• Revisit Lady Macbeth’s hopes and fears chart from Exercise 6 of Act 3 Scenes 3-4 

• Discuss how Lady Macbeth may be feeling about everything that has been happening. How might she feel about the murder of Banquo and of Macduff’s family? How might she feel about Macbeth making those decisions without asking her? Perhaps proud, perhaps lonely, anxious or guilty? 

• Explain that Lady Macbeth has been acting strangely. She has been walking in her sleep and her maid has called a doctor to watch her. 

• Invite all students to imagine they are the doctor. They are going to see how Lady Macbeth behaves and what she says and make notes for their report.  

• Give each student a copy of the ‘doctor’s report’ from the pdf resources to complete. 

• Play Lady Macbeth Sleepwalking video(s) BSL/ SSE or ASL. 

• After watching the film, ask students to make notes answering the questions on the doctor’s report. You can display her lines on the slide and support them with the following additional questions. You can also watch the films again as needed:

Description of behaviour

What is Lady Macbeth doing? (Walking in her sleep; her eyes are open but she doesn’t know where she is; showing her hands; rubbing and washing her hands; smelling her hands; looking around; looking confused, looking determined…)

Description of speech

What seems most important in what Lady Macbeth signs/says? Which words or signs stand out most to you? Are there any repetitions?

Who is she talking to when she says ‘my lord’? (Macbeth, her husband)

Who does she talk about? (The old man who had so much blood in him - King Duncan; the wife of the Thane of Fife, Macduff’s wife; Banquo)

What do these people have in common? (They are all dead, killed by Macbeth)

State of mind

Does Lady Macbeth seem happy, anxious, guilty…?

Does she seem dangerous - might she hurt herself or someone else?

Conclusions

Why do you think Lady Macbeth is behaving like this? (She seems to be re-living terrible things that have happened in the past. She seems to be haunted by nightmares. Perhaps her mind seems full of scorpions - see Exercise 6 in Act 3 Scene 1-2)

Suggested treatment

What would you suggest to help Lady Macbeth? (medication or exercise or talking to someone?)

Can she be left alone or should she be looked after? 

• Remind students that in the time the play was written, many people believed in supernatural powers. The doctor has to write a professional report but how might they feel having witnessed Lady Macbeth’s speech? Perhaps scared that they know too much about what the Macbeths have been doing? Perhaps scared that bad spirits or demons are involved? 
  
  You might like to ask students to write up a final draft of their report. 

• Revisit Exercise 1: Warriors in Section 2 of Act 1 Scene 1 and follow any of these activities to give students a sense of being soldiers. 
• Explain that many Scottish thanes are unhappy with how Macbeth is ruling Scotland and want to get rid of him. These are the Scottish rebels and they include: Lennox, Macduff and Ross. 
• Play Lennox Dramatis Personae and ask what they remember about Lennox. (He arrived with Macduff to the Macbeth’s castle to see King Duncan the morning after Macbeth murdered Duncan. He met Macbeth after Macbeth saw the Apparitions and told him that Macduff had fled to England) 
• Play Macduff Dramatis Personae and ask what they remember about Macduff. (He did not attend Macbeth’s coronation and ignored his invitation to the banquet. He went to England to support Duncan’s son Malcolm. He heard his wife and family had been murdered on Macbeth’s orders. He wants revenge on Macbeth. He joined with Malcolm and the English army to depose Macbeth) 
• Play Ross Dramatis Personae and ask what they remember about Ross. (He took the message from Duncan to Macbeth about being Thane of Cawdor. He spoke with Macduff after Duncan was murdered. He saw Macbeth behaving strangely at the banquet when Banquo went missing. He took the news to Macduff in England about the murder of his family. He joined Malcolm and Macduff to fight against Macbeth) 

