Joshua watched The Royal Shakespeare's production of Macbeth, starting at Act IV.

As Joshua had questions on how to respond to the third essay question on his Macbeth take-home test, today I first provided additional instruction on gender fluidity and the shattering of gender stereotypes in the play. From there, we reviewed the essay prompt and I suggested possible theses statements and organizational structures to employ in responding to the essay. Joshua then completed his final essay in class addressing how Shakespeare's views of gender are not clearly binary.

We studied multiple soliloquies of Macbeth in order to trace the devolution of his character from loyal prince, to serial murderer, to nihilist. Joshua analyzed Macbeth's famous ,"tomorrow , tomorrow, and tomorrow" soliloquy identifying the multiple metaphors comparing life to a candle, a shadow, and a strutting actor on a stage which we then compared to an earlier less poetic soliloquy wherein Macbeth also comments that life is trivial. In discussing the death of Lady Macbeth, I noted how the cause of her death -suicide- is not revealed until the very last line of the play and further suggested the incongruity of Macbeth's nihilism unless he knew the cause of his wife's death.
We discussed how Shakespeare's plays often contain different versions and transcriptions and why a better editorial version of the play would reveal Lady Macbeth's suicide prior to the iconic "tomorrow and tomorrow" speech. Last, I noted numerous literary works that have used portions of this soliloquy as a title such as The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner.

We studied the classic scene of Lady Macbeth's hand washing/ sleepwalking as a manifestation of her guilty conscience. Critically ,we noted how Lady Macbeth repeats many lines from Act I wherein she persuades Macbeth to murder Duncan, and how the imagery within her comments now mimic Macbeth's early imagery of blood/water and the longing for redemption. As Macbeth's Fortune turns, I reintroduced the term "peripeteia" and we explored where and when Macbeth suffers a reversal of Fortune. Last, we reviewed Joshua's study guide answers .

In studying the final scenes of Act IV, we addressed the motif of male/female stereotypes. Joshua did well locating textual support for our discussion on this topic. We further explored how and why Malcolm tests McDuff's loyalty by at first insisting that he,Malcolm, is unfit to be king. Regarding both topics, I focused not only on theme but on Shakespeare's diction and syntax which reenforces the reality vs appearance theme that runs through the play. Joshua exhibits a well developed understanding of both the themes and Shakespeare's use of language.

We began a discussion of Act IV by reviewing the play's motif of gender stereotypes and by beginning a character analysis of Malcolm , the heir apparent. We specifically examined MacDuff's protesting Malcolm's imploring MacDuff to act more "manly "even after MacDuff learns Macbeth has slaughtered his wife and son. We noted possible political motivations for Shakespeare's depicting Malcolm as unsympathetic given that Banquo,(whom Shakespeare paints as noble) not Malcolm , was King James' ancestor. Joshua noted the risqué scene in the opening of Act II and we discussed how the Puritanical attitudes associated with Oliver Cromwell 's England post date Shakespeare who did not shy away from sexual innuendo .

Joshua is reading MacBeth, Act IV Scene 3 in his book and answered study guide questions about the material. He finished Act IV but Scene 3 is very long so Joshua plans to finish reading it either tonight or in tomorrow's class.

We studied the second scene of Act IV wherein the witches make a second foreboding appearance. After noting the iconic "Double Double toil and trouble" chant, we explored the symbolism and significance of the 3 apparitions that the witches conjure in order to lure Macbeth into a false sense of security . Critically, we examined how Macbeth's decision to murder Macduff's innocent wife and son marks his clear transition from a hapless stooge of his wife to a calculated serial killer whose life is self governed ,not controlled by happenstance. Last, we reviewed Joshua's homework answers to study guide questions which we supplemented based on class discussion.

We explored the shifting meaning of blood and water imagery in Act III. Joshua parsed and explained the famous quote of Macbeth,"I am in blood steeped so far"etc in terms of symbolism and imagery and then discussed how this soliloquy marks the play as a tragedy of character more than a tragedy of Fortune or Fate. We further discussed how the appearance of Banquo's ghost is a further example of the motif of the imaginary and the real or appearance and reality as we are left to speculate whether the ghost is "real" or whether it is a manifestation of Macbeth's guilty conscience.

We discussed Joshua's Act I and Act II test essays with a focus on blood and water imagery. We looked ahead in our reading to note where these images reappear later in the play. During the rest of the session, we viewed the remainer of Act I of The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Macbeth.