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This is a video that I use as an opener when we are doing pre-reading activities for our Macbeth unit. This video catches my students attention. It explains without giving away the plot how Macbeth is applicable to real world skills and experiences. It also explains how Shakespeare plots and language has inspired many popular, relatable productions that students are familiar with. This engages students and provides buy-in for the text before reading it.

Pelsue, B. (n.d.). Why Should You Read Macbeth. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD5goS69LT4

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Why should you read "Macbeth"? - Brendan Pelsue

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This video I could use after we finish Act One of Macbeth. I have used Crash course for many units. For my students that struggle with comprehension, this video could be helpful to have a visual aid. I could use it in class or post it on classroom as an outside resource for them to use. Then, I could pose a discussion question for students to respond to such as "how did your understanding of Macbeth Acts One and Two change from having just read the text vs watching this animated video?" This would allow students to think critically about how their knowledge, opinions, and understanding has changed.

Green, J. (n.d.). Free Will, Witches, Murder, and Macbeth, Part 1: Crash Course Literature 409. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPYOs0EGgJk&t=101s

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Free Will, Witches, Murder, and Macbeth, Part 1: Crash Course Literature 409

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How To Get My Students Excited for Reading Macbeth

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How To Get My Students Excited for Reading Macbeth

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I want to use many of the ideas in this article when I teach Macbeth this year to make it even more engaging of a text. One idea that I plan to use is by viewing and then comparing and contrasting the text to three different film adaptations act by act. So, students would read the text through close reading, then view the 1970s version, 200s version, and most recent film adapation of the text. Then, they complete graphic organizers that compare and contrast the plot details between each film and the text. This also provides visual and auditory aid for visual and auditory learners.

Moore, K. (2023, June 21). How to get students excited about Macbeth / moore english. Moore English. https://moore-english.com/get-excited-for-teaching-macbeth/

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was the first Shakespeare play I ever taught, and it helped me appreciate how much fun your students can have while acting out a drama in the classroom! Here are some of my favorite activities and lessons to use with William Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Getting Started with Macbeth

As with any unit, getting students excited is essential! Sometimes students have previous experiences with Shakespeare or expectations about how boring Shakespeare can be. For this reason, I always try to engage my students with enthusiasm. Here are some of my favorite ways to engage students in Macbeth:

Firstly, we begin by making a cast "family tree." This helps students begin to see the connections between characters. As we build our cast anchor chart, I give students a little preview of how the character acts and behaves. Plus, this generates excitement!

Secondly, I bring in the witches. The Weird Sisters are some of the most memorable characters in Macbeth, so they are a great opportunity for engaging students. We begin by close reading the first scene and then watching several film adaptations. Students can analyze how different directors' choices affect the mood, and they can begin making predictions about the play. Here are some excellent versions of the play:

(2015) directed by Justin Kurzel and starring Michael Fassbender.

(2011) directed by Rupert Goold and starring Patrick Stewart.

The Royal Shakespeare Company does (2018) directed by Polly Findlay and Robin Lough.

(1979) directed by Philip Casson and starring Ian McKellan and Judi Dench.

Thirdly, I use this free anticipation guide. This activity helps students begin making connections to the text, activate prior knowledge, and engage in conversation. Depending on the group of students I have, this resource can be part of station rotation or part of a classroom discussion.

While Reading Macbeth

During our reading and acting of Macbeth, I use this modified and abridged version of the text. While Macbeth is a short play, I often find myself wanting to abbreviate or eliminate some scenes and adjust some vocabulary (the Porter, anyone?). For this reason, I designed this modified and abridged resource with the text on one side and guided reading questions on the other.

Throughout our reading, I encourage students to make connections with the text through the use of journals. By writing about the play, students have an opportunity to see how the text remains relevant. This also allows me to check for understanding, preview themes, and keep students writing regularly even in a reading-heavy unit.

Task cards are another great way to check for understanding throughout the play. While journals are usually bell ringers during this unit, task cards can be exit tickets or parts of station rotations. I choose the task cards based on the skills my students most need to work on. Here are some of my favorite task card sets:

Additionally, it's important for students to discuss the text throughout our reading. During discussion, students can evaluate Macbeth's character development, Lady Macbeth's influence, and the dangers of ambition and revenge. Similarly, discussions can also re-visit the ideas featured in the anticipation guide, giving us time to re-evaluate how or if our opinions have changed. Depending on my group of students or the time of the year, silent discussions can be a good way to go!

