Shakespeare's Life and Time

Questions before reading:

What is an Aside?

Read Act 1 Scene 3.  Following the reading, they should answer this set of questions:

What do the witches predict in Act I, Scene 3 for Macbeth?  For Banquo?   

 Who news does Ross bring Macbeth? Explain the situational irony in the delivery of the message.

 Banquo, like Macbeth, is surprised that the witches have predicted Macbeth’s new title.  He is, however, leery.  What does he say about the motives of the “instruments of darkness” ?

Describe the general nature of the thoughts that Macbeth is keeping secret in his Aside in Act 1.  Why does Macbeth say these thoughts in n aside?

 

• I know Renaissance means rebirth, but do you know what the time period was characterized by?
• What was life like in Elizabethan England?
• Did playwrights make a lot of money or not?
• Drama was a popular activity at schools and universities, but what are interludes and masques?
• Who is this Christopher Marlowe I've read so much about?
• Why is he so well known even though he died at such an early age?
• The Renaissance is often thought of as The Age of Shakespeare whose dramas reflect the influence of early church ceremonies. I am always surprised when I hear people argue that he never wrote his great canon of plays. Are you?
• What makes Shakespeare so famous anyway?
• How did Elizabethan audiences know whether the scene was a night scene or not if there wasn't any artificial lighting?
• I know that dramatic terms are boring, but can you tell me what a soliloquy and an aside are?

Finally, there are people who are anti-Shakespearen - They feel that few of any of the plots for Shakespeare are original. They say that Shakespeare "borrowed" stories from real life and altered them for the stage.
·     Is that true for "Macbeth"?
·  Do you know or can you find the source of Macbeth's story?