| attitudes in the Renaissance. How do they compare? What are the dangers or limitations of relying on stereotypes? | |
| 2. | Write your own dialogue, using King James's treatise as a guideline, to debate or discuss the influence of the witches in Macbeth. How much power do they have? How evil or harmful are they? |
| 3. | Imagine yourself as a spectator at the North Berwick trial and write a response to it. Are the testimonies convincing? Do you believe the witnesses or question their credibility? |
| 4. | Newspapers and magazines are today's equivalent of pamphlets like News from Scotland. Provide your own newspaper coverage of the North Berwick trial, including several of the following: a report of the events, an editorial providing a commentary, a letter to the editor expressing public opinion (or two letters offering opposing opinions), a press release from the king, and an editorial cartoon depicting some aspect of the case. |
Haining Peter, ed. The Witchcraft Papers: Contemporary Records of the Witchcraft Hysteria in Essex, 1560-1700. London: Robert Hale and Co., 1974. Excerpted historical documents and edited summaries describing the experiences of "the witch county."
Hart Roger. Witchcraft. East Sussex: Wayland, 1971. A short study of the history of witchcraft, including illustrations and excerpted documents.
Lamer Christina. Enemies of God. The Witch-Hunt in Scotland. London: Chatto and Windus, 1981.
Miller Arthur. The Crucible. 1954. A modern play dramatizing the Salem witch hunts of 1692 and suggesting their relationship to political hysteria in the United States in the 1950s.
Thomas Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971. A comprehensive study of magic and witch- craft up to the end of the seventeenth century.
Wills Garry. Witches and Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth. New York: Oxford UP, 1995.
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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Understanding Macbeth:A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents.
Contributors: Faith Nostbakken - Author.
Publisher: Greenwood Press.
Place of publication: Westport, CT.
Publication year: 1997.
Page number: 114.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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