Chemistry IA IDEA 2016

Since the IA days are coming, I have few thoughts of how to design a good chemistry IA...

Personally I think you should centre the investigation around the topic of rate of reaction. It is fairly easy to do and you can investigate a number of variables that affect the rate like temperature, concentration, catalyst... etc.(but just do one as the independent variable)

To visualize the rate of reaction, I think you should focus on the reactions that involve colour change and precipitation... You can find the equations of the colour change of transition metal compounds (e.g. KMnO4 turns from purple to colourless, etc.) first and then design then experiment based on the particular reaction. Techniques to change temperature such as water bath can be applied if you are doing the reaction with the independent variable of temperature. 

Reaction based on precipitation is easy to carry out too. There are two ways to find the experiment. First, try to recall the experiment we did in IGCSE that involves precipitation (e.g. CO2+Ca(OH)2 produces solid CaCO3, etc.) and then design the experiment based on this. Second, you can use data booklet to find insoluble salts and then search for the reactions that produce these salts. You can compare the rate of reaction in different conditions based on the time for the precipitate to appear.

Preliminary experiments are VERY important for the rate of change IAs, so if you have time please carry out a few... 

Anyway good luck to y'all!! Go get a 7!!

Cheers

Charles

Site update-Chemistry IA idea coming soon!

Chemistry IA idea coming soon.
I've got few good ones.. Now I'm checking the reliabilities of these experiments.

English A SL Textual analysis LEVEL 7 20/20

Textual analysis-4

High school students demand wars in easier to find countries.

This text is an online satirical article that was originally published on a satire news website. As one of the most unique, yet controversial text types, satire has it own strength in mocking, criticising and even ridiculing a trending phenomenon through its comedic tone. In this text, the author focuses on the fact that there’s an increasing number of American high-schoolers who are in lack of basic understandings of the world. Therefore one of his major purposes is to introduce this social phenomenon to the audiences and thus let them realise this prevailing problem. Moreover, the author does not only point out the problem but he also uses a satirical tone to mock the high schooler's ignorance and self-centered attitude.He also calls up the rest of the society to reflect on the causes of this undesired phenomenon.  As the bottom of the text suggests, the article was created around the early twenty-first century, where one of the hottest topics was American deployment’s military action in the foreign countries. Therefore to a certain extent, this article could be interpreted as the author’s dissentient response to the “invasion” in “obscure countries”, which he tries to convey the audiences that the war will have a negative impact on the teenagers. The potential audiences of the text are majority American internet users who seek for entertainment, and as it suggests, the other notable purpose of the text is to amuse and entertain the readers. 

The author applies a range of stylistic devices to enhance the text’s comedic feature. One of the most prominent techniques in the text is the use of contrast and juxtaposition. From the first look, the layout of this text is similar to common news report format. If the audiences don't know the nature of the publication media, they might treat this text as the normal journalist report from standard news agencies. The author achieves to establish this deceptive look by imitating the minor details of the articles on broadsheets and tabloids. For instance, the author gives a brief introduction of the interviewer’s background right after their words to enhance their occupations and ages, which is also a common feature on the standard news reports. The effect of using the parodic structure is targeted to deceive the audience’s sense temporarily, which misleads them to think that they are reading an actual news report rather than a satire from the first glance. Consequently, they will feel more amused and entertained when they read the absurd content due to the ironic contrast. The purpose of entertaining the audiences is delivered through the vivid use of the parodic structure. 

Juxtaposition is another key technique that is widely applied in the text. The title, for example, parallels the irrelevant term “high school students” and “demand the war” to provoke a sense of irony. This arrangement challenges the audience’s common sense as “demand the war” is a complicated and crucial process that only the leaders of the nation can decide. Moreover, in audience’s stereotype, “high school students” do not show particular interest in politics. Therefore using this title provokes their curiosity and engages their attention, and hence they will show interest in reading the rest of the article. Juxtaposition also delivers a strong sense of devastating humour by joining contradictory objects together, for instance, the phrase “invade Tallahassee (FL)” serves to show the absurdity of the teacher’s solution to the phenomenon. The verb “invade” means to take military actions in foreign land, which is inappropriate to use in front of a domestic city. Moreover, invade has negative connotations and it is commonly used to depict enemy group. The author uses this phrase to show the teacher’s ridiculous perspective to mock the existing education system. Moreover, “teachers” are supposed to be the one who corrects the student’s mistake and misunderstandings, however, in this case, they become the group who supports the student’s preposterous suggestions. The contrary really highlights the comedic effect of the article, and it also leads the audiences to reflect on the possible causes of this ludicrous phenomenon. 

The use of humorous language is also a key feature in the text. The author uses a range of homonyms or geographic terms with similar spellings to show that high schoolers are in lack of basic understandings of the world. One example of this use is in the first paragraph, where the author states that the high school students are not able to distinguish “Australia” and “Austria”. These two countries has similar sound and spelling, but geographically they are totally different. The youngster’s misinterpretation highlights their ignorance of basic knowledge, which allows the author to mock and criticise them. Moreover, the author choose not to specify the high school students in purpose. He addresses them using the term “a delegation” to show the generality, which implies that the phenomenon is a national problem that occurs all across the country. The author intends to use this phrase to reveal the inevitable failure in education, especially in subjects like geography. Apart from underlining the student’s ignorance in basic understandings of the world, the author suggests that they have absurd perspectives. He gives an example of one high schooler mixes up the reality and computer games to show that the upcoming generation fails to interpret and understand the world they are living. It is also ironic that he is able to memorise such a long, tedious and complicated name of a fictional character but not able to know the real countries in the world. The author persuades the audience to recognise the problem caused by advancement in technology among the teenagers, and hence leads them to reflect and come up with practical solutions. 

