LESSON 15:Prospero

Framework Objectives / Learning Objective
R14: Analyse the language, form and dramatic impact of scenes and plays by published dramatists / To explore the character of Prospero

Activity 11 and Activity 12

Copies of Act 1 Scene 2 will be required for this lesson. Knowledge of the whole play will be needed in this section – the various characters can be revised using ICT Activity 11.

Starter

Write the following anagram of Prospero’s name on the board: ROSE PROP. (Students should solve it quickly!) Note that rose prop suggests strength – do students see Prospero as a strong character?
Ask students to look up prosper and prosperous in a dictionary (common meanings for prosper are succeed and thrive; common meanings for prosperous are flourishing, successful, thriving).
Do these meanings suggest that Prospero is a strong and successful character?

Introduction

Recap or re-read Prospero’s history as told to Miranda in Act 1 Scene 2 (lines 66–168).
Next, arrange pupils into groups of 4 to 6 and ask them to dramatise Prospero’s tale in either a series of mimed actions or a series of frozen pictures/tableaux. Alternatively, the mimed actions can be accompanied by a student or students reading the speech.

Development

Having heard Prospero’s story, now return to the question posed in the Starter activity: Is Prospero a strong, successful character? ICT Activity 12, in which students sequence Prospero’s qualities from most to least attractive, can also be used to stimulate discussion.
Discuss students’ responses as a class. Their ideas may include:

Prospero as strong and successful: his use of magic; his control of Arial and Caliban; his control of the island influences Miranda and Ferdinand’s love – and imprisons Ferdinand; he is autocratic, etc.
Prospero as not strong or successful: he is usurped by his brother; he has to rely on magic for his power; he can be cruel; he is unable to control Miranda’s love for Ferdinand or Caliban’s descent into savagery, etc.

In groups, pairs or individually, ask students to draw an annotated graph to show Prospero’s times of strength and weakness. You may wish to use Worksheet 26, which provides students with a model graph, or encourage larger-scale graphs. The completed graphs make excellent wall displays.
Using the graphs as evidence, discuss whether and how Prospero has changed by the end of the play. Is the audience able to sympathise with him and like him?

Plenary

Return to the original question: Is Prospero the strong, successful character his name suggests? Take a class vote!
Write Prospero vertically down the board then challenge students to complete the acrostic with words or phrases that describe him. For example:

Proud
Ruler
Overbearing, etc.

LESSON 16:Ariel

Framework Objectives / Learning Objective
R10: Comment on interpretations of the same text or idea in different media, using terms appropriate for critical analysis
R14: Analyse the language, form and dramatic impact of scenes and plays by published dramatists / To explore the character and appearance of Ariel

Activity 13

Copies of Act 2 Scene 1, lines 269–293, will be needed for this lesson.

Starter

Write the following words on the board: malignant thing; chick; brave spirit; my delicate; my dainty. Ask students who is being described. (They are all names which Prospero calls Ariel.)
With students, discuss whether these names give any indication of Arial’s character or what Ariel looks like. Interestingly, Ariel is usually referred to as ‘he’ although the character’s gender is not stated in the play.

Introduction

If necessary, revise Ariel’s role in the play using ICT Activity 13. Ask students how they interpret Ariel. Discuss what he (it?) can do and what Ariel may look like.
Using a digital projector or interactive whiteboard, show paintings, engravings and images of Ariel, as well as pictures of Ariel from past theatre productions. Images from the accompanying CD-ROM can be used, but the following sites also have images worth looking at.

Encourage students to discuss and comment on the pictures, preferably with reference to the text. Have the artists portrayed Ariel as students see him?

Development

Ask students, individually, to write a mini-autobiography of Ariel. Encourage them to include as much information from the play as possible, including how Ariel feels about particular issues. For example, is he grateful to Prospero (for freeing him from the tree) or angry at Prospero (for keeping him subservient so long)?
Encourage students to complete the planning sheet on Worksheet 27 first, to guide their writing.

Plenary

Re-cap on the various views of Ariel that have been explored.
For an optional homework, ask students to depict Ariel as they see him. Encourage them to choose any media; for example, paint, collage, chalk. The class results will make a stunning wall display.

You are going to write Ariel’s autobiography. To help you, consider the following ideas and make some notes.

______