Use kitsblog for character-maps and collaborative writing. 

Act out certain scenes/ use freeze frames - film it/ take photos, let students put them into their portfolio and comment on them/explain them. Other students give feedback/comment in the comment section of the respective page. 

In most school-books you will find good assignments for getting into detail (such as analysing soliloquies and describing characters and so on). This would be too much for a workshop, but the portfolio can be used as a "journal" - students document their entire work on the play as they go along. 

Worth looking at:

 The relationship of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth (changes through the play - first they are in it together - an obviously loving couple -  and she is the cooler, more clear-headed one, then Macbeth leaves her out of it, she turns into the inferior one and when he decides on murdering Macduff's family, she turns mad...)

Gender issues as such! (see manhood below) - role of weird sisters?

The supernatural elements (think Manga, Webtoon, Sci-fi, Avengers...)

The Macbeth's of today- checking present day's political situation - compare and contrast

Career- choices- the greed to gain power - today?


Ideas for bigger assignments (complex learning tasks to wrap up the play)

(these ideas a partly inspired by assignments from the Macbeth -Edition: Discover Shakespeare/ Schöningh -Verlag)

The women in 'Macbeth':

Lady Macbeth: Monster or nervous, sensible woman?

Starting point: Quote by Judith Cook in "Women in Shakespeare", Harrap, London 1980, p.127

It seems strange that anyone can think of Lady Macbeth as a sort of 'monster', abnormally hard, abnormally cruel, or visualize her as a woman of powerful physique with the muscles of a prize fighter. [...] I conceive Lady Macbeth as a small, slight woman of acute nervous sensibility. 

Present your version/idea of Lady Macbeth. To do this properly you need to find clues in the paly - her soliloquies her arguments, her state of mind. 

You can choose in which way you could tackle the problem

-a feminist campaign on a (fake) instagram account, defending her as a woman who tries to stand her ground in medieval society

- Lady Macbeth meets Trump and discusses ways of gaining power / deceiving people/ the loneliness of a leading figure/ the sacrifices that are necessary/ their spouses (Macbeth/ Melania Trump)

- Lady Macbeth meets Melania Trump

- Lady Macbeth on the couch (seeing a psychologist)

- the dead Lady Macbeth meets the murdered Lady Macduff in the underworld 

- you organize a debate: half defends Lady Macbeth (sees her positive sides), half accuse her of being a murderess (seeing her negative side)

- scenes of a modern graphic novel or manga: Lady Macbeth as the tragic heroine

- Lady Macbeth defends herself in court (modern court scene)

- or come up with your own idea!

Manhood in 'Macbeth'

The play is set in medieval Scotland where there was an explicit concept of manhood that prevails (which for instance can be seen very well in the scene where Macduff is informed that his wife and children have been killed.) 

Modern films such as "Brave heart" (Mel Gibson) also focus on this idea of being a proper man. (--> could also be task- compare the depiction of manhood in modern films with that of the play)

Macbeth - a proper man in terms of Scottish society at that time, or a man with a capacity for love and compassion?

"At the conclusion of this tragedy, we accept without demur the conclusion that Macbeth is a butcher. In fact, however, he is no more a butcher at the end than he is at the beginning. Macbeth lives in a culture that values butchery. Throughout the play, manhood is equated with the ability to kill. Power is the highest value in Scotland, and in Scottish culture, power is military prowess*." 

(Marilyn French, "Shakespeare's division of experience", Jonathan Cape, London, 1982, p.243)

Find passages in the play that explicitely show the concept of male identity.


*prowess: "skill" but also "courage"

Modern films such as "Brave heart" (Mel Gibson) also focus on this idea of being a proper man. (--> could also be task- compare the depiction of manhood in modern films with that of the play)

Compare film adaptations such as Polanski's (with a note on the problematic director!) Macbeth, Justin Kurzel's (Michael Fassbender playing Macbeth) or Orson Welles' or modern adaptations such as Scotland,  PA (In a modernized retelling of "MacBeth" set in 1970s suburban Pennsylvania, Joe McBeth, an unambitious hamburger stand employee, is driven to success by his scheming wife). 

Products: Presentations, discussion, review, fan-trailers, insta- comments, feminist-campaign, podcast, interview...

(similar to the tasks above / Lady Macbeth)