In this WebQuest you will be working together with a group of students in class. Each group will answer the Task or Quest(ion). As a member of the group you will explore Webpages from people all over the world who care about Evil in Literature. Because these are real Webpages we're tapping into, not things made just for schools, the reading level might challenge you. Feel free to use the online Webster dictionary or one in your classroom.

You'll begin with everyone in your group getting some background before dividing into roles where people on your team become experts on one part of the topic.

Phase 1 - Background Information
Use the Internet information linked below to answer the basic questions of who? what? where? when? why? and how? Be creative in exploring the information so that you answer these questions as fully and insightfully as you can.

1. An Etext as well as an audio version of Macbeth is provided for you. You will be evaluated from time to time on your understanding of the concepts necessary to ensure that you fully understand Shakespeare's intentions. These validations will come in the form of essays, quizes and tests.

• An Etext of THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
• THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH in RealAudio

Phase 2 - Roles
INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Individuals or pairs from your larger WebQuest team will explore one of the roles below.

2. Read through the files linked to your group. If you print out the files, underline the passages that you feel are the most important. If you look at the files on the computer, copy sections you feel are important by dragging the mouse across the passage and copying / pasting it into a word processor or other writing software.

3. Note: Remember to write down or copy/paste the URL of the file you take the passage from so you can quickly go back to it if you need to to prove your point.

4. Be prepared to focus what you've learned into one main opinion that answers the Big Quest(ion) or Task based on what you have learned from the links for your role.

HEAVEN AND HELL:

• Heaven and Hell

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to HEAVEN AND HELL:

1. Shakespeare uses the imagery of Heaven and Hell to create a sense of good and evil. Locate the following passages from the play and discuss and then record the intended meaning for each:

Act I scene iii line 107
Act I scene iii line 124
Act I scene vi lines 3-8
Act I scene vii line 7

Act II scene iii lines 1-3
Act II scene iii lines 67-69
Act II scene iii line 30
Act II scene iv lines 4-6
Act II scene iv line 41


2. I have located examples from Acts I and II to get you started. Now locate examples from the remaining three acts that Shakespeare uses as imagery for heaven and hell.

DARKNESS:

• Darkness, a sign of chaos

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to DARKNESS:

1. Shakespeare purposely uses darkness as a sign of chaos in the play. More specifically this reference is intended for evil characters or setting. Understanding this imagery will lead you to understand the intended use of disorder in the next quest. Acts I and IV have extensive uses of this, so now you must locate the following passages, discuss the relevence and record what is intended.

ACT I
Language describing Macbeth
Macbeth as an agent of order
Description of Scotland

ACT IV
scene i- the witches cave
scene i- the witches' appearance
Macbeth consulting with the witches
Macbeth murdering Macduff's family
Macbeth creating chaos in Scotland
Language describing Macbeth
Scotland under the rule of Macbeth
Description of the witches
Macbeth as an agent of disorder
Description of Scotland

2. Now locate atleast five more examples of Shakespeare's use of darkness as it applies to the play.

ORDER AND DISORDER:

• Order and Disorder

Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions specifically related to ORDER AND DISORDER:

1. Discuss and then record how each of the following applies to the play:

Elizabethan order in the 17th century
Monarch ruling by divine right

2. Shakespeare shows when the rightful place of things is upset, then everything is upset until the situation is returned to normal. Describe and record how Shakespeare describes the following:

When Macbeth murders Duncan
Scotland not at peace until Malcolm is crowned

3. Discuss, describe and record how Shakespeare shows great disruption caused by Macbeth's crime:

Daytime in Scotland
Birds behavior
Animal behavior

4. Discuss, describe and record how Shakespeare shows there is no order under Macbeth's rule:

Witches
Evil ambition

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Phase 3 - Reaching Consensus
You have all learned about a different part of Evil in Literature. Now group members come back to the larger WebQuest team with expertise gained by searching from one perspective. You must all now answer the Task / Quest(ion) as a group. Each of you will bring a certain viewpoint to the answer: some of you will agree and others disagree. Use information, pictures, movies, facts, opinions, etc. from the Webpages you explored to convince your teammates that your viewpoint is important and should be part of your team's answer to the Task / Quest(ion). Your WebQuest team should write out an answer that everyone on the team can live with.

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Conclusion

Now you have seen how through the use of imagery, most notably heaven and hell, darkness, and order and disorder Shakespeare creates a feeling of evil. This holds true for the real world once you examine history. Your WebQuest will now help you make the connection between what you have realized in THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH and how this universal them of evil relates to a real world situation in history.
Now that the picture of your puzzle nears completion, continue to put together the final pieces in order to view the big picture.

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Content by Ralph A. Bucci, rbucci@browardschools.com http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/webevilinra.html Last revised Wed Feb 6 8:51:36 US/Pacific 2008