Thanks Alex, time will tell if it is worth the extra effort. I am interested to see if teachers will want to use them in lessons, so I am trying to make them more concise and easier to watch.
Mr Salles Teaches English Thanks for the great videos as always. For concise, information-packed videos, I really like this approach of taking key scenes in the play and scrutinising them, compared to taking a theme and picking out related parts of the text (of course that is important too). It’s much more easy to do revision with all bases covered that way.
Just want to say thank you sooooo much for everything you do. Your hard work is so appreciated. I’m aiming for grade 8-9 and had no idea how I’d get there because I had no deeper knowledge of Macbeth. This guide seriously just took a weight off my chest and I finally feel like I can get there. Thank you sir.
This is brilliant and I wish I'd found your channel a little bit earlier, you are so intuitive when it comes to understanding these texts! I was wondering what you would think of this essay I wrote in response to the Macbeth & Banquo opinions of the supernatural question (AQA) a few months ago. I'm aware I didn't structure it particularly well, and feel that I could've done better. I was wondering what you would think of it and what you believe I should improve in my technique. I understand you're incredibly busy, and I hope that you keep going with these wonderful videos - thank you so much for everything you've done for British students! The Tragedy of Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare in the early 17th century to be performed in the court of King James I, Shakespeare's patron and notorious witch-hunter whose published treatise Daemonologie outlined his extreme views on the subject of witchcraft and the supernatural. The Tragedy presents the supernatural as being innately evil; a force which manipulates good men to perform dark deeds by playing upon their fatal flaws - in Macbeth's case, ambition. This depiction of supernatural forces reflects the attitudes of the contemporary audience, and suggests that Shakespeare's intentions were to please the King by pandering to this hatred. This extract illustrates the effect the supernatural revelations have on an ambivalent Macbeth and on his good friend Banquo. Banquo rejects the witches' prophecies and warns Macbeth that the witches are likely 'instruments of darkness' who seek to 'win' their 'harm'. This astute observation is ignored by Macbeth, who has been deeply affected by the words spoken. Both men believe the witches; the difference between their attitudes lies in their willingness to act upon their predictions. Macbeth recognises that to become King, Duncan must die, and he immediately considers murder, a 'horrid image' which he sees as being 'against the use of nature' - an early implication that the supernatural is completely unnatural and fundamentally wrong. Banquo consistently believes that the witches are a disturbance to the natural order and to peace, while Macbeth is tempted by the achievements they promise despite his awareness that the witches are an expression of 'darkness'. Their unquestioning belief in the legitimacy of the predictions is similar to the beliefs held by the Jacobean audience, and we are also encouraged to believe that the witches genuinely do hold supernatural power through Shakespeare's use of pathetic fallacy - associating the witches with 'thunder' and 'lightning' - and through the paradoxical chiasmus 'fair is foul and foul is fair' of the first scene - a chiasmus is a grammatical reversal, and in this particular context it may symbolise the reversal of Macbeth's character from heroism to regicide, or in a broader context the reversal of the natural to the unnatural. This concept of a rudimentary reversal is highly unnerving - even for an atheist audience, and the paradoxical nature of the statement encourages any audience to question their core beliefs of the meanings of what is 'foul' and what is 'fair'. Shakespeare presents the supernatural as being both veritable and frightening. To Banquo the fright incited is dissuading and causes him to reject their enticements. In contrast, Macbeth is easily seduced by their words, in spite of his fear, in both this extract and the play as a whole. An clear example of Macbeth's attraction to the supernatural is that of the dagger apparition - perhaps the product of his traumatised thoughts acting in conjunction with his wife's emotional manipulation as a hallucinogen or perhaps a genuine expression of the forces of the supernatural - which, instead of discomfitting Macbeth so that he, like Banquo, rejects the bizarre, motivates him to kill the king. Macbeth's willingness to commit treason in accordance with the witches' predictions may imply a weakness of mind, but it is possible that it is the witches' hexes which have overborne better instincts through the exacerbation of his 'dark and deep desires'. Banquo was never the witches' target, so perhaps, had he been charmed as Macbeth had, he may not have rejected their temptations so easily and to these may indeed have capitulated. Macbeth and Banquo have obviously contrasting attitudes to the supernatural - Macbeth's easy seduction and Banquo's easy rejection - which are used by Shakespeare to present the supernatural as dangerously attractive but fundamentally harmful and 'against...nature'. Banquo is a lover of nature (1.4), and a kind father to his son Fleance, whereas Macbeth is the ambitious and insecure husband to a mentally unstable wife disturbingly obsessed with the pursuit of power. It is perhaps the comfort and security of the position Banquo holds - and his satisfaction with this position - which spur him to reject the witches as 'strange' and evil. As the play progresses we learn that Macbeth's life is unhappier than Banquo's, and it is this unhappiness and dissatisfaction with his status which causes his aquiescence. This interpretation suggests that Shakespeare is illustrating the supernatural to be the folly of the miserable man - the succumb to the supernatural symbolises a weakness of mind and a dissatisfaction with the natural. Therefore, Shakespeare presents Macbeth and Banquo as two opposing characters whose attitudes to the supernatural demonstrate their contrasting levels of mental strength to illustrate that the supernatural forces are inherently negative and a capitulation to these forces symbolises a disturbance of the mind. Shakespeare does, however, acknowledge that the forces are seductive and make attractive propositions. Yet he emphasises that these propositions should be rejected, for their rewards come at great costs to he who aquiesces, in accordances with the Jacobean beliefs he was understandably keen to uphold.