• Ask students when we last saw Macbeth? (When he met the witches again and saw the Apparitions) 
• Play Apparitions videos (1-3) to remind students.
• Ensure all students are clear on the three prophecies: Beware Macduff; Macbeth cannot be defeated by any man who was given birth to by a woman; Macbeth will not be defeated until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane castle. 
• Revisit Macbeth’s hopes and fears chart from Exercise 2 of Act 4 Scenes 1-2 as a reminder of how he felt when we last saw him.  
• Invite one student to be Macbeth and give them a crown to wear.  
• Ask all other students to make an image of strong castle walls around Macbeth. Ask how Macbeth might feel in his castle. Perhaps strong and safe? 
• Invite one student to leave the castle walls to become Macduff. Give them a sash to wear.  
• Ask: Where is Macduff? Build on what they say to establish that Macduff is on his way to fight Macbeth with the English army accompanied by Malcolm and Ross. Ask Macduff to stand outside the castle as if waiting to attack Macbeth. 
• Invite two more students to leave the walls and become Malcolm and Ross. Give them sashes and ask them to stand with Macduff. 
• Ask: Does Macbeth fear Macduff? Perhaps yes because of the First Apparition’s warning. Perhaps no because the Second Apparition told him no man born of woman could harm him. 
• Explain that Macbeth knows some of the Scottish lords, including Lennox, have joined Macduff, Malcolm, Ross and the English army.  
• Invite one student to become Lennox. Give them a sash and ask them to stand with Macduff. 
• Invite one or two other students to leave the walls and stand with Lennox as other Scottish rebels. 
• Ask: Do you think Macbeth fears he will be killed or defeated by this army? (Macbeth believes no man can harm him because of what the Second Apparition said. Because of what the Third Apparition said, he believes he cannot be defeated until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. He thinks that is impossible.) 
• Ask students to look at how the walls of Macbeth’s castle now have gaps or have grown smaller where he has lost the support of the Scottish thanes. Macbeth still feels strong because of the prophecies but in reality he is losing strength as he loses support. 
• Discuss with students what they think might happen next. 

• Invite one student to be Malcolm and give them a sash. Remind students that Malcolm is leading an army against Macbeth. 

• Organise the remaining students into pairs standing behind Malcolm as their leader. 

• Play the follow the leader game (see Exercise 1 in Section 2 of Act 1 Scene 1). ‘Malcolm’ leads his army by doing actions that they follow. If he marches, they march. If he salutes, they salute. If he crouches or crawls, they do the same. 

• Display a map of Scotland (slide) and show students that the army has arrived in Birnam and Macbeth is in Dunsinane.  

• Organise some students to become trees in the forest of Birnam. They should stand spread out around the space with their arms spread wide as branches. 

• Now ask ‘Malcolm’ to lead his army as before but through the trees. 

• Ask Malcolm to bring his army to a halt in the forest. 

• Ask students if they have any ideas how this forest might move to Dunsinane where Macbeth is?  

• After hearing their ideas, explain that Malcolm gives another instruction to his army. He tells them to all cut a branch off each tree to carry with them as they march.  

• Model this by going up to a ‘tree’ and gently touching one of their arms. Ask the ‘tree’ to then put that arm behind their back, as you mime holding up a branch. 

• Tell Malcolm to give the instruction to his soldiers and encourage all ‘soldiers’ to ‘cut a branch from a tree’ as you modelled. 

• Ask ‘Malcolm’ to lead his army forward away from the trees towards Dunsinane and tell all students to freeze in a freeze frame showing their determination and bravery as they march to save their country, carrying their branches. Then to relax.

• Discuss Malcolm’s plan:

What does Malcolm hope to achieve by cutting down the branches? (To use them as a disguise for the army to hide behind)

Does Malcolm know anything about what the Apparitions said? (No)

What will Macbeth think when he sees the forest getting closer? (Perhaps scared that the prophecy has come true? Perhaps angry that the witches misled him?)

