Sec+4+-+Macbeth+(By+Mrs+Ng+Mui+Eng)

=Hi all H2 and H3 students, please cover Part 1 and Part II of this module.= = = =Macbeth : The Witches=

Part I : Independent Learning
1) Read the following scenes – Act 1sc I; Act 1 scii; Act 4 sc i – during which the Witches appear. 2)  Those who think that they need help may refer to the Questions to Think About for each respective scene. 3) Work in groups to analyse the issue below and brainstorm, discuss the relevant points pertaining to the question below.


 * Questions to Think About**








 * Discuss The Role of the Witches in Macbeth.**

Consider :
 * Think back over the scenes in which the Sisters appear. What status do they have? By what name do we call them? Are they only known as “the Witches’’? What other nomenclature has been used on them? Is there any significance to that?
 * Does the play derive any advantages from the uncertainty and mystery of the Sisters?
 * Are the sisters merely dangers? Are they also powers? How so?
 * Is Macbeth essentially a good and noble warrior led astray by his wife and the Witches or is he an essentially corrupt and evil man prepared to sacrifice everything to satisfy is own ambition?
 * Are the Witches meant to represent external evil (i.e. Satan’s servants setting out to damn souls) or do they symbolize the evil within all of us?
 * Are the Witches too melodramatic to carry any dramatic effect?

1) Do allow time for group members to read and ‘digest’ text first. 2) Using the discussion forum here, discuss within your group, your response to the question at hand 3) Remember that a meaningful discussion can only happen if each student makes an effort to base points of information on actual textural evidence ( that means close reading of text and quotations have to be cited) 4) Visit other group’s forums to comment on their responses as well as their use of evidence to support their points.



Part III: Assessment
1) Finally, write out your answer individually. 2) Upload the essay into the respective class folders in the workbin. 3) You will be assessed based on your essay as well as your response in the IVLE Forum.

Part IV: Reflections
Post your reflections on this lesson on the forum: Please keep reflections to word limit of 300 words
 * Your views on this mode of learning
 * The quality of the discussions on-line
 * The problems encountered and the solutions employed by you or group.

Additional Reading
1. http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html A site with many links to various aspects of Shakespeare's world 2. http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/facts/facts.htm Interesting and lesser-known facts about Shakespeare 3. [|http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/elizabethan-witchcraft-an- era-of-persecution-237632.html] Background information about how witches and witchcraft were viewed during Elizabethan times. 4. [] About Witches during Shakespearen Times