My favorite!

Finally, my favorite part of reading Macbeth is the banquet. I start talking about the banquet in the first act. As we get closer to the banquet scene, my students plan their own banquet. We push our desks into a long banquet table, in non-pandemic years everyone brings in food, and we feast while Banquo haunts Macbeth! It's a fun way to emphasize the climax of the play! (Plus, my students love food days!)

Macbeth Essential Questions

During our reading, students and I stay focused on essential questions. While we're reading, these essential questions can become journal prompts, questions for discussion, or the basis for a larger writing or project.

1. Firstly, is ambition dangerous?

2. Secondly, is fear a good motivator?

3. Is weakness an innate part of humanity?

4. What does it mean to be a strong leader?

5. Are leaders born or made? How do you know?

6. Does free will exist, or does each person have a destiny?

7. Finally, what are the elements of a successful relationship?

Synthesizing Macbeth

Throughout our reading of Macbeth, we emphasize synthesizing. Students can synthesize the intersection of Macbeth with its historical contexts. Did Shakespeare include witches because King James I was interested in witchcraft? Was he honoring the king by including his potential ancestor Banquo?

In addition, I often encourage students to synthesize across media. To do so, we might return to film versions of the play. However, I often prefer to use artwork for this pursuit. To make this activity successful, I have put together 23 images of different scenes from the play, including multiple portrayals of the Weird Sisters and of Lady Macbeth. As with the film clips of the opening scene, analyzing different pieces of art provides students with a chance to evaluate how artists use shade, lighting, and composition to create mood.

Similarly, as we near the end of the text, I also incorporate paired passages. This allows students to synthesize across texts, evaluating how different authors comment on similar subjects. Here are some paired passages that work with Macbeth:

Extending and Assessing

One of the great things about teaching Macbeth is the opportunity to continue the learning beyond the play. While I don't give a traditional test about the play, I do usually show the Crash Course episode about Macbeth as a review at the end of the play and as a lead-in to summative discussion.

Finally, Macbeth lends itself so well to applying literary criticism! In particular, Lady Macbeth makes a great opportunity for feminist criticism. Similarly, Macbeth suits archetypal criticism well because he is such a clear tragic hero. The imbalances in the play and the violence also make it a candidate for psychoanalytical criticism.

What other strategies do you use to get students excited for reading Macbeth?

Photo by Bogdan Kupriets, Valentin Salja, and Yevhen Ptashnyk on Unsplash

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How to Get Students Excited About Macbeth / Moore English

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Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a great piece for British literature or AP lit, so it's important to get students excited!

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These slides involve discussion and pre-reading questions that relate to Macbeth's themes and motifs. I could review these concepts and go through these slides to peek students' interest. They also provide images to analyze and information on historical context that students need to fully understand the text and accomplish their learning targets. The discussion questions are related to real world applicable questions as well.

McDonald, A. (n.d.). Macbeth pre-reading. http://amacdonaldlh.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/5/2/26527518/macbeth_pre-reading.pdf

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These activities included in this sample would be useful for covering standards that deal with plot diagrams, making inferences, and connecting author's purpose. With any online resource that you use, it is helpful to connect it back to your students and change how you use it for what best meets their needs.

Prestwickhouse. (n.d.). https://www.prestwickhouse.com/samples/200161.pdf

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This resource provides act by act comprehension questions, discussion questions, and mini quizzes on Macbeth that I could use to aid in close reading and comprehension skills. This unit plan resource includes links to other available sources free to use. These resources also provide the standards being covered.

Collins, M. B. (n.d.). Macbeth a unit plan. https://mseffie.com/assignments/macbeth/Teacher%20Materials/Macbeth%20Lit%20Plan.pdf

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This website has multiple links set up in "levels" of understanding. These links include images to help students visualize the play, background information on settings, the author, and how the play would be performed, and it includes video clips of actors. This could be a helpful resource that I allow my students to explore through a "Webquest." Students can view the Shakespeare globe theater as well, and this allows them to have some real world interaction, even if they aren't physically traveling.

Animated summary. myShakespeare. (2025, March 10). https://myshakespeare.com/macbeth/animated-summary

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This blog post shares an opinion from an author on what students can learn from reading Macbeth in class. This could be helpful for when students ask "how am I ever going to use this?" This reviews the themes in Macbeth and how they can be applied to the real world. It also reviews the skills necessary to read and understand all of the figurative language in Macbeth, which is then related back to the real world applicable skill.

