Shakespeare Timeline
As you take on the task of exploring Shakespeare’s plays, there are some decisions that your group must make including how you will read, summarize, and analyze the Acts, how you will check for understanding, and how members of your group will be graded. A schedule has been provided for you below with assignment due dates. It will be up to your groups to regulate your time. You may turn in any portion of the work early; however, late work will not be accepted.
Suggested Tasks:
· Elect a leader. This person will be in charge of delegating tasks, ensuring that everyone is participating, and regulating time and due dates.
· Delegate roles. Find out what each person in your group is best at and determine which role each member should play.
· Decide how you best learn. Do you want to read and discuss the play in class and work outside or vice versa.
· Utilize the group grading sheet and grade each other accurately. Each week, members of the groups will be graded by each other ranked out of 10.
Groups:
Othello-
Macbeth-
Taming of the Shrew-
Due Dates:
Act 1: Summary and Analysis March 7
Act 1 should be divided by scene and summarized and analyzed. Each character should be fully described and analyzed. Answer: why did Shakespeare create these characters? What purpose does he have for their existence in the play? What predictions can you make from the play’s exposition? Describe the setting. Include any background information that a reader would need to know before reading your play (THIS MEANS YOU HAVE TO DO SOME RESEARCH). Summarize and ANALYZE each scene. If you are struggling, think about the questions we asked during The Canterbury Tales (how and why?)
Act 2: Connection and Conflict March 14
Create a summary scene by scene for Act 2. In each scene label and explain the type of conflict: Internal (man v self) or External (man v man, man v society, man v nature…). In addition, connect each scene to the life of Shakespeare. What aspects of his own life did he include in these scenes? (YOU WILL HAVE TO RESEARCH SHAKESPEARE TO DO SO). Lastly, utilize your vocabulary definitions and examples to find examples within Shakespeare’s text. You should find one example of each vocabulary term. Label, quote, and cite the example from the text and fully translate the example as well.
Act 3: Translation March 20
Summarize the climax of the play.
Consider changing times from Elizabethan England to 2013. Choose at least five times periods throughout history. Discuss how the changing times would change the text. How would setting, characters, events, and style change based on the time period. How would events in history change or add to the events that occur in Act III. How would the climax differ?
After this, fully analyze the decisions of each character. How are their actions a form of reciprocal cause and effect? What tragic flaws does each character have? What positives do the characters have that they may see in each other but not in themselves?
Meet with other Groups: March 21
Act 4: Foils and Shakespeare’s Questions March 27
Summarize each scene in this Act. Then create a list of character foils. Why does Shakespeare create these opposites? Does his purpose differ per foil?
Answer Shakespeare’s questions based on these scenes. What is the difference between good and evil? Analyze each character. Who is evil; who is good? Why do people do the things they do?
Act 5: Drama April 10, 11, 12
Your group will combine with the other group of five reading your play and will put on rendition of Act 5 of the play. First, you should prepare a summary of the events that have transpired thus far in Acts 1-4 to deliver to the class. You should then choose a theme from pop culture to turn Shakespeare’s play into. You should translate the entire scene into language based on the genre you choose. Remember the more creative you are the better. Your group should be fully dressed in costumes that represent the characters they are playing. Create a script, assign parts, and PRACTICE. PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE! Though your lines do not have to be fully memorized, you will not be allowed to use a script on stage. You can utilize notes on the back of prompts or note cards to assist you. Any long pause or missed line will greatly hurt your group’s grade. Your drama should include sound effects and all prompts needed to showcase the scene effectively. This Act will be performed for the class and is worth 30% of your Shakespeare grade.
Meet with other groups: April 15
Things to consider:
They deserve a 1:
· Group member was present at least one day.
· They did not complete their assigned task.
· They did not add to discussion, and they talked about other things when the group was attempting to work.
· They were off task during class and then did not have assigned work completed.
· They did not add to my learning in any way because they did not complete assigned work.
They deserve a 3 or 4:
· Group member was present at least three days.
· Group member completed their summaries and analysis.
· Group member seemed on task, although they did not add to the discussion.
· Group member struggled to get things done on time and needed assistance from other members.
· Group member did not keep up with reading but was able to complete it by the due date of the Act.
They deserve a 7 or 8:
· Group member was present every day.
· Group member contributed to my learning.
· Group member wrote original summaries.
· Group member was on time with scheduled reading and assignments.
· Group member often participated in learning.
They deserve a 10:
· Group member went above and beyond to help me grasp the play.
· Group member wrote original analysis pieces.
· Group member had assignments done ahead of scheduled due dates.
· Group member was encouraging towards other members.
· Group member actively participated every day in the study of the play.
How to read Shakespeare
I ate the sandwich.
I the sandwich ate.
Ate the sandwich I.
Ate I the sandwich.
The sandwich I ate.
The sandwich ate I.
When you are reading Shakespeare's plays, look for this type of unusual word arrangement. Locate the subject, verb, and the object of the sentence. Notice that the object of the sentence is often placed at the beginning (the sandwich) in front of the verb (ate) and subject (I). Rearrange the words in the order that makes the most sense to you (I ate the sandwich). This will be one of your first steps in making sense of Shakespeare's language.
