English Literary Heritage: Conflict

• BTEOTL you will have:

• All will have explored
how you will be assessed
for this controlled
assessment;
• Most will have considered
the two texts you will be
exploring;
• Some may have applied
the Assessment
objectives to the task.
 So to the question…
Explore the ways writers
present conflict in the texts you
have studied.
First text – “Macbeth”
by William Shakespeare
• Context of the play –
• England in the early
1600s
• Beliefs (Elizabethan
world order/Great Chain
of Being)
• Divine right of the King
• Superstitions and
witchcraft
 Who is in charge of Great Britain?
• This person can…
• Take our nation to war
• Propose new laws (that are passed by Parliament)
• Build or break our nation’s relationship with other
countries

• Is the regime we live under today the

same as it was in the time that
Shakespeare wrote ‘Macbeth’?
• Pairs: 3 minutes – What do you know about
life in the sixteenth century (especially
who was in charge of England!)?
 Watch carefully…
• We’re going to watch an clip from ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’.
• The social context for this story is similar to
that of Shakespearean England
• …and also the Scotland in which ‘Macbeth’ is
set.

• Your question: Why does everyone panic when

King Henry VIII falls off his horse?
 Conclusions?
• Shakespeare lived in a society governed by an
absolute monarch
• In an absolute monarchy it was believed that the
King (or Queen!) was appointed by God to rule part
of the world He had created.

• This was Known as

“The Divine Right of Kings”
 So what happens if the King dies?
• If he has a son (or daughter), God’s “chosen”
ruler is that person.
• If they die without an heir (as Henry VIII would
have done if the fall had been fatal)…?
• The greatest crime in Shakespeare’s time was
REGICIDE
• Regicide is murder of the monarch: rebellion
against God’s chosen ruler was seen as a rebellion
against God.
• In Shakespeare’s time,
society was viewed in
terms of the body
• At the head was…
• The arms were…
• The torso was…
• The legs were…
• Just like the body, if
any of these sections of
society wasn’t working
properly, it was feared
that disruption and
disaster would follow
The Great Chain of Being or The
Elizabethan World Order

You
are
Here
(Hopefully!)
 Simply Put…
• It’s a Ladder or Stairway of Nature
• It has a hierarchical structure of all matter and
life, believed to have been decreed by God.
• God, and beneath him, the angels, both existing
wholly in spirit form, sit at the top of the chain.
• Earthly flesh is fallible (likely to fail) and ever-
changing: mutable (capable of change). Spirit,
however, is unchanging and permanent.
• This sense of permanence is crucial to
understanding this conception of reality.
• It is generally impossible to change the position
of an object in the hierarchy.
• Each link in the chain might be divided further
into its component parts. In medieval secular
society, for example, the king is at the top (The
Divine Right of Kings)
 The Absolute Monarch

Nobility and Bishops (higher clergy)

Landowners

Middle classes (merchants, shopkeepers etc)

Peasants (agricultural workers,

tenant farmers, labourers etc.)
How is power and influence
organised in today’s society?
• Partners: 5 mins
• Create a diagram, using the
same structure as this, to
represent today’s society
• The person / group in
charge should be at the
top…
• How many different levels
can you identify and label?
A little social historical context to get
the brain bubbling

• You have 3 minutes to read the context

sheet you have been given in your pair
• Scan and Skim through and write down
three things on your card that you feel are
the key points being made
• Try and be detailed as you will be teaching
this to others in the class who have not seen
your source material.
 A little social historical context
Knowledge Exchange
Homework Time!
• Off you Due Wednesday
trot with 26th January
your key knowledge cards
• On theToback
research
try andthe social
collect historical
at least ONE key point
from each ofcontext
the otherofContext
MacbethHeadings:
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1. Gunpowder Renaissance
Time line England.
2. King
UseJames
theseI subheading to help you.
3. The Globe Theatre
You should present your
4. Historical Context of Macbeth
notes as a Mind Map!
5. Witch Craft
An Example of Mind Mapping