The author establishes the high school students as self-centred individuals to address their attitude problems. While responding to the person who corrects his misunderstanding, one high schooler uses the phrase “yeah right” to suggest his carefree impatient and even a bit of anger, which in author’s perspective, are common among the high school students all over the country. The author uses the figure he established to represent and exaggerate the bad habits on an average high school student to mock the youngster’s problematic attitude, while exaggeration also adds on comedic elements to the text. Similarly, the line underneath the picture highlights and mocks their self-centred attitude from an alternate perspective. The use of the question mark delivers a strong sense of confrontation to the audiences, which highlights the high school student’s strong desire in deciding where the war are. However, their appeal seems to be contradictory to the audience’s common sense as waging the war is a pivotal decision that can only be done by supreme officials. This irony highlights the student’s misinterpretation of freedom, which also reminds the readers that the existing education system do not perform well on shaping the upcoming generation. 

Overall, the text uses an informal, comical tone to discuss a social phenomenon over that period of time. The tone of the manner creates a relatively casual atmosphere, which facilitates the authors to persuade the readers to recognise and reflect on this undesired trend among the youngsters.

Link to the original article: http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/geography.shtml

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IB English A textual analysis sample 2 LEVEL 7

English textual analysis 3-Obama ISIS

This text is the script of president Obama’s national speech on the ISIL group, which he addresses as “a terrorist threat” in the text. The speech was made and broadcasted live on the tenth of September, 2014, which is one day before the thirteenth anniversary of September 11 attack, and therefore the main motive of the text resonates with the anti-terrorism theme of the memorials and tributes. In particular, it condemns the militants brutal acts and shows the government’s dedication in eliminating terrorism. President Obama states the widespread fear the extreme Islamic group has stirred recently to imply the potential threats the United States might be facing in the future, which is targeted to alert the audiences the presence of terrorism and prepare them for the potential danger. Furthermore, the text was written on the period when president Obama struggled to carry out his healthcare reformation and his plans to revive U.S. economy, and therefore identifying a common enemy would be helpful to regain the trust from the citizens and unite them together around the government. The primary target audiences of this speech are the domestic citizens of America and America’s allies. The speech also seeks for international attention from other foreign sectors because of its universal topic. Obama achieves these purposes by using a range of devices that are discussed on the following content. 

As a propaganda, one of the most prominent feature of the text is the use of pronouns, which creates a sense a separation and even provokes the confrontation between the good and the evil. President Obama uses “we” and “us” to address America and American citizens, which enhances that the government and the citizens are facing the same situation. This could help to overcome the burdens between the authority and the citizens to regain their trust, especially during a difficult time. Furthermore, using “we” and “us” could be regarded as the example of Plain Folks technique, which uses a folksy approach to inform the audiences their responsibilities in the fight against terrorism. Hence they will pay more attention to their surroundings and report the potential threats to the officials, which prevents the occurrences of deadly attacks in the future. The purpose of alerting the citizens is achieved by referring them as “we” and “us”. For ISIL, the president uses the pronoun “they” to signify that the group stands at the opposite side of “us”, which brings out a sense of confrontation to convince the audiences the necessity in fighting the war against terrorism. “They” also shows that the group is isolated from the mainstream, which uses the bandwagon effect to gain the audiences’ support to eliminate terrorism. The pronoun “they” develops further in the text to “it” to dehumanise the group due to its brutality. The effect of using “it” suggests that the nature of ISIL is cruel, primitive and savage , which gives the audiences the impression of a group of barbarians who aim to destroy other cultures. As the result, the audiences will unite together around the government to protect the achievements of civilisation by supporting the counterterrorism war. 

The text also exploits the public’s fear of terrorism to achieve its purposes. It uses name-calling technique to attach negative labels to the ISIL group, for example, addressing it as a “radical group” and “terrorist organization”. These hateful labels help to provoke the terror among the audiences, which further explains to the public why does the government insist on carrying out the air strikes against ISIL even though it promised to withdraw most of the troops from the Middle East. Considering the speech was made one day before the thirteenth anniversary of the 911 attack, these sensitive labels will lead the audiences to recall their devastating memories of that day, which enhances the great consequences circumstances if the nation fails to eliminate terrorism. Moreover, president Obama uses repetitive structure and triplets in the text to intensify the horror ISIL has done so far. The sentence “they execute capture…genocide” condemns their brutal acts, and the repeating “they…they…” structure serves to impact the audiences. And therefore these disturbing facts will leave a permanent mark in audiences brain, which facilitates the author to call up them to join the movement of antiterrorism. The triplet “enslave…rape….enforce” shows ISIL’s abuses towards the women, which again reveals the evilness of the group. To a certain extent, president Obama might address this line to the issue that a number of girls decide to join ISIL voluntarily to be fighters’ wives. He intends to use the cruel facts to scare, and hence persuade the girls who have the similar thoughts. The order of the verbs represents the three phases of being subjugated. “Enslave” means there is no physical freedom while “rape” shows that the ISIL group has no regards of dignity or morality. “Enforce into marriage” escalates the group’s ridiculousness to a higher level as they simply disobey their victims’ wills and treat them as feelingless objects. These three verbs help to sketch a horrible picture of the lifestyle in ISIL territories, which would raise the audiences’ sympathy towards the victims and firm their belief in fighting against terrorism. 

