Assess students' ability to analyze Shakespeare's Macbeth by identifying and interpreting key symbols (e.g., blood, dagger, crown, weather), tracing recurring motifs (ambition, guilt, appearance vs. reality, fate vs. free will), and explaining principal characters' motivations (Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo, Macduff) using close reading and textual evidence to show how these elements shape theme, character development, and plot.