Explaining Character in Shakespeare

Activities

Introduction – Human Barometer

The purpose of this first lesson in the unit is to begin the conversation about what moral beliefs students bring to the classroom. In order to advance students to the point where they can consider how their own beliefs might bias their interpretations of the characters in the play, they first need to establish what some of their beliefs are.

Begin the lesson by asking students to write for a few minutes about the question: what things influence a person’s beliefs? Students should share their responses and you or a student should create a chart with the responses that can be referred to later in the unit.

Before the lesson, consider what “moral dilemmas” you may use to ask students to examine their beliefs and interpretations as they read. For example, my questions above focused on loyalty. Based on these questions, create a set of statements that take a clear stance on the question. Below is a sample question based on Brutus and Cassius’ argument about friendship in my introduction to this unit.

Question: Should a good friend ignore a friend’s faults or point them out?

Stance Statement: A good friend should never point out a friend’s faults.

Then, allow time for students to write “agree,” “disagree” or “not sure,” and explain their reasoning. Students should use examples (at this point, from their own lives or media since they have not yet read the text) to support their response. You can adjust the number of statements based on the ability level of your class and time available.

Give students a few minutes to respond, then explain the human barometer. On the floor, put a green piece of paper on one end of the room and a red piece of paper on the other. Go through the statements one by one and instruct students to stand at the end of the room* that represents their answer (green for agree, red for disagree). Students can stand in the middle if they are unsure. After students align themselves in support of each statement, spend a few minutes allowing them to share their response and explain their reasoning. Have one student take notes on the board or chart paper about the class’s responses (including how many agreed and disagreed).

Close the discussion by asking students to sum up what they noticed about the class’s responses using the chart with discussion notes. Then, as an exit slip, ask students to choose one of their responses and, returning to their warm up, consider how the belief in that question was formed. Using my example above, I might say that my beliefs about friendship were formed from my feelings about the friends I had as a child. Collect these slips and use them to begin the next lesson by discussing the responses.

*If you prefer not to have students standing and moving around, you can give each student a piece of green and red paper to indicate their responses, and perhaps also yellow paper for “unsure.”

Act III – Antony’s Funeral Speech

This lesson will allow students to examine Antony’s use of rhetoric and consider whether this makes him someone trustworthy. Depending on how you use the film clip, this lesson may be best spread over two class periods (80 minutes). This lesson is best used after students have read Act III, scene i.

Begin the lesson by asking students to answer the question, “Can someone who uses persuasive strategies to convince an audience be trusted?” After a few minutes, ask students to share their responses. As the discussion winds down, ask students whether they feel they can trust Antony at this point in the play. Ask them to think generally about why or why not and try to use text evidence in support. If you have time, show a clip of the speech.

Do a close-reading of Antony’s speech, focusing on the language strategies Antony uses to help convince his audience. Give students a few minutes to do this individually, underlining or highlighting the strategies they notice. It may help to give them examples first or make a list of devices, such as repetition, rhetorical questions, emotional appeal. This list can be adjusted based on the ability level or previous information your class has encountered about persuasive strategies. Have students share with a partner, then with the class. Have students share, returning to the earlier question about whether Antony is trustworthy. As an exit slip, ask students to consider how their own beliefs and biases might have influenced their interpretation of Antony’s speech.

Culminating Project – Un-taking sides

This project can be completed individually or in groups. Students should focus on the character they have been tracking throughout the reading and they should have plenty of evidence ready.

Have students choose a moral dilemma question from the opening activity (human barometer). Students should create two opposite “answers” to this question – they can use their own and hopefully an “opposite” or alternate response. If you group students for this project, you can use their responses to put students who answered differently from each other in the first activity in the same group.

For the project, have students consider how they reacted to their character. They can frame this as “good or bad,” or whether or not the character did the right thing in a certain situation. For example:

Character: Cassius

Situation: Cassius started the conspiracy to kill Caesar

Moral Question: If I do something out of jealousy, does that make the thing I’m doing wrong?

How I’d answer: The motive behind something doesn’t really matter – if what I did is bad, it doesn’t matter why I did it. It’s still bad. So killing Caesar is bad whether Cassius did it out of jealousy or for the good of Rome.

Alternative Response: Motive is everything. If I did it for a good reason, then the thing I did might be okay. If I did it for a selfish reason, then it isn’t. Cassius is wrong because his motivation was selfish.

Have students create a poster on which they display both “sides” to their moral dilemma and evidence to support each side. They should also include a separate written component in which they explain how their own beliefs influenced their answer and how someone might see a different side of the character with other evidence or by interpreting the same evidence differently.