Rather than focusing on the international impact of the group, president Obama changes his focus to reveal how does this group threaten the life of the American citizens to provoke more fear among the audiences. He states that “thousands of foreigners” have “joined them in Syria and Iraq” and could try to “carry out deadly attacks”. The number “thousands” signifies the large amount of the potential terrorists, which attracts the audiences’ attention and alerts them to be prepared for the possible attacks. However, it is a vague and ambiguous statement as it is only an estimation from the intelligence community. The real number of the foreign fighters, especially the American ones is unidentified, and hence “thousands” could be regarded as a hyperbole to exaggerate the circumstances of the potential harm, which is targeted to show the importance and necessity of taking counterterrorism acts outside of America. The adverb “deadly” suggests the massive scale and casualty of the potential attacks, which promotes fear among the audiences and hence prepare them to be ready to respond to the events. Focusing on the domestic impact would make the audiences feel more relatable and see their roles in fighting against terrorism. Consequently, they will take the responsibility of observing and reporting the potential threats. 

President Obama promotes patriotism and heroism to placate the terrified crowd, which also balances the tone of the text. The use of the adjectives “strength and resolve” is an example of glittering generalities, which means it uses fancy words that have little or no real meaning. The phrase “strength and resolve” doesn't signify anything in practical in fighting against terrorism, but it effectively promotes the audiences’ pride and patriotism and hence makes them feel that they are responsible in eliminating terrorism. When briefing the outcomes of the air strikes, president Obama uses the perfect present tense “have…protected” to show the attacks’ long lasting positive effect, both regionally and internationally, which pacifies the audiences’ growing terror by showing them the achievements on the frontline. This also firms the audiences’ confidence in winning the fight against terrorism, which ultimately helps to government to rebuild its image and regain trust from the audiences. The alteration “decisive difference” shows the global leading role America plays in counterterrorism, which effectively provokes the reader’s national pride and patriotism. The “d” sounds primitive and powerful, which symbolises America’s great military power and its pivotal position in eliminating terrorism, showing the audiences that the troops are reliable enough to eliminate terrorism. The examples of heroism and patriotism contrast with the fear president Obama provokes in pervious, praising the contribution of the troops in stabilising the word while placating the public’s growing fears. 

Overall, considering the political background of the text, president Obama applies a range of propagandistic techniques to deliver his purposes and manipulate the public’s attitude towards counterterrorism. The implication of patriotism and heroism effectively arises the audiences’ interests towards the text and makes them feel more relatable, facilitating the author to convey his ideas to them. 

18/20, level 7

IB English A textual analysis sample 1 LEVEL 7

Textual Analysis 1       theonion.com 

The text I’m going to talk about is originally published on The Onion, which is a satirical website known for its effort in deriding and ridiculing the trending social phenomena, and hence the text type of the article is a journalist online report. However, the text disguises as the journalist news report, which juxtaposes with its absurd information to deliver a strong sense of mockery, the choice of format also resonates with the theme of comedy of the text. The major purpose of the text is to encourage people to start conserving natural resources by exaggerating the consequences of not to do so, which resonates with the context of global warming, population growth and resource depletion. The text also implies how critical the situation is, which urges people to give more attention to the environments. The targeted audiences of the text are mostly online readers who seek for entertainment rather than the actual news, and hence the satire format and the comedic tone will help to attract their attention and provoke their reading interest, which helps to convey the messages of the text. 

From the first look, the layout of this text is similar to common news report format. If the audiences doesn't know the nature of The Onion, they might treat this text as the normal journalist report from standard news agencies. The text has all the details of a journalist news report, for instance, the publishing time and place. These elements are visually deceptive, which blur the nature of the text and manipulate the audiences’ first impression towards the text. However, the author fills in the structure with absurd content to remind the readers that the text is not for informative uses. Moreover, this extreme contrary provokes a strong sense of humour, which resonates with the comedic tone of the text and conveys the purposes in an amusing way. The author uses a preposterous oxymoron “die” and “civilisation” to point out that the major discussion of the text is based on how to kill people to make our civilisation sustainable, which shocks the audiences and attracts their attention. On the hand, the title resonates with the contexts such as environment destruction and global warming, which implies that the article has the intention of discussing these serious issues apart from bringing the audiences laughter. To enhance the comedic theme of “how to die”, the author uses death related words such as “die” and “killing off” throughout the passage. The repetition also provokes a sense of emergency, which underlines the author’s firm belief of carrying out the liquidation in order to achieve the sustainability. The phrase “how they want to die themselves” delivers a strong sense of irony through the contrasting terms “want” and “die”. Perhaps the author uses this phrase to warn the audiences that death is better than living in the future if we don't start thinking of environmental issues now, and hence the purposes of encouraging the audiences to conserve the resources and protect the nature are conveyed. The line “die slowly, quickly, painfully, or peacefully” uses adverbs to state the options for the audiences to end their lives, which is really absurd as no one wants to die willingly. The author uses this phrase to imply that the destruction in environment equals to the destruction in mankind, which resonates with the theme of resource conversation. The caesura between each adverb slows down the pace of the sentence, which offers the audiences time to reflect on what they’ve done wrong and what they can do to alleviate the environmental issues. These absurd, bizarre and ridiculous contents use exaggerations to show the consequences of ignoring the environmental destructions, which will have a strong impact on the audiences and persuade them to protect the nature. This message is delivered in a humour tone through the uses of oxymoron and juxtaposition, which suits the text’s satirical format and attracts its targeted audiences who seek for a source of entertainment. 

