Mr Marsden - AQA English Literature GCSE - Macbeth How to get a Grade 5

English Literature Paper 1

English Literature Paper 1Shakespeare and 19th Century Novel

What do I have to do in this exam?1 h 45 mins; 40% of new English Literature GCSE

1) Macbeth

Read and annotate an extract from Macbeth (15 minutes)Write about the extract and link to the whole play (35 minutes)

2) A Christmas Carol

Read and annotate an extract from Christmas Carol (15 minutes)Write about an extract and then the whole novella (35 minutes)

How do I get a grade 5 in this exam?


Writer and his big idea


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EvidenceAudience



Writer and his big ideaEvidenceAudienceLink


Writer and his big ideaEvidenceAudienceLinkTime

Your 45 minute plan15 minutes reading and annotating

35 minutes writing

Expand the questionStarting with this extract, explain how you think Shakespeare presents deception.

Write about:

how Shakespeare presents deception in this extract how Shakespeare presents deceit in the play as a whole. [30 marks] AO4 [4 marks]


Write about:


Lying to somebody


Write about:


Lying to somebodyLying to yourself


Write about:


Lying to somebodyLying to yourselfPretending to be something youre not


Write about:


Lying to somebodyLying to yourselfPretending to be something youre notEvil / wrong


Write about:


Lying to somebodyLying to yourselfPretending to be something youre notEvil / wrongMakes you feel guilty

2) Check what is happening in the scene: read the blurbMacbeth Read the following extract from Act 3 Scene 2 of Macbeth and then answer the question that follows. At this point in the play Macbeth has arranged the killing of Banquo and is reflecting on the killing of Duncan.

Macbeth Read the following extract from Act 3 Scene 2 of Macbeth and then answer the question that follows. At this point in the play Macbeth has arranged the killing of Banquo, and is reflecting on the killing of Duncan.Must be before Banquos ghost appears2) Check what is happening in the scene: read the blurb

Macbeth Read the following extract from Act 3 Scene 2 of Macbeth and then answer the question that follows. At this point in the play Macbeth has arranged the killing of Banquo, and is reflecting on the killing of Duncan.Must be before Banquos ghost appearsMust be after he kills Duncan2) Check what is happening in the scene: read the blurb

MACBETHWe have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it:She'll close and be herself, whilst our poor maliceRemains in danger of her former tooth.But let the frame of things disjoint, both theworlds suffer,Ere we will eat our meal in fear and sleepIn the affliction of these terrible dreamsThat shake us nightly: better be with the dead,Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,Than on the torture of the mind to lieIn restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave;After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,Can touch him further.LADY MACBETHCome on;Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks;Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night.MACBETHSo shall I, love; and so, I pray, be you:Let your remembrance apply to Banquo;Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue:Unsafe the while, that weMust lave our honours in these flattering streams,And make our faces vizards to our hearts,Disguising what they are.LADY MACBETHYou must leave this.

MACBETHWe have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it:She'll close and be herself, whilst our poor maliceRemains in danger of her former tooth.But let the frame of things disjoint, both theworlds suffer,Ere we will eat our meal in fear and sleepIn the affliction of these terrible dreamsThat shake us nightly: better be with the dead,Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,Than on the torture of the mind to lieIn restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave;After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,Can touch him further.LADY MACBETHCome on;Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks;Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night.MACBETHSo shall I, love; and so, I pray, be you:Let your remembrance apply to Banquo;Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue:Unsafe the while, that weMust lave our honours in these flattering streams,And make our faces vizards to our hearts,Disguising what they are.LADY MACBETHYou must leave this.

