Subject: Macbeth and his lovely bride

Posted by Tim Joy on 1/30/2010

Message:

Just the last few days, English IV students at De La Salle North read through "the Scottish play," Macbeth. About a third of the way through, as students foundered on the relative guilt of Macbeth and his diabolical queen, I drew a graph on the board that represents the changes in guilt for both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Along the x-axis, I noted key events in the first third of the play; along the y-axis, I plotted a crude "low-med-high" scale to represent the approximate level of GUILT. The lines on the graph were generated by student input, but took a while.

There followed about a 15 minute discussion on the changing guilt of our royal pair. There was considerable disagreement, especially as Macbeth began plotting Banquo's death. Some students noted that Lady Macbeth began to have regrets almost immediately, though she was clearly the one who poured her "dire spirits" into him. Students referred to the text. Many were uncertain about the moment when Macbeth's guilt evaopated. The iconic graph allowed them to visualize something they previously had struggled to articulate.

As a quick strategy, it seemed to work. I am wondering what other disciplines use these, and then to what extent the class follows up with the reference behavior with an attempt at causal loops or a stock-flow diagram. If you would, please share your story and the BOTG.

By the way, I could not figure out how to paste the jpeg or the pict file into the message field. If someone can and run a test, I'd be grateful. I would love to share the image more readily than an attachment.

Please feel free to critique!

Tim Joy