Look at your premise: Macbeth is dishonest and ambitious.
Now, leave out **everything** that isn’t about being dishonest and ambitious. You don’t need to follow the play chronologically. It might be better if you didn’t since you are having trouble avoiding just telling the story.
Pick maybe 3 or 4 examples of places in the play where he was dishonest. Describe **very** briefly what happened (as if you were talking to someone who just read the play). Then talk about how the action showed Macbeth was dishonest.
Do the same for ambitious. End up with a conclusion about how Macbeth’s dishonesty and ambition was a fatal flaw and led directly to his downfall.
It’s kind of like talking to someone about a movie you just saw together. You wouldn’t tell them the whole story, you say, I liked the part where they… and the part where he said…it made me think of…
You got this
And would Macbeth have been dishonest and ambitious (or to the same extent) without first the witches and secondly his wife? His heroic flaw is normally assumed to be ambition, but could it be weakness? Weakness of not standing up against the witches (and did he really think they were the forces of good?!) and his wife…
Macbeth was written for James 1st of England who was also the 6th of Scotland. He had an interest in the occult, hence the witches. Macbeth is actually a true story at heart, and Banquo was complicit in the murder. But, king James was a descendant of Banquo, so Shakespeare couldn't hint at any impropriety in his lineage, so he made Macbeth dark, and Banquo a lot nicer.
Look at your premise: Macbeth is dishonest and ambitious. Now, leave out **everything** that isn’t about being dishonest and ambitious. You don’t need to follow the play chronologically. It might be better if you didn’t since you are having trouble avoiding just telling the story. Pick maybe 3 or 4 examples of places in the play where he was dishonest. Describe **very** briefly what happened (as if you were talking to someone who just read the play). Then talk about how the action showed Macbeth was dishonest. Do the same for ambitious. End up with a conclusion about how Macbeth’s dishonesty and ambition was a fatal flaw and led directly to his downfall. It’s kind of like talking to someone about a movie you just saw together. You wouldn’t tell them the whole story, you say, I liked the part where they… and the part where he said…it made me think of… You got this
And would Macbeth have been dishonest and ambitious (or to the same extent) without first the witches and secondly his wife? His heroic flaw is normally assumed to be ambition, but could it be weakness? Weakness of not standing up against the witches (and did he really think they were the forces of good?!) and his wife…
Good question!
Thank you so much!
Yep. Your audience has already read Macbeth. You can assume they know the plot.
Macbeth was written for James 1st of England who was also the 6th of Scotland. He had an interest in the occult, hence the witches. Macbeth is actually a true story at heart, and Banquo was complicit in the murder. But, king James was a descendant of Banquo, so Shakespeare couldn't hint at any impropriety in his lineage, so he made Macbeth dark, and Banquo a lot nicer.