Thanks - you write at grade 9 understanding, and with grade 9 vocabulary, although some you misuse, not fully understanding it. Your summary of Shakespeare's purpose would probably get a grade 9, though I found it evidence of developed thinking, rather than really convincing exploration - so 29 or 30 out of 30! Can I publish this - I am producing a book of student essays.
Hello, I watched your videos when revising for gcse and ended up getting an 8 in each one, which really helped. However I am now taking English for a levels and struggling quite a bit, it would be very useful if you could possibly make some videos on essay writing at a levels or maybe some examples. At the moment we are studying othello, the great gatsby and poetry love through the ages. But Thankyou again for all the videos !
@mr salles normally says she is a theme rather than a character. Like eva, she is a construct to show the plight of the poor and the vast social divide
Hello, do you have any tips for learning how to structure paragraphs. It eats at my head and I start to doubt myself because I have trouble doing so. Also great video this helped a lot!
You're honestly the only person I watch for English Literature help because you always provide interpretations no one else ever thinks of and always include context! Thank you so much, I'm hoping to get a 9 in English lit and this will most definitely help. :))
@@MrSallesTeachesEnglish Hi Sir, your videos are so useful! Thank you for making these top quality videos. I had a question from your Macbeth guide, (page 13) How is it important that the Great Chain of Being is a catholic idea? and that King Henry, a protestant, destroyed all the monasteries in the country. the king at the time was brought up by a protestant life but had an interest in Catholicism. Please could you explain this for me!
This is actually perfect. I have my English Macbeth Mock exam in 8 days time. Your videos may just me my saving grace. Thank you Mr. Salles!
Great new style of video.
Thanks Alex, time will tell if it is worth the extra effort. I am interested to see if teachers will want to use them in lessons, so I am trying to make them more concise and easier to watch.
Mr Salles Teaches English Thanks for the great videos as always. For concise, information-packed videos, I really like this approach of taking key scenes in the play and scrutinising them, compared to taking a theme and picking out related parts of the text (of course that is important too). It’s much more easy to do revision with all bases covered that way.
Concise and full of info. Thanks for this aaamzing video sirr!!
Thanks, I'll stick with it.
For the 2021 exams, u think there’s a chance of witches coming up because the supernatural was already a question before
there are no exams anymore, if your school decides to do a mock it may be likely
Salles you need to do more videos like this for macbeth
Your practically my English teacher. I've purchased your books and have learnt a lot from your videos. Thanks 😀
Thank you! That is my plan, to make my videos good enough to learn from as though I were your teacher.
Just want to say thank you sooooo much for everything you do. Your hard work is so appreciated. I’m aiming for grade 8-9 and had no idea how I’d get there because I had no deeper knowledge of Macbeth. This guide seriously just took a weight off my chest and I finally feel like I can get there. Thank you sir.
Brilliant, thanks for the encouragement. I'll be releasing more in this series at the weekend.
King James: Yo, Shakespeare! Y are the witches speaking in trochaic tetrameter?! U making fun of me, Bro??