• Display the line: ‘I’ll fight til from my bones my flesh be hacked’ (slide) and discuss what Macbeth means when he says this. (He is determined to fight until he is no longer able to.) You might also like to remind students about iambic pentameter (see Exercise 3 in Act 1 Scene 1, Section 2) and notice how this line follows that rhythm. 
• Invite all students to stand as Macbeth getting ready to fight. Encourage them to join you as you mime putting on armour and trying a few movements with a heavy sword.  
• Ask students to freeze in a position showing Macbeth ready to fight bravely. 
• Now ask students to change that image to show how Macbeth feels on the inside. Perhaps scared, angry, tired, lonely…? 
• Ask students to return to the first image.  
• Explain to students that you will enter as Macbeth’s servant Seyton and ask them to be ready to react to the news you bring. 
• Enter as Seyton and say: ‘The queen, my lord, is dead’. Draw attention to some of the reactions to this news. Perhaps shocked, confused, upset… 
• Explain that you are now going to see what Macbeth says in Shakespeare’s play when he hears this news. 
• Play Macbeth ‘Tomorrow..’ video(s) (BSL/ SSE/ VS or ASL).  
• Discuss with students what they liked or what they found interesting or surprising about this speech.  
• Display the text (slide) and build on what they said to draw attention to how Macbeth uses repetition, alliteration, personification and metaphors. Explain how these things catch the attention of someone hearing or watching the speech. 
• You might also like to remind students about iambic pentameter (see Exercise 3 in Act 1 Scene 1, Section 2) and notice how these lines follow that rhythm. 
• Focus on metaphors and remind students that when we compare one thing to another without using the word ‘like’ it is called a metaphor. 
• Draw attention to how Macbeth uses metaphors to describe life, as in the lifespan of a person from birth to death. He describes this lifespan as being like two things in two different sentences. Ask: What two things does he compare life to? (A bad actor and a bad story) 
• Play the films again and ask students to notice particularly how Macbeth signs these two metaphors about life.
• Display the two life metaphors (slide)
• Discuss the first metaphor of life as a bad actor shouting and stamping around the stage.  
• Discuss the second metaphor of life as a story told by an idiot. 
• Organise students into groups and give each group one of the two metaphors. Ask them to create a short performance of their sentence by speaking/signing the words, taking inspiration from the video but trying out their own ideas too. 
• Discuss what these metaphors suggest about how Macbeth feels about life. Perhaps that it is pointless or confusing? 
• Ask groups to make a second performance creating their own metaphor about life. Encourage them to show something more cheerful such as: Life is a walk in the park; Life is a rollercoaster… 

• Organise students into three groups. 

• Invite one student in group 1 to be Macbeth and give them a crown and the Macbeth sashes for Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor. Tell group 1 they are Macbeth’s army. 

• Invite one student in group 2 to be Lennox and give them the Lennox sash. Tell group 2 they are the rebel army of Scottish thanes who hate Macbeth.  

• Invite one student in group 3 to be Malcolm and give them the Malcolm sash. Tell group 3 they are the army brought from England. 

• Ask: Who else was with Malcolm? (Macduff and Ross). Invite two students in group 3 to become Macduff and Ross and give them sashes. 

• Ask: What was Malcolm’s army doing last time we met them? (They were marching towards Dunsinane from Birnam Wood disguised by tree branches - see Exercise 4). 

• Ask ‘Malcolm’ to lead group 3 as they march across the space, carrying their branches, to face group 1. When they arrive, they throw down their branches.  

• Ask ‘Lennox’ to lead group 2 as they march across the space and join group 3. 

• Groups 2 and 3 are now a combined force facing group 1, Macbeth’s army.  

• If you completed the battle exercise in Act 1 Scene 1, you can remind students of that battle. 

• Introduce a drum and tell students that they are going to make four battle moves, which they will perform after each drum beat. Explain you will make a big movement of striking the drum and they should watch or listen for that cue.  

