Shakespeare without the fear
English · Key Stage 3 · The School
Sense first, beauty second
Do not translate word by word. Read the whole speech aloud, then say in one plain sentence what the person WANTS. Macbeth's "Is this a dagger which I see before me" means: I am seeing something that cannot be there and it is pulling me towards murder. Once you have the want, the strange words become detail rather than obstacle.
Why they speak in verse
Most of Shakespeare is blank verse: ten beats a line, unrhymed. Noble characters speak it; ordinary characters often speak prose. So a switch is a signal — when a king drops into prose or a servant rises into verse, something has changed. Notice the shift and you have something worth writing about.
Follow one thread
Do not try to hold the whole play at once. Pick a character and track ONE thing across a scene: how often Lady Macbeth mentions hands, how Romeo's language changes when Juliet appears. A single thread followed properly makes a better essay than a summary of everything that happens.
Macbeth: "Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?" Do not start with 'dagger' or the archaic phrasing. Ask the four questions: who is speaking (Macbeth), where (alone, at night), what does he want (to kill the king), what is happening (he thinks he can see a dagger that is not there). Now the language is easy — he is asking whether it is real. Situation first, always.