Since the article is based on the research outcomes of a group of scientists, the author shows some scientific applications in text. However, the main purpose of the scientific content is to accentuate the comedic feature of the text, since most of them are ridiculous and impractical. The line “2 billion dead…fossil fuels” suggests a way of renewing resources on earth, which sounds really professional and believable. However, it is impractical in real life as the formation of the fossil fuels requires really long time and extreme weather conditions. The faulty scientific reasons behind the massacre plot implies that the outcomes of the research are fake, which serves as a plot twist to calm the audiences down after reading the title. Moreover, it adds on comedic elements to the text, which emphasises its humorous tone. In other cases, the author states the real scientific information but gives it a wrong interpretation or solution. For example, he discusses the issue of the “destruction of global environmental systems in heavily populated regions”, which is an universal problem facing by most of the governments. However, the author addresses the “scientific solution” to this issue as “half the world’s progeny will have to be sterilised”, which is a ridiculous method that contrasts with the nature of science. The first part of the statement serves to introduce the issue to the readers, which conveys the purpose of showing the critical environmental situation and hence persuades the audiences to participate in the conservation activities. The second part, which is apparently the scientists’ interpretation to the issue, actually serves to add comedic elements to the text, moreover, it provokes the humorous responses from the audiences, and hence they will more likely to accept the messages delivered. To highlight the implication of science, the author introduces the fictional scientists in a formal way, which includes their names, institutions and researching fields. On the other hand, these titles accentuate the ridicule and derision theme of the text, which highlights the author’s joking manner. 

The other prominent feature of the text is the use of graphology. The author uses a relatively big space to display the photo to attract the audience’s immediate attention, and hence the majority of them will choose to look at the picture first before read the actual article, which means that the picture will manipulate the audience’s first impression towards the text. The event depicted in the photo is some sort of important news events, and the large number of microphones on the table suggest the event is highly recognised by the media.The spokesman in the white coat suggests that the text is related to science. After receiving these information, the audiences might use their imagination to interpret the purpose of the text. Moreover, the spokesman and the accompanied ladies’ facial expressions are serious and worried, which imply that the text is written based on serious issues. Therefore by the time the audiences start to read the passage, their pre knowledge and interpretations to the text will mislead them to think that the text is an actual news report, which accentuates the effect of contrary and resonates with the comedic theme of the text. The use of the quick poll at the back offers the audiences a chance to interact with the author, which makes their reading experience more personal and amusing. On the other hand, the absurd options really enhances the humorous tone of the text, which helps the author to deliver the message more effectively as it has some permanent impact on the audiences.

Overall, the text conveys the message of conserving the resources and protecting the earth in a satirical manner through the uses of irony, exaggeration and juxtaposition.Moreover, the text provides the audiences an amusing reading experience through the vivid uses of humour and comedy, the audiences will more likely to accept this profound message beneath the ridiculous and absurd outlook of the text. 

Link to the original article: http://www.theonion.com/article/scientists-look-one-third-of-the-human-race-has-to-27166

Final mark: 19/20 Level 7

Macbeth IOC script-ACT 1 SCENE 5 (commentary style)

Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5 IOC script

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play follows the life of a fictional Scottish Thane Macbeth to show the themes of treason, vengeance, super nature and witchcraft. Furthermore, this play is considered as a propaganda player to please King James the first who was originally born in Scotland.

Before Act 1 Scene 5, Macbeth defeated the traitors and invaders who threaten King Duncan’s Kingship. After the battle he meets three witches along with his best friend Banquo, the witches gives Macbeth the prophecies that he will be the Thane of Cawdor and eventually the king. King Duncan decides to reward Macbeth’s service by entitle him as the Thane of Cawdor, which makes Macbeth start to believe these prophecies. He thereafter writes a letter to lady Macbeth to explain what has happened, which leads her actions in Act 1, Scene 5.

At the start of the scene, lady Macbeth confesses her ambition to overtake the Kingship but fears that Macbeth’s loyalty will stop the plan.The line “yet do I fear thy nature” confirms that she’s worried of Macbeth’s kindness will stop him from the murder. “Yet” and the caesura at the front also help to reveal the change of lady Macbeth’s mind. Considering this is the first time Lady Macbeth appears on the stage, her uncommon features which contradicts to the typical image of an ideal woman serve as a shocking factor to the audiences, and hence they will start suspecting lady Macbeth’s behaviour, which increases their overall interest to the play in an direct way. Moreover, her contradictory characteristics add dramatic elements to the play. The imagery (?) “milk of human kindness” visualises the inheritance of humanity through the generations, moreover, it shows the audiences Macbeth’s other personalities such as kind and loyal apart from being a brave warrior. One of the main conflict of the play “Macbeth’s guilty conscience battles against his faulty ambition” is implied and settled. The metaphor “catch the nearest way” brings out the idea of “murder the king” to the audiences. We know that during Shakespearean’s era, Great Chain of Being is one of the fundamental principles of society and murdering the king is regarded as the sin against God, however, lady Macbeth tries to fulfil her ambition by breaking the Great Chain of Being, which shows the ruthlessness and burning ambition within the character. Her in lack of human nature even makes the audience to suspect whether she's the fourth witch or not. The metaphor “golden round” might refer to the crown in lady Macbeth’s speech, she actually makes the direct reference to what she wants to do, foreshadowing what might happen in the future, which brings up the murder scene naturally.

