Year 11 Perfect Paragraph Practice

Look at the extract below: It is taken from Act 1, Scene 7. Lady Macbeth is outraged that Macbeth has changed his
mind about committing regicide.

Task 1 What does Shakespeare want the audience to think about Lady Macbeth at this point in the play?

Lady Macbeth
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?
And wakes it now to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time,
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour,
As thou art in desire?

Task 2 How many ways can you link this extract to

other themes or events in the play as a whole?

Task 3 How does Shakespeare use Language, form or structure to make the audience think in this way?

Task 4 Perfect Paragraph? The question we are answering is below in bold. Read my paragraph. Is anything
missing? Tick off each of the criteria below and label each one in the paragraph.

Starting with this moment in the play, explore how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth.

Write about:

 how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in this extract

 how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in the play as a whole.

Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth is outraged by Macbeth’s assertion that ‘We will proceed no further in
this business.’ Lady Macbeth fires three questions at Macbeth, each one using imagery to undermine his
bravery. Her questions deliberately but subtly address his masculinity without actually insulting him directly.
She asks ‘Was the hope drunk’ rather than asking if Macbeth was drunk. Again, Lady Macbeth is presented as
a transgressive character within the context of the patriarchal system of Jacobean society. However; whereas
earlier in this Act she is aligned with evil, here she is portrayed as a shrew, which could be seen as hint to the
audience that Lady Macbeth will eventually be punished.

Clear Argument CA

Subject Terminology TV

Embedded Quotation EQ

Analysis A

Context C

Link to elsewhere in the play L

Could you improve the vocabulary or develop any ideas further?

Task 5 Your turn: Write up your own Perfect Paragraph. Use your answers to Task 1, Task 2 and Task 3 to help you.
Check that you have included everything on the list. Add anything you have missed. Ask me if you are not sure how.