Contents
PART 1: TEXT SUPPORT
Background information
- The Tempest and the great themes of Shakespeare
- Theatrical conditions of the time
Before you begin – and ideas to help students explore the play
- Exploration – Detective work, Tableaux
Act 1 scene 1: The tempest itself – themes, opening of the play, language and atmosphere
- Exploration: Word lists, brainstorming, finding atmospheric words and rhythms
- Nautical language
- Writing: Discuss how the audience are encouraged to use imagination
- Research: Staging ideas; Jacobean staging limitations
Act 1 scene 2: Exploring character and relationships; background to the plot, structure – time and language
- Exploration: Character charts/facts, dramatic text analysis
- Writing: Is Prospero’s exposition heavy-handed or a revealing comment on his character?
- Discussion: Who is the island’s true master?
Act 2 scene 1: Development of theme and plot, imagery, character and language
- Exploration: Delving into the metaphor
- Writing: Comparison between Antonio and Sebastian
- Discussion: is Antonio more civilised than Caliban?
Act 2 scene 2: Comic v. serious elements
- Exploration: Dealing with comedy
- Writing: How does Caliban’s relationship with Stephano echo his relationship with Prospero?
- Discussion: Stephano – comic or evil?
Act 3 scene 1: Comparisons, oppositions and contrasts, comic opportunities
- Exploration: Listing oppositions in the text, actor’s tone of voice, staging the scene
- Writing: How do you respond to Shakespeare’s presentation of the Ferdinand – Miranda relationship?
- Discussion: Miranda’s character
Act 3 scene 2: Staging the scene
- Exploration: How to create a focus for the scene; key lines; sub-text; staging chart
- Writing: Development in Caliban’s language – how this affects performance
- Discussion: Trinculo’s function
Act 3 scene 3: Exploring theme of punishment and redemption, theatrical opportunities and challenges
- Exploration: Charting the changes in Alonso; discovering the units of action
- Writing: Considering the dramatic significance of this scene
- Discussion: Punishment v. rehabilitation
Act 4: Understanding the unity of the play; the masque; character development; the theme of appearance
- Exploration: Time chart; dialogue and character; attitude line; actioning text; scene as dumb show
- Writing: How do you respond to the presentation of Prospero in this Act?
- Discussion: ‘Trading places’ Can people be changed?
Act 5: Visual opportunities; nature v. nurture; interpretation; understanding the structure
- Exploration: Listing visual opportunities; speech shadowing; the nature of Prospero’s power
- Writing: Is there a happy ending?
- Discussion: Is Caliban a reflection of Prospero’s evil side?
Story and plot: The various plots analysed
- Exploration – French scene analysis
- Writing – Use of key quotations
Structure: The play as ‘romance’; structure of narrative language; use of time in the play; the title as structure
- Exploration: Characteristics of romances; structure chart
- Writing: Does the traditional form of a romance apply to The Tempest?
- Looking back at the play – examples of illusions and impermanence
Language: Key imagery; use of rhyme and rhythm, songs and dialogue
- Exploration: High and low characters; verse v. prose
- Writing: Consider how actors’ tone of voice affects audience understanding
Connections and contrasts: Comparisons and thematic links between characters and key themes
- Exploration- Character comparisons. Character function.
- Writing- Exploring themes in relation to conflicts in the play
Continuities: How issues such as nature v. nurture, sin and guilt, the idea of ‘tempest’, water images, art/magic and music are developed
- Exploration: Charting parallel and repeated scenes
- Writing: Discuss the animal characteristics of servants
Debating the themes
Developing perceptive insights into key themes
- Explorations: Analysis of the theme of love; establishing a ‘ruling idea’
- Writing: ‘Some are cast again’; detailed analysis of the theme of playing a role
- Discussion: Contemporary audience response to themes
Characters
- Exploration: Character charts, interviewing characters, Antonio on trial, role on wall
- Writing: Writing in role – response to the island
- Discussion: Miranda/costume/ruling ideas
Critical perspectives
From structuralism to feminism. How much knowledge is needed for the examination?
- Writing: Two interpretations of the same scene
Shakespeare’s stage
Exploring the text as a guide to performance
- Exploration: Directors/designers notes; annotated text; set design; doubling parts
- Writing: Dramatic presentation of conflict in the play
The play in performance
- Exploration: A wide range of dramatic ideas and to bring the play onto the stage. Understanding the role of designer and director in terms of interpreting the play
- Writing: Modern interpretations and performance techniques
Contextual matters
- How the Jacobean stage affects the meaning of the play
- Research on thoughts of the age, politics and society.
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PART 2: EXAM PREPARATION AND PRACTICE
- Approaching the play and writing about it
- Do’s and don’ts
- Use of quotations
- Use of appropriate sections and scenes
- Encouraging a personal response
- Contextual information on plays and ideas of the time
- What kind of play it is
- Deviations from the ‘romance’ form
- Essay structures – planning essays
- Types of questions to expect
- Exploring the dramatic significance of key scenes
- Audience response
- Using textual references and quotations to back up arguments
- Presenting clear arguments
- How to use contextual information
- Introductions and conclusions
- Sample essay and mark schemes – where marks are gained and lossed.
Conclusions
Teachers’ notes
How to use the resource and approaches to reading the play
Further information
Part 1 provides information and activities for classroom and homework to support reading the text.
Part 2 provides activities which guide students through the process of writing exam essays on The Tempest for AQA. It explains:
- types of essay
- planning
- how to begin an essay
- how to structure an essay
- how to turn a C into an A.
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Length: 58 pp
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