Teaching Character Traits Through Macbeth in Fifth Grade
Teaching character traits works best when students separate what a character looks like from what a character is, then back every trait with evidence from the text. This fifth-grade class did it with Macbeth. The play is hard, the language is harder, and the dynamic characters make the traits impossible to ignore.
We have just begun our literary unit of recognizing and identifying major and minor characters in a story and analyzing their character traits. As a fifth-grade teacher, studying characters and their development throughout a literary piece is essential to expand the thought processes of my students. They may be 10, but at this age, students are developing a stronger ability to work with abstract ideas. We have been discussing many specific character traits, some admirable and some not-so-admirable. Throughout our study, we apply character traits in our classroom and discuss good character traits to model and character traits that we need to avoid.
Why I Added Macbeth to a Fifth-Grade Character Unit
I decided on adding a twist to the curriculum and expand our character study to include the ever-famous Macbeth. I also may be slightly ambitious for my own good, but don't stop reading just because I mentioned the names "Shakespeare" and "Macbeth." I introduced Macbeth by discussing the characters and drawing a character web on our Mimio board. After summarizing and introducing the characters, we started reading the play. Yes, the first page was utter disaster. My students were looking at me like they had just walked through the wardrobe and landed in Narnia and desperately wanted to return to their 21st-century classroom.
What a Tragedy Gives You That a Picture Book Doesn't
After day one, we made some headway through the Early Modern English, and students were slightly understanding the thickening plot. For those of you who are not familiar with the tragedy of Macbeth, the play is written about the rise and fall of one man: Macbeth. It draws loosely on a real eleventh-century king of Scotland who reigned from 1040 to 1057, though Shakespeare reshaped nearly all of the history to suit the stage. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are dynamic characters, meaning they change over the course of the play. As a class, we have discussed the lasting impressions that our choices imprint on our lives. Whether swayed by another or not, we are responsible and accountable for the choices we make.
The Parallel I Kept Coming Back To
A note on this section. What follows is my own reading of the play, shaped by my own faith. I taught the character-trait skills to my class. I did not teach this comparison to them, and it isn't offered here as a public-classroom lesson. I'm including it because the habit underneath it travels: holding a tragic arc up against a story you already know well is how I got my own head around Macbeth before I ever taught it.
In my own reading, Macbeth's arc rhymes with the account of the fall of man in Genesis. The witches prophesy that Macbeth will become King of Scotland, and Lady Macbeth pressures Macbeth to act on the prophecy and helps plan Duncan's murder. In the Genesis account, Eve is tempted by the serpent and in turn tempts Adam to break the one rule set in the garden. Both men hesitate. Both weigh the results. Both give in, and both are overcome with guilt almost at once. Macbeth experiences disturbing visions, including a dagger and Banquo's ghost. Adam is put out of the garden and set to hard labor.
Where the two stories part is at the ending. Macbeth's demise follows from his own selfish decisions and stops there. The Genesis account, in the Christian reading I was raised with, attaches hope to the fall instead. What my students took from the play was narrower and entirely secular: choices carry consequences, and patience and kindness toward all would have changed everything for Macbeth.
Internal Traits and External Traits Aren't the Same Thing
Upper-elementary students conflate these two reliably. External traits are what a character looks like. Internal traits describe qualities of a character's personality that are reflected in how the character behaves. A student who writes that Lady Macbeth is "tall" has described her appearance, not her character. Sorting a class-generated list into two columns before you open the text makes the difference concrete.
A Trait Is Not a Feeling
This is the second predictable mix-up. Traits tend to describe recurring or sustained qualities, while feelings can change quickly from scene to scene. Macbeth is afraid in Act II, and fear is a feeling. His ambition runs through the play as a sustained trait, even as what drives him shifts. Asking whether a word would still be true fifty pages later is a rough classroom heuristic rather than a definition, but it gives students something they can test on their own.
Make Students Prove It From the Text
A trait a student can't point to in the text is a guess. The habit worth building is naming the trait first, then finding the line, action, or dialogue that supports it. Citing textual evidence to support character analysis is a common ELA skill and appears in many state standards and assessments, and it's the habit that transfers when the text changes. It also settles classroom arguments fast, because the question stops being what students think and becomes what the page says.
Where the Unit Landed
My students have started to soak in every aspect of Macbeth. How will the story end? Does Macbeth ever achieve true happiness and rest from his tortured soul of past failures and mistakes? My students ask these questions and many more. They are starting to draw conclusions and apply character traits to their own lives daily. My students may never love Shakespeare as much as I do, and that's totally okay. What I hope they remember is that Macbeth's demise came from the consequences of his own choices.
We have started building our character trait of kindness and acceptance to all our classmates. Kindness and acceptance are difficult areas of relationships among pre-teens and upper elementary students. I have seen meaningful growth in my classroom as I strive to provide security to all students and a classroom atmosphere of acceptance and worth.
Related Teaching Topics
Frequently Asked Questions
What are character traits?
Character traits are the personality qualities that explain how a character behaves. They're distinct from appearance and from passing emotions. A trait stays broadly true across a text, which is what makes it useful for analysis.
What's the difference between a major and a minor character?
Major characters play central roles in the plot, while minor characters have more limited roles. Either can be static or dynamic. Most character-trait analysis lives with the major characters simply because the text gives you more to work with.
Can fifth graders really read Shakespeare?
Not fluently, and not on the first page. What worked here was front-loading the characters and plot before opening the text, then reading slowly with heavy support. The point wasn't fluency. It was giving students characters whose traits change enough to be worth arguing about.
How do you teach students to find character traits in a text?
Build the vocabulary first, then require evidence. Students name a trait, then locate the specific line, action, or dialogue that proves it. Without the evidence step, students tend to assign traits based on whether they like the character.
- Separate looks from character - External traits describe appearance, internal traits describe personality qualities reflected in behavior, and upper-elementary students mix them up unless you make the split explicit.
- Traits recur, feelings shift - Fear in one scene is a feeling and ambition running through the play is a trait, and the fifty-pages-later question is a rough heuristic students can apply on their own.
- Evidence carries the analysis - A trait a student can't locate in the text is a guess, and citing evidence appears in many state ELA standards and transfers to any new book.
- Dynamic characters do the teaching - Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change enough over the play that their traits can't be read off a single scene.
Reading instruction is one of those areas where a few graduate courses change how you plan a whole unit, not just how you talk about one lesson. The programs listed on this page include online MEd and reading-specialist options built around teachers who are already carrying a full class load. Reading specialist certification and endorsement requirements vary by state. Verify that a program meets the requirements where you intend to work, and confirm the details with your state's educator-licensing agency.
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