Practice Question: Macbeth Is Responsible for His Own Downfall

Macbeth - Writing the Text Response Essay

Practice Question: Macbeth is responsible for his own downfall.

Planning the essay:

Step 1: Underline key terms that you think are are essential to understanding the question

Step 2: Brainstorm associated words that share a similar meaning to the key terms you’ve underlined in the prompt.

Step 3: Brainstorm as many ideas that you can think of when you consider the essay question. Consider the essay question from all points of view. Don’t settle for just the first ideas that come to you.

Step 4: Once you’ve listed all your ideas, rank them in order of which ones you would most like to use in the essay through to the ideas that you think you’d be least likely to use to answer the question.

Step 5: Write a one sentence statement that answers the question using the best ideas you’ve brainstormed. In a text response essay you can agree, disagree or partly agree with a question. It’s up to you. The only rule is that you need valid ideas and evidence to support your position. Remember to use the key terms of the question in your statement.

For example: Macbeth’s downfall is due to his own ambition, the manipulation of other characters around him and the influence of fate.

Key Point: The one sentence statement is the most crucial part of the planning process. This statement becomes your Contention. The purpose of your essay is to prove that your contention (your point of view) is accurate. Without a contention you don’t have an essay. Writing the Intro

The goal of the intro: - To establish your contention which is responding to the question. - To briefly outline the ideas you will be discussing in your body paragraphs.

Key Tip for writing the intro: Use the key terms of the question in your introduction. This will force you to answer the question and reduce storytelling and waffling.

Key Tip 2: Keep your intro short and to the point. Don’t waste time retelling the plot. Just make sure you answer the question. Three sentences is a good length for an introduction.

Sample Intro

William Shakespeare's legendary tragedy, Macbeth, follows the rise and fall of one man from heroic figure into despicable villain. Amidst all the bloodshed and scheming for which the play is famous, Shakespeare explores the various factors that contribute to Macbeth's ultimate destruction. Throughout the play, Shakespeare makes it clear to the audience that Macbeth's own actions, driven by his ambition for power, are crucial reasons for his collapse, however the role of fate and the influence of those closest to him are also significant factors.

An opening sentence that gives a broad introduction to the text that is being discussed. Contention- this is my answer to the question in front of me. Outlines main ideas I plan on discussing in the body paragraphs of the essay. Writing the Body Paragraphs

Key Rule to Remember: One idea per paragraph. Each body paragraph should focus on one idea at a time. Students often lose easy marks because they chop and change ideas in the same paragraph. If you think of a new idea, it goes into a paragraph of its own.

Key Components of a Body Paragraph

Topic Sentence: States the main idea that paragraph will be discussing. Key Tip for the topic sentence: Use the author’s name in the topic sentence as well as the key terms of the question. This will help you avoid getting sidetracked and storytelling.

Explaining Sentences: Two or three sentences that expand and flesh out the main idea of the paragraph in your own words.

Evidence: Now that you’ve stated your idea and explained it in your own words, it needs textual evidence for support. Textual evidence is most commonly a key quote but can also be a symbol or literary device that’s used in the text.

Key tip for your evidence: Keep your evidence short and to the point. Evidence should not be more than a sentence. Copying out a big chunk of the text and pasting it into your essay will not impress the teacher. Be selective with the quotes that you use. Using shorter quotes demonstrates to the teacher that you’ve actually thought about the evidence you’re using rather than just putting something down at random and hoping for the best.

Explaining the Evidence: In your own words, write a sentence explaining how the evidence you’ve just provided supports your idea. Key Tip for Explaining Evidence: Evidence by itself is useless. All evidence needs to be explained. Never assume the teacher will know why you’ve added a particular quote to your paragraph. Part of your job is to explain the evidence and what it tells us about the text.

Link Sentence: A concluding sentence to wrap up your paragraph. Your link sentence should restate the main idea of the paragraph and how it supports your contention. Sample Body Paragraph

From beginning to end, Shakespeare makes it clear that ambition is one of the driving forces behind Macbeth's rise and fall. It is ambition that transforms the honourable and heroic Macbeth into a scheming and paranoid villain that betrays not only his King, but those closest to him. All of Macbeth's noble qualities, which his compatriots celebrate at the beginning of the play, are quickly scrapped as his ambition takes over his personality. Macbeth openly admits that "I have no spur to prick the sides of my content but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself." (Act I Scene 7 Line 25-27). Even as he contemplates murdering Duncan, Macbeth acknowledges that his actions are wrong, however it is his ambition that compels him to continue. Although other factors play a role in his demise, there can be little doubt that it is Macbeth’s own "vaulting ambition" that fuels his ultimate downfall.

Topic Sentence. The idea I’m aiming to discuss in this paragraph is how Macbeth’s ambition led to his downfall. Note that I’ve used the author’s name as well as ‘like terms’ related to the question. Explaining Sentences: In my own words I’m explaining how Macbeth’s ambition contributed to his collapse. Evidence: Textual evidence to support my argument that ambition caused Macbeth’s downfall. In this paragraph I’ve included the Act, Scene and Line Number, however this isn’t necessary for the SAC. Explaining the evidence: In my own words I’m explaining what the quote actually means and how it supports my argument that ambition caused Macbeth’s downfall. Link sentence: My concluding sentence that restates my argument that ambition was a critical factor that led to Macbeth’s destruction. Note that my topic sentence and my link sentence both sound very similar. This tells me that I’ve answered the question and stayed on topic without drifting off topic. The Conclusion

Purpose of the conclusion: To restate your contention and quickly sum up your ideas.

Sample Conclusion The blame for Macbeth’s descent from noble hero into bloodthirsty villain can attributed to a number of factors. Shakespeare demonstrates first of all that Macbeth’s insatiable lust for power and unceasing ambition drives him commit more and more heinous actions which lead to his downfall. Beyond Macbeth’s own desires, Shakespeare also points out that Lady Macbeth’s manipulation fuelled her husband’s ruin while the influence of fate placed Macbeth on the path to disaster.

Restating my contention. Summing up the ideas that I discussed in my body paragraphs.

The Next Step Continue this essay by writing the second and third body paragraphs. Use the sample paragraph above to build your own paragraphs.

If you’re unsure on how to start the body paragraph here’s a really simple sentence starter that you can use:

The second factor that contributed to Macbeth’s downfall was...

Putting it all together You’ve seen sample paragraphs and had a go at writing your own. Now use the skills you’ve started to develop by planning and writing an essay that responds to one of the following questions:

1. How is Macbeth a tragedy? Discuss.

2. The play Macbeth is a statement of evil. To what extent do you agree?

3. The Witches are most powerful characters in this play and are the cause of all Macbeth’s crimes. To what extent to you agree?