Students read literary and informational texts about ambition and failure. Students understand that conflicts serve as the basis of a text’s meaning and that identifying the internal and external conflicts of a story reveals the motivations of complex characters. They express their understanding of how characters advance a plot and develop a theme and how literature reflects real-life situations in which conflicting motivations propel humans to act in different ways.
Culminating Writing Task
How does the development and interaction of characters in Macbeth build a central idea and reveal a theme?
To answer this question:
Select one of the central ideas of Macbeth (e.g. the corrupting force of power, the manipulating forces within relationships, the effects of pride.)
Trace the development and interaction of characters in the play.
Determine the outcome and impact of their development and interactions.
Examine how that impact shapes and refines the selected central idea to reveal a theme.
Write a literary analysis using proper grammar, conventions, spelling, and grade-appropriate words and phrases.
Cite several pieces of strong and thorough textual evidence to support the analysis, including direct quotations and parenthetical citations (in MLA format.)