Shakespeare uses conditions “wouldst” a lot in the first part of lady Macbeth’s speech. “Wouldst” is a second condition which suggests what is going to happen in the future. The repetition of “s” sounds in this word makes it hard to say, which brings up a sense of uncomfortableness to the audience. This unnatural flow of sounds could probably refer to some supernatural characteristics within lady Macbeth, which is signified by the line “pour my spirits in thine ear.” This is a very strong imagery which links to supernatural power and even witchcraft. Lady Macbeth wants to manipulate Macbeth to accomplish her mission, her dominance in their relationship serves as a shocking factor to audiences’ stereotype, which helps to shape her unique personality in the play. The “spirit” imagery links to lady Macbeth’s “conjuring up the spirits” act later in this scene. 

By the time lady Macbeth realises that King Duncan is coming tonight, she immediately calls it “great news” in front of the messenger because it is their honour to host the king and the nobles. However, she might refer to the great opportunity to carry out the murder in their own castle. The ambiguity with the words helps to add more tense and dramatic effects to the play. On the following speech, lady Macbeth emphasises the feature of supernatural elements in the play with the help of dark imageries. “Raven” symbolises death, gloom and grief, which might foreshadow King Duncan’s death. “Raven” links to witchcraft sometimes so we can argue that lady Macbeth is actually seeking for three witch’s help to accomplish the mission. The powerful imagery of raven reflects to the dark side of her personality. She also asks the ‘spirits” to “unsex’ her, which means taking the feminine nature away from her. This line shows that lady Macbeth is really determined to get what she desires and would pay any price to do it. She prays that she could be strong like a warrior persuade Macbeth to do the “deed”. Her conjuring becomes even more powerful when she wants the spirits to “make thick of my blood” and “take my milk for gall’. The first imagery suggests that she wants to transfer from a human to a strong creature that can’t be controlled by the “kindness of human nature”. She prays that she could plug up any feelings of conscience and remorse because these are the major obstacles to prevent Macbeth and her “done the deed”. The second request seems to be darker. “Gall” is a type of poison which kills people instantly and lady Macbeth wants it to replace the milk in her breast. The use of juxtaposition brings out two contradictory objects “milk” and “gall” to emphasise Lady Macbeth’s relentlessness and her in lack of human nature. Moreover, the imagery of milk can be linked to the quote “milk of human kindness” which Lady Macbeth suggests in previous, which shows that she completely disregards the inherited “human kindness’, she is driven by her faulty ambitions. Lady Macbeth’s characteristics can be read as a tragedy in morality and Shakespeare uses her as an example to warn the audiences how does the false desire transfer a person. The alliteration “murdering ministers” shows that she wants the most evil things to help her get the job done, which shows how relentless she is. The “m” sound within the words brings up a sense of conjuring and cursing to the audiences, which builds up a gloomy, dark but intense atmosphere.

The major purpose of this scene in the play is to establish Lady Macbeth’s figure and to bring out the idea of “the murder”. The scene acts a bridge to link the previous story and the future events in the play, the audiences will have a more clear understanding of the characters and the story itself.

Macbeth IOC script-ACT 1 SCENE 7 (commentary style)

Macbeth IOC 

Act 1, Scene 7

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play follows the life of a fictional Scottish Thane Macbeth to show the themes of treason, supernatural and witchcraft. Furthermore, this play is considered as a propaganda player to please King James the first who was originally born in Scotland. 

In previous scenes, Macbeth defeated the enemies who threatened King Duncan’s kingship. Shortly after the battle, he met three witches who gave him prophecies alongside with his close friend Banquo. Macbeth wrote a letter to lady Macbeth to explain what has happened to him, which ignited her faulty ambition of overthrowing King Duncan. She persuaded Macbeth to murder King Duncan but Macbeth was unsure whether he had to commit this sin or not. Therefore in Act 1 Scene 7, the main conflict is based on Macbeth’s mental confusion. This scene serves as a turning point to the plot and signifies Macbeth’s indecisive mindset before committing the murder, which highlights his complicated personality, and therefore the readers will have a better understanding of the character. 

 Shakespeare starts off the scene using an example of second conditionals “were…were”, which highlights that Macbeth is debating the murder over in his head. This quote emphasises Macbeth’s indecisiveness and confusion at this stage of the play, which reminds the audiences his complicity of the character. This inner conflict within Macbeth’s head also adds on dramatic elements to the play, which engages the audiences’ attention. The adverb “quickly” implies Macbeth’s fear towards the murder as he doesn't want this bloody memory to stay permanently in his mind. However, this line is quite ironic as the murder has a huge impact on Macbeth and completely changes his character. Considering the context of this play, Shakespeare might try to remind the people who scheme to threaten the King’s reign the harm evil does to the criminals themselves. The metaphor “trammel up” provokes an image of capturing fish into the net, which implies that Macbeth wants to capture and take control of all the possible consequences. On the other hand, this line reflects that Macbeth is actually worried about the potential consequences of committing the murder, which links to the idea of the Great Chain Of Beings that has strong influence at that point of time. In people’s common belief, everyone has a fixed position, or order on earth that can’t be changed. King is the representation of God on earth, and hence committing sins to the King equals to violate God’s will. Once the chain is broken, nightmares will be falling and the earth will be in chaos. Macbeth addresses “consequences” to these undesired problems, which shows his fear of committing the murder, highlighting his confusion on hesitation. The notable sibilance “surcease success” makes the phrase hard to say, which delivers a sense of uncomfortableness to the audiences, signifying Macbeth’s mental conflict over the murder. His fear arises even more as the phrase “teach bloody instructions…even handed justice” suggests. The literal meaning of this line is if Macbeth commits the murder, the same tragedy will happen on him, which reflects on his fear and terror. Furthermore, it emphasises how difficult it is for him to make the decision when taking account in these “consequences”. The first section of the soliloquy dedicates to show Macbeth’s indecisiveness when it comes to murder the King caused by his fears over potential consequences, the audiences will hence have a more comprehensive view of the character. 

