The Art of Biography

Teacher Resources

Activity 1: SOAPSTone Strategy and Shakespeare's Voice and Style

SOAPSTone is a mnemonic acronym for a series of elements that students should examine as they begin to analyze literature. ²⁴ Students consider the speaker (not the writer, but who is telling the story?), occasion (why was this written?), audience (to whom is the piece intended? Who is supposed to read it?), purpose (what is the reason for the writing of this text?), subject (what is this piece about?), and tone (what is the attitude of the writer?) as elements that will ground the piece. It provides clarity and focuses the student to seek evidence before interpreting the piece.

There are two pieces I recommend on a Shakespeare-as-biographer unit: Sonnet CXXX ("My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun") and the "All the World's a Stage" monologue from As You Like It. For all examples of close-examination of text, it is ideal to provide a handout that students can write on. Handouts should also have line numbers so that students can easily find their way around and so that they can begin to learn how to cite Shakespearean text.

Part 1: In Sonnet CXXX, Shakespeare writes about his mistress by satirizing the conventions of the sonnet. Should the assignment need to be increased in difficulty, this sonnet pairs well with Sonnet XVIII ("Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day").

After reviewing the basic elements of a sonnet and ensuring students understand the basic vocabulary, guide the students in a SOAPSTone, determining the speaker (a man with a mistress), occasion (describing his mistress), audience (a friend), purpose (describing his lover, breaking the mold of the sonnet form, subverting the cliché of comparing a woman to nature), subject (the mistress, perhaps the Dark Lady), and tone (satirical, romantic, mocking, loving). Continue with a discussion about having this as the woman's legacy. The mysterious, unnamed mistress has probably been dead for over 400 years, yet this remains. Is the speaker being cruel? Is she really all that ugly? Does he love her?

Part 2: In the "All the World's a Stage," Shakespeare compares the lifespan of man to a seven-act play, infancy through old age. This monologue from As You Like It touches on what we know because of our parents or our grandparents—slowly aging, slowly dying. It is a common experience that Shakespeare explored: what it meant to be human, to just be. It is "the common lot of human kind and nobody ever found better words for it than William Shakespeare." ²⁵

Guide the students through a SOAPSTone discussion, but begin to bridge the extended metaphor that life is like a play and life stories are often turned into entertainment for others.

Activity 2: The Winter of Our Discontent

Richard III opens on a soliloquy, the protagonist reveals his inner thoughts and establishes the setting of the play by detailing recent events: England has recently concluded and England has changed from a nation at war to a nation at peace. Richard tells us what he thinks about himself, reflecting on his physical ugliness and his inability, in his estimation, to form a romantic attachment. He then reveals his intentions and ambitions for the balance of the play: since he cannot be the lover or the hero, he will be the villain and master puppeteer, controlling the situation for his own amusement and, eventually, his own profit.

Guide the students through a SOAPSTone analysis, then begin a discussion on how this opening soliloquy reveals Shakespeare uses elements such as figurative language, imagery, and tone to develop this first impression of Richard the anti-hero.

Activity 3: Compare and Contrast Historical to Fictional Richard III

Using the following table, discuss the physical appearance of Richard III from historical documents and compare them to quotes from the two Shakespearean plays that include Richard as a character. Why does Shakespeare exaggerate the physicality of the character? Would it have been more or less effective if Richard had looked more accurate to his historical counterpart, or even completely normal? Have students discuss why appearance is part of characterization.

Finally, retell the story of the speech in a series of 7 mini-posters (8x11") to form a graphic novel about the birth of Richard III. This assignment can be extended for an advanced classroom by finding more information about the historical Richard III, information that is readily available on the Internet.