What can young people today learn from Shakespeare’s Macbeth? Queen Anne’s Caversham School. (n.d.). https://www.qas.org.uk/news/2020-06-02/what-can-young-people-today-learn-from-shakespeare-s-macbeth-

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These paintings each have an explanation along with them. I'd like to pull some up in class and have students analyze and discuss them as we read through the play. For example, for the main image above, I could ask students what appears to be happening in the image to Macbeth. This could be used as a prediction-making example as well, where students make predictions on what they think will happen in the text based on an image.

Hoakley. (2022, June 20). Paintings of William Shakespeare’s plays 2: Macbeth. The Eclectic Light Company. https://eclecticlight.co/2022/06/27/paintings-of-william-shakespeares-plays-2-macbeth/

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Shakespeare's deepest insights into the human condition come in his tragedies, and there is none deeper than his Macbeth. He is thought to have completed this in time for its first performance in 1606, after King Lear, but before Antony and Cleopatra. As with Romeo and Juliet, it has been adapted and revisited in many different media, and has one scene that has proved highly popular in paintings, particularly during the nineteenth century.

Macbeth has fascinating historical references and relevance. Shakespeare based the play on an account of Scottish history, but deviated greatly from that description. There are contemporary references too, for example to Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot of 1605, which suggest that Shakespeare may have been appealing to the tastes of the patron of his theatrical company, King James.

The play opens with its three witches agreeing to meet with Macbeth after the day's fighting in the war between Scotland's King Duncan against the rebel Macdonald. During that, Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis and one of the king's generals, distinguishes himself by killing the rebel leader, following which he defeats the Norwegians who have been supporting the rebellion. As a result, the traitorous Thane of Cawdor is sentenced to death.

The third scene of this first act is its most famous, and most painted, in which the three witches hail Macbeth and his friend Banquo after the battle. They first name Macbeth by his present title as Thane of Glamis, then as Thane of Cawdor, and finally as the future king of Scotland. The first part of their prophecy is quickly fulfilled when Macbeth is awarded the title of Thane of Cawdor, which leads him to imagine the murder of Duncan.

In John Martin's account of this meeting, three witches materialise from a swirl of mist and lightning bolts on the left, and Macbeth and Banquo appear surprised at their sudden arrival. Winding around the shores of the distant lake is the huge army, and Martin has turned the Scottish Highlands into rugged Alpine scenery of the Burkean sublime, an indication of the much greater outcome of the meeting.

Théodore Chassériau's Macbeth and Banquo Meeting the Witches on the Heath (1855) is a more conventional treatment, painted in the style of Delacroix.

King Duncan declares his older son Malcolm his heir and successor, and invites himself to Macbeth's castle in Inverness. As Macbeth hurries off to prepare for the royal visit, he realises that he now has the task of disposing of both Duncan and Malcolm if he is to take the throne himself. While the king is dining in Macbeth's castle, Macbeth mulls over the murderous task ahead, changes his mind, then is persuaded by Lady Macbeth to press on with this plot to kill the king.

William Blake's Pity from about 1795 is a print associated by Frederick Tatham with the following lines from the opening of Act 1 Scene 7:
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. ...

It's now generally agreed that Blake's intention was to depict Shakespeare's two similes for pity using imagery which matched his words literally, thus to evoke the concept of pity in exactly the same terms as in Macbeth's speech.

Having made the monoprint, most probably using watercolour paints on millboard, Blake finished each by hand, using pen and ink, and watercolour paints. The upper half consists of the long image of a pair of superimposed white horses, galloping through the air with their eyelids closed, on which there are two riders. The nearer rider reaches down with both arms to raise a miniature human figure (not having the proportions of an infant), and the further figure faces away from the viewer, their arms outstretched along the length of the horses.

The lower half of the painting contains a woman lying on her back, her head at the left and thrown back. Her hands are clasped together on her chest, and from the level of her armpits down she is wrapped in a white or grey funeral shroud. Thus, Shakespeare's "naked new-born babe" is the miniature human being raised by the nearer horserider, the "blast" is shown by the horses' manes and tails, and the rider's hair, "heaven's cherubim" are the two riders on the horses, and the "sightless couriers of the air" are the horses with their eyelids closed.

