Lab 7

Rhetoric in Acts 1-2 of Macbeth

March 17, 2019

This week in Professor Waits English 1302 1st Period class, we discussed Act 1 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth on Monday and Wednesday. On Friday, we worked on our rough draft for our argumentative essay. In class, we spent time practicing acting exercises and reading lines for Act 1 of Macbeth. The readings for this week were Chapter 20: Using Sources pages 436-454. Rhetoric in Macbeth includes “Logos, Ethos, and Pathos, in his drive towards the throne of Scotland. In Act 1 Scene 4, Macbeth remains loyal to the king because his prophecy has yet to be fulfilled and humbly tells the king that it is them that owe the king and that their duty is to protect him. However, his conscience diminishes as one prophecy turns out to be true. In Act 1 Scene 7, in his soliloquy, Macbeth persuades himself out of the act of killing King Duncan through ethos and pathos. Wisely he uses the analogy, “drinking from the poisoned cup that we serve to others” (“Macbeth’s Rhetoric”).

This week I noticed rhetoric and argument in Act 1 and Act 2 of William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth.

Constructing my own Rhetorical Piece: Question/Problem: In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, how did Macbeth and Lady Macbeth not get convicted for the murder of King Duncan? Answers/Solutions: In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth got away with the murder or King Duncan by placing the blame on the guards, because they were direct access to the King making them easy targets.

Work Cited:

Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Folger Digital Texts, Edited by Barbara A. Mowat & Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library, http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/html/Mac.html. 

“Macbeth.” Enter Stage Right, Enter Stage Right, http://www.enterstageright.org/macbeth.html.

Saubhayana, Tim. “Macbeth’s Rhetoric.” Macbeth’s Rhetoric, 1 Jan. 1970, timapenglish.blogspot.com/2016/02/macbeths-rhetoric.html.