Macbeth: A Journey

Student Activities

(lesson created in collaboration with Flory Mauriocourt, Ashland High School English Teacher & Katie Carruthers-Goodwill, Ashland High School Intervention Specialist)

1. Students will spawn in front of Macbeth’s castle and directly in front of Shakespeare, the narrator of the world, and the Ghost of Banquo, who teaches students about the literary devices used in Macbeth.
2. After speaking with Shakespeare, students will get the task for the world: Describe what can be learned about human nature through the character of Macbeth (there is also a link to the grading rubric). Students will also get a camera and portfolio that they can use to get photos of the characters they talk to and briefly describe the information they get from each character in their portfolio.
3. Students will then explore the world of Macbeth and talk to as many characters as they can find. Below are details about each location, including the coordinates in case students get lost.
   • Macbeth’s Castle (484, 84, -351) is focused on Acts 1 & 2 and contains 17 characters.
   • To Birnam Woods (300, 72, -182) is focused on Act 2 and contains 8 characters.
   • Birnam Wood Settlement (170, 66, -182) is focused on Act 3 and contains 10 characters.
   • On the way to Malcolm’s castle (just outside the Birnam Wood Settlement), students will be stopped by Hecate and will be teleported to the three witches (1047, 248, -141). Shakespeare will teleport the student, when they are done talking with the three witches, to just outside Birnam Woods (28, 72, -3).
   • Malcolm’s Castle (28, 72, -3) focuses on Act 4 & 5 and contains 10 characters. On the highest tower of his castle, students can find Malcolm and Shakespeare. Shakespeare will teleport students to the end.
   • The End (895, 190, -701) is a representation of Macbeth’s descent into madness. His castle is crumbling. This section focuses on Act 5 and various other pieces that directly to his downfall. The End has several Macbeths.
   • Throughout the world, students will encounter the Ghost of Banquo. He highlights the following literary terms with examples from the text.
     • Allusion, Dramatic Irony, Simile, Metaphor, Soliloquy, Tragedy, Personification
4. As students explore the world they will notice a counter on the right side of the screen. This counter will keep track of how many people they talk to and how many times they talk to them. By the end of the journey, students will have had access to 59 characters (all of these characters have names from other Shakespearean plays).
5. Students should be taking notes on what they discover and photos of characters that they can use to reference in their essays at the conclusion of the journey.
   • Teachers may want students to export their portfolios and submit those with the essays or they can be used as reference material for students as they write their essays.
6. The final step is to take students through the writing process of completing the essay topic: Describe what can be learned about human nature through the character of Macbeth.