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Macbeth: 12th Grade English: Witchcraft during the Elizabethan Era

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Shakespeare Research Presentation Assignment

Witchcraft during the Elizabethan Era

Witchcraft in Elizabethan England

Use this list of questions to guide the creation of your PPT slides.  Synthesize the information provided for you on this page to answer the questions.

  • Did people in Elizabethan England believe in witches? Magic?
  • How do we know?
  • Why do you think Shakespeare chose to feature the three witches in Macbeth?

Optional print source

Explore: Science and superstition p. 56 - 57

Character analysis: The witches in Macbeth

King of England, Hunter of Witches: James I

Primary source

British Library Collection Item:

The Discovery of Witchcraft by Reginald Scott 1594 

It is widely believed that Shakespeare had read Scot and that the book is one possible source for the witches of Macbeth, the mock trial of King Lear, and for Bottom’s transformation and the hobgoblin character Puck or Robin Goodfellow in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Bibliography

Works Cited

Altherton, Carol. “Character Analysis: The Witches in Macbeth.” British Library, 19 May 2017, www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/character-analysis-the-witches-in-macbeth. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

Chrisp, Peter, and Steve Teague. Shakespeare. Rev. ed., New York, DK Pub., 2004.

King of England, Hunter of Witches: James I. Narrated by James Wright, Gresham College, 2015. YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs4kqUWIOsY. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

Levin, Carol. “Witchcraft in Shakespeare’s England.” British Library, 15 Mar. 2016, www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/witchcraft-in-shakespeares-england. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

Scot, Reginald. “The Discovery of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot, 1584.” British Library, www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-discovery-of-witchcraft-by-reginald-scot-1584. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.