Mr salles :can we trust him? Dd said he's way off in macbeth?

[LeavesinAutumn]

Whatever are his credentials?

He is full of himself. Better than sodding Mr Bruff, though.

What does your DD think is 'way off' out of interest?

She's not properly studied it yet and we have not pinned it down but she's sure a Duncan quote does come after he or macbeth has seen the witches.

She's also not convinced at all about him saying Duncan is not Mr nice

And the fact that Shakespeare is talking about women rights?

Happy to be corrected

Do you mean Banquo?

I haven't actually read his stuff on Macbeth for ages but he is obsessed with the grade 9 students. Those exact students who need to think for themselves and develop their own viewpoints.

Possibly banqo yes... It's just anyone can rock up on u tube what cred does this man have

He is an experienced teacher and SLT, I believe. And a know it all.

Well, according to his profile of LinkedIn, he is an experienced teacher, including Head of English, and assistant Head.

Well I’d take Mr Salles over which of you or your teen can’t distinguish between Duncan and Banquo - only one of whom meets the witches!

I don’t understand your question, given that, “She's not properly studied it yet and we have not pinned it down but…”

“And the fact that Shakespeare is talking about women rights?”

What do you even mean by this?
There’s certainly an interesting conversation to be had around representations of women in the play.

Are these actually your daughter’s views? It sounds more like she’s parroting a criticism off TikTok!

How about your child reads the play, rather than watching YouTubers?

@Testina

I'm sorry to have triggered you by my post.
I keep forgetting this is mn after all and posters can get riled over a donut.

Someone recommended Mr salles as a good gcse revision guide along with of course normal revision. Out of interest I put him on but she's not read the whole play yet..

I just put him on to see what it's all about and he said Bill is showing toxic masculinity and that lady m has to be man like to succeed and how awful it is.
He's also speaking to King James.
He said something about another character which my dd was sure was not correct but we didn't go through the book to pin down whether she or he was correct re this quote.

Lady Macbeth does act "unwomanly"... kind of a big part of her character.

And the play was written to appeal to King James... getting his approval was important for Shakespeare at a time of political change.

Probs a good idea to actually read/see/study the play first! I bloody love Shakespeare!

The toxic masculinity is an issue though. Lots of students do parrot out phrases Mr Salles uses , memorised for exams, and occasionally both Salles and Bruff use very anachronistic modern terms and ideas. Neither of them appear to be feminist either. Bruff can't even be bothered to look up what bias binding means in the poem 'Poppies' and parrots out some shite which no doubt devotees regurgitate.

Much better are Stuart Pryke and Amy Staniforth but the audience for that is teachers.

Revising from YouTube is the thing these days and sometimes useful/ the only thing they'll use, so scolding students for doing that is pointless. They still need to do their own work , though. Written revision guides tend to be better checked, curated and edited.

She needs to know who the character is and what the quote is before I can tell you if he is wrong! I'm itching to know!

Bill is showing toxic masculinity and that lady m has to be man like to succeed and how awful it is.
He's also speaking to King James.

‘toxic masculinity’ = buzzword for today, but it’s pretty uncontroversial that it’s a play about gender stereotypes being experimented with - Lady Macbeth is famously ‘manlike’ (‘Unsex me here’) and pretty much all WS’s plays are written with the monarch somewhat in mind - he needed their approval.

Or a link to the video?

It is very clear from reading examiners' reports that many students are simply parroting the stuff they see online. That is not the way to achieve grade 9.

I just hope you will take her to the play. Saw it with ds four years ago and it was one of the most intense evenings of my life. I felt as if it was my life on stage. Still get emotional thinking about it. Dh had been dead less than a year when we saw it.

Lady M gets a bad rap. Understanding her character and motivations by actually reading and understanding the play means that your dd will be able genuinely articulate her thoughts about the play, it's setting, and the author's political motivations without relying purely on the opinions of someone else!

Here's a brilliant resource by the rsc: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLolOYEpIfPsloAacNeATvlaQKlk7Q2lyf&feature=shared

The ‘toxic masculinity’ phrase has cropped up before and I would actually feel inclined to mark down because of it or certainly point out that said phrase should never be used again in an essay! The rest all sounds fine. He is speaking to James, Banquo is not perfect and LM does have to adopt ‘masculine’ traits to succeed in the plot (though ultimately she doesn’t manage it)

I don't know about Mr Salles but Mr Bruff got my son from a 2 in his January mocks to a 5 in his final results.
I seriously thought we were going to be looking at resits forever until we found him.

Well she does have a whole scene where she’s talking to herself about how she needs to be less womanly to commit the murder…? I wouldn’t be using the phrase “toxic masculinity” in an essay but there’s been lots of questions delving into the character of Lady Macbeth and her motivations. Yes she has to “act like a man” and strip away her womanly emotions but she still has the strength to commit the murder that her husband doesn’t. She manipulates him and pushes him to seize power. She’s not a victim at this point.

Watch or read the play with your daughter! There’s some great TV adaptations also.

Mr Bruff absolutely has his uses. He annoys me with his manner which is more 'stick with me , kid, and I'll get you a 9'. And he makes mistakes. Arguably it wasn't Mr Bruff that got your DS that but the fact that he revised in a focused way, with the help of an online revision source,who happened to be Mr Bruff.

He definitely has his place. Lots of the girls I taught cannot stand him! Bruff does have broader appeal than Salles, who definitley claims to target the top grades.

’Macbeth’ is a play about children, and the lack of children.

The importance of children as heirs, the importance of the ‘normative’ role of women in bearing children (Lady Macduff), the punishment of women who are anti-normative (Lady Macbeth), the tragic consequences of no heir (Macbeth), the role of children/heirs in avenging their fathers’ murders (Malcolm, Fleance), the ultimate tragedy of having your heirs murdered (Macduff).

Shakespeare did not believe in women’s rights outside of their normative role as bearers of children. And he saw children as one of the most important things in life.

Lady Macbeth doesn't kill Duncan - Macbeth does. In the end she can't do it, because he looks like her Father as he slept.

She does manipulate him, but the fact that she couldn't do it could be used in an argument which links to the whole "unsex me here" speech.

I wouldn't encourage the use of "toxic masculinity" unless it's very nuanced, because such a concept would not have existed in the Jacobean period, and to look at Shks through a 21st century lens, requires an amount of being able to separate intention and output which most GCSE essays would not have the word count for.

I can't speak to the educators you're referencing, as I don't know them - but my PhD is in Shakespeare and Education and while it's great to look at options on advance for study support, reading the play would be my advice before consideration concepts. The text guides the readers/watchers' thoughts and it's hard to have an opinion, if you're pre-loaded with a theory.