We carefully studied the first three scenes to identify the prevalent motif of paradox that first appears in the opening scene's announcement that "fair is foul and foul is fair." After discussing the multiple paradoxical phrases, we interpreted their purpose as a reflection of the themes of deception and reality vs illusion. Nina did well in finding textual support for his characterization of Macbeth as both loyal and violent and we discussed why Macbeth's latent violent tendencies can foreshadow other events in the play. In this regard, I reviewed the definition of "iambic pentameter" as well as two theories of tragedy , a tragedy of fate/fortune and tragedy due to a tragic flaw or hamartia . I further reviewed the nuanced distinction between tragic flaw and harmartia and we examined what theory of tragedy might apply to the play given the appearance of the supernatural (the witches) early on. To assist in comprehension, I explained how best to use of the marginal annotations, and the synopsis that appears at the beginning of. each scene and broke down some of the metaphorical language the appears in the first scenes. Towards the end of the second session, we reviewed Nina's rewrite of her final essay on "The Great Gatsby" and discussed how to sharpen the essay's focus.