This is one of the most unusual depictions of any of Shakespeare's plays.

After midnight, Macbeth's friend Banquo tries to discuss their prophecy, but Macbeth is evasive. Once he is alone again, Macbeth sees a vision of a dagger which becomes stained with blood, and beckons him towards King Duncan's chamber. He enters and murders the king. When Macbeth emerges still clutching the daggers, Lady Macbeth has to take them back into the king's chamber, then lead him away to wash the blood from his hands and change clothing.

Henry Fuseli's dark and heavily stylised painting of Lady Macbeth Receives the Daggers from 1812 shows her leaning forward towards her husband, who is holding the two daggers and looking distraught.

Macduff, the Thane of Fife, then arrives to awaken the king, discovers the murder, and awakens the whole household. Macbeth enters the chamber and kills the two chamberlains inside, who he claims were the murderers. When he explains this to the others, Lady Macbeth faints, while Duncan's son Malcolm decides to flee for his life.

Banquo suspects Macbeth of murdering Duncan; when he goes out with his son for an afternoon ride, Macbeth hires a couple of killers to murder his friend, but Banquo's son manages to escape. At a banquet that night, to which Banquo had been invited, Macbeth is horrified to see his friend's ghost sat in his seat.

Chassériau is one of few painters to have depicted Banquo's Ghost, in this work from 1854-55, which is sadly in low resolution.

Macbeth is unable to get over that, and the rest of the party are dismissed to let Lady Macbeth try to sort her husband out.

William Rimmer's Scene from Macbeth from about 1850 most probably shows Act 3 Scene 5, in which the three witches are told off by the goddess Hecate for meeting with Macbeth.

Others, realising that it was Macbeth who was responsible for the deaths of Duncan and Banquo, go to the English court, where Malcolm is, to urge the King of England to intervene militarily.

Macbeth returns to the three witches, who are preparing a potion, and calls for more prophecies. They warn him to beware of Macduff, but he is shown the descendants of Banquo as Scotland's future kings.

Paintings of this second witches' scene, from Act 4 Scene 1, are sometimes confused with the first. George Romney's Macbeth and the Witches from 1785 shows Macbeth alone, without Banquo, and a vision of the future kings of Scotland.

Eugène Delacroix's lithograph of Macbeth Consulting the Witches from 1825 centres on their cauldron, in which their potion is bubbling:
"Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble."

Once the witches have vanished, Macbeth is told that Macduff has fled to England, so he has Macduff's family killed immediately. Meanwhile Macduff meets Malcolm in England; when he hears of the murder of his family, he swears revenge on Macbeth.

An English army under Malcolm's leadership reaches Birnam Wood, where it's joined by the Scottish nobles. Macbeth learns of their approach, and realises that he might die. Lady Macbeth then dies, making his life appear even more futile.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti's fine pencil drawing of The Death of Lady Macbeth was made in about 1875.

Macbeth then goes to face the English army, and is eventually killed by Macduff, who brings his head to Malcolm and the nobles. Malcolm is finally hailed as the King of Scotland.

With that plot, it's unsurprising that Macbeth has a reputation in the theatre as being cursed, to the point where some won't even mention its name, referring to it merely as 'the Scottish play.'
Further reading
Wikipedia
Full text at Project Gutenberg

Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells (eds) (2015) The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, 2nd edn, Oxford UP. ISBN 978 0 19 870873 5.

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Paintings of William Shakespeare's Plays 2: Macbeth

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Its two scenes with witches are most famous, and often confused. There's more to this play, though, and other scenes in fine paintings.

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GA Standards Covered with the Macbeth Unit: 

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GA Standards Covered with the Macbeth Unit: 

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10.T.T.1.a Evaluate how narrative techniques (including archetypes, multiple perspectives, story structure, and symbolism) interact, using textual evidence.

10.T.SS.1.a Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of a text’s organizational structure to meet the needs and expectations of the target audience or serve a specific purpose.

10.T.C.2.b Explain how multiple contexts (including historical and disciplinary) influence perspectives across time and the associated implications of text creation.

10.T.T.1.c Analyze and evaluate how a text’s theme has social relevance and is developed across a text, comparing passages within and across texts, providing both reasoning and supportive textual evidence.

10.T.T.1.d Analyze how literary works draw on themes, event patterns, or character types from different time periods.

