Page 35 - Year 11 Knowledge Organiser

English Literature: 'Macbeth’: 1 of 3 English Language: Non-Fiction Writing: 2 of 3

Keyword Definition Question: How does Shakespeare present Lady Non-fiction (Transactional) Writing – Text types Pearson Paper 1,

Playwright The writer of a play. Macbeth? AQA Paper 2
Speeches Letters and Formal Emails
Audience The people watching the play. • A speech is often made to argue or persuade your • Letters and formal emails are usually addressed to a specific person.
Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as evil
Soliloquy A speech by a character, usually on stage alone, speaking their thoughts when he uses the declarative, stating that she audience • They are likely to be written to persuade or inform someone. You might be
aloud. would have “dashed the brains out”. This cold • Think about who your audience is – you might need to applying for a job or telling them about an issue in the world. You might also be

Rhyme A word or syllable that has a similar sound to another. delivery, coupled with the violent imagery hints • adapt your tone and the content to suit them • writing to complain about something
When writing a speech, think about how you open it to
The tone and words you use are important here. You must be as formal as
Theme The subject/ ideas portrayed. Also known as the topic, subject or a motif at Lady Macbeth’s own personal anguish. She is grab the audience’s attention and how you engage them possible and as clear and direct as you can be
a woman who is angry and frustrated and once with your points • Get to your points quickly and organise your paragraphs so your reader can
Regicide The act of killing the king. • Order your points to build your argument and come to a easily follow your arguments.
given something to focus on transfers all that
Ambition A strong desire to achieve something. built-up rage into it. Lady Macbeth is shown by • logical conclusion at the end • The opening and closing to your letter or email are important as they show that
you are writing in a formal way: always start with ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ or ‘Dear
Directly address your audience – you might want to
Tragedy A play dealing with tragic (sad) events and having an unhappy ending, Shakespeare to be strongly emotional, open with ‘I am here today to talk to you about’ or Mrs Kane’
especially one concerning the downfall of the main character. passionate and ambitious; these act almost as ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’. • You don’t need to include addresses, dates or email addresses at the top of the
her hamartia leading to her eventual suicide in • Use rhetorical questions and/or repetition to really letter
Hallucination Picturing something that is not there.
act 5. Shakespeare’s portrayal of Lady Macbeth is make your points and make the audience think
Supernatural Things which are not logical in this physical world, such as visions and done to shock the audience, she is a character
witches. contradicting Jacobean gender expectations of a

Tyrant An evil, villainous ruler. woman. It is this sparking of emotion in • Articles and Blogs • Reports • Reviews
Articles and Blogs are usually informational and are telling
Reviews are your opinion and
Reports are more formal than
Shakespeare’s audience that builds his successful readers about a certain topic based on your own opinions articles and are putting across a thoughts on a topic
Heir Next in line to be king.
career as a playwright as he understood the • Think about your audience – blogs may be more key point or opinion • They may be less formal than
Equivocate Not telling the whole truth. (The witches do this. They are emotions and interests of his seventeenth informal but you should still use sophisticated • You need to maintain a articles but you should still use
language
formal tone
formal language
equivocators.) century audience. • You don’t need to worry about splitting your writing • You will also need to organise • You need to make sure your
Couplet Two successive lines of poetry. into columns but you might want to include sub- your report logically and you opinion is balanced and you
Remember to consider what, why, how headings may want to use sub-headings might want to include some
Iambic Ten syllables organised into five pairs. when answering all literature questions. • You will need to organise your article show that it flows and/or bullets to help organise good and some bad points
pentameter logically and makes the points clearly your ideas • Think about your reader and
• You might want to include statistics and/or other what they might be interested
Blank verse Un-rhymed lines of poetry, usually written in iambic pentameter. opinions to enhance your own arguments in