The form of a text is the type of text you are reading or watching. The form of Macbeth is a dramatic play. More specifically, it is a tragedy.
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Explain Aristotle's key features of a Tragedy
Tragic plays would involve a protagonist (the leading central figure) who is usually of royal or noble birth. In the course of the play, the protagonist reveals a fatal flaw (character defect) which causes them to go from success to failure.
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What is Macbeth's fatal flaw?
His fatal flaw is his ambition and this drives the action forward. Macbeth is a good man who goes wrong. He is driven by a need for power which eventually sets him on a path to his own destruction. His wife shares this fatal flaw with him.
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Who is Macbeth's antagonist?
Eventually he goes too far when he slaughters Macduff's family. This causes Macduff to take up a position as the play's antagonist – Macbeth's opposite. Eventually Macduff kills Macbeth in face-to-face combat.
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Explain the use of structure in Macbeth
In the case of Macbeth, the structure is strictly chronological. This is where events are revealed to the audience/reader in the order in which they have happened. Sometimes events are described rather than shown (eg Macbeth becoming king). Others ha
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Why does the play have 5 Acts?
The events of this play are organised into five acts, each containing a number of scenes. However, it is important to note that Shakespeare himself almost certainly did not organise the play in this way and that this structure would have been added l
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Who designed the 5 Act structure for tragic dramatic structure?
The idea of the five-act structure is a useful one, though, as it follows the model designed by Gustav Freytag, a German author from the 19th-century. Having carefully studied classical drama, he suggested there were five stages in a tragic dramatic.
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Describe or draw the 5 stages of tragic dramatic structure
exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and catastrophe.
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Describe Exposition
Introduces the characters, setting, events and key ideas. Act 1: Main characters are introduced; the Witches make their predictions; thoughts of murder start to form.
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Explain Rising action
A series of related events occur leading up to the key moment in the plot. Act 2: Macbeth keeps changing his mind; Lady Macbeth takes control; King Duncan’s murder (key moment).
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What is the Climax?
Marks the turning point of the play. Up to this point things have gone well for the main character – now things will go rapidly downhill. Act 3: Macbeth becomes King; Banquo is murdered and Fleance escapes; Macduff joins Malcolm in England.
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Explain Falling action
The main conflict between the protagonist (the central character – Macbeth) and the antagonist (his opposite – Macduff) is established. Act 4: Macbeth returns to the Witches; Macduff’s family is slaughtered; Malcolm and Macduff plan their invasion.
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Describe Catastrophe
The protagonist is defeated by the antagonist and events return to a state of normality. Act 5: The invasion is carried out and Malcolm becomes King; the Witches' predictions come true in unexpected ways; both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth die.
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State 3 types of poetic structure in Macbeth
lines with a five-beat rhythm; lines with a four-beat rhythm; lines written in prose.
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Lines with a five-beat rhythm
often called blank verse or iambic pentameter. Each line has five beats with an unstressed (x) syllable followed by a stressed (/) syllable: eg x / x / x / x / x / So fair - and foul - a day - I have - not seen
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Lines with a four-beat rhythm
To separate the Witches from other characters, they often speak with a different rhythmic pattern which only has four beats with (this time) a stressed (/) syllable followed by an unstressed (x) syllable: eg / x / x / x / Fair - is foul - and foul
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Prose
Reserved for the more common characters (such as the Porter) or to indicate an extreme emotional state. When Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and she is starting to lose her mind, Here’s the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not..
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Card 2
Front
Explain Aristotle's key features of a Tragedy
Back
Tragic plays would involve a protagonist (the leading central figure) who is usually of royal or noble birth. In the course of the play, the protagonist reveals a fatal flaw (character defect) which causes them to go from success to failure.
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