10 Shakespearian techniquesRepetition to emphasize ideas or build a particular atmospherePowerful adjectives (called epithets before a name e.g. brave Macbeth)Metaphors and similes saying something is, or is like, something elseSymbols objects that represent bigger ideas (e.g. blood = guilt)Personification ideas or objects behaving like characters (e.g. vaulting ambition)Gothic imagery Night-time, screaming, ghosts, daggers, bloodQuestions (?) To show a character is unsure about somethingImperatives (commands) When someone tells someone else what to doExclamations (!) To show a characters emotional stateSoliloquys Where a character speaks alone on stage

Symbol = snakeRepetition = sleep and peaceImperatives = commandsMACBETHWe have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it:She'll close and be herself, whilst our poor maliceRemains in danger of her former tooth.But let the frame of things disjoint, both theworlds suffer,Ere we will eat our meal in fear and sleepIn the affliction of these terrible dreamsThat shake us nightly: better be with the dead,Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,Than on the torture of the mind to lieIn restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave;After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,Can touch him further.LADY MACBETHCome on;Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks;Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night.MACBETHSo shall I, love; and so, I pray, be you:Let your remembrance apply to Banquo;Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue:Unsafe the while, that weMust lave our honours in these flattering streams,And make our faces vizards to our hearts,Disguising what they are.LADY MACBETHYou must leave this.

Symbol = snakeRepetition = sleep and peaceImperatives = commandsMACBETHWe have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it:She'll close and be herself, whilst our poor maliceRemains in danger of her former tooth.But let the frame of things disjoint, both theworlds suffer,Ere we will eat our meal in fear and sleepIn the affliction of these terrible dreamsThat shake us nightly: better be with the dead,Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,Than on the torture of the mind to lieIn restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave;After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,Can touch him further.LADY MACBETHCome on;Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks;Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night.MACBETHSo shall I, love; and so, I pray, be you:Let your remembrance apply to Banquo;Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue:Unsafe the while, that weMust lave our honours in these flattering streams,And make our faces vizards to our hearts,Disguising what they are.LADY MACBETHYou must leave this.1








Evidence



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Writer and his big ideaEvidenceAudienceLink


Writer and his big ideaEvidenceAudienceLinkTime

At the start of this scene, Shakespeare presents deception by showing how much Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are suffering. Macbeth talks about how they must eat our meal in fear as if even the basic things like eating and sleeping have been affected by what they have done: killing Duncan and then lying to cover it up. He also speaks about how they both suffer from terrible dreams which are a torture to the mind. The image of torture is very powerful and shows how much mental pain Macbeth is in because of what hes done. Shakespeare uses repetition of peace and sleep twice in this scene, to show that these are going round and round in Macbeths head and hes becoming obsessed by sleep. The audience can really see how he is paying for his deception; hes starting to lose his mind. This links to later in the play when Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking in Act 5 and shes having visions of the blood on her hands. Perhaps Shakespeare is showing us the terrible mental consequences of deception.


Later on, Shakespeare shows how Lady Macbeth is perhaps better at deception than her husband. She tells him to sleek oer your rugged looks and be bright and jovial. Macbeth might look rugged because he is a soldier. We know that in Act 1 he defeated the merciless Macdonwald and that he was a hero in battle. Now he has to pretend to be a host to the banquet, and make it seem like hes done nothing wrong. Shakespeare uses imperatives like come on, gentle my Lord to show that Lady Macbeth believes she can make him lie and seem gentle when in fact he is a murderer. However, the audience at the time would probably want him to be discovered and punished. The killing of a king was a terrible sin, as they believed that kings were appointed by God to rule on earth, which was knows as the Divine Right of Kings. Lying about the killing of a king would be something theyd expect to have terrible consequences.


Shakespeare also uses the symbol of the snake to show that what Macbeth does is a sin. The snake is associated with the serpent in the garden of Eden, which tricked Adam and Eve. Shakespeare uses the image of the snake earlier in the play when Lady Macbeth told Macbeth to look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it. This is a shocking image of evil in a time when the audience was likely to be much more religious than an audience might be today. Here Shakespeare is clearly showing that deception is extremely evil, and maybe that is why he punishes Macbeth at the end of the play, when Macduff chops off his head and puts Duncans son back on the throne.

In conclusion, Shakespeare is showing all the suffering that can be caused by deception, and that people who are deceptive are not rewarded in the end.

How did we get our grade 5?Expanded the questionRead the blurb Spent 15 minutes annotating the extractWords related to the questionInteresting words and techniquesWrote 3 paragraphsWriters big ideaQuotations and detailsAudience think and feelLinksTime it was written

English Literature Paper 1Shakespeare and 19th Century Novel

Education

Mr Marsden - AQA English Literature GCSE - Macbeth How to get a Grade 5