Again, for the sake of his poetry, Shakespeare often left out letters, syllables, and whole words. These omissions really aren't that much different from the way we speak today. We say:
"Been to class yet?"
"No. Heard Ulen's givin' a test."
"Wha'sup wi'that?"
We leave out words and parts of words to speed up our speech. If we were speaking in complete sentences, we would say:
"Have you been to class yet?"
"No, I have not been to class. I heard that Mrs. Ulen is giving a test today."
"What is up with that?"
A few examples of Shakespearean omissions/contractions follow:
'tis ~ it isope ~ open
o'er ~ over
gi' ~ give
ne'er ~ never / i' ~ in
e'er ~ ever
oft ~ often
a' ~ he
e'en ~ even
Post-It the page. When you start reading Shakespeare’s plays, consider what the essay question could be. Think about the how and why questions in the scene. In this way, you will be able to anticipate important quotations throughout the text.
Read through enjambments. Shakespeare writes his sentences in a series of lines. Read to the next punctuation. Reading simply to the end of a line will not allow you to consider the full meaning of the text.
Read out loud. Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be watched or spoken. It is easier to understand his plays in context rather than pulling out one quote at a time.
Translate the following quotes:
Macbeth:
"Fair is foul and foul is fair."
Macbeth--Act 1, Scene 1, Line 10
"There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face."
--Act 1, Scene 4, Lines 10-11: King Duncan to Malcolm
"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly. If th'assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
With his surcease, success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and end-all-here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come."
--Act 1, Scene 7, Lines 1-7: Macbeth to himself
Othello
“We cannot all be masters, nor all masters cannot be truly follow’d.” Act 1 Scene 1
“You are one of those that will not serve God, if the devil bid you.” Act 1 Scene 1
“When my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In complement extern, tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.” —Iago, 1.1.60-4
“Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her!
For I’ll refer me to all things of sense,
If she in chains of magic were not bound,
Whether a maid, so tender, fair, and happy,
So opposite to marriage that she shunned
The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,
Would ever have, t’incur a general mock,
Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom
Of such a thing as thou—to fear, not to delight.”
—Brabantio, 1.2.62-71
The Taming of the Shrew:
“There’s small choice in rotten apples.” Act 1 Scene 1
“Thus it stands:
Her elder sister is so curst and shrewd
That till the father rid his hands of her,
Master, your love must live a maid at home,
And therefore has he closely mewed her up,
Because she will not be annoyed with suitors.” Act 1 Scene 1
“Why came I hither but to that intent?
Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?
Have I not in my time heard lions road?
Have I not heard the sea, puffed up with winds,
Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?
Have I not heard great ordnance in the field
And heaven’s artillery thunder in the skies?
Have I not in a pitched batter heard
Loud larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets’ clang?
And do you tell me of a woman’s tongue,
That gives not half so great a blow to hear
As will a chestnut in a farmer’s fire?
Tush, tush! Fear boys with bugs. “ Act 1 Scene 2
Name: ______
William Shakespeare Web Quest:
You are about to embark upon a web quest to discover new and exciting information about William Shakespeare and his plays
Utilizing the sheet provided, record your findings.
Shakespeare in Pop Culture…
1. After viewing the clips, explain how Shakespeare still exists in modern society? Why do you think this is so? (Please don’t answer because he is the best writer ever… THINK).
______
______
William Shakespeare’s Bibliography:
1. When and where was Shakespeare born?
2. Who were his parents and what did they do for a living?
3. Document Shakespeare’s family.
4. What are the “lost years?”
5. When did Shakespeare die?
Schooling:
1. What kind of schooling did Shakespeare receive?
2. How old was he when he started school?
3. How long were the school days?
4. How many days a week did he attend school?
5. What subjects did he study?
Shakespeare asks two questions in every play:
Answer these two questions from your point of view:
1. What is the difference between good and evil?
______Why do people do the things they do?
______
The Globe:
1. What is the name of Shakespeare’s acting troupe?
2. Describe the stage.
3. What are groundlings?
4. How were plays announced?
5. Why were theaters closed in 1603?
The Globe Trivia:
1. Which three trivia facts do you find most interesting about the Globe Theater?
2. What were the different color flags that Shakespeare used to represent history, comedy, and tragedy?
a. History:
b. Comedy:
c. Tragedy:
Terms to Know:
Create an example for each term/definition. Be sure you fully understand each definition:
1. Juxtaposition: putting two unlike things together for comparison
Example: ______
2. Aside: a soliloquy in which there are people on stage that can't hear what the character is saying (one or more can)
Example: ______
3. Soliloquy: character thinks or is alone and is talking about his feelings
Example: ______
4. Simile: the comparison of two things using like or as
Example: ______
5. Allusion: a brief reference to a person, event, place, or to a work of art
Example: ______
6. Double Entendre: a pun or piece of wordplay in which one of the meanings is word play
Example: ______
7. Pun: the usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings