(Photo Source: 1)
This Figure, that thou here feeft put,
It was for gentle Shakefpeare cut;
Wherein the Grauer had a ftrife
with Nature, to out-doo the life:
O, could he but haue drawne his wit
As well in braffe, as he hath hit
His face; the Print would then furpaffe
All, that vvas vvrit in braffe.
But, fince he cannot, Reader, looke
Not on his Picture, but his Booke
(9, Frontispiece)
Introduction
This unit will combine elements of King Lear's and Gloucester's familial relationships in what we today call a single parent environment, so students can identify with specific issues they confront in their daily lives. We will blend Lear's and Gloucester's familial situations and show how, in our current environment, the many students who live within a single parent household undergo filial conditions that are not much different those in Shakespeare's day depicted in King Lear. The dealings children experience with their parents, among their siblings, and within their extended families will be visited in this unit as we study Lear's and Gloucester's family dynamics and comparing/contrasting students' family situations.
"Oh, no, here it comes! We have to read another Shakespeare play. Why don't these teachers realize that we have absolutely nothing in common with a dude who wrote plays four hundred years ago? Why can't we at least read something more up-to-date and less depressing than this old junk? What is their objective in making us do this stuff over and over every year? It's just not fair that we're punished like this!" This is the general consensus among high school students at Westside High School in Houston, Texas when they are saddled with having to study a Shakespearean work; they think they are being punished by reading something with which they cannot identify. All of the three thousand students attending Westside - or any high school in the state of Texas - are exposed to various works of the bard during their tenure: freshmen romance their way through Romeo and Juliet, sophomores clash with Julius Caesar, prep/grade level seniors muddle through Macbeth, and Advanced Placement seniors are immersed in Hamlet and King Lear. Westside's demographic includes approximately 30% African American, 30% Caucasian, 30% Hispanic, and 10% Asian/Pacific Islander/Middle Eastern students. The school's classes consist of full inclusion for Special Education and 504-designated students; lessons and assessments for these students must have appropriate modifications or accommodations. Although this unit will be directed predominantly toward Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition students, it can certainly be adapted to address students in regular grade level classes, including those who are classified as 504 or Special Education, with appropriate modifications.
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