STRUCTURE

INTRO- overall interpretation- consider what the playwrights were trying to say,
think about the context and impact on the audiences of the time.
POINT OF COMPARSION 1
POINT OF COMPARISON 2
POINT OF COMPARISON 3
CONCLUSION

Point: All writers draw on aspects of the supernatural to explore the theme of authority.
Evidence and analysis:

Macbeth the witches Act 1, scene 1 how much do they control the tragic outcome?

Context:

New Elizabethan superstitions arose due to the fear of witchcraft and the persecution of
witches. Women were those most often accused of being witches! There were 270
Elizabethan witch trials of 247 were women and only 23 were men! During the
Elizabethan era people blamed unexplainable events as the work of witches
The 19th century is routinely thought about as the era of secularisation, a period when
the disciplines and institutions of modern science were founded and cultural authority
shifted from traditional authority of religion to explanation through the scientific
exposition of natural laws.

Similar to The Crucible

Point: The idea of supernatural- has authority to control the outcome of peoples lives
Evidence and analysis
Context: Salem witch trials
The key themes in The Crucible are concerned with how the characters respond to the
Puritanical theocracy in Salem and the consequent mass-hysteria that is generated during the
Witch-hunts. Millers themes remain relevant beyond the world of Salem. Indeed, he
intended The Crucible to be a commentary on reactionary and oppressive communities at any
time in history - including the United States during the fear and paranoia of the McCarthy and

Point: Both the main female characters are presented to seek authority through
ridding themselves of their feminitity. When the audience is first presented with the
character of Lady Macbeth, she craves the power she requires in order to kill the
king.
Form: soliloquy (reveals most inner thoughts)
Evidence:

Too full of the milk of human kindness

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear

Analysis: Milk natural is what she is asking for natural? Link milk to innocence.
Context:

Killing the king would have been against the belief in The Great Chain of Being:
The medieval idea of an Ordered Chain of Being constituted a grand "unified
theory," actually a belief system: the Elizabethans believed in a hierarchical
ordering of all existence from heavenly bodies to a hierarchical ordering in
society with a semi-divine monarch at the head to a hierarchical ordering of
human physiology and psychology.

Similar in form to Abigail in the Crucible Different to Analysis: Characters contrast as when we are first introduced to them, Lady M is
presented as somebody desperate to be evil, suggesting a powerful character. She