This is brilliant and I wish I'd found your channel a little bit earlier, you are so intuitive when it comes to understanding these texts! I was wondering what you would think of this essay I wrote in response to the Macbeth & Banquo opinions of the supernatural question (AQA) a few months ago. I'm aware I didn't structure it particularly well, and feel that I could've done better. I was wondering what you would think of it and what you believe I should improve in my technique. I understand you're incredibly busy, and I hope that you keep going with these wonderful videos - thank you so much for everything you've done for British students!
The Tragedy of Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare in the early 17th century to be performed in the court of King James I, Shakespeare's patron and notorious witch-hunter whose published treatise Daemonologie outlined his extreme views on the subject of witchcraft and the supernatural. The Tragedy presents the supernatural as being innately evil; a force which manipulates good men to perform dark deeds by playing upon their fatal flaws - in Macbeth's case, ambition. This depiction of supernatural forces reflects the attitudes of the contemporary audience, and suggests that Shakespeare's intentions were to please the King by pandering to this hatred.
This extract illustrates the effect the supernatural revelations have on an ambivalent Macbeth and on his good friend Banquo. Banquo rejects the witches' prophecies and warns Macbeth that the witches are likely 'instruments of darkness' who seek to 'win' their 'harm'. This astute observation is ignored by Macbeth, who has been deeply affected by the words spoken. Both men believe the witches; the difference between their attitudes lies in their willingness to act upon their predictions. Macbeth recognises that to become King, Duncan must die, and he immediately considers murder, a 'horrid image' which he sees as being 'against the use of nature' - an early implication that the supernatural is completely unnatural and fundamentally wrong.
Banquo consistently believes that the witches are a disturbance to the natural order and to peace, while Macbeth is tempted by the achievements they promise despite his awareness that the witches are an expression of 'darkness'. Their unquestioning belief in the legitimacy of the predictions is similar to the beliefs held by the Jacobean audience, and we are also encouraged to believe that the witches genuinely do hold supernatural power through Shakespeare's use of pathetic fallacy - associating the witches with 'thunder' and 'lightning' - and through the paradoxical chiasmus 'fair is foul and foul is fair' of the first scene - a chiasmus is a grammatical reversal, and in this particular context it may symbolise the reversal of Macbeth's character from heroism to regicide, or in a broader context the reversal of the natural to the unnatural. This concept of a rudimentary reversal is highly unnerving - even for an atheist audience, and the paradoxical nature of the statement encourages any audience to question their core beliefs of the meanings of what is 'foul' and what is 'fair'.
Shakespeare presents the supernatural as being both veritable and frightening. To Banquo the fright incited is dissuading and causes him to reject their enticements. In contrast, Macbeth is easily seduced by their words, in spite of his fear, in both this extract and the play as a whole. An clear example of Macbeth's attraction to the supernatural is that of the dagger apparition - perhaps the product of his traumatised thoughts acting in conjunction with his wife's emotional manipulation as a hallucinogen or perhaps a genuine expression of the forces of the supernatural - which, instead of discomfitting Macbeth so that he, like Banquo, rejects the bizarre, motivates him to kill the king. Macbeth's willingness to commit treason in accordance with the witches' predictions may imply a weakness of mind, but it is possible that it is the witches' hexes which have overborne better instincts through the exacerbation of his 'dark and deep desires'. Banquo was never the witches' target, so perhaps, had he been charmed as Macbeth had, he may not have rejected their temptations so easily and to these may indeed have capitulated.
Macbeth and Banquo have obviously contrasting attitudes to the supernatural - Macbeth's easy seduction and Banquo's easy rejection - which are used by Shakespeare to present the supernatural as dangerously attractive but fundamentally harmful and 'against...nature'. Banquo is a lover of nature (1.4), and a kind father to his son Fleance, whereas Macbeth is the ambitious and insecure husband to a mentally unstable wife disturbingly obsessed with the pursuit of power. It is perhaps the comfort and security of the position Banquo holds - and his satisfaction with this position - which spur him to reject the witches as 'strange' and evil. As the play progresses we learn that Macbeth's life is unhappier than Banquo's, and it is this unhappiness and dissatisfaction with his status which causes his aquiescence. This interpretation suggests that Shakespeare is illustrating the supernatural to be the folly of the miserable man - the succumb to the supernatural symbolises a weakness of mind and a dissatisfaction with the natural.
