Shakespeare and Human Character

Activities

Activity # 1: Survey of Black Actors in Shakespeare

Time Requirements: Two class periods

Day One:

We will survey students' knowledge about the history of African Americans in Shakespeare plays, especially in film They may know about Denzel Washington in Much Ado About Nothing or more likely the black actor in the Leonardo DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet. Tenth graders will only have read the latter while seniors may remember reading Julius Caesar in 10 ^th grade. Current curriculum and planning guides for 11 ^th grade English with a focus on American literature, does not have a Shakespeare play as required reading. For this reason, time spent on Othello in the context of the history of black actors may allow for at least a respectable familiarity with the play.

Begin with an anticipatory set of questions that may include:

1. What is the earliest date you expect to find African Americans performing Shakespeare?
2. Which play or plays do you think the actors would have selected?
3. Which traditions of Elizabethan theater do you think were observed and/or changed? (e.g. boys playing women's parts, costumes, etc.)
4. Describe the reaction you think the earliest African American Shakespeareans received from the white community? From the black community?
5. What would have been the appeal that Shakespeare represented for aspiring actors "back in the day"?
6. How would Shakespeare characters compare or contrast with popular images of African Americans before modern times? With the images of today?

Students will be asked to locate and assess a minimum of five online information sources for the data on black actors. The parameters for this 'search" are that only two sources may be dot coms; all others need to be dot org, dot edu or dot gov. Notes from each source should represent at least three facts. Double points for information relating to questions from the anticipatory set. Students have the option of working alone, in pairs or in a group. Bookmark prizes will be given to the individuals who discover the earliest date for an African American Shakespeare performance. e.g. www.questia.com/read/10282406?title=1%3a%20Shakespeare%20and%20the%20Black%20Actor

Day Two:

Warm-up: Utilizing a Promethean, chalk or white board, brainstorm and record dates from African American history already known by the, e.g. The Emancipation Proclamation, integration of the military, Jackie Robinson, Brown v. Board, Rosa Parks, The March on Washington, the election of Barack Obama.

Divide the class in half. Group A will gather as many dates as possible for black actors' performances (list of names in Appendix B). Utilizing a search engine, and dividing names evenly among the group members, students will gather data for each of the actors listed (as much as possible - some may not be available through this means) www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/paul-robeson/about-the-actor/66

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Group B will use web search engines to identify key dates in African American history. Students may divide up American history (now that we have established 1820 as a beginning for African American Shakespeare productions.[)] www.blackpast.org/?q=african-american-history-timeline-home-pag

On a sheet of butcher block paper attached to one wall of the classroom, we will create a double timeline for the black actors and dates in history. For homework, students will be asked to select three pairs of dates from the timeline for comment and reflection.

Activity # 2: History of Othello: Shakespeare as Writer and Human Being (Othello and The Merchant of Venice) Time Requirement: Two Class Periods

Day One:

We will combine two sources: print and electronic. The Folger Othello provides a history of the play in the opening of the book. Students will begin by making notes from that source in their journal books on the left hand side. Halfway through the period we will switch to the computers and find as much additional and different information as we can before the end of class. www.rsc.org.uk/othello/about/stage.html

For homework follow-up, students will identify the information that interested them and surprised them.

Each student will be asked to create an informational poster representing what in their view are the most important factual and affecting items that every high school student should know about Othello.

Day Two:

Students will be provided key speeches by Othello and Shylock. First they will identify unfamiliar vocabulary and use the text notes to secure definitions. Then they will create three parallel summaries: the main message, the emotional tone, and the representation of character. In light of the plot,, how does the student think the message fits in as a representation of the author's point of view.

OTHELLO:

      Soft you; a word or two before you go. .
      I have done the state some service, and they know't.
      No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
      When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, (390)
      Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
      Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak
      Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
      Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought,
      Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,(395)
      Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
      Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,
      Albeit unused to the melting mood,
      Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
      Their medicinal gum. Set you down this; (400)
      And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
      Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
      Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
      I took by the throat the circumcised dog
      And smote him, thus. (405)
      Othello Act 5, scene 2, 340-346
  

SHYLOCK:

      To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it
      will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and
      hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked
      at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains,
      cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his(50)
      reason? I am a Jew: hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew
      hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?
      fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons,
      subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
      warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as(55)
      a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you
      tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not
      die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are
      like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew
      wrong a Christian, what is his humility? revenge. If a(60)
      Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
      Christian example? why, revenge. The villany you teach
      me I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better
      the instruction. The Merchant Of Venice Act 3, scene 1, 58-68
  

For homework, students will select one each of three additional characters from each play. Othello: Iago, Roderigo, Brabantio

The Merchant of Venice: Antonio, Bassanio, Portia. For the selected character, collect one extended speech (more than 5 lines) and two isolated lines for similar analysis.

Activity # 3: Universal Themes in Other Shakespeare Roles Taken on by African Americans Time Requirement: Two class periods

Day One:

Students will select a title from the plays other than Othello either produced or acted in by African American Shakespeareans. Choices include: Richard III, Julius Caesar, Henry V, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet.

The first assignment is to secure a story summary from a web source and a selection of famous quotations to convey the feeling of the play, including one speech of at least 20 lines. Report out to the class on findings and perform a first reading of the speech.

Homework follow-up: begin memorization of the speech.

Day Two:

In small cooperative learning groups, identify the key themes of the play worked on the day before. Create a comparison chart to link the themes of the play with issues in African American and American history. Report out to the class on the findings and conclusions.

Activity #4: Shakespeare and African American Writers

Not just civilians, but many African American writers have interfaced with Shakespeare through American literary history. Just like everyday people, poets and essayists felt that Shakespeare was both accessible for their own reading and even more, for their right to analyze his life and works and to utilize their findings as part of their commentary on the African American experience. Literary luminaries include Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, August Wilson, Owen Dodson and Richard Wright. In addition, African American civil rights leaders like A. Philip Randolph, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., James Farmer and Barbara Jordan have utilized Shakespeare references or sought involvement with the Bard in a variety of other ways.

Having selected one writer for additional inquiry, begin a research that will encompass several websites and at least one complete book by or about the person selected. A classroom montage of writers and their Shakespeare connections will be mounted at the conclusion of the project. (2-4 weeks, most work done at home)