The turning point of the soliloquy comes after the phrase “To our own lips”, and on the following part of the soliloquy, Macbeth states why it would be the right move to end King Duncan’s life tonight. As his “Kinsman”, “subject” and “host”, Macbeth’s main responsibility is to protect the King himself, which contrasts to his scheme of murdering the King, arising dramatic effects to the play, engaging audience’s interest. Moreover, it illustrates how does the evilness and faulty ambition corrupt the character’s mind, warning the audiences don’t lured by the supernatural power. The fact that King Duncan “hath borne his faculties so meek” shows King Duncan trusts Macbeth deeply, and hence it makes Macbeth’s betrayal more vicious and unforgivable. Furthermore, this phrase helps to establish a positive imagery of King Duncan indirectly, highlighting his virtues such as humble and loving. The audiences will really feel that there’s no reason to kill such a reputable king, which makes Macbeth a completely evil figure whom should be condemned. Even Macbeth himself agrees that Duncan is a virtuous man who deserves all the best from the heaven. The phrase “his virtues…angels” brings out the religious connotation of after life, which resonates with the theme of “the Great Chain Of Beings”. Perhaps Shakespeare also implies that Macbeth’s biggest fear is his afterlife if he murders the king. The simile “like a naked new born baby” compares the King to the babies, which highlights the purity within his character. The audiences, hence, will have more pity towards the King and more condemnation towards Macbeth for planning to kill such an innocent figure. 

Lady Macbeth’s appearance later in this scene contributes to persuade Macbeth to commit the murder. Shakespeare uses a rhetorical question “why have you left the chamber” to highlight her determination of overthrowing the King, the phrase also enhances her domination in their relationship, which helps to establish her independent, manipulative character. When Macbeth confesses to her that he doesn't want to discuss this topic any further, lady Macbeth attacks him for the sake of changing his mind. Shakespeare uses rhetorical questions repetitively to show how badly she wants to get the murder done, which contrasts to Macbeth’s indecisiveness, arising tensions and adding dramatic elements to the play. Lady Macbeth uses the colour imagery “green and pale” refers to Macbeth as a coward in order to provoke the anger within him. She knows that once Macbeth unleashes his anger and follows his ambition, he could be the relentless warrior on the field and commit the murder. Her persuasion of power and domination in relationship really make her an unique character, or an exception of the stereotypes during Shakespearean time. The audiences might regard her as the main villain who causes the series of tragedy at this stage of the play. 

The major purpose of this scene is to highlight Macbeth’s confusion while emphasising lady Macbeth;s role in the murdering incident. The audiences might get a deeper understanding of the characters and the plot. Overall, it serves as the bridge to link up the “scheme” and the “action”. 

Macbeth IOC script-ACT 3 SCENE 2 (commentary style)

ACT 3 SCENE 2

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play follows the life of a fictional Scottish Thane Macbeth to show the themes of treason, vengeance, supernatural and witchcraft. Furthermore, this play is considered as a propaganda player to please King James the first who was originally born in Scotland. 

This extract is from Act 3 Scene 2. In previous scenes, lady Macbeth successfully persuaded Macbeth to kill King Duncan and they are now the King and Queen of Scotland. However, Macbeth is worried that others might overthrow him like what he did to the King and starts suspecting his subjects. He regards his best friend, Banquo, as a big threat because of the prophecy and he believes Banquo knows he was responsible for killing the king. Hence, despite their brotherhood on the battlefield, he sent the murderers to kill him and his son. On the other hand, the relationship between Macbeth and lady Macbeth has become increasingly distant from each other. Lady Macbeth gives up the domination position and begins to regret what they’ve done in order to get what they have now, as she is tired of living life in “doubtful joy” and wants her old husband back. Macbeth seems to show less care to lady Macbeth and starts to hide secrets from her, which also can be seen in this extract as Macbeth didn’t want to tell her the plan directly after he dispatched the murderers. Overall, this scene serves as a turning point in the plot as it reveals the transformation in their personalities and the change of the dominating position in their relationship. Moreover, it shows the beginning of lady Macbeth’s discontent with her current life and will foreshadow her descent into madness that is revealed later on in the play.

Lady Macbeth uses “you” instead of the less formal, more familiar “thy” to address Macbeth at the start of the scene, which implies that the relationship between them has become more formal and distant compare to the one they had before. Moreover, this personal addressing might suggest that lady Macbeth regards Macbeth differently from the previous scenes. He becomes a more dominant and distant figure who is no longer approachable for lady Macbeth, perhaps Shakespeare tries to inform the audiences implicitly that something went wrong in their relationship. The phrase “keep alone” suggests that Macbeth tries to separate himself from others; probably he is brooding over what he has done. Even though there is distance between lady Macbeth and Macbeth, she still tries to tell Macbeth what to do like she used to, however, her tone has softened with more polite and formal selection of words. “Using those thoughts which…what’s done is done” suggests that she is persuading Macbeth to forget the past and move on. To wrap up her thoughts and feelings, lady Macbeth uses the phrase “what’s done is done” to persuade Macbeth that he can’t change the past, and hence the best way to live life without guilt is to simply let all the bad thoughts go. Her notable effort in comforting Macbeth probably suggests that she notices the change in his character after the murder, and she wants to help him get out of the misery because she misses the old Macbeth.  Ironically, lady Macbeth is the one who goes crazy because she can’t let go the guilt later in the play. This contrary adds on dramatic tension to the play, engaging the audiences’ attention and interest. 