Therefore, Shakespeare presents Macbeth and Banquo as two opposing characters whose attitudes to the supernatural demonstrate their contrasting levels of mental strength to illustrate that the supernatural forces are inherently negative and a capitulation to these forces symbolises a disturbance of the mind. Shakespeare does, however, acknowledge that the forces are seductive and make attractive propositions. Yet he emphasises that these propositions should be rejected, for their rewards come at great costs to he who aquiesces, in accordances with the Jacobean beliefs he was understandably keen to uphold.
Thanks - you write at grade 9 understanding, and with grade 9 vocabulary, although some you misuse, not fully understanding it. Your summary of Shakespeare's purpose would probably get a grade 9, though I found it evidence of developed thinking, rather than really convincing exploration - so 29 or 30 out of 30! Can I publish this - I am producing a book of student essays.
@@MrSallesTeachesEnglish Yes, of course, that would be incredible - thank you so so much. I will look into the vocabulary, and thank you again.
@@bethesdagambotto-burke504 Thank you.
Hi Mr Salles, please could you update your playlists with all your new videos so that it is easier to find videos relevant to me. Thank you
Grazie per il tuo insegnamento!
what a king still helping me 4 years later
That was great
Hello, I watched your videos when revising for gcse and ended up getting an 8 in each one, which really helped. However I am now taking English for a levels and struggling quite a bit, it would be very useful if you could possibly make some videos on essay writing at a levels or maybe some examples. At the moment we are studying othello, the great gatsby and poetry love through the ages. But Thankyou again for all the videos !
Congratulations on your great results. I don't have time yet to make A level videos. I will in the Summer.
would you consider doing a character analysis on edna? im just scared if we ever get a question on her, we'd be screwed
@mr salles normally says she is a theme rather than a character. Like eva, she is a construct to show the plight of the poor and the vast social divide
Thanks! There's a 0% she will come up as a named character.
I have a mock in 22 days
Perfect
Thanks, this video was really helpful
Hello, do you have any tips for learning how to structure paragraphs. It eats at my head and I start to doubt myself because I have trouble doing so. Also great video this helped a lot!
Organise them in an order that proves your argument.
@@MrSallesTeachesEnglish I think it's just the fear of failure but I am happy you responded. Thank you!
Hi sir is it possible that i could send u an answer to a Jekyll and Hyde question??
Yes, but I may not have time to look at it properly
If it is possible can I send by email?
Hi Mr Salles. Is it possible for me to send you my answers to questions 1,2 and 3 from an aqa english language practice paper for you to mark?
This man is underrated
Amazing
You're honestly the only person I watch for English Literature help because you always provide interpretations no one else ever thinks of and always include context! Thank you so much, I'm hoping to get a 9 in English lit and this will most definitely help. :))
Thank you - I'm sure you will do brilliantly
How did you do? :D
roseannes so far I’m predicted a 9 and I got full marks on my Macbeth essay thanks to mr salles!!:D
@@meow-cv7xk ahh good job!! 🥺💓
roseannes thank you so much that’s really sweet 🥺. how is English lit going for you?? :D
Hey Mr Salles,
Thanks for the help at GCSE, doing A-levels now. Any chance you would make videos on Gatsby or Othello at all?
Not this year, sorry
Hi sir do you have any other videos of scene analysis?
I will do more
@@MrSallesTeachesEnglish Thank you
Thank you so much@@MrSallesTeachesEnglish
@@MrSallesTeachesEnglish Hi Sir, your videos are so useful! Thank you for making these top quality videos.
I had a question from your Macbeth guide, (page 13)
How is it important that the Great Chain of Being is a catholic idea? and that King Henry, a protestant, destroyed all the monasteries in the country.
the king at the time was brought up by a protestant life but had an interest in Catholicism.
Please could you explain this for me!
@@MrSallesTeachesEnglish do we need to know full analysis of all the acts as well as the scenes?
sir,i have emailed you my christmas carol revision guide on tes
Yes, I have advertised it for you on my Scrooge in 20 quotations video
how often are you going to be posting these videos of this new course?
Monday and Saturday, I hope
Cool tee shirt mr b!!
This is perfect for last minute revision. Thank you ever so much. You are honestly making my life so much easier in English!
Great to hear! Next in the series arrives on Saturday.
@@MrSallesTeachesEnglish Great! Will definitely give it a watch. :)