• Ask all students to raise their arms with their hands grasped and index fingers pointing as their swords. Remind them they can swipe down, left or right. Model a possible sequence of battle moves: swipe, freeze, swipe, freeze, swipe, freeze, swipe, freeze. 

• Beat the drum slowly four times to allow students to practise their moves. Ensure the movement of banging the drum is big enough to see for students who cannot hear the beat. 

• Now, add a final fifth move: Malcolm’s army (groups 2 and 3) should indicate victory - they have won the battle. Macbeth’s army should indicate defeat - they have lost the battle.  

• Practise this last action, then put the sequence together with the five moves for the battle. 

  
  
   

• Tell students that they will perform their battle one last time (see Exercise 6 above) but this time you will add in some lines from Macbeth and Macduff.  

• Ask the two armies to face each other again ready for the start of the battle. 

• Invite the students playing Macduff and Macbeth to step forwards into the space between the two armies. 

• Ask the student playing Macduff to say/sign: ‘Turn hell-hound, turn’. (Face me you tyrant, you hell-hound). You can also display the line (slide). 

• Ask: What is a hell-hound? and ‘Who is he describing as a hell-hound? (Macbeth). Remind students that this is another metaphor, comparing Macbeth to something evil and dangerous. 

• Discuss with students whether they think Macbeth should be afraid of Macduff. 

• Play Apparition 2 Video to remind them of the prophecy and Macbeth’s belief that Macduff cannot harm him. 

• Now ask ‘Macbeth’ to say/sign: ‘I bear a charmed life, which must not yield to one of woman born’ (slide) (My life is protected by magic. No-one given birth to by a woman can kill me) 

• Ask ‘Macduff ‘to say/sign: ‘Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped’ (slide). (Macduff was taken from his mother’s womb before he was born) 

• Discuss with students what Macduff means. (That he was born by, what today we call, Caesarean section, rather than natural childbirth. This means he can kill Macbeth and not contradict what the Apparition says) 

• Invite ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Macduff’ to mime a slow-motion sword fight ending with Macbeth being killed.  

• Invite all students to repeat their battle move from Exercise 6.  

• Encourage the Scottish rebels to cheer! They have won and Macbeth, the tyrant, is dead! 

• Ask students to return to their positions at the end of the final battle in Exercise 7. Anyone who was wearing a sash should wear the same sash again. Macbeth should have his crown. Ask all students who were ‘still alive’ at the end of the battle to stand up and anyone who ‘died’ in the battle to sit down. Of those wearing sashes: Macduff, Ross, Lennox and Malcolm should be standing. Macbeth should be sat down.  

• Ask: Who else has died during the play? (Lady Macbeth, Lady Macduff, the Macduff children, Banquo, Duncan, Cawdor).  

• Ask: Which other characters that we have met are still alive? (Donalbain, Fleance, the Witches). 

• Invite some students to stand up and take on the roles of Donalbain, Fleance and the Witches 

• Display the image from the gallery of ‘Alive and Dead’ (slide)  

• Ask students to step out of their roles and to discuss in pairs who they think should be the next king of Scotland and be ready to give their reasons.  

• Share ideas as a group. Perhaps it should be Macduff because he is strong and killed Macbeth as Macbeth killed Duncan? Perhaps it should be Malcolm as Duncan’s eldest son? Perhaps Donalbain as he is another of Duncan’s sons? Perhaps it should be Fleance because the witches said Banquo’s children would be kings? 

• Tell the students that King Duncan named his eldest son Malcolm as his successor. The Scottish thanes agree to this and so Malcolm is crowned the next king.

• Ask ‘Macduff’ to take the crown from Macbeth and give it to Malcolm and to sign/say ‘Hail, king of Scotland’ (slide) 

• Ask everyone to repeat ‘Hail, king of Scotland’ and show a final freeze frame of how the Scottish people feel now. Perhaps relieved the fighting is over? Perhaps hopeful for peace? Perhaps happy that Macbeth is dead?