THE QUESTION

MARKING CRITERIA: LEVELS

1-5
GOING FROM LEVEL 2 TO
LEVEL 3
FROM LEVEL 3 TO LEVEL 4
 SUCCESS CRITERIA
FOR EXTRACT QUESTIONS
Your answer:
focuses on the question

shows detailed knowledge considers the impact on the audience

uses relevant subject terminology

analyses language, structure
and form
 THE OPPOSITE

A less successful answer:

shows some knowledge but not enough
shows knowledge but doesnt answer the question
labours the points instead of getting on with it
doesnt support points with quotes
doesnt analyse key features of language, structure and
form
talks about context when this isnt needed for the question
 LETS LOOK AT LANGUAGE
MORE CLOSELY

Which words and phrases

really show that Lady
Macbeth is in control in this
extract?
 SHAKESPEARE UNLOCKED
http://bbc.in/HNxHdp

Relevant section 2.10 4.25 minutes

 THE START OF THE EXTRACT
MACBETH
Ill go no more:
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look ont again I dare not.

LADY MACBETH
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers! The sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures: tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
Ill gild the faces of the grooms withal,
For it must seem their guilt.
Exit.
A knocking is heard.
 THE START OF THE EXTRACT
MACBETH
Ill go no more:
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look ont again I dare not.

LADY MACBETH
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers! The sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures: tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
Ill gild the faces of the grooms withal,
For it must seem their guilt.
Exit.
A knocking is heard.
 THE MIDDLE OF THE EXTRACT
MACBETH
Whence is that knocking?
How ist with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes!
Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one read.

Re-enter LADY MACBETH

LADY MACBETH
My hands are of your colour but I shame
To wear a heart so white! (Knocking heard again)
 THE MIDDLE OF THE EXTRACT
MACBETH
Whence is that knocking?
How ist with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes!
Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one read.

Re-enter LADY MACBETH

LADY MACBETH
My hands are of your colour but I shame
To wear a heart so white! (Knocking heard again)
LADY MACBETH THE ENDING OF THE EXTRACT
My hands are of your colour but I shame
To wear a heart so white! (Knocking heard again)
I hear a knocking
At the south entry. Retire we to our chamber.
A little water clears us of this deed:
How easy is it then! Your constancy
Hath left you unattended. (Knocking again) Hark!
more knocking.

Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us,

And show us to be watchers. Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.
LADY MACBETH THE ENDING OF THE EXTRACT
My hands are of your colour but I shame
To wear a heart so white! (Knocking heard again)
I hear a knocking
At the south entry. Retire we to our chamber.
A little water clears us of this deed:
How easy is it then! Your constancy
Hath left you unattended. (Knocking again) Hark!
more knocking.

Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us,

And show us to be watchers. Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.
 MARKING NOTES
Responses may include:

her attitude, e.g. dismissive, fearless, commanding, lack of remorse

Lady Macbeth tries to shame Macbeth, so she uses this to control him.

use of imperatives to reveal her authority, e.g. Give me the daggers!


reference to a painted devil
reinforces her evil nature
reference to how Shakespeare
reveals character through the
use of images/colour: e.g.
Lady Macbeth uses white to
describe Macbeths lack of
courage
MARKING NOTES
not really in control as
nave about the
consequences, e.g.
little water clears / us
of this deed: how easy
is it then!
 STUDENT RESPONSES

Straight away Shakespeare shows Lady

Macbeths control as she mocks her husband
telling him that he is Infirm of purpose! after he
says he will not return to the scene of the murder.
Because of what she sees as his cowardice, Lady
Macbeth takes charge of the situation saying, Ill
gild the faces of the grooms.
The idea of Lady Macbeth being in control is
reinforced by the contrast with Macbeth.
During his speech when Lady Macbeth is off
stage, Shakespeare presents Macbeths utter
lack of control. In the rhetorical question Will
all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood /
Clean from my hand? Shakespeare uses
hyperbole to show how overwhelming
Macbeths sense of guilt is. By contrast,
Lady Macbeth says A little water clears us of
this deed.
Here Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as if she is
trying to reason with her husband just as a mother might
with her child. Towards the end of the extract she uses
imperatives as she tells him to Get on your nightgown
and Be not lost / So poorly in your thoughts. She is
portrayed as the one in control as she thinks practically
about how to cover their tracks after the murder of
Duncan.

This is similar to her use of language earlier in the extract

when she says Give me the daggers! in a tone of
frustration, even anger, that he had not left them at the
scene of the murder. Lady Macbeth gives clear
instructions rather than displaying emotions, showing that
she is the one in control with a calm, collected mind.
 FORM

What would make this scene so dramatic on the stage in front of an

audience?

What would the audience see?

What would they hear?

 FORM SOME POINTS
The visual impact of the dagger when Macbeth enters

The blood on his hands when he enters

The blood on Lady Macbeths hands when she re-enters

The effect of the repeated knocking on the characters

... and how they react in different ways

 FORM OR STRUCTURE OR
BOTH?
Shakespeare emphasises the importance of the blood
and how for Macbeth this represents his all-consuming
guilt. When Lady Macbeth re-enters the scene, she
draws attention to the blood on her hands as she tries
to reassure Macbeth: My hands are of your colour.
But, unlike Macbeth, she is presented as being in
control of both the situation and her own feelings. She
continues her speech by showing scorn for her
husband: but I shame / To wear a heart so white.
 FORM STRUCTURE OR
BOTH?
The knocking heard off stage leads Lady Macbeth to
think of practical considerations about what they
should do to prevent their guilt being discovered,
showing her sense of control in trying to manage a
tricky situation. This contrasts strongly with
Macbeth who is presented as being completely
helpless, with his sense of guilt intensified. She is in
control because she is thinking of the possible
consequences; he is not.
 IAN MCKELLEN & JUDI DENCH
https://youtu.be/yUOoDUUlA34

1.00 5.32 minutes