Notes on Foil

def. -- a character who provides a striking contrast to another character. By using a foil, a writer can call attention to certain traits possessed by a main character of simply enhance a character by contrast.

Who would be a foil for Macbeth? Give textual examples for each character to support your answer.

Things to Study or Have for Your Macbeth Test on Monday

Soliloquies/asides
Adjectives to describe Lady MB and MB throughout the play
The witches’ prophecies Act I
The effect of Lady MB on Macbeth
Double-entry journals for specific quotes
Macbeth’s hallucination/murder of Duncan
Tragic flaw--- AMBITION
Verbal and Dramatic Irony
Chart on the 2nd of the witches’ prophecies
Foreshadowing
Characteristics of tragic hero/tragedy
Cause/Effect chart

Final Homework Responses Macbeth--- 25 pts. PLEASE ANSWER COMPLETELY!

1. Were you surprised with the outcome of events for Macbeth? Why or why not? Support your answer.
2. Do you think Macbeth's downfall is more a result of his actions or fate? Is he a victim or villain? Support your answer.
3. What do you believe is Macbeth's tragic flaw (character flaw that causes all of his problems)? Support your answer with textual examples.
4. Look at your definition of tragic hero and explain how Macbeth fills the criteria of one. Support your answer.
5. What aspects of Macbeth make it relevant to readers and audiences today? Support your answer.

Themes in Macbeth

Theme--the central idea conveyed by a work of literature (not the subject--what it is generally about). It is more a general perception about life or human nature.

Some themes in Macbeth:
*ambition
*impulses and desires
*fate and our efforts to control it
*appearance vs. reality
*loyalty
*the supernatural
*violation of the natural order
*reason and mental stability
*marriage

Homework #4 Macbeth--10 pts

How would you describe the attitude towards the supernatural in the play?
(Things to think about in your answer)--possible

*Is it taken seriously?
*Think of the tone and the diction of the witches?
*How about the 3 witches compared to Hecate?
*Look at your chart from class: Are they being straightforward? Meaning, does the supernatural help humans or does it confuse and trick them?
*Would audiences today take the witches more or less/as seriously as they did then?

Extra Credit: Look at your notes from day 1 Macbeth--why is it thought that Shakespeare added this element of the supernatural to the play?

Here is today's chart of the witches' predictions, etc.

Hw #3 Macbeth-- 10 pts.

Hw: *Explain any similarities you see between the characters in Macbeth, and the characters in “The Pardoner’s Tale” and/or A Simple Plan. Think about how and if they changed, their conflicts, actions, etc..Please give examples to support your answers.

*What dramatic irony do you remember from either "The Pardoner's Tale" or A Simple Plan and what effect did it have on the audience?

Verbal and Dramatic Irony

Verbal irony--the effect achieved when a speaker says that opposite of what he or she means

Dramatic irony--the effect achieved when the audience has information that a character(s) doesn't have.

While reading ACT III, Scene i, we will stop and assess the following line as both:

Line 27, Act 3: "Fail not our feast"

Verbal irony?:

Dramatic irony?: