Final Point 4

            Type "Macbeth" into any literary database and you will find yourself with a few thousand search results. As one of Shakespeare's most popular plays and as a part of Western literary cannon, there are no shortage of opinions surrounding the play. Critical essays range in focus from Shakespeare's homosexuality to the nature of suicide to exorcisms in the 16th century.  However, do  a little bit of digging and the "big" questions quickly come to the surface. These central issues have a lot of people talking in the scholarly conversation.  

Some of the most frequented subjects surrounding Macbeth are these:

-What role does inheritance and finding an heir play in the power struggle of Macbeth?

-What is the relationship between masculinity, power, and violence?

-How does the presence of Lady Macbeth's children advance her character and influence Macbeth's motives?

-How does the dynamic of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's relationship inform us about gender roles?

-How does the presence of a female English monarch, Queen Elizabeth, influence the play?

-What role do the witches play in Macbeth? Is their role one that is central to the play?

           For our edition, which we plan to cater to a 9th or 10th grade general English course, it is important to take into consideration the background knowledge, interest levels, and maturity of such an audience. With this in mind, we aim to create an edition that is challenging to students and presents them with adequate exposure to the conversations surrounding the text. And we hope to do this without having students check out at the first sight of a critical essay, and also without having any teachers coming after us with pitchforks. In fact, we think it is even possible to create such an edition that the student body and teachers enjoy together.

            Critical theory is an important part of English study and is beneficial to introduce to students even at the high school level. But as mentioned, our edition is for a lower level high school class so it is important for the articles to present a challenge while still being approachable for the students. For this reason, it would be beneficial to include several critical essays at the back of the text about the "big" questions, including masculinity and power, the witches, and the historical context.

            Another way to include these "big questions" into our edition is to incorporate them into the interactive "Did You Know?" questions as well as into the discussion questions included with the edition. A couple of examples being: "Did you know that several contemporary editions of Macbeth chose to omit the witches from the play?" Or, "Did you know Elizabeth I was one of the first female monarchs?" Discussion questions might ask: "Why does Lady Macbeth repeatedly mention her children? What effect does his have?" Or, "What does violence have to do with Macbeth's masculinity?" Including several critical essays will give the students the proper background knowledge to start thinking about these issues while the "Did You Know?" prompts and the discussion questions  get the students to form their own opinions and really engage with these big questions.  

Bibliography

Alexander, Catherine. "The Dear Witches: Horace Walpole's Macbeth." Ebsco. Review of English Studies,  n.d. Web. 1 May 1998.

Boyd, Catherine Bradshaw. “The Isolation of Antigone and Lady Macbeth.” The Classic Journal 47.5 (Feb 1952): 174-177+203. Print.

Dean, Leanard. "Macbeth and Modern Criticism." The English Journal. Vol. 47.No. 2 (1958): pp. 57-67. Print.

Rosenberg, Marvin. "Lady Macbeth's Indispensable Child ."The Johns Hopkins University Press. Vol. 26.No. 1 (1974): pp. 14-19. Print.

Wilson, Luke. "Macbeth And The Contingency Of Future Persons."Shakespeare Studies 40.(2012): 53 62. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.