Macbeth’s emotionless response contrasts with lady Macbeth’s heartfelt consolation, which highlights that he is in full control of their relationship now. The metaphor “scorch’d the snake…not kill’d it” uses the imagery of “snake” to represent Banquo and his son, Fleance. Macbeth regards Banquo as his biggest threat now despite the days they used to fight together on the battlefield. He believes that Banquo suspects him as the murderer, which Shakespeare implies i previous scenes, furthermore, he is afraid that Banquo will do the same thing to overthrow his power. Moreover, at this point of time, we have reason to believe that Macbeth trusts witches’ prophecies so much because they all turn to be true. To maintain his kingship, he has to kill Fleance who is promised to be the king. Macbeth gains his power by murdering the righteous King, and he confesses that he is afraid of others “teaching bloody lessons” to him perviously, which makes him live his life under endless doubts and fears. Shakespeare implies his madness to the audience by showing he is over sensitive and paranoid of anything that could possibly reveal him as a killer or overthrow his power. The negative cognation behind the word “snake” probably suggests Macbeth’s deep fear towards Banquo, which makes him to send the murderers. The notable alliteration “scorch’d snake” uses “s’ sound to create a sense of uncomfortableness, provoking a vicious atmosphere on the stage, foreshadowing the upcoming murder. 

Macbeth confesses to lady Macbeth that he lives life in fear using the phrase “In the affliction of these terrible dreams”. “Terrible dreams” might refer to the nightmares he experienced after murdering King Duncan, showing Macbeth’s fear and regret over what he has done to get the crown. On the other hand, the “terrible dreams” might imply that Macbeth is scared of his enemies who are going to do to him the same thing he did to Duncan. The audiences might link his fears and worries to the phrase “teaching bloody instructions” that he mentioned in previous scenes, which highlights his insecureness and foreshadows his personality transformation. The metaphor “restless ecstasy” symbolises the murder and its long lasting impact on Macbeth and lady Macbeth. Moreover, the noun “ecstasy” suggests a sense of madness, which reflects to Macbeth’s current mind state. The line “Duncan is in his grave…fever he sleeps well” shows that Macbeth is jealous of King Duncan because the dead man can rest in peace now but Macbeth still has to live in turmoil. Shakespeare recalls the “sleep” image which first appears in Act 2 Scene 2 to emphasise that Macbeth has lost his inner peace. Shakespeare uses this section to illustrate the mixed feelings within Macbeth’s brain, which implies that he lives live in fear and doubts after the murder. 

Although Macbeth is not willing to reveal his whole plan to lady Macbeth, he givers her clues which implies Banquo’s assassination. The line “let you remembrance…Banquo” adds on dramatic tension to the play because it foreshadows Banquo’s death. However, since only the audiences know the assassination plan which lady Macbeth doesn't know, they might laugh at this point of time, which adds on some comedy content to the play. Furthermore, Macbeth asks lady Macbeth to toast Banquo and respect him without revealing any further details, perhaps he’s giving hints to what is about to happen. We can view Macbeth’s decision of keeping the murder secret as a way to protect lady Macbeth, because he knows that she can’t afford another malicious loss.They still love each other, but they can never be as close as what they used to be. Macbeth confesses to lady Macbeth about his mental condition through a strong imagery “full of scorpions is my mind”. Macbeth’s mind is being stung by scorpions which are scary and poisonous creatures, showing that his brain is messed by multiple feelings: guilt, remorse and regrets that he has to face. These “scorpions” is accompanied by his apparent success in becoming the King of Scotland, which Shakespeare implies the idea of “what goes around comes around”, warning the audiences that the sinners will eventually pay their prices. 

Macbeth makes some direct reference to Banquo and his son, Fleance in the line “thou know’t that…lives”, which gives another big hint of the murder. Lady Macbeth perhaps behind to suspect something is up, while she replies with “nature’s copy’s not eterne..assailable” which means that Banquo and his son are not going to live forever. She might try to free Macbeth from the worries that Banquo gives him based on the witches’ prophecies. Shakespeare uses strong imagery to create a dark, frightening and mysterious tone of Macbeth,  for instance, the use of the “bat” and “beetle”. All of this insect imagery represents a dreadful deed that is being done soon. However, when lady Macbeth tries to dig in and ask for more information, Macbeth cuts her off by referring her as the “dearest chuck” who doesn’t need, or deserve to know the plans in depth. It emphasises the dramatic change in their relationship domination roles, showing that everything’s under Macbeth’s control at this point of the time. 

Macbeth IOC script-ACT 2 SCENE 2 (commentary style)

ACT 2 SCENE 2

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play follows the life of a fictional Scottish Thane Macbeth to show the themes of treason, supernatural and witchcraft. Furthermore, this play is considered as a propaganda player to please King James the first who was originally born in Scotland. 

In previous scenes, Macbeth defeated the enemies who threatened King Duncan’s kingship. Shortly after the battle, he met three witches who gave him prophecies alongside with his close friend Banquo. Macbeth wrote a letter to lady Macbeth to explain what has happened to him, which ignited her faulty ambition of overthrowing King Duncan. She persuaded Macbeth to murder King Duncan. After going through a series of mental conflict within his brain, Macbeth committed the murder, but he immediately regretted it. His worries and guilt overwhelm in this scene while lady Macbeth tries to calm him down and let these memories disappear. This scene reveals Macbeth’s mindset after overthrowing the King, which helps the audience to have a more comprehensive understanding of the character. Moreover, Shakespeare emphasises lady Macbeth’s effort on soothing Macbeth, which contrasts to the plot taking place later that she’s one who can’t get over the murder. This contrary adds dramatic elements to the play, engaging the audiences’ attention and interest. 

