Essay writing Macbeth
Make thesis/introduction paragraph straight to the point, develop it in the essay and constantly link
back to it and develop it
Start with analysing the rest of the play if you can before writing about extract, theres no
requirement of how many quotes to use from extract, either embed them or focus on rest of play to
make your points strong and then develop it using extract in a different paragraph. Eg. Thesis, then
write about what the question asks for instance theme of bravery, explore it using evidence from the
entire play whilst making alternative views and perspectives, then talk about how the extract further
develops and agrees with the points you made earlier. It helps the argument sound more convincing
and by the time you start analysing extract in different paragraph, you’ll have more to say about it.
AO2 includes language, structural devices, analyse form and drama in Macbeth (eg. The props and
the soliloquies aswell as the stage directions and line delivery) and also use high vocab ( eg.
Predestined ordination, regicide, satanic). ZOOM IN on quotations and analyse them for techniques
but too many techniques that don’t add to the argument are unnecessary. Talk about how the writer
using techniques actually has an effect on audience.
AO3 should be embedded and should follow after quote to provide evidence for use of the context,
it should have a direct link to point being made, context thrown in does not add to convincing
argument. Do not use too much context, only embed it in and don’t explain the context in too much
detail (e.g. What regicide, divine right of king is or the Adam and eve story in detail) the examiner
already knows and doesn’t need it explained in too much detail, one sentence is enough. For
instance ‘lady Macbeth tempting Macbeth into committing regicide is a parallel to eve tempting
Adam to eat the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, suggesting a woman as both Adam and
Macbeth’s downfall and detachment from God.’
AO1 includes alternative perspectives to get top grades, do not add alternative perspectives as
entire paragraphs or separately, drop them in using only a few sentences after stating the obvious
point, make sure they are supported with evidence otherwise they are not convincing. Alternative
perspectives can also be a comparison of modern-day audience views on a particular thing vs
Jacobean views
Eg. Lady Macbeth losing sleep and being afraid of the dark is ironic as she once wanted to be
‘plung(ed) in the dunnest smoke of hell’, which juxtaposes that she now needs a candle beside her at
all times, ‘tis her command’. She is shown to be experiencing God’s wrath as the sleep she once took
away from Duncan by edging Macbeth on to kill him in his sleep, comes back to ‘plague the
inventor’, it would be visible to a Christian Jacobean audience that sleep symbolises peace and God
takes away the peace from her since she was involved in regicide against the king and therefore
God. Alternatively, her loss of sleep could be a sign of a psychological illness, that only a modern
audience would understand. It is the manifestation of her guilt. To a Jacobean audience it would be
as if God is attacking her for the wrong, she has done as the doctor said, ‘unnatural deeds to breed
unnatural troubles’, ‘more needs she the divine than the physician’.
AO1 also requires a developed thesis that the rest of the essay adds onto, constantly link back to
thesis, and add points to it. Make links across the play for instance comparing Macbeth once taking
the ‘heads’ of traitors to his ‘head’ being taken by Macduff and being claimed as ‘the usurpers head’,
cyclical structure.
Make thesis/introduction paragraph straight to the point, develop it in the essay and constantly link
back to it and develop it
Start with analysing the rest of the play if you can before writing about extract, theres no
requirement of how many quotes to use from extract, either embed them or focus on rest of play to
make your points strong and then develop it using extract in a different paragraph. Eg. Thesis, then
write about what the question asks for instance theme of bravery, explore it using evidence from the
entire play whilst making alternative views and perspectives, then talk about how the extract further
develops and agrees with the points you made earlier. It helps the argument sound more convincing
and by the time you start analysing extract in different paragraph, you’ll have more to say about it.
AO2 includes language, structural devices, analyse form and drama in Macbeth (eg. The props and
the soliloquies aswell as the stage directions and line delivery) and also use high vocab ( eg.
Predestined ordination, regicide, satanic). ZOOM IN on quotations and analyse them for techniques
but too many techniques that don’t add to the argument are unnecessary. Talk about how the writer
using techniques actually has an effect on audience.
AO3 should be embedded and should follow after quote to provide evidence for use of the context,
it should have a direct link to point being made, context thrown in does not add to convincing
argument. Do not use too much context, only embed it in and don’t explain the context in too much
detail (e.g. What regicide, divine right of king is or the Adam and eve story in detail) the examiner
already knows and doesn’t need it explained in too much detail, one sentence is enough. For
instance ‘lady Macbeth tempting Macbeth into committing regicide is a parallel to eve tempting
Adam to eat the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, suggesting a woman as both Adam and
Macbeth’s downfall and detachment from God.’
AO1 includes alternative perspectives to get top grades, do not add alternative perspectives as
entire paragraphs or separately, drop them in using only a few sentences after stating the obvious
point, make sure they are supported with evidence otherwise they are not convincing. Alternative
perspectives can also be a comparison of modern-day audience views on a particular thing vs
Jacobean views
Eg. Lady Macbeth losing sleep and being afraid of the dark is ironic as she once wanted to be
‘plung(ed) in the dunnest smoke of hell’, which juxtaposes that she now needs a candle beside her at
all times, ‘tis her command’. She is shown to be experiencing God’s wrath as the sleep she once took
away from Duncan by edging Macbeth on to kill him in his sleep, comes back to ‘plague the
inventor’, it would be visible to a Christian Jacobean audience that sleep symbolises peace and God
takes away the peace from her since she was involved in regicide against the king and therefore
God. Alternatively, her loss of sleep could be a sign of a psychological illness, that only a modern
audience would understand. It is the manifestation of her guilt. To a Jacobean audience it would be
as if God is attacking her for the wrong, she has done as the doctor said, ‘unnatural deeds to breed
unnatural troubles’, ‘more needs she the divine than the physician’.
AO1 also requires a developed thesis that the rest of the essay adds onto, constantly link back to
thesis, and add points to it. Make links across the play for instance comparing Macbeth once taking
the ‘heads’ of traitors to his ‘head’ being taken by Macduff and being claimed as ‘the usurpers head’,
cyclical structure.
