeth on the battlefield is equally gory:

For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--

Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,

Which smoked with bloody execution,

Like valour's minion carved out his passage

Till he faced the slave;

Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,

Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chops,

And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

This violent action is lauded as “valiant” and “worthy” by Duncan. Thus bloodshed in the name of war is presented as not

only acceptable, but desirable. Duncan relies on Macbeth’s strength as a solider to defend his kingdom, yet it is that same

strength that leads to his murder. Blood as a symbol for violent death is therefore established: it is only Macbeth’s motive

that changes.

The symbol of blood takes on new meaning once the war is over. This should mean an end to violence, but personal ambition leads

Macbeth and his wife to plot Duncan’s murder. From here on, blood symbolises the guilt of the murderer, a stain that cannot be

removed. The notion that blood, once spilled, will haunt the murderer and bring about their downfall concerns Macbeth:

But in these cases

We still have judgment here; that we but teach

Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return

To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice

Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice

To our own lips.

Lady Macbeth dismisses his fears, suggesting they smear the grooms with his blood to cast guilt on them. Macbeth agrees,

remarking, “Will it not be received, /When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two /Of his own chamber and used their very

daggers, /That they have done't?” Shakespeare thus explicitly connects blood on the body with guilt and murder, in contrast to the

beginning of the play where it represented loyalty and bravery. This connection is further reinforced when Banquo’s murderer

appears at the banquet. Macbeth sees the blood upon his face, a symbol of the deed. The appearance of the murderer at a royal

banquet, covered in blood, is an indiscreet and brazen act, suggesting that the blood of the murdered is seeking to publicly identify

those responsible for his death. After the horror of seeing Banquo’s bloody ghost, Macbeth admits that there is no escape from the

consequences of such evil acts:

It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood:

Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;

Augurs and understood relations have

By magot-pies and choughs and rooks brought forth

The secret'st man of blood.

As Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s actions come back to haunt them, blood is used to symbolise their guilt and inability to avoid the

consequences of their ambition.

Before Macbeth loses all sense of morality and feeling, he is wracked with guilt concerning Duncan’s murder. Despite Lady

Macbeth’s claims that a little water will wash away all evidence of their crime, Macbeth fears it will not:

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood

Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather

The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,

Making the green one red.

This idea is repeated in Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene, as she desperately tries to rub the stain from her hands:

Out, damned spot! out, I say!...

What, will these hands ne'er be clean?...

Here's the smell of the blood still: all the

perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little

hand.

The imagined blood symbolises her guilt at the deed committed, just as the grooms were blamed after she smeared them with

Duncan’s blood. Her prophecy as to how the guilty would be identified therefore comes true, but not in the way she expected.

Throughout the play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the symbol of blood to represent violent death and the inescapable guilt that comes

from murder. His message for the audience is that blood spilled for personal gain is an evil act which will not go unpunished. He tells

us that while men may kill each other in battle without fear of retribution, a man who murders for ambition or desire for power will find

himself forever stained. The blood of his victims will seek out ways to bring about his downfall. The play Macbeth reminds audiences

of their correct loyalties and responsibilities, as well as the price and corrupting nature of power.

“How does Shakespeare use literary devices and dramatic elements to

communicate various themes and ideas in Macbeth?”

Homework:

★ Find the key words★ Link key words to the text★ Think of examples and quotes

Planning and writing an essay

Sources

http://www.paperomatic.com/assignments/https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/01/http://monash.edu/lls/llonline/writing/general/essay/index.xml