10.T.SS.2.a Analyze how the use of figurative, connotative, and/or rhetorical language contributes to the development of meaning, tone, or mood in a wide variety of texts

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Explanation of Learning Targets Accomplished Through Macbeth Unit

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Explanation of Learning Targets Accomplished Through Macbeth Unit

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10.T.T.1.a - Macbeth includes several character archetypes. We do a review of character archetypes, and throughout the text practice identifying these archetypes. We discuss the structure of the story (is it chronological, cause and effect, etc)? Students must use textual evidence to answer these questions. There is also a lot of symbolism in Macbeth, like how Lady Macbeth's inability to sleep symbolizes the guilt she feels.

10.T.SS.1.a- Macbeth is a story meant to entertain. Students uncover the author's purpose for Macbeth and analyze the organizational structure to determine how it is effective in creating suspense, mystery, and entertainment.

10.T.C.2.b- When doing pre-reading activities like the ones under the "prereading resources tab," we learn about the historical background to Macbeth, which covers this standard. It helps students make connections to their World History class too. Knowing the historical context allows students to make connections to history and understand the purpose for the text as well and how it was effective then compared to now.

10.T.T.1.c- There are many socially relevant themes in Macbeth that students use textual evidence to make connections to through their comprehension questions and in class discussion questions linked under the Macbeth ready to go activities tab. These help students connect the story to relevant social issues today.

10.T.T.1.d- Macbeth has several themes that are relevant to both the time period it was written in and this current period. Students analyze the historical context and examine connections between characters and historical figures of the time period. They also previously read Romeo and Juliet, so patterns and events are connected from text to text.

10.T.SS.2.a- Macbeth uses mostly figurative language that must be analyzed for further meaning. The activities in the "Macbeth Ready to go Activities," the videos, and the slides all help guide students through developing an understanding of the figurative and connotative language used in Macbeth. Then we further discuss how this establishes themes, creates mood, and the effect the author's tone has on the meaning of the play to the audience.

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This visual family tree I would like to print and laminate to put in my classroom for my students to have as a constant reminder. I could also post this resource on Google Classroom for students to refer back to.

Stein, J. (n.d.). Macbeth resources. Ms. Stein. https://jenniferstein.weebly.com/macbeth-resources.html

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Act 1 Vocabulary Act 2 Vocabulary Act 3 Vocabulary Act 4 Vocabulary Act 5 Vocabulary

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This infographic would be helpful to post after we have finished reading Macbeth for students to refer back to. It has helpful reminders of plot as well as character analysis, thematic descriptions, and explains symbols within the text.

Macbeth infographic - course hero. (n.d.-a). https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Macbeth/infographic/

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William Shakespeare's Macbeth Infographic to help you understand everything about the book. Visually learn all about the characters, themes, and William Shakespeare.

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Animated summary. myShakespeare. (2025, March 10). https://myshakespeare.com/macbeth/animated-summary

Collins, M. B. (n.d.). Macbeth a unit plan. https://mseffie.com/assignments/macbeth/Teacher%20Materials/Macbeth%20Lit%20Plan.pdf

Green, J. (n.d.). Free Will, Witches, Murder, and Macbeth, Part 1: Crash Course Literature 409. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPYOs0EGgJk&t=101s

Hoakley. (2022, June 20). Paintings of William Shakespeare’s plays 2: Macbeth. The Eclectic Light Company. https://eclecticlight.co/2022/06/27/paintings-of-william-shakespeares-plays-2-macbeth/

Macbeth infographic - course hero. (n.d.-a). https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Macbeth/infographic/

McDonald, A. (n.d.). Macbeth pre-reading. http://amacdonaldlh.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/5/2/26527518/macbeth_pre-reading.pdf

Moore, K. (2023, June 21). How to get students excited about Macbeth / moore english. Moore English. https://moore-english.com/get-excited-for-teaching-macbeth/

Prestwickhouse. (n.d.). https://www.prestwickhouse.com/samples/200161.pdf

Pelsue, B. (n.d.). Why Should You Read Macbeth. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD5goS69LT4

Stein, J. (n.d.). Macbeth resources. Ms. Stein. https://jenniferstein.weebly.com/macbeth-resources.html

What can young people today learn from Shakespeare’s Macbeth? Queen Anne’s Caversham School. (n.d.). https://www.qas.org.uk/news/2020-06-02/what-can-young-people-today-learn-from-shakespeare-s-macbeth-