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Our first text in our study of Dire Ambition is William Skakespeare's "Macbeth". One of the world's most famous studies of the corrupting effects of ambition and power.
13th March 2020

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Welcome to this years major written text study. William Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth, is one of his most famous plays which is often referred to in the theatrical world as “The Scottish Play” due to a long-established superstition.

We read Macbeth this year not only to enjoy the experience of delving into another of Shakespeare’s rich created worlds, but also as a foundation for our exploration of the idea of ambition as presented in literature across the ages. What better starting point for this journey than a drama written in the 17th century about the deleterious effects of ambition when it’s founded in a hollow desire for power and influence as opposed to self-betterment.

The stylistic elements of Shakespeare’s play, as they aid us to understand the key elements of Elizabethan Theatre, Tragedy as a genre and the ways writers express extremity in their characters through language and imagery will all be a central focus of our study.

The final phase of the programme will involve the writing of a critical response to the text which explores the representation of the characters’ deteriorating state of mind and the performance of a key soliloquy from the script.

Assessment of this work will occur via the 1.5 Internal Assessment “Formal Writing”, the 1.1 External Examination “Written Texts” and our final 1.8 Internal Assessment “Significant Connections”

Scene Captures

A simple procedure we’ll keep up throughout our reading of the play is the capturing of key content from each scene as we read. Attached is a list we created that applies to Act 1, Scene I:

 

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2 Comments

    • Christopher Waugh

      Hi Stuart!

      Thanks so much for this info, I’ll have a good look through it in the weekend. Yep, I received the email from Anne – happy to help however is useful.

      C

      Reply

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