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Macbeth is a brave Thane (Duke in England)  in Scotland. At the end of a battle where his side win the war, he is given a new title.  With his best friend, Banquo,  he sees three witches who he doesn’t know who tell him he is Thane of Glamis, which he is; Thane of Cawdor, which he is but then they call him King - which he isn’t and cannot be as he isn’t an heir to the throne at all.  However, he writes and tells his wife, Lady Macbeth of the prophecy and she begins to plot how it could come true. 
Luckily the King, Duncan, is coming to stay at the Macbeths castle and she tells Macbeth that they will kill the King, blame it on his guards and take the throne.  So they do.
Macbeth’s power comes at a price - he distrusts all those around him especially Banquo who was there when the witches made the prophecy.  He has Banquo murdered to keep the truth from getting out and tries to kill Banquo’s son, Fleance.  Fleance escapes.  His conscience gets the better of him and he sees Banquo at a dinner in his own honour.  He becomes a tyrant, murdering those who stand in his way. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth is tortured by what she has done and cannot sleep, spending her nights sleepwalking until eventually she commits suicide.  
Macbeth decides to consult the witches again they tell him that he will be king until Birnam Wood moves and he won’t be killed by a man of woman born - meaning a forest has to move and the man who kills him won’t have be born from a woman. Sounds strange? Well Macbeth thinks so and decides to ignore these prophecies and the end of his reign begins. 
First a soldier reports the wood is indeed moving - those intent on getting rid of Macbeth, have camouflaged themselves with huge branches and are closing in on Macbeth’s castle to attack. 
They attack and Macduff, seeking revenge for the murder of his wife and son by Macbeth’s soldiers, finds Macbeth.  Macbeth still doesn’t believe he will be killed and shares the witches’ final prophecy.  To which Macduff tells him ‘ I wasn’t of woman born’ - Macduff was born by Caesarean section - cut from his mother at birth so wasn’t of ‘woman born’.  Macbeth realises his end is here and Macduff kills him. The end. 
Hope this helps 😊

English

Can someone simply explain the plot of Macbeth to me? I Cannot grasp it despite all I’ve tired; reading about it and asking numerous teachers. They just think I don’t pay attention in lesson? It just doesn’t stick.

Hi,

Sheila is initially presented as quite a naive and spoilt young woman whose only role in life is to be seen as a dutiful future wife to Gerald Croft.  We learn she, too, has had a hand, in the demise of Eva Smith and it was for a petty and shallow reason - she resented Eva for looking prettier than her in one of the outfits and believed Eva was laughing at her as she tried clothes on.  Her complaint about Eva led her to being dismissed from her job.

However, Priestley believed the younger generation had, in their hands, the ability to change the world for better, to help society become far more socially conscious of each other (he was a socialist).  So, along with her brother, she admits her wrongdoing, sees the error of her ways and shares the responsibility of Eva’s death by the time the whole story has emerged.  It is she who urges her parents to take some responsibility for Eva and, when her parents and Gerald think the inspector was a fake, is dismayed to see them return to the original self satisfied and selfish attitudes of the start of the play.  The return of an ‘Inspector’ is the reminder of the need for change or events will just repeat themselves and we won’t learn from our mistakes.  Hope this helps. 

How does Priestley present Sheila in ‘An Inspector Calls’?

Lady Macbeth is a complex character who uses her femininity and masculinity for different gains.  She is an atypical female antagonist - she is willing to use her very passionate relationship with Macbeth to get him to murder the King (treasonable act in Jacobean times); she belittles Macbeth, wheedles him and berates him in order to achieve her aim.  She believes wholeheartedly in Macbeth but knows he is not as resolute as she is.  She asks to be ‘unsex’d’ - to not be a woman - so she can commit the worst sin possible.  She is loyal and devoted to Macbeth and when he falters she tells him if he had asked her to kill a child they had she ‘would dash it’s brains out’ for him.  Ultimately though she is driven mad by her actions and commits suicide showing that she is possibly less hardened than we initially would have perceived. Her attributes, summed up, are loyal, brave, ambitious. She is also narcissistic, a liar and far less tough than we first imagine her to be. Long one - phew! 

I need help on my speech about the attributes of lady Macbeth. Can anyone help me describe those attributes??

Fear is presented through Scrooge’s character although initially it comes across as a miserly and negative attitude towards people and their foibles. As the novel progresses,  Scrooge’s fear of love becomes apparent from his own father’s rejection of him and his beloved sister’s death that then manifests in his own rejection of Belle and his nephew Fred.  His fear then becomes a real one when he realises if he doesn’t change his ways and stop being afraid of letting people into his life, he will die lonely and afraid. 

How is fear presented in a Christmas carol

To override something is to place your response above another one as the priority. For example James decides the group would go and watch ‘The Grinch’. However Joanne decided on ‘Wreck it Ralph’ and overrides James’s decision.
To overreach is to not quite meet the expectations you set yourself because you weren’t capable of that standard.  For example I had overreached myself in setting a target of Grade A.

General

What is the difference between overreaching and overriding?

Through the four ghosts - Marley, Ghost of Christmas Past, Ghost of Christmas Present and Ghost of Christmas to come.  The supernatural is meant to represent the conscience Scrooge is lacking - they remind him of who he was, who he became and what will happen to him if he carries on.  They also serve a a window into society for him and that he, and others like him, are responsible for perpetuating the cruel and dangerous attitudes towards the poor and vulnerable

How is supernatural shown in A Christmas Carol as a whole?

"Up as though upon an anchored balloon"
"I'm glad it's a girl..."
...a long song..."
"...men sell the wedding bells..."
..."after a short flight around the house."
Fitzgerald has this running through his work and it adds the poetic sense of the events both horrific and beautiful. 
‘So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.’ Nick Carraway narrates just before Myrtle is killed. 

What are 5 assonance quotes from "The Great Gatsby"?

Haiku - 17 syllables, three lines of 5/7/5, no rhyme scheme.

Tanka - 31 syllables and traditionally one straight line but can be split into 5/7/5/7/7.  Oldest form of japanese poetry.  Used to evoke a moment or end an occasion.  

Structurally there is little similarity other than being short fixed verse but their purpose in focusing the reader and sharpening their attention through considered word choices are. 

How is the structure of the haiku and the tanka similar?

Look at the adjectives - gloomy and dingy and sooty.  What effect do they create? Would you want to be there? 
It uses repetitive phrases ‘half thawed, half frozen’ - this emphasises a state of waiting - like limbo. 
The ‘heavier particles descended’ creates a sense of no escape.
Overall it’s miserable and reflects the mood of the piece.  Hope this helps.

Could someone please help me with analysing “The sky was gloomy, and the shortest streets were choked up with a dingy mist, half thawed, half frozen, whose heavier particles descended in a shower of sooty atoms, as if all the chimneys in GreatBrit...

If you mean persuasive language techniques used on the Non Fiction paper then FORREST could help.
F - Facts
O - opinion, personal or expert
R - rhetorical questions
R - repetition
E - emotive or powerful language
S- statistics
T - triples or Rule of three.

What gains higher marks is the ‘Why?’ - why has the writer used that method to convince or persuade you.  If you need anymore help, post again 😊

Jaimee Beevers

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