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Equivocation that Lies Like Truth:
Finding (or Creating) Evidence in Macbeth

Part of any convincing argument is the evidence that you can generate from the text to support your claims. This evidence can come in references to events in the play or to characters' actions; however, the most convincing type of evidence in any argument is direct textual citation accompanied by your own explication and interpretation that connects the quotation to your own larger claim. Your understanding of a particular point of dialogue or quotation may be influenced by your sense of how the scene is staged.

1) This exercise asks you to work with the others in your group in order to come to an agreement as to the two most important "statements" that the play is making about an issue, whether it be about the nature of kingship, ambition, violence, power, gender relations, sexuality, etc.

2) Once your recorder has written down these two "statements," then your group's task is to find in the Act assigned to you two quotations or examples of dialogue that supports your assertions about the play's "statements." Where in the Act does the play address what you feel is the key issue? Creative understandings of the play's language, imagery, or staging are, of course, encouraged.

3) The group must also outline how the evidence exactly supports your assertions by explicating the language of the text and by interpreting it in the larger context of your arguments. Each group will present what they come up with the the class in 30 minutes.

(Acts 1 and 2 are open for all groups to use for evidence).

---Please record your group's findings below and on back.---