WEEK 10

Welcome to final exam week! 

Here's your work:

Throughout the play, we get an honest look at Macbeth's thinking through his soliloquies (longer speeches in which he is talking, essentially, to himself). We can hear what motivates him, what he's afraid of, his rationalizations, strategies, etc. 

In a well-argued and supported essay of 800-1200 words (those are hard limits!), demonstrate Macbeth's decline by using his soliloquies. You may refer to any part of the drama to support your points, but your primary sources (and your only quotes) should be from the soliloquies. Below is a list of 7 soliloquies. While you do need to refer to each, avoid writing an essay with 7 body paragraphs; rather, look for a way of organizing them together to demonstrate the big steps in his downfall. For example, in soliloquies 1 and 2 we can see evidence that he's conflicted about committing murder. That might be your first body paragraph.  I think you can group this into 3 or 4 body paragraphs while still discussing each soliloquy. 

IMPORTANT! These soliloquies aren't really numbered. That was just to help you and me talk about them. In your writing you'll need to refer to them in a way that any other reader outside of this class would understand. "Macbeth's soliloquy from 1:3" or "the dagger soliloquy" would work. 

Here they are (I've included the first words in the soliloquy to help you find it):

Soliloquy 1 = Act 1, scene 3 “Why do I yield to that suggestion...”

Soliloquy 2 = Act 1, scene 7 “He’s here in double trust”

Soliloquy 3 = Act 2, scene 1 “Is this a dagger which I see before me?”

Soliloquy 4 = Act 3, scene 1 “To be thus is nothing but to be safely thus“

Soliloquy 5 = Act 4, scene 1 “From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand”

Soliloquy 6 = Act 5, scene 3 “That which should accompany old age as honour love obedience troops of friends I must not look to have”

Soliloquy 7 = Act 5, scene 5 “Out out brief candle. Life’s but a walking shadow…”

This is a final exam, and this is a FINAL draft, so I'm only going to provide one requirement — 800 - 1200 words. You should know the other requirements by now. 

You do NOT need to worry about using citations with your quotes. By saying "In the dagger soliloquy..." you've cited the source enough. 

DUE MIDNIGHT FRIDAY 12/5. That's NEXT Friday, not this one. 

HAVE A WONDERFUL BREAK!