Shakespeare brings out the religious connotation to start off the scene, linking to the popular belief of “the Great Chain Of Beings” during that era. According to “the Great Chain of Beings”, every individual has their fixed position on earth and if this order is violated, nightmares will fall. The righteous King is the representation of God on earth, and hence murdering the King is regarded as against God’s will, which makes Macbeth an unforgivable sinner. Shakespeare implies this idea using the line “I could not say Amen”, which reveals how scared and regretful he is after betraying the order and killing the King. Alternatively, Shakespeare might imply that Macbeth’s is abandoned by his religion as the punishment of his horrendous act. The alliteration “hangman’s hands” provokes a strong imagery of King Duncan’s corpse, visualising this striking, impactful scene for the audiences. Moreover, the “h” sound of these two words conveys a creepy, depressing atmosphere of the murder scene, which resonates with Macbeth’s fears and worries. From the audiences’ side, the religious content will make them feel more relatable to the plot, engaging their attention and interest. 

On the other hand, lady Macbeth tries to let him forget what has happened. Her initial response to Macbeth’s worries is “Consider it not so deeply”, which is an example of imperatives. The use of imperatives make lady Macbeth sounds more dominant in their relationships, which helps to establish her manipulative character. Furthermore, this short response contrasts with Macbeth’s long, monotonous lines, which implies her nonchalant attitude towards King Duncan’s death. Her unceasing effort of calming down Macbeth is signified by the line “These deeds…make us mad”, which tells Macbeth the potential consequence of keeping these thoughts in mind. Ironically, it foreshadows lady Macbeth’s tragical transformation. When the play develops, the audiences will find out that she is the actual one who loses her mind because of these bad memories. It contributes to arise dramatic tension to the play while serves as a shocking factor to engage audiences’ attention. 

Despite lady Macbeth’s effort, Macbeth’s worries continue to grow. His hallucination “Methought I heard a voice…murder sleep” highlight how fearful he is when committing the murder, which reflects his inner guilts and regrets. ‘Sleep” was very important in Elizabethan era as people believed it would cure life’s problems and provided an getaway after a long day of labour. Sleep is a reward for all the toils of life, and as a result of their bad deeds they have lost the right of natural sleep, their conscience won’t let them rest and they are deprived of all sleep. Macbeth’s condemned sin disallows him to escape from the tortuous memories, which foreshadows his transformation from a warrior “full of human kindness” to a cruel King. For the audiences, the symbolism of “sleep” makes them feel more relatable to the content as this was a popular idea during that time. To highlight Macbeth’s complicated feelings at this stage, Shakespeare uses repetition “shall sleep no more” to provoke a strong sense of regret and guilt within the character himself, which implies that Macbeth believes there is no way for redemption and he will live under endless terrors for his entire life. Macbeth’s emotional response contrasts with lady Macbeth’s calmness towards what they’ve done, which shows that lady Macbeth is more determined to kill King Duncan and hence she is the one to blame for the tragedy. 

Eventually lady Macbeth gives up in soothing Macbeth and takes a more direct approach to confront his fears and worries. She abruptly interrupts Macbeth’s lines using an imperative “Infirm of purpose”. The use of strong language highlights that lady Macbeth is in dominating position in their relationship; the use of the exclamation mark emphasises her fury and rage towards Macbeth’s confession, which also contributes to establish her manipulative, calculative personality. Lady Macbeth, in some sort of ways, treats Macbeth like a little child using her strong and frank expressions. In order for him to not get scared, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that dead bodies with blood on them are just like pictures, and it is our imagination that makes it worse. She shows her purpose in this section with the use of a conditional “if he do bleed”, which shows that she is going to put the blood on the servants’ faces and frame them as murderers. 

The sudden “knocking” contributes to add dramatic tension to the play by using the sound effect, which is a very impactful way to engage the audiences’ attention and interests. After hear the knocking, Macbeth is afraid that someone might find out what he’s done and he falls into a panicking state again. Shakespeare illustrates Macbeth’s worries and fears by repeating rhetorical questions, which highlights his unceasing regrets after killing the King. As a warrior, murdering and slaughtering are common things for him to do on the battlefield, but now Macbeth just couldn't let this one murder go, which shows his tragical transformation from a brave warrior to a fearful murderer. Shakespeare uses an hyperbole “with all great Neptune’s ocean…hand” to show how much the murder had an effect on Macbeth. Macbeth states that the blood is too much on his hands that all of the water from the ocean can’t wash it off, which visualises how bloody and cruel the murder scene is. Moreover, Shakespeare might imply that Macbeth’s sin is too deep that there is no practical way to redeem himself, which foreshadows his mental suffering and dizziness as well as his character transformation. “Neptune’s ocean” contrasts later in the scene when lady Macbeth says “a little water will clear us of the deed”, showing their different opinions towards the murder.

Overall, this scene contributes to reveal Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s reaction towards the murder, which highlights their different personalities and implies lady Macbeth’s domination over Macbeth in their relationship. The religious connotation also plays an important role in this extract, explaining and signifying Macbeth’s fears and worries based on the common belief in that era. 

UPCOMING-Macbeth IOC script

Hey guys:

I have done my IOC recently and I can finally upload all my IOC script of Macbeth. Hopefully it helps!

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