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Unlocking Soliloquies and Unleashing "the Dogs of War"
Students who are more than happy to discuss plot and dialogue are often intimidated by soliloquies. The following activity uses Mark Antony's moving soliloquy over Caesar's dead body as an example, but it also works wonderfully for other …
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"I Will Hear That Play": Using Sound to Enhance the Text
In Shakespeare's culture, people went to hear plays. Our culture is increasingly concerned with visual media—we go to see movies, plays, and concerts. Our fast-paced world is filled with quickly changing images and often we do …
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Lesson 08: Prithee, Pause!
Students will examine primary source materials on history and the supernatural which relate to Julius Caesar. By acting out the scene based on different historical understandings, they will identify facts, theories and similarities …
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Catching the Beat: Exploring the Function of Verse in Othello
In this lesson, students will examine the meter Shakespeare uses in the dialogue between Emilia and Desdemona. They will learn how to recognize changes in meter and then use their knowledge of these changes to explore each character's thought …
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Message in a Bottle
After reading the first four acts of The Tempest, students will choose one of the shipwrecked characters on the island and write a rescue message from the point of view of that character. The purpose of this activity is to allow students …
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UNIT: Crafting a Character - The Making of Shylock
This unit on the character of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice offers a variety of opportunities to reflect on potrayals of the character—within the text, in performance, and through visual depiction. The activities in this unit …
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Shakespeare Wall
This activity is designed to enable students to see a Shakespeare play both as a whole and as a series of scenes. It will get students who won't read or perform out of their seats, and it gets the play out of the …
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Bad Bard/Good Bard: Coming to Character through Preconceptions of Shakespearean Acting
Many students have varying preconceptions on what Shakespearean acting entails, likely a result of having seen a few to none of his plays. This lesson will look at character through “bad” and “good” Shakespearean acting in …
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Hark! The Sounds of Murder
In 2.2, the scene in which Duncan is murdered, Shakespeare chooses to have it reported by Macbeth... not represented on stage. …
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"I am a pirate with a wooden leg": Stomping Iambic Pentameter
Students will learn the basics of iambic pentameter by studying the rhythm of blank verse orally, aurally, visually, and kinesthetically.
This lesson will take one class period.
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King Lear's Storm
Act 3, Scene 2 is a pivotal moment in King Lear and one that can really get students involved with the play. The text of …
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Nursery rhyme Shakespeare?
Most children are exposed to Nursery Rhymes and may be surprised to find out that Shakespeare uses the same meter in many of his plays. This meter is called tetrameter and consists of a verse line which has four …
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"Olivia, May I....?" Using movement to analyze Cesario's suit in Twelfth Night.
A key plot twist occurs at the end of Act 1, Scene 5, when Olivia falls in love with Viola, disguised as Cesario. In this …
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Questions of Kingship in King Lear
This lesson takes an interdisciplinary, research-based approach to understanding King Lear in its cultural context. Students will use the Internet to access historical primary source materials on King James I of England and the title page …
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"Shall I compare...?" Sonnet 18
In today's lesson, students will explore Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
Students will create an original poem loosely based on the sonnet. Each will choose two things to compare and …
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Six Characters in Search of A Play Part 2: Tableau Revelations
Students will learn techniques for staging a scene, including the use of tableau, stance, stage movements, and voice. Students will develop an understanding of the character traits and motivations of the "Rude Mechanicals." Students will develop …
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Spenser, Shakespeare, and the "Blazon": Lesson 4
Students will read and respond to a Shakespearean sonnet which is in the Petrarchan tradition but mocks its conventions. This lesson should begin to give them some ideas about why Shakespeare is revered more than other sonneteers.
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Stop, Look and Listen: The Images Behind Shakespeare's Words (Day 3 of 3)
Students will:
- Review Day 1 and Day 2
- Gather ideas based on analyzing …
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Text Map: the Structure of Shakespearean Drama
Many middle and even high school students in American classrooms, for a variety of reasons, are unfamiliar with the basic structure of dramatic literature. Familiarity with the structure of a particular text will increase comprehension …
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The English Sonnet: Michael Drayton: Lesson 3
Students will examine a sonnet by one of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Michael Drayton, indebted to Petrarch, emphasizing the distress and turmoil of love. Drayton's sonnet, and the sonnet of Spenser’s assigned for the next …
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